Our weekly round-up of interesting and outlandish information, collected from the corners of the charity sector.
Top Gere
Oh, Richard Gere. Those of a certain generation will remember Richard Gere fondly, perhaps even amorously, as not just a fine actor but also as something of a dreamboat. This was of course before all the bizarre rumours about his, er, ‘personal life’ began circulating. But enough of that.
Earlier in the month, Diary heard that Richard ‘Tiffany’ Gere (his actual middle name) visited the head offices of homelessness charity Crisis to meet with its beneficiaries and with Jon Sparkes, its chief executive.
Now, the cynical among us could say that this was all something of a PR stunt – that Gere is partnering with Crisis this month due to the UK release of his new film Time Out of Mind, in which he plays a homeless man living on the streets of New York – but Diary has no time for such negativity! The actor’s been an advocate for charitable causes for longer than many of Diary's editorial colleagues have been alive.
Besides, he was fantastic in Pretty Woman and, even at 66 years of age, he’s still got something about him… Diary loves a silver fox.
Top dogs
Diary was delighted to stumble across the RSPCA's announcement of the winners of its third annual ‘Ruffs competition’.
Ah Ruffs, the awards for "happy and healthy” dogs. Aka, everyone’s favourite “alternative dog competition”. Just like Crufts, but without the national television cameras and grown men in tweed three-piece suits, and with (debatably) uglier dogs.
Because, let’s face it, at the end of the day this is basically what Ruffs is for, right? Saying a dog is ‘healthy’ is pretty much akin to telling your colleague that their baby has 'character' when they show you pictures of it on their phone. Saying a dog is the UK’s ‘happiest hound’ is much the same as giving a child a ‘participation trophy’ for finishing last in all the races at the school athletics day.
In the press release for Ruffs, the RSPCA’s 'dog welfare expert' Lisa Richards is actually quoted as saying: “We think dog shows should prioritise the health, welfare and happiness of dogs over their looks and that’s why we launched our alternative competition, Ruffs.”
Irrefutable proof! Or should that be: ‘irrefutable woof’…
Animal charity cruelty and Dad jokes aside, a full list of the worthy winners can be found here. Diary is very much of the opinion that every dog should have its day and some of these stories would melt even the iciest of hearts.
The ‘too-much-time’ Top Trumps
Anyone who gets their news fix digitally will know by now that the comments section on a digital news story is often a bit like Joseph Konrad’s metaphorical heart of darkness. It’s often where the loonies come crawling out of the woodwork to anonymously spew a bizarre mixture of un-contextualised conspiracy theories, prejudicial hate-rants and just generally bad banter.
While some news organisations suffer from this worse than others – a quick look at the comments section on a Daily Mail story will, in this column’s opinion, destroy your faith in humanity – even Diary’s very own home, Civil Society News’ comments section sometimes gets hijacked by people with ulterior motives.
And lo, during the week, Joe Saxton, director of nfpSynergy and Barney Mynott, head of public affairs at Navca, chose the digital comments section of a Civil Society News story to playfully joust with one another.
“Does anyone else feel that at times nfpSynergy are what the True and Fair Foundation would be with better PR?” fired Mynott.
“Oh come Barney,” retorted Saxton, leading with the jab. “Can’t we at least be what True and Fair would be with better research, better brains, more beautiful staff, nicer offices, better PR and a decent understanding of the charity sector and a more honest name.”
“Yeah, I was being a bit tongue in cheek,” replied Mynott, but the germ of an idea had already been planted and, so, nfpSynergy ‘Top Trumps’ was born.
This column can’t help but think that the good people at nfpSynergy mustn’t have enough on their plates at the moment, if they’re busily coming up with games on the fly like this.
