Radio station focused on volunteers and fundraisers to launch this weekend 

14 May 2021 News

Charitable Radio will launch on 16 May with JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving as partners.

The station aims to promote the work of volunteers, fundraisers and charities. It will broadcast a soundtrack of late 70s to present day pop music.

As a social enterprise, Charitable Radio will aim to accumulate £100,000 of surplus profit that will be given back to the sector via an application process. These applications will be assessed by a panel of invited patrons.

It is part of Melissa Tilling’s social enterprise family, which also includes Charitable Shopping, Charitable Travel and Charitable PR & Podcasts. Tilling founded the organisations after career in private enterprise. 

Charitable Radio's other co-founders include Sean Tighe, who has worked in radio for over twenty-five years; Jon Holling, an on-air presenter and programmer; Carrie Mosley, who has been in commercial and managing leadership roles for over twenty years; and Ali Nicholls, an expert in partnerships.

Sharing fundraisers' stories

JustGiving and Charitable Radio will launch their segment Fundraising Fridays on 21 May which picks out a fundraiser from the JustGiving community and shares their story on air. 

Sophie Greig, head of brand at JustGiving, said: “We’re very excited to join forces with Charitable Radio. With around 89% of the population tuning into radio every week, we look forward to being able to share with listeners the stories of amazing humans doing incredible things for the causes they care about. 

“Charitable Radio’s vision to give a voice to all charity fundraising initiatives, big and small, and celebrate their amazing achievements is one we are fully behind.”

Fundraisers are invited to reach out to JustGiving and Charitable Radio on Twitter with the with hashtag #FundraisingFridays, to say what fundraising they have been doing and why they would like to be interviewed on the weekly segment.

Breakfast show 

Virgin Money Giving will sponsor a regular breakfast show, Brighter Mornings, which hopes to inspire more people to start fundraising.

They will also partner on a feature called Morning Motivation on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, featuring a guest sharing their stories with an emphasis on sport, nutrition or mental health.

Jo Barnett, executive director at Virgin Money Giving, said: “Our show, Brighter Mornings, will be an uplifting start to your day and we hope it will inspire even more people to start fundraising or just feel-good giving, their way.”

Virgin Money Giving is also the official fundraising partner of the Virgin Money London Marathon and is offering Charitable Radio listeners the chance to participate in the event in October 2021. 

It is offering two entries, one for the mass event and one for the virtual event. 

Where to listen

Presenter and broadcaster Nick Ede, who has featured on Good Morning Britain and Lorraine, will kick off Charitable Radio’s programming with Ede’s Sunday Lunch at 11am this Sunday.

The station can be streamed over the internet via smart phones, tablets, PCs and laptops. Listeners can tune into the station from any device including the Amazon Alexa service. It plans to add an Android and IOS apps, as well as CarPlay integration in the coming months.

Charitable Radio is only licenced for its music to be played in the UK.

Charitable Radio is not currently playable from DAB or FM devices. It says the decision to not be included on these platforms was taken because the licence fee attached would have detracted from Charitable Radio’s charitable aims.

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