Third Sector

Andy Ricketts and Dami Adewale are joined by John Fitzgerald, digital evolution project manager at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.John describes some of the easy-to-use AI tools that can improve efficiency in working life and shares examples of charities that are already employing them effectively.He warns of data privacy issues associated with using free services and the risk of “buzzword bingo” when AI is leaned on heavily in funding applications.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Emily Cotter, marketing, PR and communications officer at Leeds Mind, and Col Grist, co-founder and creative director of the digital agency Few and Far.Emily provides insight into Leeds Mind's experience of livestream fundraising as it prepares to host the fourth edition of its Get Together Through Gaming online event in March.Col explains why he considers the UK voluntary sector to be behind the curve in the livestream fundraising space compared with counterparts in the US. He suggests ways that charities can effectively approach and engage established streamers for fundraising purposes.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Harle, Dami Adewale and Andy Ricketts to reflect on three significant sector stories from the past month.Dami recounts the circumstances surrounding a regulatory inquiry into the sale of City and Guilds' commercial arm to a Greek-owned certification company.Andy provides his take on the findings of Third Sector's recent Charity Pay Study, which identifies the sector's top earners. And Emily assesses the implications of a growing number of complaints about street fundraisers from community interest companies for the reputation of charitable fundraisers more broadly.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Chloe Hadjimatheou, narrative editor at the Observer, who conducted an award-winning exposé of the main characters in the bestselling memoir The Salt Path.Chloe details the steps she took to interrogate some of the assertions made in the book after receiving a tip-off, including the circumstances of an apparent terminal diagnosis.She suggests ways in which charity leaders can work to uncover the truth when claims surrounding prospective celebrity ambassadors seem out of the ordinary, but stresses the importance of approaching the people in question in the first instance. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Harle and Emily Burt discuss snippets from a recent interview with Hannah Bond and Taahra Ghazi, the new co-chief executives of ActionAid UK.Hannah speaks of the value of a co-chief executive model in supporting feminist leadership and ensuring the best possible decisions are made for an organisation.Taahra acknowledges the loneliness encountered by many single chief executives and describes the co-chief model as a way of preventing burnout.She also talks about the charity's anti-racism work, which has included the formation of a dedicated decolonisation unit.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Burt and Emily Harle  are joined by Zia Salik, interim director of Islamic Relief UK, to talk about the rising levels of Islamophobia and racism targeting the charity.Zia describes the measures being taken to support staff in the face of growing online and face-to-face hostility, and the need to plan for an increased risk of attacks during the month of Ramadan.He stresses the need for organisations and people in positions of power to take a public stand against racism and Islamophobia, as well as the value of solidarity and allyship from others in the sector. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Harle and Dami Adewale are joined by Madeleine Jennings, head of policy and communications at the Local Trust.Madeleine describes how her team has worked to translate lessons learned from the Local Trust's ‘Big Local' programme into actionable government policy. She stresses the importance of forming relationships with civil servants as well as big-name elected representatives, and explains why it is necessary to identify and provide information that is useful to officials.She also describes the logistical steps to securing and facilitating a project visit by a senior government representative. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Kate Lee, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, to discuss some of the issues facing the voluntary sector in 2026.These include ensuring financial sustainability and the role of civil society in a world of uncertainty in the face of some big existential questions.Kate also shares her reasons to be optimistic, including the next generation of sector leaders coming up and a growing trend of interrogating impact data to improve organisational efficiency.Register for the free Pounds & Purpose summit here.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Matt Stringer, chief executive of the Royal National Institute of Blind People.Matt provides insight into the RNIB's transformation programme, which concluded in April, and shares his lessons learned from a significant restructure.He reflects on the differences between charity leadership and his previous work in corporate retail and gives his reasons for leaving the organisation this month.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse is joined by Emily Burt, Emily Harle and Andy Ricketts to dissect the leading stories from the voluntary sector in 2025.Lucinda delivers a speedy round-up of the year's charity news before the four discuss their selected top stories. These include the launch of the Civil Society Covenant and leadership and governance challenges at Oxfam GB and World Vision UK.They share their nominations for the year's strangest stories, from sabotaged locks at a Cheshire museum to the children's charity whose future was threatened after it bought land that was open to shooting parties.The team reflects on some recurring trends over the course of the year, from the unwelcome waves of redundancies and charity closures to the effects of rising far-right activism on the sector.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Clara Govier, managing director of the People's Postcode Lottery.Clara outlines the process for disbursing funds to charities and explains what the People's Postcode Lottery looks for in prospective charity partners. She gives her thoughts on how funders could work together more effectively and puts forward the case for lifting the sales cap on charity lotteries.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale  are joined by Jane Ide, chief executive of the charity leaders body Acevo, to reflect on some of the issues facing sector leaders.Jane provides an update on work relating to the Civil Society Covenant, which was published in July, saying more momentum is expected from the government in the first quarter of 2026.She warns that charity leaders should be lowering their expected time in post due to unsustainable pressures. And she observes that polarisation within organisations needs to be considered as much as the work being done externally to convene and strengthen civil society. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse, Emily Harle and Emily Burt reflect on two significant sector issues from the past month.Emily Harle shares findings from a recent roundtable meeting of leaders from refugee and migration charities, whose staff have experienced a surge in targeted hostility in recent months.And after the government launched its new Office for the Impact Economy, Lucinda asks what the phrase actually means and the part the voluntary sector will play in it.  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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Vic Harper, chief executive of the food redistribution charity The Bread and Butter Thing.Vic describes how the charity has taken a holistic approach to the way it supports communities by working alongside other charities and local authorities at its food distribution hubs. She outlines the process of identifying suitable community partners and explains why a one-size-fits-all approach to communication with such a diverse assortment of stakeholders will never work.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Leicia Feare, associate director of communications and campaigns at the youth empowerment charity Mission 44.Leicia talks about the charity's first campaign, Nothing Happens in Isolation, which aims to promote inclusion in schools. She describes how Mission 44 convened partners to formulate a list of recommendations that the charity's founder, the motor racing driver Sir Lewis Hamilton, presented to the Prime Minister.She outlines the measures taken by the charity to incorporate the views and priorities of young people who have experienced exclusion from school and explains how it has avoided tokenism in the process.She reflects on the value of having a popular figurehead at the top of the organisation while acknowledging the difficulty of developing a stand-alone profile for Mission 44 when media interest is invariably focused on its central personality.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.Subscribe to the Third Sector Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Ruth Hollis, chief executive of the Olympic legacy charity Spirit of 2012.Ruth reflects on the responsibility of being a funder approaching close-out as Spirit of 2012 prepares to wind up in early 2026.She acknowledges the difficulties for charities seeking to ensure the sustainability of their programmes in the absence of long-term funding and suggests ways in which grantmakers can work together to reduce the occurrence of funding cliff-edges.She stresses the importance of built-in time for reflection during the course of a programme and explains how Spirit of 2012 is taking a different approach to its final report.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts share their thoughts on the announcement this week that Dame Julia Unwin has been named the preferred candidate to be the new chair of the Charity Commission.Andy explains the role of the chair, suggests how Unwin might be different to her predecessors and provides a summary of reactions from sector leaders to the prospect of her appointment.An excellent choice' – sector leaders react to Charity Commission chair announcement.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse, Emily Harle, Emily Burt and Dami Adewale reflect on some of the top sector stories from the past month.Emily Burt gives her thoughts on the state of the sector in 2025 following her recent return from maternity leave.Lucinda shares snippets from an interview with Peter Sparkes, chief executive of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, in which they discuss a new five-year plan that aims to improve engagement with the charity's fundraising and volunteering communities.Dami explores conflicting narratives on the health of volunteering more broadly and the key motivators for people signing up to volunteer roles.And Emily Harle reflects on what the recent closure of Manchester Pride says about how charities communicate financial difficulty.Listen back to Janet Thorne on the Third Sector Podcast: Cultivating a more flexible volunteering offer.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle discuss snippets from a recent interview Emily conducted with Andy Fletcher, chief executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK.As Andy enters his second year in post, they reflect on his ambitions to almost double the charity's income by 2035, raise awareness for the organisation among people living with muscle-wasting and weakening conditions and cultivate a sharper strategic focus.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts  are joined by Laura Kerby, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK. Laura outlines the due diligence conducted by the charity to try to alleviate concerns about its partnership with the gambling company Paddy Power, which has allowed it to deliver live-saving interventions to men at risk of prostate cancer.She describes the complexities of engaging with political parties such as Reform UK, whose policies are often at odds with the charity's priorities but who nonetheless need to be factored into its influencing work.She explains how Prostate Cancer UK is working to keep prostate cancer in the spotlight, through bold and ambitious programming, working with celebrity ambassadors and clearly demonstrating its impact.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by the civil society consultant Alex Evans to talk about the role of freelancers in the charity workforce.They discuss the findings of a survey by the freelancer platform Blume, from the pros of flexibility and autonomy reported by self-employed workers, to feelings of uncertainty and the fact that more than a fifth of respondents began freelancing as a result of redundancy.Alex shares his perspective on the push and pull factors that lead charity professionals to leave full-time employment, including his view that some people are forced to take on uncertainty because of structural inequalities, including the gender pay gap. They also hear from Georgie Moseley, chief executive of the cancer charity Help Harry Help Others, about why her organisation has opted to contract a majority of its workers on a freelance basis.Read Alex's blog, Barely Civil Society.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse, Andy Ricketts, Emily Harle and Dami Adewale reflect on some recent voluntary sector news.Emily shares snippets from an interview with Breast Cancer Now's chief executive Claire Rowney, in which she articulates her vision to shift the organisation from a medium to a large charity mindset, accompanied by a £40m annual revenue uplift.Dami asks what the move by several charities to distance themselves from the Duchess of York in the light of Jeffrey Epstein-related revelations says about royal patronages.And Lucinda talks about some of the different ways that charities are approaching enterprise in a bid to diversify their income streams and utilise their assets in new ways.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Helen McShane, director of research, innovation and systems change at Young Lives vs Cancer.Helen explains how Young Lives vs Cancer came to launch an innovation lab, with the aim of using its assets as a trusted charity brand to support the development of early stage business ventures that align with its mission of supporting children and young people with cancer.She describes the challenges associated with carving out time and space to work on long-term innovative solutions as a charity supporting the immediate and urgent needs of people in crisis.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Paul Winyard, head of policy at the Fundraising Regulator. Paul provides insight into the new Code of Fundraising Practice, which will take effect from 1 November. He explains how a more prescriptive set of rules has been replaced by a principles-based approach to regulation.He describes how the Fundraising Regulator is working to overcome the reputational risks that unscrupulous street fundraisers from community interest companies pose to wider charitable fundraising.They also discuss the regulator's approach to artificial intelligence and new considerations around commission-based payments.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle  are joined by Manny Amadi, chief executive of C&E Advisory, to talk about the firm's Corporate-Non-Profit Partnerships Barometer 2025.Manny provides context to the finding that corporate partnerships remain a resilient and effective mechanism for driving societal change, in spite of concerns that businesses are reneging on their environmental, social and governance commitments.He explains how aid cuts have affected cross-sector collaborations and puts forward his predictions for the likely trajectory in the year ahead.Access the 2025 barometer here.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Mark Russell, chief executive of The Children's Society.Mark speaks openly about the challenges of leading a major charity through half a decade of polycrisis and the toll it has taken on his mental health.He stresses the need for chief executives to act as role models in maintaining boundaries between work and personal life, and the critical role of boards in supporting exhausted charity bosses.He explains how The Children's Society's biggest ever fundraising appeal, which will launch in the spring and aims to raise £100m by 2030, is grounded in its conviction that every child deserves a good childhood. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Stuart Pearson, head of innovation at Citizens Advice Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford, and Zoe Amar, founder of the digital consultancy Zoe Amar Digital.Stuart explains how Citizens Advice developed Caddy, an internal-facing AI-powered chatbot that provides information to the charity's advisers and eases demand on supervisors fielding high volumes of requests.Zoe sheds light on the skills gap preventing some charities from progressing with AI adoption. She outlines the principles of using AI responsibly and ensuring its roll-out is consistent with organisational values.They both stress the importance of continuing human involvement, from the development to the implementation of AI tools to support the delivery of charitable services.Further readingZoe's article on disintermediationThe Citizens Advice Caddy toolZoe Amar Digital's AI Leadership Essentials videos Research on the success rates of AI pilots by the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyEmily's feature: How can charities combat misinformation? 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Emma Revie, co-chief executive of Trussell, and the strategy and change management specialist Martyn Drake.Emma explains why Trussell's mission statement has been altered to place the provision of food aid second to its aim of eliminating the need for food banks. She stresses the need to work with others to drive systems change and shares her belief that resources should never be taken away from long-term solutions in order to provide a temporary fix.Martyn shares examples of other charities that have recognised the need to change strategic direction to avoid being enablers of the problems they are trying to solve.He describes the importance of granting staff at all levels of an organisation the autonomy to work flexibly with other partners in order to achieve shared goals.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Ruth Marvel, chief executive of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, to talk about the charity's new impact measurement framework.Ruth describes the importance of a theory of change to guide DofE's activities and inform the development of its measurement framework to test assumptions.She explains how using national open data sets for comparison purposes has helped make the process meaningful and cost-effective.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse visits the Dogs Trust's head office to meet the charity's chief executive, Owen Sharp.Owen talks about the recent restructure of Dogs Trust as part of a new strategy and shares some of the lessons he has learned from an ongoing redundancy process involving 300 staff.He gives his view on ways in which the voluntary sector could be responding differently to current instability, such as taking a less siloed approach to shared challenges.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.Subscribe to the Third Sector Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Toby Freeman, chief executive of the Robin Cancer Trust, and the charity finance and governance specialist Pesh Framjee.Toby shares his experiences of founding a charity to which he has a deep personal connection, and outlines the ways in which he is preparing the organisation for his departure.Pesh puts forward his view that founder's syndrome is a relatively uncommon occurrence. He stresses the importance of succession-planning in founder-led charities and the need to nurture future leaders within the existing team.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.Subscribe to the Third Sector Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Nicole Sykes, director of policy, communications and research at the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales.They discuss some recent research by Lloyds Banking Group that found charities are the second-most trusted source of financial advice after family members. They consider how charities can best respond to the finding, and why it should be a cause for celebration.They cover a range of other topical issues affecting the sector, from the emergence of the impact economy to the need for charities to adapt to new ways of finding information with the advent of AI.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Natasha Friend and Robin Morgan-Chu, the director and chair respectively of the grantmaker Camden Giving, to discuss the merits and challenges of participatory grantmaking.Natasha describes how grantmaking decisions at Camden Giving have been devolved to panels of people with first-hand experience of the challenges the funding is seeking to address.Robin explains how the role of the board differs from more traditional funders, with a strong emphasis on safeguarding to support the frontline nature of the charity's work and the way it makes decisions.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle summarise the contents of the recently-launched Civil Society Covenant between the government and civil society.They reflect on comments made by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, and consider what's next for the charity-state relationship.Read our analysis: What will the Civil Society Covenant mean for charities?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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by are joined by Dan Lawes, co-chief executive of the youth democracy charity My Life My Say, to consider how charities working in all cause areas can interact effectively with younger people.Dan explains how My Life My Say engaged with brands including Tinder, Lime and Snapchat to promote its 'Give an X' campaign to encourage young people to vote in the 2024 general election as part of its wider youth outreach activities. He also provides his perspective on voluntary sector leadership as a younger-than-average chief executive.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Nihara Krause, chief executive of the youth mental health charity Stem4, to talk about the organisation's quest for long-term sustainability in the face of falling grant income.Nihara describes the challenges faced by Stem4 in developing partnership and merger prospects, as the charity has sought to stay afloat since the Covid-19 pandemic.She outlines the internal changes made to commercialise some of the charity's products and foster a more entrepreneurial mindset, with a greater focus on profit.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Gary Laybourne, chief executive of the sports coaching apprenticeship charity Coach Core.Gary outlines some of the voluntary sector roles that are compatible with existing apprenticeship schemes and explains the practicalities of taking on an apprentice.He describes ways in which charities can offset the cost and commitments associated with taking on an apprentice, including through corporate partners and sharing a role with another organisation.Find the government's guidance on employing an apprentice here and Not Going to Uni resources here. Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse hears from some of the speakers at Third Sector: The Conference 2025, which was held at the Barbican Centre in London this week (18 and 19 June).They are: Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind; Duncan Bootland and Ian Howick, medical director and executive director of corporate services at the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex; Nadia Alomar, chief executive of Clore Social Leadership; Amar Abbas, chief executive of Youth Action; Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service; and James Fletcher, chair of the KFC Youth Foundation.Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.Listen back to:Nadia Alomar on developing the right leaders for the modern charity sectorKSS on the importance of building trustSarah Hughes on Mind, mental health and the role of charitiesCatherine Johnstone in: Are we on the brink of a volunteering boom?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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode contains a reference to suicide in the first two minutes.In November 2022, the transgender youth support charity Mermaids was in crisis. Caught up in a media storm over its chest binder service, compounded by internal governance and culture failings, a statutory inquiry was launched.In the third and final episode of When Charity Goes Wrong, Lucinda Rouse hears from Lauren Stoner, chief executive of Mermaids, about the impact of the 23-month inquiry into the charity.Mermaids service users Taylor and Oakley describe the realities of growing up as trans young people in a small town and the value to them of the charity's youth advocacy network, Mango.Shivaji Shiva, a partner at the law firm VWV, considers the side-effects of being under a regulatory inquiry and the specific challenges encountered by charities working in polarising cause areas. And the Charity Commission's chief executive, David Holdsworth, outlines the role of the regulator when two charities are pitted against each other.Written and presented by: Lucinda RouseProducer: Nav PalExecutive producer: Ollie PeartArt director: David Robinson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Victoria Askew, senior marketing campaign manager at Pancreatic Cancer UK, to hear about the organisation's experience as the charity of the year at the 2025 TCS London Marathon.Vicky provides insight into PCUK's winning bid and the 18-month preparation process that preceded the event in April. She outlines the charity's approach to the stewardship of its runners' fundraising efforts and the most effective forms of communication.She describes how the use of celebrity ambassadors combined with PCUK's biggest ever PR stunt enabled the charity to maximise on the partnership opportunity.Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In April 2020, 99-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore became an unexpected national hero after raising £38.9m in less than four weeks by walking 100 laps of his garden. But his legacy quickly turned sour, leading to a very public fall for his family and the charity created in his name.In episode two of When Charity Goes Wrong, Lucinda Rouse hears from Hannah Ingram-Moore, daughter of Captain Sir Tom Moore and former interim chief executive of the Captain Tom Foundation.Her successor at the charity, Jack Gilbert, shares his perspective on the intellectual property dispute that contributed to its downfall.Liz Brownsell, a partner at the law firm Birketts, explains conflicts of interest and personal benefit in the context of charity law.And the Charity Commission's chief executive, David Holdsworth, outlines how other charities can avoid the same damaging mishaps.Written and presented by: Lucinda RouseProducer: Nav PalExecutive producer: Ollie Peart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, and Nathan Miller, director at the East London Waterworks Park.Janet provides context to Reach's finding that volunteering is thriving, with notable growth among volunteer-led organisations with no paid staff. She stresses the importance of articulating a clear purpose to attract volunteers.Nathan explains how the ELWP structures its volunteer activities around thematic circles, allowing flexibility for volunteers to contribute their skills and develop their own roles while working towards a common goal.Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In August 2015, one of the country's most prominent children's charities, Kids Company, was declared insolvent. Its collapse has been followed by almost a decade of legal wrangling as the charity's trustees pushed back against regulatory findings of mismanagement.In episode one of When Charity Goes Wrong, Third Sector journalist Lucinda Rouse hears from Andy Gough, a former Kids Company centre manager, about the realities of working for the charity's charismatic leader, the late Camila Batmanghelidjh.Philip Kirkpatrick, a partner at the law firm Bates Wells, charts Kids Company's decline and questions how things could have turned out differently for the charity.And the Charity Commission's chief executive, David Holdsworth, lays out the necessary ingredients for a successfully governed charity.Written and presented by: Lucinda RouseProducer: Nav PalExecutive producer: Ollie Peart Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Saskia Konynenburg, executive director of voice and impact at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and the volunteering strategist Gethyn Williams.Saskia describes the struggles reported by charities in recruiting and retaining volunteers, in the face of a growing preference for more informal roles with less rigid commitments.She suggests ways charities can attract new volunteers by showcasing their values on social media, and stresses the importance of communicating effectively with virtual volunteers.Gethyn outlines ways in which charities can use digital solutions to grow a charity's volunteer base, improve its management systems and enhance the volunteer experience.Find out more about the Third Sector Awards here.Access the Digital in Volunteering Toolkit from the Association of Volunteer Managers, TeamKinetic and Gethyn Williams.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Russell Winnard, chief executive of the care leaver support charity the Drive Forward Foundation, to discuss the introduction of a new model to guide the organisation's corporate partnerships.Russell explains how a combination of insufficient partnership income and the need for more joined-up pathways to employment opportunities for the charity's service users prompted it to rethink its approach to working with businesses.He stresses the importance of researching corporate priorities and warns of the risk of being drawn into partnership arrangements that service a company's needs more than the charity's bottom line.Find out more about the Third Sector Conference here.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Lynne Guyton, chief executive of John Lyon's Charity, and Sacha Rose-Smith, chief funding director at the City Bridge Foundation.Lynne describes the realities for a grantmaker that has gone from being a nice-to-have to an essential funding pot. She explains why John Lyon's Charity did not consider it responsible to pause funding and outlines the alternative ways it has navigated the surge in demand.Sacha explains how the measures taken by the City Bridge Foundation during its temporary closure to new applications will strengthen its capabilities going forward, stressing the importance of understanding its place in the system and the areas where it could have the most impact. Read our analysis about funders pausing their programmes.Find out more about the Purpose Awards here.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Dan Tickle, chief executive of the National Migraine Centre, and Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK.Dan recounts how the National Migraine Centre adopted a social enterprise model to deliver its services in the face of declining voluntary income and expanded its patient offering in the process.Peter echoes Dan's assertion that one of the biggest changes needed for a charity moving to a social enterprise model is a cultural one. He lays out various financing options for social enterprise activities, including crowdfunding and community shares.Listen back to our previous episode with St Helena Hospice and Social Finance.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Ben Williamson, director of recruitment at the incubator organisation Charity Entrepreneurship.Ben outlines the different ways of modelling, tracking and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of direct delivery and systems change programmes.He explains why it can pay off to apply the risk appetite of a start-up entrepreneur to voluntary sector initiatives, and potential ways of communicating failure to donors.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Iain Heaton, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer at the Blue Cross, and Tiggy McCool, partner at the management consultancy Nine Feet Tall.Iain describes how the Blue Cross implemented major changes to its animal rehoming services, starting with the closure of four rehoming centres in response to Covid-19-related financial pressures. He recounts the charity's subsequent adoption of a new pet foster model, which has reduced the overall cost per pet in spite of a budgetary uplift to pay for new specialist roles.Tiggy explains the concept of organisational design and its use by the Blue Cross to improve service delivery. She stresses the importance of establishing communications principles at the beginning of the process to build the confidence of leaders and their teams.They both provide their tips for managing a redundancy process.Read Nine Feet Tall's guide: The role of organisational design for charities, and Nassim Taleb's book Antifragile.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Claire Goodwin-Fee, chief executive of the psychological support organisation Frontline19, to consider the mental health challenges facing charity leaders.They discuss recent research by Fair Collective, in which 85 per cent of participating small charity leaders said their mental health had been negatively affected by their work.Claire describes her own experiences of burnout in Frontline19's early days and shares some of the approaches she took to recover. She suggests ways of separating professional and personal life in order to manage the stresses of a demanding charity role, and calls for the sector to come together to help solve some of the systemic problems.Find details of accredited counsellors and therapists at the Counselling Directory.For immediate mental health support, call Samaritans on 116 123 or visit the Samaritans website.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Philip Goodwin, chief executive of Unicef UK, to discuss the realities facing international development and humanitarian charities following announced reductions in overseas development assistance by the US, UK and other European governments.Philip stresses the need to communicate with the public on the sector's achievements and explain the importance of foreign aid as an investment in domestic security, as well as advocating the government. He explains why he believes applying a child-focused lens to development work would make ODA more effective.Also in the episode, Lucinda shares clips from a recent interview with Moazzam Malik, chief executive of Save the Children UK.Moazzam puts forward his view that the aid cuts accelerate a broader geopolitical shift and changing attitudes to international development that the sector needs to adjust to.This includes increasing investment in local actors and strengthening the spirit of partnership and collaboration to solve major global issues.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.