It took over six months to get a meeting with him, but when we met we had a lively conversation about the role funders should play in skilling up and training the people to whom they give grants to help them capture their stories.

That conversation was nearly four years ago and although a little progress has been made in the funding environment in the intervening years – for example, I have been involved in some marketing and digital media training work with grantees – in general I still believe much more needs to be done.

I met the director of another large funder recently and she felt exactly the same, although lots of discussion on this topic is taking place.

As we all acknowledge, the next few years are going to be extremely tough and there will be more organisations applying for fewer grants. I think it’s the responsibility of grant funders to ensure that organisations are equipped with the skills to tell their stories.

Communications, marketing and digital skills shouldn’t be seen as a nice extra but an important part of the support that is provided. This will give people confidence to keep their stories alive once the funding runs out.

The question is – when organisations write up their funding bids, should they put training as a small part of their budget? Or should it be offered as part of the support package a funder offers?

I think that funders should make it a requirement of accepting a grant that recipients are compelled to keep a blog, capture photographs or produce some kind of content which they should be able to use online. In turn, the charity or community group can use this content for their own marketing, communcations and profile raising.

I know for many charities, particularly smaller ones, this kind of content gathering will be seem as a big ask, especially with feedback forms and other paperwork to fill in, but I have a sneaky feeling that this will be a key part of impact reporting in the year ahead.

I think both parties will benefit hugely, as long as they know how to maximise this content.

Last year I was the very proud recipient of a series of grants for a pilot project I delivered offering a respite break in London for carers. In the budget I included the cost for a professional photographer to capture the trip and other content.

Unprompted, I offered multmedia content to all the funders and corporates who had been involved and most used it in some way – whether on their Facebook, websites or via their Twitter channel. In addition, different media channels including the BBC, The Guardian and regional outlets were delighted to take the content. A  real result as far as I’m concerned.

So in the year ahead I’d like:

- To see more funders offering ‘storytelling’ training, in whatever guise that might take, as part of their package for grant recipients. The long-term rewards will be a real benefit.

- To see funders cutting down written feedback forms to encourage different kinds of impact reporting.

- To see people apply for grants, including training, in their budgets so that they can ensure they have the right skills to tell their stories.

- For everyone, whether the funder or fundee, to recognise that there is simply no point in leaving photographs, video footage, or oral history content in an office to gathe dust, and to ensure that this material is used to maximise impact.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I know that many of you reading this aren’t necessarily based in London, but over the last 18 months our free evening paper has been creating quite a stir in terms of how it campaigns on a particular issue. Last year it focused on exploring the stories behind poverty among Londoners through it’s ‘Dispossessed’ campaign.

But it’s the Evening Standard’s award-winning Get London Reading campaign that has really been an inspiration, with lots of lessons to be learnt by us all.

Its aim was simple, to get London reading by raising awareness of literacy issues and by working in partnership with a charity that would train ordinary adults to go into London’s most deprived primary schools to provide one-on-one reading support for struggling pupils.

Their ask was also simple, “volunteer today, donate today – and change lives.”  People responded in their thousands. I would say the key things that have driven this campaign from its inception were its simple storytelling and powerful use of  case studies. But there are some other elements that have ensured it has made a real impact, despite the issue being what many might consider unexciting. Those elements are:

1. It has been passionate, emotional, thought provoking and moving

The daily digest of first-hand case studies about ordinary Londoners who have been affected by literacy issues moved me to tears. The articles captured  just what it means to be unable to read and write in a compelling way that made you want to keep reading. Every day there was a different case study highlighting the magnitude of the issue. I had simply not thought about it before. I am sure neither had many commuters.

2. It was unmissable – the campaign WAS the headline news

The editor put the campaign on the front page practically every day for months. It wasn’t sidelined to the middle pages but was a key part of their editorial. Pages of newspaper and online space were given to the campaign which allowed it to develop and breathe.

3. The right charity partnership

The Standard worked in partnership with Volunteer Reading Help, which trains volunteers to provide one-to-one reading in schools. So this wasn’t just a literacy awareness-raising and fundraising campaign. It was also encouraging volunteering.  Double tick!

4. Corporates were clambering to be involved…

….as were celebrities, members of the Royal Family and other high profile names, many of whom had their own story to tell.  It was fascinating to read about business people who had got to high positions without being able to read and write. For many of them, this was the first time they had been compelled to share their story.  These were extremely honest and sympathetic portraits – again, extremely powerful content.

5. They adopted a school

A lovely twist on adopting villages in developing countries or sponsoring children overseas.  This was in London, on our doorsteps, and people wanted to make a difference.

6. In it for the long haul

They have been running this campaign for months. Always with a different twist or a different angle. They’d make direct links to the lastest news stories to keep the campaign relevant.

I could probably write a thesis about this campaign.  It didn’t use any tricks or gimmicks. It just used first hand evidence to tell the story. It recently won the People’s Prize for Literacy Development at the Brit Writers’ Awards for its “inspirational contribution to the promotion of literacy and creative writing”. The judging panel said: “Of all the literacy projects and campaigns we considered, we felt that the Evening Standard’s campaign has had the highest impact and has been most effective in achieving the aim of getting people into reading and writing. The Standard has encouraged people at every level of society to get involved to make a tangible difference in their schools and communities.”

I couldn’t agree with them more.

Jude Habib is director of Sounddelivery

I don’t know whether it is the grey days or the early nights or the challenges of running my own organisation but I have to be honest, I’ve been feeling out of sorts recently and in search of inspiration.

Last week I found it in buckets at the House of Lords when I was attending the charity London Youth’s launch of Hunch: ‘A vision for youth in post austerity Britain’. This was a vision of a Britain that invested in the capabilities and character of the next generation.

There was a stellar line-up of third sector leaders including the CEO of London Youth Nick Wilkie and Lord Victor Adebowale, all championing the role of youth work and young people. As Lord Adebowale argued: “During a recession – youth services are first to go. We should be investing in young people.”

But it was London Youth trustee, 21-year-old  Francis Augusto, who was the highlight of the evening.  He came to the UK from Angola with his family to start a new life. But life was challenging and at the age of 13 he was going off the rails and was arrested for GBH. However, his life was turned around thanks to a special youth worker who supported him and encouraged him “to be the best he could be”.

He describes himself as “a prime example of what makes youth work such a great profession”, but says young people’s voices need to be heard.  He is now a student of sociology at Roehampton University – a mentor, leader and social entrepreneur, but most importantly an example of a voice that needs to be heard.

But, if I was feeling inspired so were many others in the room…

“Is it the wine? Or is it Francis’ passionate, first hand experience of great youth work? I feel fuzzy,” said a quote from Twitter. I wanted as many other people to hear his story.  So I picked up my trusty iPhone, managed to grab Frances from the crowd and recorded my own audioboo interview with him, uploaded it and tweeted it out.  Simple, immediate, straightforward and free.You can hear the audio interview in full here.

And it was that example of sharing a story to a wider audience which reminded me why I do what I do. There is still a real need to for charities like London Youth to tell their amazing stories to the broadest possible audience.  At sounddelivery, our aim is to give organisations the skills so that they can do this themselves, but on occasion they might need a helping hand and I felt privileged to be in that position last week.

Follow Jude on Twitter @sounddelivery @judehabib

On Saturday 12th November the BBC is inviting us to be part of a self-portrait of Britain by turning the camera on ourselves and recording something significant in our lives. This footage will then be used to create a time capsule of Britain, as well as a feature-length documentary, which will be screened on BBC2 next year in the run up to the London Olympics.

The idea is based on Life In A Day, the global, user-generated feature film, which included 80,000 videos that were submitted to YouTube by people all over the world, wherever they were and whatever they were doing. The result was a powerful and inspiring portrait of the world on a single day.

The production company behind it all, Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, have teamed up with the BBC and multi award-winning director Morgan Matthews in order to capture a snapshot of Britain in a day.

And that’s where you come in. This is a real opportunity for third sector organisations to get involved. At the heart of what the production team are looking for are honest, personal films that provide a real insight into life in the United Kingdom. I know you have access to amazing storytellers and this is their chance to get their voices heard.

They won’t need professional equipment – just the video on their phone or video facility on a digital
camera. If they don’t have this, think about how you can help them get access to a camera.

So how should you get started?

Think carefully about the story you are trying to capture and who you think would be the best
person or people to capture that.  Then focus on the story they are trying to tell and how they use the
camera to capture that story. Encourage them to think about how they can show the story rather than
just tell it. As the final result is a TV documentary, pictures are as important as words. Make it personal, meaningful and in the present tense where possible.

So, for example, if you know an asylum seeker who can show what is meaningful about Britain to them or you are working with carers who can show the truth of their day by filming it fly-on-the-wall style, please do encourage them to film their day on 12 November.

The Britain in A Day website launches today and will provide hints, tips and ideas to inspire you to get
involved. And if you use Twitter you can find updates from the project #britaininaday

I for one cannot wait to be part of it and I’m hoping that many of you will be approaching your own
networks to get involved.

Good luck!

This week marks Jewish New Year and although I’m not religious, it an an extremely important
time of the year for me.  Although it is a happy time to be with close family and friends, it is also a time for personal reflection without outside interruptions.

What have I achieved? What difference have I made as an individual to society? How as the leader of a values-driven business have I behaved? Honestly? Ethically? What could and should I be doing better in the year ahead to maintain these standards?

Often it’s a time when I’m left with more questions than answers, but at least I have the space to
ask myself these questions and think through possible solutions.

It also makes me think about how and when other social entrepreneurs and voluntary leaders take
time out for themselves. Do you clear your diaries and shut yourself in your office? Escape to the country? I’d be interested to hear. However, from my experience my peers never seem to take this essential time.

And that’s our challenge. With tough economic times ahead it’s important that each one of us makes the time to reflect on the role we play as individuals as well as third sector leaders. To question ourselves, our vision, our contributions to the sector. I hope like me, that you do take this time out.

So yes, the next few days will be an interesting time of self reflection – but there will be plenty of cake to keep me going.

Wishing all my Jewish third sector colleagues Shana Tova - a very happy and healthy new year.

A great deal of our work at Sounddelivery brings us into contact with young people all around the UK. I am constantly inspired by many of the young people I meet. More often than not they are passionate, opinionated, articulate, engaging and want to make a difference to the world around them. Yet we seldom hear their stories.

Last week we ran a young reporters workshop on behalf of NCVYS as part of its Envoy (Enthusiastic National Voice Of Youth) programme. I met 14-year-old Chloe who has set up the website Young and Positive, which aims to showcase the talent of young people in London, because she doesn’t feel Londoners have a platform to voice their opinions without being judged by the negative
media stereotype. She writes about herself…

“I like reading and writing short stories, I like to volunteer a lot. I suppose you could say I’m not your average teenager, or at least I don’t measure up to the stereotype. I’m not involved in any criminal activity, a thug or hoodrat, I don’t smoke or drink and I don’t party to all hours in the morning. I believe that anything is possible, that it’s capable to achieve your dreams, and that if you put your mind to it,
nothing can hold you back.”

There are hundreds of Chloe’s around the country yet we seldom hear their voices.

At another workshop for the charity London Youth I met Rowan. Rowan had been in trouble with the law when he was younger. But he turned his life around and now he helps others. He’s now at university training to become a youth worker.

There are hundreds of Rowan’s around the country yet we seldom hear their voices.

I do not work on a day-to-day basis with young people, but I have been speaking to several contacts who do. There was an acknowledgement that charities could be doing better at enabling young people to tell their stories. It is also clear that cuts in youth services and youth projects have been so swift and swingeing that it has taken many of them by surprise.

There doesn’t seem to be a united voice from charities working with young people on this issue either. This is partly, as I was told by one senior person working for a youth charity, because competing views and politics among youth organisations is stopping that from happening.

So what can organisations do? They can provide training skills and a platform for young people to have a voice. They can put internal politics aside and unite to champion the voice of young people. What is happening in London and around the country is appalling, but all young people shouldn’t be
taking the blame.

As BTCV tweeted earlier this week: “May be worth remembering the 1000s of inspirational young people who work to protect and improve our communities today”.

I hope this is the start of the fight back for the voice of young people.

Since writing this blog post (written on Monday and finished Tuesday morning), there has been a joint statement from several youth organisations including NCVYS London Youth and UK Youth here. And responses in other publications including  Children and Young People Now, as well as comments on TV, Twitter and Facebook.

So I hope that if there is a glimmer of hope that comes out of the situation is that that youth charities will be working together and the voice of young people will be stronger than ever.

Mandy started off as a volunteer for the award-winning social enterprise Bikeworks and through them trained to be a cycling instructor. Over the last few years she has dedicated a huge amount of her time and precious weekends to supporting their All Ability Cycling Club initially as an unpaid volunteer and now as a paid qualified instructor.

I have seen the impact her work with this club has made and she’s become a passionate champion of the cause recruiting other people to volunteer for the club. For Bikeworks, Mandy is one of their ‘most treasured instructors’ and as one of my most treasured friends it wasn’t particularly a surprise to me that she would do something special and ask us to donate to a much needed wheelchair bike.

However I wasn’t necessarily prepared for some of the responses from mutual friends who felt that this gift was a bit ‘worthy’ and ‘boring’. It makes me realise that you still have to go that extra mile to convince people to support a cause. It’s clear that not everyone understands why people opt not to receive presents themselves but to give to others.

So it was lucky that Bikeworks had invested in a short video which highlighted the impact of its All Ability Cycling Club. It was even luckier that Mandy had been asked to appear in it. I emailed this video to all our friends to make it clear why our donation would make such a difference.
My job was done. Everyone was converted. More money was raised and I know that Mandy will be absolutely thrilled. And of course the people who attend the All Ability Cycling Club will know how much Mandy does care.

Oh and another thing – this is another success story from the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) as Bikeworks was co-founded by Dave Millar who is an SSE fellow.

So Happy 40th Birthday Mandy. And congratulations Bikeworks for creating such an inspiring social
enterprise.

And if you’ve been insprired by this blog post and fancy donating towards the Wheelchair Bike please do so. Mandy will be thrilled.

The evening turned into a double celebration as the founder
and chief executive, Modupe Debbie Ariyo, was awarded an OBE in the recent
Queen’s birthday honours.

AFRUCA (Africans Unite Against Child Abuse)
is the leading charity promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of
African children in the UK. It was established in the aftermath of the deaths
of children like Jude Akapa, Victoria Climbie and Damilola Taylor. 

More recently it has been at the
forefront of efforts to draw attention to and denounce the trafficking of
African children to the UK. It is highly regarded by funders and government
agencies and was recently on the shortlist at a recent charity awards scheme. 

However, when last week Third Sector and
other sector press were offering congratulations to sector leaders who had got
birthday awards it was disappointing that Debbie wasn’t on any of these lists. And I don’t believe that Modupe or
Debbie, as I know her, has been given the recognition she so obviously deserves.  

I first met Debbie at the School for Social
Entrepreneurs in 2006. I was a fresh-faced social entrepreneur in the process
of setting up sounddelivery and she was already on her journey and using her
time at the SSE to enable her to take AFRUCA to the next level.  

We spent many hours discussing
her charity, her role, her challenges and her vision. She offered me support and encouragement and I learnt a huge
amount from her. She was a true
inspiration.

Five years on, she continues to inspire me
and I am not alone. At the
anniversary event last week – others took the opportunity to highlight the role
that AFRUCA plays. A funder, a journalist and leaders within the African
community all shared their stories with the audience. One person in particular
stood out. Richard Taylor, father
of Damiola Taylor, talked movingly about his return from Nigeria after learning
about the death of his son and how Debbie was on hand to provide advice and
help him navigate the demands this tragic situation placed on him. 

Debbie is a rare breed of third sector
leader – energetic, dynamic, visionary and without any ego. She is a role model and we should all
be celebrating her achievements.

I’m not a
subscriber to Good Housekeeping, and must admit I’m not one of it’s regular
readers, but it’s a national magazine with a huge readership and it’s evidently a coup to be featured
in it.

So how did they track me down and hear about my story? And most
importantly what can charity press officers learn from my 15 minutes of
fame?   

It’s simple. I phoned a local newspaper journalist, who I had never
spoken to before, with a story I felt ( I knew?) she’d be interested in. That’s as straightforward
as it gets.   

The background to the story was about a
school reunion I was organising as part of my 40 before 40 series of
challenges. The school was in the newspaper’s area and I hoped
that it would help me track down some of the people I hadn’t been able to find
using other methods, like the wonders of Facebook. They loved the story, interviewed me on the phone and
then sent a photographer round to take a quick snap on the day of the reunion.

The interview was turned into a quarter-page article which included a contact number for any former pupils to get in
touch. But the most
interesting call I got was from a reporter at Good Housekeeping who said they
wanted to cover the story. 

It turns
out that the editor of Good Housekeeping lives in Highgate, reads her local
paper the Ham and High, spotted the story and had commissioned a feature.  

OK, so perhaps I was lucky and the story
struck a chord with that particular media, but it reminded me that sometimes we
need to go back to basics to get our organisation’s stories heard. 

Local media should never be
underestimated when you are putting together a media or campaign strategy. From my experience running social
action campaigns at the BBC, if a
campaign was rooted locally then the campaign was more likely to be a success
nationally. The opposite, top down
approach – running a campaign nationally to be covered locally, never really
worked.   

Also, 
journalists do want to hear from you and the personal touch makes a huge
difference. Being confident,
simply picking up the phone and talking through a story idea will get
results. But knowing when their deadline
time is and giving them enough time to write up the story and get images is also
a key part in getting your pitch right. 

I’m working alongside a charity client on a
story which might be considered a ‘tough sell’, so I called a couple of
journalists and talked through the story and asked them what they would like
from the story – for example, what kind of case studies or angles. So I knew when the time was right to
push the story I’d give them exactly what they wanted. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they’d
cover the story but it gave me a strong indication of what was needed.

Don’t get me wrong. I know what I’m saying is obvious to
many of you but as more third sector staff find themselves in roles where press officer is simply seen as an added extra I hope
this helps.

She told me that Twitter
has become one of her main sources for news stories and she’s more likely to
turn to social networking sites than traditional press releases when
considering ideas. She also says
she’s crying out for charities to offer her stories with multi-media elements -
whether video, audio or photography – and is especially interested in stories
from the perspective of service users. She’s not alone. 

I spoke to
a journalist at the Daily Telegraph who echoed Clare’s comments and to a former
colleague at the BBC who says  they are increasingly exploring how they can use content produced externally. But how often do press offices approach journalists with stories with
their multi-media content in mind?

To save costs, several of the larger
charities are getting practical training for their staff to enable them to
record simple multi-media content in-house. They often produce the types of
stories that journalists like Clare are looking for. 

This is great news and will enable charities to reach a
wider audience with their content.
But from my experience it’s often a different team producing the
multi-media content to the person who deals with general press and communications
work. 

There are still many old school
charity press officers who work in a traditional way using press releases with
quotes from the chief executive who simply don’t understand the value of this
multi-media content. There
needs to be more joined up thinking if the charities are to get a return from
their investment in training and production work. 

I always say that if you can’t use this
content in 10 different ways – not just giving to journalists, but across all
your other communication channels from your e-newsletters to your Twitter
streams – you shouldn’t be doing it.   

One press officer that Clare mentioned who
approached her recently with some photographic content was from Scope who
suggested some pictures they’d produced to raise awareness about the Disability
Living Allowance. She loved the
photographs and turned them into an online slideshow
.