Anyone reading the charity news this month will have seen the furore caused by Giles Pegram’s comments about women in fundraising. They were made in response to concerns raised about The Summit, a conference to discuss the future of fundraising that included just one female speaker alongside nine male counterparts.

As a result, The Summit was cancelled and he issued an immediate apology, while almost everyone else spoke in equal measure of their respect for him and disdain for his opinion. This got me thinking, as nfpSynergy’s Twitterer-in-Chief, about the dangers we face using this powerful tool. What is best practice and how can charities tread carefully in this digital minefield?

1. A Hidden Gem - Resilience report from the Clore Social Leadership Programme

I talked to somebody last week from an overseas development charity which was busy preparing for its 40th anniversary. Not 50th, not 25th, but 40th. This is not unusual. Charities seem to be obsessed with celebrating anniversaries. It doesn’t have to be a particularly significant anniversary, but it does have to be celebrated. For me, charities celebrating anniversaries makes about as much sense as hedgehogs celebrating a new bypass. 

• Top UK charities “punch above weight” re Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - compared with private sector giants.
• “Social media is ‘the great leveller’ in communications, with many smaller charities outshining larger ones – some even excelling huge retailers and big business” says Saxton

The Royal British Legion, RSA and Comic Relief are the top three UK-based charities with the largest “social media presence” - in terms of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube engagement - according to a major briefing out today.

The Charity Media Monitor is a regular poll of journalists run by nfpSynergy. We survey journalists twice a year, asking which charities have impressed them, how charities can get their stories into the media, the best ways for charities to contact journalists, and much more. It’s designed to help not-for-profits sharpen their media work and make better use of their limited resources.

Not for profit think-tank nfpSynergy has teamed up with The ImpACT Coalition to produce a free, short, practical report and guide that will empower charities to formulate and communicate simple messages, including pithy pub facts, needed to dispel a range of debilitating misperceptions their stakeholders may have, both about themselves and the wider third sector.