CharityComms is a nonprofit that supports effective communications in charities. In 2012-13: (1) Membership and attendance at events grew substantially, with over 1,650 attending 31 events and high satisfaction rates; (2) They published guides and reports, created a career framework, and campaigned for licensing fee relief for charities; (3) Feedback from members showed the mentoring scheme, events, and resources helped professionals improve skills and understanding.

1. CharityComms
Annual review 2012-13

2. Our vision
Our vision is for effective and inspiring
communications to be at the heart of every charity’s
work for a better world.
Our purpose
We improve the standard of communications and
champion its role in the sector. We represent,
support, inspire, connect and inform our members
and the wider charity communications community.

3. Key achievements 2012-13: financial
Income:
Expenditure:
£270,103
£244,698
Balance of funds
at year end:
£25,101
Current reserves: £121,591

4. Key achievements 2012-13: membership
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Individual members grew from 224 to 297 (now 310)
Organisational members grew from 68 to 120 (now 135)
Corporate members grew from 24 to 33 (now 36)
We facilitated 100 mentoring partnerships
“CharityComms is very much part of
our staff engagement programme in
the division. Just wish I'd signed up
with you sooner!”
Steven Buckley, director of communications,
Christian Aid

5. Key achievements 2012-13: events
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•
•
•
31 events held
Over 1,650 comms professionals attended
Satisfaction rate of 94% excellent or good
85% of delegates acquired new knowledge or
enhanced skills relevant to their job
“The communications strategy
workshop was a very useful and
timely session: it really made me
think and reflect on our
challenges.”
Ian Fannon, head of communications,
MS Society

6. Key achievements 2012-13: other activity
• We introduced four new types of events: the Sole
Comms network, the Heads of Digital group, the SW
Regional group and the pub quiz
• We published 92 articles on our website
• We produced our first two Best Practice Guides:
o Show and tell
o Branding Inside Out
• We created two reports:
o The Communications
Benchmark 2012 in May
o The Charity Marketing and
Communications Salary
Survey 2013, with TPP in April

7. Key achievements 2012-13:
other activity
• We created the CharityComms Career Framework in
Jan 2013
•We refreshed our brand and website in June 2013,
winning the MemCom Award for best rebrand
•The Newspaper Licensing Agency extended its charity
discount in response to our campaign to lift the burden
of media licensing fees from charities
•We relaunched our AskCharity service helping charities
and journalists work together

8. How have we helped?
“I just wanted to say thank you and
well done for the recent salary survey
– I took it to my boss and promptly
got a pay rise!”
“Branding Inside Out helped me
make the case to the CEO that
we needed to address the
fundamentals of mission, vision
and values before rebranding.
It’s a fantastic resource and I am
grateful for the hard work you
and other professionals put into
this.”
Toby Retallick, communications
manager, Youth Music
Head of communications
“Thank you so much for sending through
the presentations from the social media
event. It was a massively helpful
conference and I've come away full of
renewed energy to get to grips with this
social media beast. ”
Andy Pike, assistant campaigns officer, RNIB
“Your member lunch was the
best networking event I have
been to in a LONG time. I
came back with a load of
new contacts having had
some really useful
conversations. It was great!”
Ciara Smyth, assistant director
marketing and strategy,
The Stroke Association

9. How have we helped?
“I can’t recommend the mentoring
scheme enough. My mentor has
helped me better understand the
sector and get to the next stage in
my career. It’s given me lots more
confidence as well as practical tips.”
Dipika Kulkarni, marketing co-ordinator,
St Mungo’s
“As a sole comms person in a
small charity, being a member of
CharityComms is really important
to me. It's great to feel part of a
community of other comms
professionals who face similar
challenges and frustrations and
know I have the support of
like-minded peers. It makes me
realise I am not alone!"
Charli Scouller, communications
manager, NAT
“I'm based in Rugby and make the journey to London for the
CharityComms events. I also go to the South West Regional Group
seminars in Bristol which is a trek but it is worth it – the events have
always exceeded expectations, I've learnt so much and these
events have definitely helped me improve my skills.”
Gemma Hume, digital communications officer, Practical Action

10. Big thanks to our small team…

11. … and our wonderful trustees
Penelope Gibbs
Transform Justice

12. Thanks to our members (A-I)

13. Thanks to our members (J-R)

14. Thanks to our members (S-Y)

15. Keep in touch:
@CharityComms
Join us:
charitycomms.org.uk/membership
Check out our calendar:
charitycomms.org.uk/events
Download our annual report:
http://www.charitycomms.org.uk
/annual-reviews