Third Sector Podcast

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Mark Russell, chief executive of The Children’s Society.Mark speaks openly about the challenges of leading a major charity through half a decade of polycrisis and the toll it has taken on his mental health.He stresses the need for chief executives to act as role models in maintaining boundaries between work and personal life, and the critical role of boards in supporting exhausted charity bosses.He explains how The Children’s Society’s biggest ever fundraising appeal, which will launch in the spring and aims to raise £100m by 2030, is grounded in its conviction that every child deserves a good childhood. Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Stuart Pearson, head of innovation at Citizens Advice Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford, and Zoe Amar, founder of the digital consultancy Zoe Amar Digital.Stuart explains how Citizens Advice developed Caddy, an internal-facing AI-powered chatbot that provides information to the charity’s advisers and eases demand on supervisors fielding high volumes of requests.Zoe sheds light on the skills gap preventing some charities from progressing with AI adoption. She outlines the principles of using AI responsibly and ensuring its roll-out is consistent with organisational values.They both stress the importance of continuing human involvement, from the development to the implementation of AI tools to support the delivery of charitable services.Further readingZoe’s article on disintermediationThe Citizens Advice Caddy toolZoe Amar Digital’s AI Leadership Essentials videos Research on the success rates of AI pilots by the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyEmily’s feature: How can charities combat misinformation? Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Emma Revie, co-chief executive of Trussell, and the strategy and change management specialist Martyn Drake.Emma explains why Trussell’s mission statement has been altered to place the provision of food aid second to its aim of eliminating the need for food banks. She stresses the need to work with others to drive systems change and shares her belief that resources should never be taken away from long-term solutions in order to provide a temporary fix.Martyn shares examples of other charities that have recognised the need to change strategic direction to avoid being enablers of the problems they are trying to solve.He describes the importance of granting staff at all levels of an organisation the autonomy to work flexibly with other partners in order to achieve shared goals.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Ruth Marvel, chief executive of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, to talk about the charity’s new impact measurement framework.Ruth describes the importance of a theory of change to guide DofE’s activities and inform the development of its measurement framework to test assumptions.She explains how using national open data sets for comparison purposes has helped make the process meaningful and cost-effective.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse visits the Dogs Trust’s head office to meet the charity’s chief executive, Owen Sharp.Owen talks about the recent restructure of Dogs Trust as part of a new strategy and shares some of the lessons he has learned from an ongoing redundancy process involving 300 staff.He gives his view on ways in which the voluntary sector could be responding differently to current instability, such as taking a less siloed approach to shared challenges.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.Subscribe to the Third Sector Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Toby Freeman, chief executive of the Robin Cancer Trust, and the charity finance and governance specialist Pesh Framjee.Toby shares his experiences of founding a charity to which he has a deep personal connection, and outlines the ways in which he is preparing the organisation for his departure.Pesh puts forward his view that founder’s syndrome is a relatively uncommon occurrence. He stresses the importance of succession-planning in founder-led charities and the need to nurture future leaders within the existing team.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.Subscribe to the Third Sector Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Nicole Sykes, director of policy, communications and research at the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales.They discuss some recent research by Lloyds Banking Group that found charities are the second-most trusted source of financial advice after family members. They consider how charities can best respond to the finding, and why it should be a cause for celebration.They cover a range of other topical issues affecting the sector, from the emergence of the impact economy to the need for charities to adapt to new ways of finding information with the advent of AI.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Natasha Friend and Robin Morgan-Chu, the director and chair respectively of the grantmaker Camden Giving, to discuss the merits and challenges of participatory grantmaking.Natasha describes how grantmaking decisions at Camden Giving have been devolved to panels of people with first-hand experience of the challenges the funding is seeking to address.Robin explains how the role of the board differs from more traditional funders, with a strong emphasis on safeguarding to support the frontline nature of the charity’s work and the way it makes decisions.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle summarise the contents of the recently-launched Civil Society Covenant between the government and civil society.They reflect on comments made by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, and consider what’s next for the charity-state relationship.Read our analysis: What will the Civil Society Covenant mean for charities?Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by are joined by Dan Lawes, co-chief executive of the youth democracy charity My Life My Say, to consider how charities working in all cause areas can interact effectively with younger people.Dan explains how My Life My Say engaged with brands including Tinder, Lime and Snapchat to promote its 'Give an X' campaign to encourage young people to vote in the 2024 general election as part of its wider youth outreach activities. He also provides his perspective on voluntary sector leadership as a younger-than-average chief executive.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts  are joined by Nihara Krause, chief executive of the youth mental health charity Stem4, to talk about the organisation’s quest for long-term sustainability in the face of falling grant income.Nihara describes the challenges faced by Stem4 in developing partnership and merger prospects, as the charity has sought to stay afloat since the Covid-19 pandemic.She outlines the internal changes made to commercialise some of the charity’s products and foster a more entrepreneurial mindset, with a greater focus on profit.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Gary Laybourne, chief executive of the sports coaching apprenticeship charity Coach Core.Gary outlines some of the voluntary sector roles that are compatible with existing apprenticeship schemes and explains the practicalities of taking on an apprentice.He describes ways in which charities can offset the cost and commitments associated with taking on an apprentice, including through corporate partners and sharing a role with another organisation.Find the government’s guidance on employing an apprentice here and Not Going to Uni resources here. Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse hears from some of the speakers at Third Sector: The Conference 2025, which was held at the Barbican Centre in London this week (18 and 19 June).They are: Sarah Hughes, chief executive of Mind; Duncan Bootland and Ian Howick, medical director and executive director of corporate services at the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex; Nadia Alomar, chief executive of Clore Social Leadership; Amar Abbas, chief executive of Youth Action; Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of the Royal Voluntary Service; and James Fletcher, chair of the KFC Youth Foundation.Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.Listen back to:Nadia Alomar on developing the right leaders for the modern charity sectorKSS on the importance of building trustSarah Hughes on Mind, mental health and the role of charitiesCatherine Johnstone in: Are we on the brink of a volunteering boom?Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode contains a reference to suicide in the first two minutes.In November 2022, the transgender youth support charity Mermaids was in crisis. Caught up in a media storm over its chest binder service, compounded by internal governance and culture failings, a statutory inquiry was launched.In the third and final episode of When Charity Goes Wrong, Lucinda Rouse hears from Lauren Stoner, chief executive of Mermaids, about the impact of the 23-month inquiry into the charity.Mermaids service users Taylor and Oakley describe the realities of growing up as trans young people in a small town and the value to them of the charity’s youth advocacy network, Mango.Shivaji Shiva, a partner at the law firm VWV, considers the side-effects of being under a regulatory inquiry and the specific challenges encountered by charities working in polarising cause areas. And the Charity Commission’s chief executive, David Holdsworth, outlines the role of the regulator when two charities are pitted against each other.Written and presented by: Lucinda RouseProducer: Nav PalExecutive producer: Ollie PeartArt director: David Robinson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Victoria Askew, senior marketing campaign manager at Pancreatic Cancer UK, to hear about the organisation’s experience as the charity of the year at the 2025 TCS London Marathon.Vicky provides insight into PCUK’s winning bid and the 18-month preparation process that preceded the event in April. She outlines the charity’s approach to the stewardship of its runners’ fundraising efforts and the most effective forms of communication.She describes how the use of celebrity ambassadors combined with PCUK’s biggest ever PR stunt enabled the charity to maximise on the partnership opportunity.Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In April 2020, 99-year-old war veteran Captain Tom Moore became an unexpected national hero after raising £38.9m in less than four weeks by walking 100 laps of his garden. But his legacy quickly turned sour, leading to a very public fall for his family and the charity created in his name.In episode two of When Charity Goes Wrong, Lucinda Rouse hears from Hannah Ingram-Moore, daughter of Captain Sir Tom Moore and former interim chief executive of the Captain Tom Foundation.Her successor at the charity, Jack Gilbert, shares his perspective on the intellectual property dispute that contributed to its downfall.Liz Brownsell, a partner at the law firm Birketts, explains conflicts of interest and personal benefit in the context of charity law.And the Charity Commission’s chief executive, David Holdsworth, outlines how other charities can avoid the same damaging mishaps.Written and presented by: Lucinda RouseProducer: Nav PalExecutive producer: Ollie Peart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Janet Thorne, chief executive of Reach Volunteering, and Nathan Miller, director at the East London Waterworks Park.Janet provides context to Reach’s finding that volunteering is thriving, with notable growth among volunteer-led organisations with no paid staff. She stresses the importance of articulating a clear purpose to attract volunteers.Nathan explains how the ELWP structures its volunteer activities around thematic circles, allowing flexibility for volunteers to contribute their skills and develop their own roles while working towards a common goal.Listen to When Charity Goes Wrong.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In August 2015, one of the country’s most prominent children’s charities, Kids Company, was declared insolvent. Its collapse has been followed by almost a decade of legal wrangling as the charity’s trustees pushed back against regulatory findings of mismanagement.In episode one of When Charity Goes Wrong, Third Sector journalist Lucinda Rouse hears from Andy Gough, a former Kids Company centre manager, about the realities of working for the charity’s charismatic leader, the late Camila Batmanghelidjh.Philip Kirkpatrick, a partner at the law firm Bates Wells, charts Kids Company’s decline and questions how things could have turned out differently for the charity.And the Charity Commission’s chief executive, David Holdsworth, lays out the necessary ingredients for a successfully governed charity.Written and presented by: Lucinda RouseProducer: Nav PalExecutive producer: Ollie Peart Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Saskia Konynenburg, executive director of voice and impact at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and the volunteering strategist Gethyn Williams.Saskia describes the struggles reported by charities in recruiting and retaining volunteers, in the face of a growing preference for more informal roles with less rigid commitments.She suggests ways charities can attract new volunteers by showcasing their values on social media, and stresses the importance of communicating effectively with virtual volunteers.Gethyn outlines ways in which charities can use digital solutions to grow a charity’s volunteer base, improve its management systems and enhance the volunteer experience.Find out more about the Third Sector Awards here.Access the Digital in Volunteering Toolkit from the Association of Volunteer Managers, TeamKinetic and Gethyn Williams.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Russell Winnard, chief executive of the care leaver support charity the Drive Forward Foundation, to discuss the introduction of a new model to guide the organisation's corporate partnerships.Russell explains how a combination of insufficient partnership income and the need for more joined-up pathways to employment opportunities for the charity’s service users prompted it to rethink its approach to working with businesses.He stresses the importance of researching corporate priorities and warns of the risk of being drawn into partnership arrangements that service a company’s needs more than the charity’s bottom line.Find out more about the Third Sector Conference here.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.