Alex Swallow is The Influence Expert, helping you to grow your influence to increase the impact that you have on the world. He is also the Founder of Young Charity Trustees and the owner of the Social Good Six interview series. He is the previous Chief Executive of the Small Charities Coalition and maintains a keen interest in the work of small charities. Having only worked in the charity sector at small charities and having been the Chief Executive of a support organisation for small charities, I know the pressure that you are under. Pressure to gain supporters behind your cause, get in enough money and cope in a challenging environment. There are three things that I’d recommend: Don’t fight alone, value your work and grow your influence.   Don’t fight alone I hope that you are already getting help from other people. This post that I wrote for Small Charity Week last year explains some of the help that you can get. You need to get all the support that you can, including bringing in new Trustees and other volunteers if you feel that you need new skills, experience or ideas. Trustees’ Week is coming up in November and is an ideal time to recruit. Value your work I hope that you are proud of the work that you do. However, it is likely that you don’t get enough recognition for it. Many small charities are not in the public spotlight despite doing amazing things for parts of society where no-one else really helps. I’m a supporter of Good News Shared- you can send them your stories if you would like to get a bit of attention! However you do it, you need to find a way to make sure that you are proud of your work because then you will be able to engage other people in what you are doing. Plus, being proud will be good motivation for you in those lonely hours when you are slogging away trying to make the world a better place. Also, this talk that I gave for The Media Trust shows why small charities should be excited about some of the opportunities that the online world now provides. Remember, among all the challenges there are lots of possibilities to take advantage of too. Grow your influence This article gives a comprehensive discussion of what I mean by influence. As a small charity you might not always be able to compete with the big boys all the time, but you can certainly punch above your weight. To have the impact that you want you need to find the appropriate ways to influence the world around you. In this speech that I gave earlier this year at an international charity conference, I outline some of those ways. Using a model called the LEAPS Model, featured in the video, I show how you can grow your influence as an individual, or apply the same concepts to an organisation. If you can effectively grow your influence you have the chance to achieve all of the things that you need to make sure that your charity not only survives, but thrives. I thank you for your important work and hope that the three principles I have outlined help you get to where you want to be. Found this blog post useful? You may also like:   5 free tools to share your organisation's story by Nisha Kotecha The Refugee Crisis: make a difference on your doorstep by Lewis GarlandGet your charity’s voice heard by Duncan HatfieldDon’t save your pitch for the elevator by Emma Beeston  

Thinking of what you can do to fundraise for charity can sometimes be harder than the challenge itself! To help get those ideas flowing we've created an A - Z of fun activities you can do that'll be sure to get your friends and family to support you and your chosen charity. Think outside the box Running a marathon is an amazing achievement, but if running isn't for you there are loads of other ways you can raise money for a local charity. On Localgiving we've had all sorts of wacky ideas including eating 3 whole chickens in an hour and sitting in a baked bean bath while having your head shaved plus some creative ideas such as a vote on which songs a choir will sing at an event. Think local! Once you've come up with your idea all that's left is finding an amazing local charity or community group to fundraise for - and that's where we come in. We've got thousands of local voluntary groups that would love your support! Find one in your area by simply entering your postcode into our search and scrolling through the groups closest to you.                       

Social media is currently the number one reason people use the Internet, according to a study from Pew Research. It dominates online activity, and chances are your charity is already using it. Compelling social media content comes in many different forms. There is no secret formula to creating great content, it doesn’t need to take up a lot of time, go viral, or be professionally produced in order to be successful. Engagement is the key, and paying more to create content won’t necessarily bring success. What really matters is how the people you want to reach engage with the content you post. These top tips will help your organisation think about creating content that actively engages the people that matter most to you, whether that’s beneficiaries, volunteers, donors, staff or others, no matter your size or budget. 1. You don’t need a massive budget Many charities will tell you that they don’t have enough time or resources to accomplish everything that they’d like on social. Think of social media as a platform for storytelling. As a charitable organisation, you are already surrounded by great original content material, from articles on your website, volunteers in action, or the stories of people or communities you have helped. There are many ways you can re-purpose this content for your social media channels. Creating a posting plan can help you get started and feel more in control, but it doesn’t have to be perfect right away. Try things out, take note of what works for your audience, and tweak your content as you go along. For further guidance and examples of good practice on this, check out our free guide ‘What’s Data Got To Do With It’. 2. It’s not all about numbers When it comes to your content, quality reigns over quantity. Engaging with a handful of relevant, switched-on people will give greater results than simply reaching as many people as possible. It sounds obvious, but be social, connect with and reach out to your closest supporters in a similar way to how you would focus your personal time on close friends. The more you engage with your target audience, the more people will respond to your content, and engage others to do the same. By using material unique to your organisation, such as sharing a short video of someone your charity has helped, you are creating authentic, high quality content that will bring people closer to your cause. 3. Make your content fun Don’t be afraid to find the light in tough subject matter. Fun and inspiring content can go a long way to engage your audience. Get creative, try out something new, and give any and all ideas a chance. Taco Bell does this really well, and we have previously written about what your charity can learn from them. For successful image and video content, authenticity and storytelling produce the highest engagement. You can easily incorporate this into your social media by telling your audience about something that has happened as a result of your organisation, such as a successful fundraising event, though a photo or video that you have created yourself. A smartphone can provide you with all the tools to create fresh, engaging images and videos for your social media channels. Simply taking a photo of a volunteer in action can be compelling content for the right audience. For more tips on creating great content for your organisation take a look at our free guide ‘Something To Tweet About’. Hannah is the Junior Communications and Social Media Advisor at Social Misfits Media, specialising in helping charities, foundations and non-profits better use social media to reach their goals. Follow Hannah and Social Misfits Media @HannahDonald20 and @MisfitsMedia. Found this blog post useful? You may also like:    The Value of online Fundraising: More than just donations Local Charity and Community Group Sustainability Report 2016 What Makes Local Charities Unique?     Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/lg-smartphone-instagram-social-media-35177/

Your organisation is doing incredible work – you know it, your staff and volunteers know it, but does anyone else? By sharing stories of your work and the impact it is having you can attract more supporters, volunteers, staff, and even the people you are helping. While it is worth the effort in the long term, it is not easy to get your story the attention it deserves. With more and more content being shared it is really important to do everything you can to make your content stand out. Here are five free tools you can use to get your story heard: 1) Pixabay You will have heard the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. It is so true, especially today with more and more people and organisations writing blogs and newsletters. Having a good image can bring your story to life. Using your own photos of your work is ideal but if you need to use a stock photo Pixabay is the place to go. It can be difficult to find free images that are high quality, plus you need to think about copyright issues and attribution requirements. With Pixabay you have access – for free – to thousands of high quality royalty free stock images. You can use any image without attribution, so the only thing you need to spend time on is finding the image you want to use.  A photo found on Pixabay 2) Canva You have great images now, but what are you going to do with them? And how can you make them unique? Canva, an incredible tool which is free to use (for the most part), will help you create designs for the Internet or print. You can make graphics for your blog posts, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, Christmas cards, event invitations, and more – all for free. Some of the images available do have a small charge ($1) but with the images available to you via Pixabay you shouldn’t need to pay for any images on Canva. Canva is so easy to use, you really don’t need to be an experienced designer to be able to create something on there.  Each month I update the Good News Shared Facebook cover using Canva 3) Mailchimp Once you have people interested in your organisation it is important to build a relationship with them. Mailchimp is a great tool to use for this, as you can manage your contacts and send them an email regularly without it taking up too much of your time. Best of all, it’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month. 4) Charity Comms Ask Charity Service The AskCharity service is a great way for you to get your story seen and used by journalists. Charities sign up to receive requests from journalists looking for case studies, interviews or information. When you see a request your charity can help with you simply get in touch with the journalist using the contact details they have given. Smaller charities do not always have the time to pitch to journalists. Being part of the AskCharity service gives organisations the chance of raising awareness of their work by being included in articles without having to spend lots of time finding contacts and building relationships with journalists. 5) Do-it Trust While there are so many tools available now to help charities share their story, using any or all of them can still be too time-consuming for smaller charities. A way to overcome this problem is to find people who can help by signing up to the Do-it Trust website. Do-it Trust, the UK’s first national database service for volunteering, has over 100,000 volunteers from across the UK signed up. It is quick and easy to use, and will help you find the volunteers you are looking for in no time at all. ---- Nisha Kotecha is the Founder of Good News Shared, a website showcasing the impact and achievements of charitable organisations around the world. Nisha also hosts the Good News Shared podcast where she interviews volunteers to highlight stories that deserve to be heard.   Found this Blog useful? You may also like:   The Power of Storytelling: Six Top Tips by Mike Zywina  Lessons for charities from Knee surgery by Richard Sved  Get your Charity's voice heard by Duncan Hatfield