Third Sector Podcast

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 executiv...

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 ...

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 an...

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 chie...

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 v...

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 workin...

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 volunt...

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 ...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Lynne Guyton, chief executive of John Lyon’s Charity, and Sacha Rose-Smith, chief funding director at the City Bridge Foundation.

Lynne describes the realities for a grantmaker that has gone from being a nice-to-have to an essential funding pot. She explains why John Lyon’s Charity did not consider it responsible to pause funding and outlines the alternative ways it has navigated the surge...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Dan Tickle, chief executive of the National Migraine Centre, and Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK.

Dan recounts how the National Migraine Centre adopted a social enterprise model to deliver its services in the face of declining voluntary income and expanded its patient offering in the process.

Peter echoes Dan’s assertion that one of the biggest changes needed for a...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Ben Williamson, director of recruitment at the incubator organisation Charity Entrepreneurship.

Ben outlines the different ways of modelling, tracking and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of direct delivery and systems change programmes.

He explains why it can pay off to apply the risk appetite of a start-up entrepreneur to voluntary sector initiatives, and potential ways of communicating...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Iain Heaton, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer at the Blue Cross, and Tiggy McCool, partner at the management consultancy Nine Feet Tall.

Iain describes how the Blue Cross implemented major changes to its animal rehoming services, starting with the closure of four rehoming centres in response to Covid-19-related financial pressures. 

He recounts the charity’s su...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Claire Goodwin-Fee, chief executive of the psychological support organisation Frontline19, to consider the mental health challenges facing charity leaders.

They discuss recent research by Fair Collective, in which 85 per cent of participating small charity leaders said their mental health had been negatively affected by their work.

Claire describes her own experiences of burnout in Frontlin...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Philip Goodwin, chief executive of Unicef UK, to discuss the realities facing international development and humanitarian charities following announced reductions in overseas development assistance by the US, UK and other European governments.

Philip stresses the need to communicate with the public on the sector’s achievements and explain the importance of foreign aid as an investment in do...

Lucinda Rouse and Emily Harle are joined by Louise Harris, chief operating officer of the homelessness charity Crisis, to learn about successful and meaningful approaches to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the voluntary sector.

Louise outlines the importance for organisations working in the social justice space to treat DEI as a strategic issue as well as a people one, with accountability mechanisms included in monitori...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Claire Gauci, public safety campaigns and programme manager at the Canal and River Trust, and Emily Rayner, senior consultant at the behaviour change and communications agency Claremont.

Claire describes how a video intended to educate teenagers about water safety fell flat, prompting the charity to adopt a co-design approach involving a youth group in Wigan.

She explains how the process l...

Lucinda Rouse and Andy Ricketts are joined by Okela Douglas-Norgrove, chief executive of Sister System, which supports young women and girls who have been affected by the care system.

Okela outlines how Sister System has grown since its formation in 2018 in partnership with 17 care leavers. She describes some of the challenges of co-creating the charity’s strategy with its service users, including additional time and resource demand...

Acting editor Andy Ricketts and senior reporter Emily Harle are joined by Emma Guise, director of marketing and communications at Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

Emma talks through the reasons behind the charity’s first rebrand since 2017, what it was hoping to achieve and how it will measure its success. 

She discusses how the charity worked to update its brand for a new digital era and reveals her top tips for charities ...

Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale are joined by Keith Wilson, director of income and engagement at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

Keith explains how depressed fundraising revenues during the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a major restructure that saw corporate, community and individual fundraising roles merged into supporter engagement officers.

He describes how removing income targets and scaling back one-off, transactional...