Charity Digital Podcast

Charities of all sizes can reap the benefits of awards and grants. Massive budgets and huge teams are not necessary to get recognised – charities just need a compelling story and the right strategy in order to stand out. This episode is the first of a three-part podcast series with Public Interest Registry that pulls back the curtain on how to successfully apply for awards, amplify your recognition, and turn visibility into meaningful funding, attention, and donor support. In this podcast, we’re joined by Tony Connor, Senior Director, Product Marketing at Public Interest Registry and Darren Dannelly, President & CEO of The Center for Courageous Kids, who will walk us through what makes an application shine. Our guests will talk candidly about crafting a standout submission, how to showcase impact with clarity, and what judges actually look for. Whether you're a first-time applicant or refining for a second shot, this is your inside edge. Find out more about the .ORG Impact Awards: https://pir.org/for-orgs/org-impact-awards/

Charities are mission-led organisations, with service delivery at their core. They help to uphold society with vastly ranging activities such as personal care, advice, research, advocacy, care for animals, environmental protection, community and cultural activities, religious events, and so much more. But too often, the conditions that charities work within can get in the way. Recent years have financially squeezed charities, putting pressure on the services they deliver, and harming the communities who use them. Working to achieve their ideals with limited time can also leave charities tied to traditional ways of operating, lacking the opportunity to overhaul their approach to be more effective, efficient, and empowering to those who use services. In this podcast, we explore how charities are making the best of the current service delivery landscape, improving services with digital, and engaging with service users in new ways. Have your say! Take our Reimagining Services survey: https://charitydigital.org.uk/topics/reimagining-services-take-our-survey-11931

When websites and other elements of the digital world are poorly designed, people with disabilities experience significant barriers, causing frustration and getting in the way of independent daily life. According to the Charity Digital Skills Report 2023, 58% of charities say their products and services are accessible to some extent, while 53% feel they are monitoring accessibility and diversity of users effectively. As a sector, we can do better. In this podcast, recorded at Charity Digital's Digital Inclusion Summit in June 2024, we are joined by a panel of experts to share advice and learnings to help the charity sector improve its digital accessibility. You can find the video recording and additional resources here. Host: Tara Lee, Account Manager, Charity Digital Panel: Avneet Jagpal, Accessibility Specialist, ReciteMe Kwesi Afful, Executive Director of Digital and Marketing, Scope Joe Chidzik, Principal Accessibility Consultant, AbilityNet

Charities are tempting targets for cyber attacks, as custodians of sensitive data and funds needed to deliver critical services. But with concepts like multifactor authentication, access controls, and patch management to contend with, looking after your cyber security can seem like a daunting prospect, particularly when coupled with limited resources and technical knowledge. However, cyber security needn’t be intimidating. Many of the scariest sounding concepts can be relatively simple. With the right training and technology to help, charities can empower everyone in their organisation to look after their cyber security, from the newest volunteer to the most senior board member. In this podcast, recorded at Charity Digital's Digital Inclusion Summit in June 2024, Rick Wilhelm, Chief Technology Officer at PIR.org (the organisation that powers the .Org domain name), we explore how charities can create a fear-free means culture around cyber security, with response plans, education, and tips on how to spot potential cyber threats. You can find the slides and video recording here, as well as more sessions from the Digital Inclusion Summit 2024.

Misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories can be a problem for charities by negatively impacting upon service users, employees, and volunteers. Here, charities’ responsibility is two-fold: avoiding spreading misinformation themselves and quelling false information about their cause. Ensuring trustworthy online information is an aspect of digital inclusion, supporting people to make the most of the digital resources available. Media literacy skills are a key element of this, empowering digital users to safeguard personal and societal health and wellbeing. It’s also up to organisations to do their bit in countering the spread. In this podcast, we explore how false information spreads, its impacts, how charities can avoid spreading it, and approaches to address misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories about your charitable cause. Useful resources: First Draft - The psychology of misinformation: Why we’re vulnerable The New York Times - How social media amplifies misinformation more than information Charity Digital - Digital Inclusion Hub

Climate change is a recurring news topic, perhaps the most pressing issue of our age, and it’s essential that charities take action. It’s time for charities to build environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies into day-to-day work. Our panel of experts discuss ESG and consider how charities can build it into strategies so they can implement meaningful changes. The session, taken from a recording from our 2023 Conference, features Jen Lowthrop from Feel Good Do Good, Charity Digital Senior Content Writer Laura Stanley, Charlotte Washe from In Kind Direct, Jessica Wrigley from Sage, and Amy Moore from Marie Curie.

As custodians of huge amounts of sensitive data and funds that are needed to deliver essential services, charities are under a great deal of pressure to ensure their charity is properly protected against a cyber breach. And proper protection includes that which we’re most familiar with: passwords. In this episode, we speak to Rick Wilhelm, PIR’s Chief Technology Officer, to explore the significance of strong, unique passwords, the role of password managers, and tips for creating and managing passwords effectively. .ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning Center Charity Digital - Cyber Security Charity Digital – How to make your passwords stronger Charity Digital - Why your password probably isn't good enough NCSC.GOV.UK – Password Guidance – Simplifying your approach Charity Digital – How your organisation can build trust

​​As the world moves from in-person to remote, how can charities build lasting relationships with supporters? ​The picture might seem a bit bleak. Data regulation has impacted outreach opportunities. The pandemic and advances in technology have resulted in changes in supporter behaviour. Trends show a decline in the number of people supporting charitable causes. ​But the loss of old opportunities presents new ones – charities have an opportunity to rethink how they engage with supporters. Digital enables charities to build stronger, more meaningful, and more engaged relationships with supporters than ever before. In this session, recorded from our 2023 Conference, Alan Perestrello from Trillium and Declan Hunt from ClearCourse show us how to grasp digital opportunities, the possible strategic routes you could take, and some practical tips to immediately start making changes within your charity.

During the cost-of-living crisis, many supporters have had to review how much they can continue to support their chosen charities, often causing a drop in income. With the number of lottery players in the UK still growing, Your Hospice Lottery and Make a Smile Lottery explain how offering supporters something in return (such as a chance to win money), can help retain and grow income during times when all charities are feeling the financial strain of rising costs. The session, a recording from our 2023 Conference, is delivered by Gemma Zweck and Jill Moore from St. Helena Hospice Limited, and Tony Bloomfield from the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association. The session will cover, among many other things, how charities can overcome 2023’s financial strains by starting a new reliable income stream, how to throw a lottery from the point of view of a charity, the general benefits of collaboration, and so much more.

It’s been a year of perpetual crises: the hangover of the health crisis, the emergence of geo-political crises, national and international economic crises, and an environmental crisis. Charities had to navigate various issues, overcome myriad threats, and practice resilience in the face of all challenges. But, in the face of such challenges, we’ve also seen so many positives. Charities have shifted towards flexible giving, found innovative solutions to service user demands, embraced new and exciting tech such as ChatGPT, trialled new platforms such as Threads, and broadly embraced the digital. We want to discuss the ups and downs of 2023. The Charity Digital Content Team, Laura Stanley, Josie Sparling, and Ioan Marc Jones dives into key developments, explore reactions to crises, and talk about tech. So join us to review 2023 in the UK charity sector.

This year, Charity Digital has been focused on climate action, aiming to raise awareness about climate change, show charities how digital and tech can help them to minimise their carbon footprint, and empower charities to take meaningful action to protect our planet. But we, along with many other charities, are still trying to improve our environmental impact. Our survey found that although 88% of charities are concerned about climate change, only 48% are taking serious action to address it. So, we want to know: how can we bridge that gap? In this episode, we sit down with Sila Ugurlu from the British Youth Council and Alison Gowman from City Bridge Foundation to learn more about the state of climate action in the sector right now and what we can all do to help secure our planet’s future.

Web accessibility is increasingly a priority for the charity sector in efforts to reach more people and improve the lives of the people they serve. Around 1.3 billion people around the world experience significant disability, according to the World Health Organisation, representing one in six of the world’s population, many of whom are our beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, employees, leaders, and supporters. Web accessibility is essential to enable everyone to participate in your mission. In this podcast, sponsored by PIR.org, the non-profit organisation that maintains the .org domain, Charity Digital’s content team share what they’ve learned about web accessibility, its impact on the charity sector, and why charities must embrace it now and in the future. Guests: Ioan Marc Jones, Head of Content, Charity Digital Laura Stanley, Content Writer, Charity Digital Josie Sparling, Content Assistant, Charity Digital Resources: .ORG Learning Center - .ORG Learning Center A digital world accessible to all. | AbilityNet A beginner’s guide to digital accessibility - Scope for business Charity Digital - Topics - An overview of the W3C Accessibility Standards Charity Digital - Topics - Where to start with web accessibility Accessibility Bookmarklets (accessibility-bookmarklets.org) UK laws that cover web accessibility - Scope for business Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Accessibility Checker - ADA & WCAG Compliance (Free Scan) Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List (w3.org) Top 5 Accessibility Plugins & Widgets Reviews | Top 5 Accessibility