Third Sector

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Keith Wilson, director of income and engagement at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.Keith explains how depressed fundraising revenues during the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a major restructure that saw corporate, community and individual fundraising roles merged into supporter engagement officers.He describes how removing income targets and scaling back one-off, transactional donations, such as merchandise sales and the charity’s lottery, has stimulated a culture of engagement that has increased regular giving.He outlines the practicalities of this approach in the face of a £3.6m capital appeal to build a new air base, with external targets retained for supporters and the public.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Mark Greer, managing director at the Charities Aid Foundation, and Charlotte Prothero, external affairs manager at Pro Bono Economics.Mark outlines the growing importance of major donor revenue to the voluntary sector and sets out the cause areas favoured by high-net-worth individuals.He stresses the need for charities to develop long-term relationships with major donors and to treat them as individuals, rather than a homogenous income subset.Charlotte describes the gap between the low tendency of wealth advisers to raise the possibility of philanthropic giving with their clients and the demand, particularly among younger philanthropists, to receive advice about making charitable gifts.Read CAF’s recent High Value Giving report here.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Sohail Hanif, chief executive of the National Zakat Foundation, and Taqwa Sadiq, presenter and producer of the BBC audio series Sacred Money.Taqwa explains how an individual’s choice of destination for their annual zakat donation can be influenced by the emotions surrounding their sense of belonging and home.Sohail describes the role of the National Zakat Foundation in collecting and distributing zakat among communities in the UK, with donations rising in response to increasing levels of domestic poverty.He suggests opportunities for collaboration with non-Muslim charities and stresses the need to encourage grassroots community support initiatives.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Elliot Trevithick, principal consultant for charities evaluation and learning at the think tank NPC, and Annie Hinton, senior programme design manager at the youth support charity Right to Succeed.Elliot explains how being one step removed from a charity’s service users can present difficulties when it comes to evaluating programmes that work to change the systems surrounding social problems, rather than directly addressing their symptoms.He stresses the importance of a theory of change as a foundation to measure systemic changes during the course of a programme’s life.Annie outlines the challenges of evaluating Right to Succeed’s programmes, which support communities to give their children and young people the best possible start in life. She describes some of the tools used to monitor the charity’s work, including a shared measurement framework and a bespoke theory of change for each programme.They share their thoughts on how funders can best support systems change programmes.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Toby Porter, chief executive of Hospice UK, to discuss the charity’s function as a membership platform for a particularly financially strained section of the voluntary sector.Toby explains how a reset in member relationships has led to hospices alerting Hospice UK to financial and staffing challenges at an earlier stage than previously, enabling his organisation to co-ordinate helpful media coverage at opportune moments.He identifies workforce challenges as being as significant as funding challenges, and gives his verdict on the Labour government’s interactions with the voluntary sector.Also in the episode, Lucinda and Andy hear from Richard Litchfield, chief executive of Eastside People, about new research into charities’ approach to environmental, social, governance strategy.Richard speaks of the importance of ESG in reinforcing public trust for charities, as well as measuring social and environmental credentials for corporate partners in the face of tightening ESG regulations on businesses. Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, to discuss his views on the need for charities to understand the economic context of the issues they work to address.Danny explains why a failure to engage with economic issues has contributed to charities often being treated as an afterthought in government-led discussions about economic growth.The former Oxfam chief also shares his thoughts about the role of more formalised charities in safeguarding the health of wider civil society, and articulates his distaste for the terms “third sector”, “non-profit” and “non-governmental” to describe civil society.Also in the episode, Emily shares some of the findings of her recent feature on the use of artificial intelligence in funding applications.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Tamsyn Hanrahan, director of partnerships and philanthropy at Save the Children UK, and Beth Knight, social sustainability director at Lloyds Banking Group and chair of Save the Children UK’s corporate advisory board.Tamsyn explains why Save the Children UK decided a corporate advisory board would be of benefit to the charity, and how it went about forming one a year ago, including a rigorous recruitment process for senior executives.She describes the merits of the board in providing a critical but friendly voice and helping the charity sharpen its pitches to potential new partners. Beth talks about the board’s support to Save the Children UK’s operations, including its use of new technology, and how it has helped bridge the cultural divide between the business and charity worlds.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Andy Ricketts and Dami Adewale are joined by Kate Lee, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society.Kate provides insight into the brand work recently undertaken by the charity, with a focus on raising awareness of dementia as well as the charity’s own profile.She explains how taking a more controversial approach to public messaging, including the charity’s recent ‘Long Goodbye’ advertising campaign, has brought attention to the organisation and coincided with increased donations.She also talks about the charity’s new strategy, its DEI work and the implications of her personal connection to dementia. Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, and Wanda Wyporska, chief executive of Safe Passage International, to discuss some of the issues facing the voluntary sector in 2025.These include ways of engaging with local and national government, addressing the chief executive churn, and effectively balancing learned and lived experience to deliver on charitable purposes.They share their views on the need for less division within the sector, which is accustomed to a more siloed approach, and more maturity among competing charities to working together.They also share their reasons to be optimistic for the year ahead, including the prospect of charities using increasing levels of far-right activism as a rallying point to counter racist and prejudiced attitudes.Do you have stories of people whose lives have been transformed for the better thanks to your charity? If so, we’d like to hear them! All it takes is a short voice message to be featured on this podcast. Email lucinda.rouse@haymarket.com for further information.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.