The latest episode of the Third Sector Podcast looks at Facebook.
The social media giant has become even more important as a fundraising tool since the coronavirus pandemic struck, but a growing number of charities are asking whether giving money to an organisation that has been criticised for allowing fake news and hate speech to proliferate on its platforms can be compatible with charitable values.
Third Sector’s senior reporter, Stephen Delahunty, explored this issue in the most recent edition of the magazine.
He catches up with Sarah Clarke, head of membership at CharityComms, and charity digital expert Zoe Amar to find out how the situation has developed.
Features and analysis writer Rebecca Cooney and editor Emily Burt discuss Charity Commission chair Baroness Stowell’s recent comments about the National Trust.
And, as ever, they unwrap their coronavirus care package – this month’s good news stories from the sector.
These include:
- Sarah Atkinson’s tweet in response to being told she didn’t have “a CEO look”. She posted a picture of herself with her baby daughter alongside the hashtag #ThisIsWhatACEOLooksLike. The post was retweeted more than 1,000 times and received almost 16,000 likes, with hundreds of chief executives using the hashtag to share their own images.
- Phil Heckels from Worthing, who raised £20,000 for Sussex-based homelessness charity Turning Tides with his “crappy” drawings of people’s pets.
- The Great North Air Ambulance Service’s trial use of jet suits to enable paramedics to reach injured people in remote locations far more quickly than they could on foot.
- St David’s Hospice in Llandudno – the Welsh town that caught the global spotlight after a herd of goats descended on it from the Great Orme during lockdown. The charity created a range of goat-related merchandise, including T-shirts, hoodies and limited-edition goat toys to ease its Covid-19 fundraising crisis, and has raised £120,000 so far.
- The RNIB has made a pregnancy test prototype that would enable women with sight loss to know their result privately. The product features a large, tactile button that becomes raised when the result is positive, meaning users will no longer need another person to help them take a test.
- Max Woosey, a 10-year-old boy who has raised more than £86,000 for the North Devon Hospice by sleeping outside for more than 200 days – in a tent left to him by a family friend “to have adventures in”.
You can listen to the podcast below:
This episode of the Third Sector podcast is sponsored by Markel UK.
Although it’s been a difficult year for everyone, you’d struggle to find a sector that’s been more on the front line than the care sector.
That’s why, from the get-go of the COVID-19 pandemic, Markel’s priority has been going above and beyond to make sure its care customers felt supported so they could focus on doing what they do best.
If you have comments on this edition of the podcast, please let us know your thoughts on Twitter at @thirdsector or email us at thirdsector@haymarket.com.