As a charity PR agency, we’ve learnt how to grab the attention of the charity media, nationals who write about charity, and freelance journalists with an interest for stories in the third sector.
To help you with the pitching process, we asked our media relations team to breakdown of the most prominent publications and journalists.
Charity Times
Charity Times is a leading management title championing influential and inspirational leadership across the UK charity sector.
Every two months, they publish a print and online magazine with features, analysis, interviews, and opinions on all aspects of charity leadership. They’re also home to guides and supplements, including the annual Charity Trustee Guide and Charity Digital Guide. It has a circulation of 8,500.
Charity Times hosts podcasts covering a series of topics like ‘How to keep your charity safe from cyber fraud’ and ‘The importance of the ‘S’ in ‘ESG’, featuring interviews with charity sector leaders. They also host webinars and round tables – a great way to showcase your charity and position yourself as a thought leader.
Email the editor, Lauren Weymouth, or call them if you’d like to go over case studies showing innovative examples of charity leadership.
When pitching, give a summary of your proposed article – focus on the charity’s work and impact on the community. Highlight success stories, initiatives, and the difference they’re making in people’s lives. Make it clear the article will engage and inform readers, encouraging support and participation in the charity’s mission.
Charity Today
Charity Today is one of the leading charity news outlets in the UK, with an online news platform and weekly newsletter.
Founded by Lee Rayment in 2009, the website offers a free national platform to officially registered charities to raise awareness of their cause and promote their activities. It’s become a super handy tool for charities of all sizes to share news about their campaigns and activities.
Want to pitch a story? Contact Editor Lee Rayment or the wider team.
Clearly outline your spokesperson’s background, experience and give an overview of the article you have in mind. Explain how it’ll benefit readers, emphasising the positive community impact and relevance. Feel free to follow up with a call to discuss the story further.
Third Sector
One of the UK’s most respected voluntary and not-for-profit sector publications, Third Sector features regular comments, features and insights from renowned charity leaders like Debra Allcock Tyler and Paul Streets.
Since going online-only, its readership is mostly senior staff at charities and voluntary organisations. But it’s also read by parliamentarians, lawyers, finance professionals and those in Corporate Social Responsibility roles.
They’re always happy to hear from charities wanting to submit helpful comments or features. But they only accept one-off articles from people working directly in the charity sector – not commercial organisations or consultants.
Third Sector also allows charity or private sector individuals to become regular columnists contributing six articles per year. While most contributor articles are unpaid, they sometimes offer payment to smaller charities or professional writers.
To pitch, get in touch with the editor, Emily Burt at emily.burt@haymarket.com. Give a short synopsis of your topic and the planned submission date. Articles must be 500-600 words and include a high-res landscape image.
Civil Society
Civil Society is a media company that’s all about supporting the charity sector. They provide digital and printed publications, training courses, and live events. Founded in 1990 by the late Daniel Phelan, whose main goal was to help charities deliver sustainable public benefit.
The Civil Society website hosts all the editorial content – blogs, news, in-depth features, and a voices section, letting the charity community share content and be heard.
Under the Civil Society umbrella you’ve also got Charity Finance, Fundraising, Governance & Leadership magazine, and the Charity Finance Yearbook. These focus on supporting different charity sector aspects with thought leadership, regular columnists and article opportunities.
Contact the editor of Civil Society News, Rob Preston, to see if any of their publications would be a good fit for your organisation.
Before reaching out to Civil Society, take the time to read their website and publication – you don’t want to pitch something they’ve recently covered. Share key points of the article you have in mind and give a summary of the author – highlight their expertise and credibility.
Don’t be scared to follow up with them to confirm they received your info. Offer to answer any questions they might have. Building a relationship enhances your chances of getting published and strengthens your connection with them.
UK Fundraising
One of the oldies but a goodie when it comes to UK charity publications – UK Fundraising, has been going since 1994. The site is updated daily, with weekly email newsletters and has a huge presence on social channels.
It publishes daily news, ideas, and inspiration to help fundraisers use digital tools to boost funds for their causes. They also, offer training and consultancy services to help fundraisers, charities, and support companies to get the most out of their use of digital resources.
Get in touch with director and founder Howard Lake to find out more or pitch your charity news.
When pitching to UK Fundraising, tie your idea to any recent news or awareness days to make it relevant and timely. This hooks readers and the editor in. Offer high-quality images or videos to accompany the article to visually represent the charity’s work. This can create a more engaging and impactful storytelling experience – increasing your chances of getting published.
Charity-focused journalists at the nationals
BBC
Alison Holt, BBC Social Affairs Editor, covers social care, welfare, child protection, disability and family life in general. She’s an award-winning correspondent for BBC’s main national TV and radio news programmes and the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Panorama.
The BBC covers a lot of news about charities, including the launch of drug education for primary schools, thousands of people coming together to support a hospital charity and celebrities including Lorraine Kelly designing tutus to fight loneliness. Video content goes down very well and will stand out, so if you have this as an option, consider submitting it.
The team is looking for the following types of content from CEOs and experts:
- New thoughts/perspectives that move a story on and don’t just echo what’s been said
- Punchy, readable articles that make strong arguments; they want experts that demolish conventional wisdom or dissent from opinions that BBC have already published
- Someone involved/affected by a story that can provide a case study is of better use than just comments
- Off the record or on background chats with experts are always helpful
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 has a weekly three-minute program highlighting a charity’s work and appealing for donations to support its activities. The appeals aim to raise money and awareness for various individual charities. The station broadcasts 49 such appeals every year – a fantastic way for a charity to engage with the BBC’s huge audience.
But registered charities need to meet specific criteria before applying for an appeal. A panel of external assessors and the BBC’s Appeals Advisory Committee then assess the approved applications for selection.
The Telegraph
The title’s website has a charity section that showcases deserving charities and features an array of news stories related to the sector.
Hayley Dixon, Special Correspondent at The Daily Telegraph, often covers news about charities. It’s worth noting that anything you pitch for editorial related to charity PR needs to come across as subtle with your approach and avoid sounding like an advertorial.
The Guardian
The Guardian has a charities section featuring stories on the latest sector announcements and real human-interest angles. Think big, extraordinary campaigns or data-led features like ‘Revealed: people with cancer, arthritis and amputations among 40% denied disability benefits’ do well with their diverse readership.
The social affairs team are a good bet for pitching stories too, and there’s no specific journalist solely covering the third sector. The Guardian will accept letters to the editor, so writing a punchy one is a good way in for major sector news or policy changes.
The Guardian’s Rights and Freedom series, edited by award-winning human rights journalist Annie Kelly, reports on human rights abuses around the world. Supported by Humanity United, it elevates the voices fighting for justice.
Patrick Butler, social policy editor at The Guardian, is usually interested in welfare and benefits/gov news, poverty, living standards, and social care. Charities and good causes are topics he’s covered before. He’ll typically refer to the Charity Commission and Citizens Advice, giving brand mentions. Large organisations such as the RSPCA, Macmillan and Shelter have featured in his work with data-backed narratives standing a good chance (as long as the data is robust with big sample sizes from reputable sources).
PA Media
With the PA, it’s worth contacting someone specific in the features team. While there’s no reporter solely focused on third sector news, understand that if you secure an opportunity, the chances of broader coverage are incredibly high as they often syndicate across other publications/publishers.
Exclusivity is key – journalists will often make you sign an agreement ensuring you don’t take the story elsewhere. The PA audience is non-specialist, so stories need a broad appeal. As one PA correspondent put it: “Ask yourself what your mother would want to read instead – or, more accurately, what I think your mother, my grandma, or Barry at my local would want to read.”
Metro
The Metro is a well-read publication covering the latest charity news and updates. It includes frequent updates on volunteering opportunities, great fundraisers to get involved in, inspirational feature stories, and important campaigns.
Similar to some other national publications, there’s no single journalist solely covering charity. The way to go is to get in touch with the lifestyle/real-life/feature journalists with a strong case study.
Top freelance charity contacts
Sam Carlisle
Sam has worked across major titles, like The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, Metro, and HuffPost. She was also a newspaper reviewer for the BBC.
Building on over 25 years of experience as a senior journalist, Sam founded Cause Communications in 2017, offering communication and media advice and PR for charities and socially responsible companies.
David Brindle
David is a leading social policy journalist, former public services editor, and society editor for The Guardian newspaper. He’s an influential commentator with over 30 years of journalism experience, with particular expertise in social care issues.
Saba Salman
Saba is an accomplished, award-winning writer and freelance social affairs journalist. She’s got a wealth of experience – from being a reporter at The Times, local government and social affairs correspondent at the Evening Standard, news editor on a series of London local weeklies, and assistant editor of a housing magazine.
As well as being a longstanding contributor and commissioning editor at The Guardian, Saba’s been published in other big hitters like The Independent and Byline Times. All this makes her a valuable and respected voice in journalism.
Written by Jasmin Martin, Media Relations Executive at Definition.
Updated by Lucy Savage, Senior Communications Executive at Definition, on 25/06/2024.