Good communications are integral to the running of a modern charity, particularly those operating nationally or internationally.
Advances in communication technology in recent years, such as improved video conferencing and mobile applications, have helped charities to stay in touch with employees wherever they are working.
Never stop learning
Hugh Duberly, chairman of the Papworth Trust and Adrian Bagg, CEO, discuss their big governance issues.
People are put off contacting a charity for support or advice if a charity is hard-to-contact, takes a long time to respond or asks for too much personal information, according to research by Connect Assist.
Oxfam has published a digital edition of its report, Growing a Better Future: Food Justice in a resource-constrained world, for Kindles and other readers, making it the first international non-governmental organisation to publish an eBook.
New Philanthropy Capital, CFDG and Acevo have launched a universal set of principles for impact reporting and are looking for feedback from chief executives, finance directors, fundraisers and grantmakers.
Peacebuilding charity International Alert has commissioned a dramatic campaign film to demonstrate the power of dialogue in bringing peace in the face of violence.
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is considering employing public relations experts to raise its own profile in a bid to improve public trust and confidence in the sector, it has advised.
Poppyscotland, administrator of the Scottish Poppy Appeal, has appointed a design agency to reposition the iconic symbol as a year-round fundraising tool and dispel associations with the two world wars.
The phone-hacking scandal holds some clues as to why the Big Society has struggled to get off the ground. But the rapidly-shifting media landscape offers great opportunities for campaigners, says Robert Ashton.
A newspaper has gained access to and published a charity's confidential information, is this legal and can it be prevented?
Model email and internet policy
In response to a postbag query in the March issue of Governance on the misuse of the internet, William Garnett recommended that organisations should have an email and internet policy.
Sam Younger has reiterated the Charity Commission’s belief that charities need to be more honest about their administration costs, warning that sector leaders should not “bury their heads in the sand”.
Charities Aid Foundation has appointed Paul Rees, the National Housing Federation's head of campaigns and communications, to replace Mark Webster as director of communications following his exit in January.
More than a third of senior communications professionals in the charity sector feel the role of communications is not valued by their organisation because the chief executive does not understand the role it has to play, according to a new report by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ voluntary sector group, Fifth Estate and Amazon PR.
Registered arts and media charity the Rural Media Company has completed a series of films highlighting best practice in support for the elderly as part of a campaign to improve services to the over 50’s.
Terrence Higgins Trust has combined its fundraising and communications departments in an effort to strengthen its voice and boost its fundraising capacity.
The Bankers Benevolent Fund has changed its name to the Bank Workers’ Charity in a bid to distance itself from the negative connotations associated with the word ‘banker’ and the outdated perceptions of the word ‘benevolent’.
Development charity Excellent Development has rebranded as Excellent.
The Alzheimer’s Research Trust has relaunched as Alzheimer’s Research UK as a new poll reveals that people fear dementia more than death.
Acevo is struggling to put the Impact Coalition on a sustainable financial footing and is planning to review its patronage of the project.
Fifth Estate, the voluntary sector group of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, is conducting a survey to assess the extent to which senior communications professionals are allowed to help set strategy within their charities.
Save the Children has launched what it describes as its most ambitious campaign ever, in a bid to prevent eight million children dying each year from preventable causes.
The Charities Aid Foundation has been left without a communications director following the exit of Mark Webster to concentrate on his freelance career.
Martyn Lewis, the new chair of NCVO, has criticised the UK national media for its lack of coverage of the voluntary sector.
YMCA Glasgow has rebranded as Y People in a similar move to YMCAs in America which rebranded as the Y earlier this year.
Charities that plan to take on greater levels of public service delivery should prepare themselves for much closer scrutiny by the national media, delegates at the Acevo national conference were warned this morning.
Charities should recruit more unemployed volunteers, but need to tackle benefits myth, advises charity PR guru Ingrid Marson.
Acevo has secured pro bono advice from the world’s biggest PR agency to help the sector mount a robust defence against negative media coverage of issues like fundraising costs or CEOs’ salaries.
Acevo chief executive Stephen Bubb has written a stern letter to the CEOs of the top 50 fundraising charities challenging their reluctance to defend the sector on last week’s Newsnight programme about face-to-face fundraising.
Rethink’s challenge to the Press Complaints Commission about the Daily Mail's coverage on mental health has been resolved after the newspaper published a letter from the charity's chief executive.
Janet Street Porter's recent article entitled 'Depression? It's just the new trendy illness!' sparked 358 comments at the last count. Niki May Young has one more to add.
