Third Sector Podcast

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt are joined by Joy Warmington, chief executive of the equality charity Brap.Joy highlights some of the limitations of standard equity, diversity and inclusion approaches and explains why adopting a flexible and responsive mindset is preferable to following an EDI toolkit. She shares her optimism that racism will be eliminated in the future and provides tips for charity leaders seeking to place their anti-racism commitments at the heart of their operations.Listen to The Quiet Revolution.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.

Host Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Burt, Andy Ricketts and Emily Harle to talk about three significant sector stories from the past month.Emily Harle shares her reflections from an event run by the Women in Charity Network, including the need for female leaders to make space for their more junior counterparts.Emily Burt provides context to Third Sector’s recent findings about legacy trends across 100 major charities. She and Lucinda share clips from a video discussion with Alex McDowell, vice-chair of Remember a Charity, which is included in The Legacy Map. And Andy considers the circumstances surrounding new regulatory guidance on conflicts of interest, after the Charity Commission reported an increase in cases.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 and Emily Harle are joined by Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation.Charmaine outlines the BHF’s new commitments on equality, diversity and inclusion and explains why they are important in furthering the charity’s mission to fight heart disease.She talks about changes to the organisation’s recruitment process to encourage more diverse applications and explains how the BHF is tackling the low level of female representation in medical and research settings focused on heart health.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 Carol Homden, chief executive of the children’s charity Coram.Carol explains the rationale behind the Coram Group’s recent amalgamation with four charities while avoiding duplication and competing processes.She shares her views on the merits of chief executives holding senior board positions to gain an appreciation of governance responsibilities.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 Rebecca Fell, chief executive of the refugee support charity the International Care Network, and the fundraising specialist Atul Kumar.Atul puts forward the case for why project managers should play a part in funding bids. He shares his tips on how to write successful proposals for trusts and foundations funding, including the importance of a strong project name.Rebecca explains how ICN approaches fundraising in the absence of any dedicated fundraising staff. She reveals the challenges of fundraising for a cause that is becoming increasingly politicised.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 Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie, chief executive of the domestic abuse support charity MyCWA.Saskia recounts how a long-standing commitment to partnership and collaboration, which forms one of the charity’s three key missions, strengthened its ability to execute a £500,000 emergency appeal when it lost a significant council contract.She explains why it is so important to place the domestic abuse survivors the charity supports at the centre of any partnership discussions, and how MyCWA is able to withdraw from negotiations that are not in survivors’ best interests with no hard feelings.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 Burt and Emily Harle to reflect on three significant sector stories from the past month.Emily Burt shares her perspective on concerns raised by small charity representatives following the news of a restructure at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.Lucinda considers the findings of the Charities Aid Foundation’s UK Giving Report, and asks whether falling levels of individual donations point to the need for a strategic shift in fundraising.And Emily Harle provides details of an experimental AI agent that has raised £500 for a London Marathon runner.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 Downie, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis.Matt provides insight into Crisis’ plan to buy a thousand homes in the next decade and become a landlord for people experiencing homelessness.He shares his view that the voluntary sector is entering a ‘third wave’, which will require businesses and wider society to play a part in solving social problems, and questions the value that charitable status offers to social purpose organisations.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.

**Content warning: This episode contains references to suicide and sexual abuse**Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by safeguarding specialist Joanna Nicolas and Sebastian Rocca, founder and chief executive of the LGBTQI refugee support organisation Micro Rainbow.Joanna identifies some of the most common safeguarding challenges facing voluntary organisations, which principally stem from the power imbalance between a charity’s trustees, staff and volunteers and its service users.Sebastian describes how Micro Rainbow is approaching safeguarding in the face of increasing hostility towards the groups it supports. He explains why he no longer perceives the identification of a safeguarding issue to be a failure on the part of the organisation.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 Stephen Roberts, chief executive of North Devon Hospice, to discuss the organisation’s response to some of the challenges facing the hospice sector.Stephen explains why the charity is aiming to reduce its dependence on legacies and how it encourages innovation in its fundraising work.He stresses the importance of factoring local need into ideas for new income opportunities, which has led to the opening of a lucrative dog-walking field on land belonging to the hospice. He shares his tactics for gaining trustee approval for new ideas and describes how a focus on positive psychology has improved the culture at North Devon Hospice.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 Emma Turner, chief executive of Mind in Croydon.Emma lays bare the operational realities of meeting soaring service demand in the face of cuts to local authority and integrated care system budgets, which form the bulk of Mind in Croydon’s income.She explains how the charity has formed partnerships with other local organisations at the instigation of commissioners, enabling all parties to innovate and find new solutions to collective 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Burt  are joined by Richard Angell, chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, and Rupert Whitaker, psychiatrist, immunologist and co-founder of the charity. They discuss the legacy of fellow co-founder Martyn Butler, who died on 21 February, remembering the use of his home telephone number as the charity’s first support line in the early 1980s.Rupert shares his memories of Martyn as an organiser and driving force in the organisation’s early days and reflects on the ebbs and flows of their involvement with the THT over 44 years.Richard shares his perspective on the role played by both co-founders in keeping the THT at the cutting edge, rather than falling into the common trap for charity founders of idealising times past.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.

Host Lucinda Rouse is joined by Third Sector colleagues Emily Burt, Emily Harle and Andy Ricketts to reflect on three significant sector stories from the past month.Emily Burt draws attention to recent cases of charities declining to voluntarily recognise workers’ unions. She questions the likely trajectory for union action in the sector in the face of increasingly challenging working conditions.Andy outlines different ways that charities are attempting to inform AI-generated Google search summaries and explains why this is important.And Emily Harle provides context to regulatory investigations into Stoke Air Ambulance, which advertised free helicopter rides for volunteers and supporters despite having no provision for air transportation at the time.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.

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.