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What key skills do charity professionals need to stay relevant and effective? What have you learned from working with podcast guests? Should charity professionals have communications training as part of their onboarding process? In this final episode, the tables are turned and Zac gets interviewed by Rebecca Dallimore. Rebecca was the Chair of Trustees for the Charity Professional Development Company and is the Corporate Liaison Officer with SEED Madagascar. You can find out more about Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccadallimore/ And you can stay in touch with Zac on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zwparsons/ // REFLECTION A request that you continue to try to contribute more to your cause. // RESOURCES Rapoport's Rules https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Rapoport%27s_Rules Organisations that support charities: Charity Learning Consortium https://charitylearning.org/ CharityConnect https://www.charityconnect.co.uk/ Cornerstone Foundation https://www.cornerstoneondemand.org/ Cranfield Trust https://www.cranfieldtrust.org/ Directory of Social Change https://www.dsc.org.uk/ Ethical Angel https://www.ethicalangel.com/ The Fore https://thefore.org/ Getting on Board https://www.gettingonboard.org/ Matchable https://wearematchable.com/ Media Trust https://mediatrust.org/ NCVO https://www.ncvo.org.uk/ NPC https://www.thinknpc.org/ Philanthropy University https://www.philanthropyu.org/ Pilotlight https://www.pilotlight.org.uk/ Rogare https://www.rogare.net/ TrustLaw https://www.trust.org/trustlaw/ The Whole Story https://www.thewholestory.org.uk/ Journals focusing on the charity sector: Nonprofit Management & Leadership https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15427854/homepage/productinformation.html Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly https://journals.sagepub.com/home/nvs Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/26911361 Philanthropy & Education https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/833 VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations https://www.springer.com/journal/11266 Voluntary Sector Review https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/vsr/vsr-overview.xml?tab_body=latest-issue // CHAPTERS (0:00) Intro (1:40) Why is the Contribute More podcast ending? (3:50) What key skills do charity professionals need to stay relevant and effective? (5:27) How can charity professionals stay on top of growing their skillset with limited time and skills? (9:07) What have you learned from working with podcast guests? (12:07) Were all of your guests addressing the barriers of time and money? (13:36) Is there anything you want to explore further following hosting the podcast? (16:41) Should charity professionals have communications training as part of their onboarding process? (19:10) Should charity professionals be asking for professional development to be written into employment contracts? (30:10) Zac gets on his soapbox about unrestricted funding (23:26) Outro (25:03) Reflection

How can co-creation lead to more successful projects? How do you avoid being tokenistic? How do you check your ego? When should you not co-create? In this episode, you’ll hear from Madi Pollard-Shore, a Business Analyst at Girlguiding and a charity consultant. You can find out more about Madi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-pollard-shore/ Or her website, Kalechi Consulting: https://www.kalechiconsulting.co.uk/ Contribute More is hosted by Zac Parsons. Find out more about him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zwparsons/ // REFLECTION Have a conversation with a colleague about the extent to which you currently co-create with your service users. Could your work benefit from co-creation? What small projects do you have in the pipeline that could pilot co-creation? // RESOURCES Girlguiding: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/ // CHAPTERS (0:00) Intro (1:00) What is co-creation and inclusivity in decision-making? (2:02) How does co-creation inclusivity help us contribute more to our cause? (5:58) What are the alternatives to co-creation and why are they problematic? (8:45) How do I deliver a co-creation project? (11:45) Why recording learning is good, but using that learning is better (14:08) How do you avoid being tokenistic in co-creation projects? How do you select a representative sample? (18:32) Dealing with service users telling you your service isn’t good enough (22:09) What types of projects aren’t appropriate for co-creation? (30:10) Key takeaways (27:54) Outro (28:27) Reflection

How do you genuinely involve the community in project design, implementation, and monitoring? How do you avoid courtesy bias in needs assessments? How do you balance short-term needs with longer-term prosperity? In this episode, you’ll hear from Olivia Barker White, a Co-Founder and the CEO of Kids Club Kampala. You can find out more about Olivia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-barker-white-06102a17/ Or by following her on X: https://twitter.com/oliviambarker Contribute More is hosted by Zac Parsons. Find out more about him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zwparsons/ // REFLECTION Have a conversation with a colleague about how you involve key stakeholders. Do you think there are ways you could involve them more? Challenge yourself to consider whether you’re holding onto things you shouldn’t be because of ego or low expectations of your stakeholders. // RESOURCES Kids Club Kampala: https://www.kidsclubkampala.org/ For a summary of their independent evaluation: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/513cc55f82.html Four phases of project management: https://hbr.org/2016/11/the-four-phases-of-project-management // CHAPTERS (0:00) Intro (2:13) Why is a community-led approach important for Kids’ Club Kampala (6:54) Importance of understanding the problem (10:21) An overview of Kids’ Club Kampala’s approach to community-led development (14:04) Balancing short- and long-term needs (16:41) Solving for courtesy bias when performing needs assessments in international development (19:54) Being community-led during the implementation of projects (25:27) How to start being (more) community-led in your charity (28:54) Outro (30:10) Reflection

What makes a good charity shop location? Why should you never say that you don’t have competitors? How can you make better decisions? Why shouldn’t we dismiss the tools of the private sector? In this episode, you’ll hear from Caroline Glackin, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Broadwell College of Business and Economics. This conversation was based on a paper by Caroline and Burcu Adivar titled: Improving Location Decisions For Charity Retailers: Applying Operations Research and Customer Discovery The paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640221146934 You can find out more about Caroline on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolineglackin/ Or on her university’s faculty page: https://www.uncfsu.edu/academics/colleges-schools-and-departments/broadwell-college-of-business-and-economics/faculty-and-staff Contribute More is hosted by Zac Parsons. Find out more about him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zwparsons/ // REFLECTION Have a conversation with a colleague about how your organisation approaches decision-making. Do you ever discuss how you’ll make a decision? Do you consider which criteria are and aren’t relevant to the decision? Do you regularly identify and weigh up trade-offs? // RESOURCES Habitat for Humanity ReStores: https://www.habitat.org/restores Business model canvas: https://www.strategyzer.com/library/the-business-model-canvas Mission model canvas: https://www.strategyzer.com/library/the-mission-model-canvas-an-adapted-business-model-canvas-for-mission-driven-organizations // CHAPTERS (0:00) Intro (2:13) Why does the framework use a business model and analytical approach? (6:30) Applying the business model canvas in a charity context (11:44) Centre of gravity analysis for choosing shop locations (13:19) Location of donors (16:59) Location of staff and volunteers (19:39) Location of customers (22:26) Location of competitors and direct vs indirect competitors (27:13) Choosing a location from a series of options using multi-criteria decision-making (34:07) Key takeaways (41:02) Outro (41:45) Reflection

Can risk management actively support achieving your objectives? Is it possible for risk management to feel less burdensome? What is objective-centred risk management? In this episode, you'll hear from Sabrina Segal, a third-sector integrity, risk, and compliance advisor. Find out more about Sabrina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smsegal/ Listen to Sabrina’s podcast, Tolerable Risk: https://open.spotify.com/show/65pY1B7VtpEYvtgQ1WXI3O?si=38571e5ce2dc4c0d Contribute More is hosted by Zac Parsons. Find out more about him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zwparsons/ // REFLECTION Have a conversation with a colleague about how useful your current approach to risk management is, and whether objective-centred risk management might better suit your needs. // RESOURCES ISO 31000: https://www.iso.org/iso-31000-risk-management.html To see Sabrina’s flower diagram: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6906894632501022721/ Tim Leech: https://riskoversightsolutions.com/ // CHAPTERS (0:00) Intro (1:43) Defining risk management (3:31) Hazards vs Threats (6:16) Why should I spend time on risk management? (8:16) Using the flower to map objectives and risks (10:15) Risk management as an integrated part of our charitable work (11:42) Objective-centred risk management vs traditional risk management (17:20) Likelihood and severity in traditional risk management vs objective-centred risk management (23:27) How do I prioritise risk mitigation without scoring risks? (29:54) Risk management tools don’t work if misused by managers (spoilers) (31:16) Costing risks and integrating risk management into decision-making (33:33) Ongoing risk management and objective certainty reporting (40:11) Key takeaways (45:00) Outro (46:11) Reflection