It’s been a tough summer for charities in the media. From executive pay to fundraising practices, the third sector is experiencing a level of scrutiny they are unused to (and some would say unprepared for). In July, our research with the general public, the Charity Awareness Monitor (CAM), found that almost half (49%) of people recalled having seen media coverage about charity fundraising methods.
How to feel confident around journalists bombarding you with difficult questions?
Anna Wates explores polling techniques, and why prediction can sometimes be a fool’s game
Opinion pollsters don’t have an enviable job. We regularly work with surveys and we know that it’s often an inexact science. Trying to capture how the public feel about a subject is not an easy thing and depends on finding the right people to talk to, asking them the right question, in the right setting and at the right time.
As it's the season of goodwill, we're giving away The 12 Insights of Christmas. They look at some of the key issues facing the charity sector and include research, interviews and advice from charities and from us. Unwrap our 12 free reports just in time for Christmas.
World Mental Health Day was on the 10th of October, so here is a topical tour of the way mental health charities are tackling stigma and battling some misleading media stories.
The Sun newspaper stormed straight into the spotlight just a few days before World Mental Health Day with the blaring headline ‘1200 killed by mental patients’. It referred to homicide victims who were murdered by so called ‘mental patients over the past ten years. These figures glared angrily out of newsagents’ windows across the UK, emanating shame and stigma for those affected by mental health issues.
It expressed exactly the attitudes that charities like Rethink Mental Illness and Mind are constantly battling to change; the notion that people with mental health problems are somehow dangerous and unlike the rest of us.
In actual fact, one in four people in the UK live with a mental health condition. Many bear their struggles silently. They are so intent on hiding it for fear of discrimination that you can’t always tell when somebody is struggling.
Before this, I wrote a piece on why it's important to blog. Although I meant it as a few quick notes, it actually turned into a blog of its own and inexplicably mentioned sky diving. Hopefully, it also explained a few reasons why blogging is beneficial and how it’s really easy to get started. So, eager with endeavour and sufficiently seized of blogging’s benefits, you’ll no doubt be chomping at the bit to get some ideas down on paper. So, what's the best way to get started?