Anonymous

The potential for the ICO cookie guidance to negatively impact our work in the sector (and beyond) is huge...

The charity and NGO sectors have made some progress in terms of white women at the top table, but as one woman of colour explains there is still not the same reality for all women...

Since the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge, the No Make Up Selfie and other self-participation activities, there’s been a rise in the expectation that anyone and everyone can make this kind of campaign happen – and we should be next!  Regardless of the fact that some of these campaigns were started by charity supporters […]

I know it’s the time of year when we’re expected to be full of festive spirit, but as 2014 draws to a close I find myself wondering if the time has come to wish the charity sector a fond farewell. I stumbled into the sector and didn’t really expect to stay here. I’m not sure […]

After some years mooching around the communications departments of a number of organisations I’ve decided to take the plunge and share some observations with my esteemed CharityComms peers under the anonymity of the comms insider! So take five minutes and see if any of this sounds familiar… How often have you found yourself tasked with […]

I sometimes feel a bit on-edge when reading about proposals to encourage retired people to ‘donate’ their skills to charities. It’s not that I have any problem with older people, it’s that I get a sinking feeling that this is yet another threat to my ability to get paid work. The rise of the unpaid […]

Working in comms is 24/7, varied and fast paced. Unfortunately this means it can be difficult to switch off the phone, ignore the news and stop wondering how the latest in the papers is going to affect your strategy. You might find yourself secretly checking your phone from the pub toilets, just in case your latest […]

Celebration time! I’ve just sent out a press release! We send out a couple in an average week, but this wasn’t any old press release, this was the never-ending release. These are often a product of: confused (or entirely absent) sign off processes, lack of clear deadlines or working with other organisations and disagreements over […]

“It must be so nice working in a low stress job”: just one of the reactions from peers regarding my decision to work in charity communications. The implication is that by choosing the third sector, and communications, I’ve chosen the soft option – the ‘film studies’ of the job world. Partly this is born of […]

My main focus in this blog so far has been on issues affecting large charities, so to redress the balance I’ve decided to write about the pros and cons of small charities. In general I prefer working for small charities for one simple reason: they haven’t lost the heart and soul of what they do. […]

The Crusader These people start the job brimming with enthusiasm, convinced they will be the saviour of the charity world; the one to make a lasting difference. Within weeks, however, the cheery disposition they wear as armour against the negative exterior world is showing chinks, and underlying doubt is beginning to surface: Have they taken […]

Last month I read this article on the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network about charity administration costs and why, contrary to popular opinion, charities do need to spend to be effective. I’ve never understood the position that slashing overheads equals better management – charities are businesses like any other, why should they be expected to run […]

In last month’s blog I talked about the issue of poor governance in the charity sector. More specifically, I proposed that to be truly effective in achieving their objectives, charities must ensure their management team structure is lean, unlike so many of the bloated corporate-minded machines passing themselves off as charities today. In many cases […]

In my mid-twenties I was – like countless others before and no doubt since – lured away from the relative security of the corporate world by the promised land of Charity, where doing your job came with the added satisfaction of helping people in need. What could possibly be better than that? Who cared, thought […]