I have come across– somewhat belatedly I am sure! – a great use of the new media tools available for all to use. The Variety Club has launched a Mr Men and Little Miss Celebrity Podcasts. They have got some of the UK’s best-loved celebrities from screen and radio to record their favourite Mr. Men & Little Miss stories. For just £1.50 you can download any story and listen to it as many times as you like. What a great way for a children’s charity to raise funds and awareness of their brand.

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Since being limited to 5 things that I believe the third sector should be focusing on it has been playing on my mind that I wasn’t able to make it six. So now I am going to! The sixth target is not something that will necessarily generate direct benefit for the charity itself, but it is an area in which charities should be leading the way. It is, of course, environmental responsibility. How can a charity honestly argue that it is working to make the world a better place if it has an oversized carbon footprint?

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I was excited to be asked to be on the judging panel of the Third Sector Excellence Awards, and last week spent much of Friday going through the many fantastic entries with my fellow judges. I wasn’t entirely sure about the mechanism for the scoring process, which I think can be (greatly!) improved, but was much inspired by the healthy debate. It was also very refreshing to not only be confronted by submissions from the large branded charities which, although producing work of formidable quality, have the advantage of the funds to spend on external agency help and input.

Two things stood out in the best entries: firstly those organisations that took the time to personalise their messages for different audiences – recognising that individuals give and support in different ways and for different reasons. Secondly the success enjoyed by those charities which took the initiative to engage their supporters. Asking for a response and interacting with your supporters makes them feel much more valued, and enables you to learn more about what motivates them.

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This week’s Carnival of Non-Profits is to be held on the Non-Profit Marketing Blog, and is titled ‘My Top 5”. I thought I would add my penny’s worth with a UK perspective on what, I think, are the 5 things it is most important the third sector focuses on. So here we go:

Build trust: Charities are vulnerable to the backlash of bad press. Be that criticism of employees salaries, promises not fulfilled, lack of transparency…..or dodgy phone-in competitions (to win bikinis or martinis?)! Unfairly a bad editorial doesn’t just have an effect on the individual charity involved, but the whole sector becomes doubted. The only way to resolve this is to all work together towards the aim of total transparency - if something costs money say so and then go on to explain why you think it is a valuable investment.

Educate and Engage: Charities must strive to both educate donors, and potential donors, about what it is they do, how and why. Encouraging donors to give out of guilt is no way to build a long-term, healthy relationship. Secondly it is essential to listen to donors. They can give you invaluable feedback about how you are perceived and by listening to them, and making them feel as though they can make a positive contribution through other ways than passive donations, you will empower them to become your future ambassadors.

Technology: Again and again I seem to come back to this one. You should never use Web 2.0 technologies for the sake of it, but think about how you can make emails, social networks, podcasts etc work for you. How can they help you get your message across and reach new audiences. They have the potential to take your message national (if not global) through just the click of a button. To ignore the possibilities is lazy and naïve.

Cooperation: There are over 168,000 charities in the England and Wales alone competing for the attention and generosity of donors. I can’t help feeling it is often inefficient for – say – 3 local skin cancer charities to not only be carrying the overlapping overheads of offices, admin staff etc but – more importantly – to be organising individual fundraising events. If they can’t face merging they should at least cooperate in initiatives to raise funds and awareness- pooling their skills and making the most of economies of scale.

Efficiency: This combines much of the above….and more. Cooperating with those that share your aims and values; getting new technologies to work for you; and, back to my old bug bear, making the most of the breaks that are given to you – specifically, reclaiming Gift Aid. This is, as it says, a GIFT from the Government that is shameless to waste.

As for Katya’s the challenge, in the words of Meatloaf……2 out of three aint bad!

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As reported in this week’s Third Sector Magazine, iConcertina and e-consultancy’s latest Website Benchmark Report on the accessibility of charities’ online offerings, makes depressing reading. For an interview about the results we found I said:

“The fact that no single site met all the criteria is worrying. If individuals feel that a site isn’t designed for their use, they may begin to question the charity as a whole or simply go away quietly, never to return.”

Although there was a 14% improvement on last year’s results the third sector is worryingly behind the curve on this one. Online really is the perfect medium to efficiently reach a wider audience, and if you are going to do it, you must do it properly. It doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive – there really is no excuse.

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An article in the Guardian yesterday had a great, succinct quote to support the use of Web 2.0 by smaller charities.
Dave Rogers, who volunteered to help out the National Phobics Society in developing their website said:
“A website is so important because it allows us to operate on a national level from a small base in the north west. We create a small online community through the use of web 2.0 technologies which ultimately increases our membership, which in turn allows us to fund the services we provide such as our helpline.”
These informal mediums are extremely powerful and extensive in their reach, and by embracing social networks and other new information and communication technologies, countless opportunities are opened up. Yes, a charity must lose some control, but it will generate a natural increase in both accountability and openness which will ultimately boost the entire third sector.

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