Charities should be brave and speak truth to power in their communications, without fear of funding being cut, the audience at an event yesterday heard.
Becky Slack, director of Agenda consulting, said she has had many conversations with organisations “wanting to be brave” in their communications but feeling unable to do so.
Many ‘won’t say anything vaguely contentious out of fear’
Slack urged organisations to try new things with their communication strategies, but said that some charities might be hesitant to do so, for fear of putting “funding at risk”.
She said several organisations she has worked with “won’t say anything even vaguely contentious because they dare not” as their “funding could be called into question, especially if they’ve received funding from the government”.
“It’s difficult and I absolutely disagree with that approach. I think that charities should be able to speak truth to power - that’s what the sector is here for.”
Charities should tap into their audience’s self-interest
Slack said organisations need to tap into people’s self-interest in their communications.
“If we want to bring more people into social justice and equality movements, we need to work with their self-interest,” she began.
She gave the example of Macmillan Cancer Support, who she said asked why its supporters participated in its World’s Biggest Coffee Morning fundraiser.
“Rather than saying we want to support people who have cancer, and that it’s for charity, most people said we really like getting together with our mates and having a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. And so they completely rebranded as the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning and they tapped into the Great British Bake Off vibe about bake sales, teas and coffee and the campaign went absolutely through the roof and has been record-breaking.”
Vic Barlow, co-owner and director of Agenda, said it is also important to know who an organisation’s audience is and whether this might change in the future.
She said “if the pollsters are to be believed” there may be a Labour government in a year’s time or a decreased Conservative majority.
Therefore, it could be worth organisations connecting with Labour MPs or councillors and making friends across the political spectrum to help further their reach.
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