5 great ways to build your charity gravitas

"Achieving widespread notoriety is no mean fete, so here is my guide to enabling your charity to get a great reputation".

With public confidence in charities still bumping along the bottom after a fair few scandals in the charity sector over the last couple of years, I thought I would share my tips for charities to help them achieve their charity gravitas on modest resources. I've also included my 'cheats for small charities' of how to achieve gravitas on very modest resources.

Tip One: Get good at what you do and sing about it.

Many charities are fantastic about what they do, but they never promote it, whilst many mediocre charities get all the limelight for delivering pretty standard type services. So my first tip is to get really good at understanding what you do, and making sure that you can report the beneficiary impact. It's no good anymore to just say you're doing good, prove it. Think no numbers without words, no words without numbers. Get high quality statements from people that count. If you're local authority gives you the hard shoulder on funding, at least tap them up for a statement of how wonderful you are for prime position on your website. Better still. Talk to beneficiaries. Get them telling your story, whether its through case studies or interviews on the Radio. Remember the press always like a good news story, especially linked to special calendar events, for example awareness raising days.

Tip 2: Know your Policies

Find out about policies in central government that cover your area of work. Write to the policy advisers in each government department and tell them about your project, using the format:

"x policy- whitepaper on child poverty"

At 'x' charity we have fully integrated the recommendations from this paper by doing 'y'.

Policy advisers are always looking for examples that work, and by providing advice

This will place you in an ideal position to be able to help shape future government relationships and elevate you into a great relationship with Government. It is not always about asking for money, but actually about showing them how great public services can be delivered so they can use this as an example of how things could be nationally. This can and has led to certain charities like Teach First and Relate securing national funding for their work.

 Tip 3: Win a few awards (easy huh?)

Awards become a bit like rubber stamps, lending you a bit of authenticity and profile. I'll be honest, some are worth more than others. In the UK the ones really worth going for are the Centre for Social Justice Awards, Charity Times Awards, Third Sector Awards, and there are probably others in the specific field that you work in. Try and apply for a few awards and make sure you win around one a year in one category or another. There are also awards for team achievements within your organisation, for example governance, leadership or fundraising awards, often these can be easier to win when you are starting out as it doesn't require the whole organisation to be perfect (which is very rarely is when its very small)

 Tip 4: Know who your credibility funders are.

In every sector there are credibility funders- i.e. if you are not funded by them, it shows there is something either wrong with you, or wrong with your organisation's delivery. Credibility funders are people like local authorities, if you are delivering public services, or the clinical commission group if you are delivering health, or if you are working in development, potentially the government itself. Credibility funders include organisations like the Big Lottery Fund, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Comic Relief and Children in Need.

A credibility funder is important to have on board firstly because when these funders support you, others funders trust you and also want to invest in your charity. This is in part because they know that you will already have been vetted, and in part its because they quite like clubbing investments together. A further way this raises your profile is because each of these funders has a really awesome press department that will help you circulate any press releases. This is a great way to go from getting articles into your local rag to getting into national press.

Tip 5: Get into the national press

Getting into the national press doesn't have to be hard. You just need a good story and great timing, and sometimes it is luck of the draw. If you submit something on the day of a big Brexit vote, for example, you might find your story renegaded to a thumb nail on page 40. But if you try and pick a slow news week, you may well get front page or at least near the front. Getting into the news isn't hard, invest some money in some basic press release training and you will be on to a complete winner. I think its important to realise as well, that getting exposure in national magazines is just as valuable as national newspapers, and can be alot easier. The best way to do this is to focus on the human interest in your story, and look at your organisation's story through one person's lens, maybe a beneficiary, the chief executive or even a dynamic trustee!

I am Anna Day, Founder for the Centre for Social Change which focuses on supporting charities through transition, growth and development. We focus on helping you grow your work's impact and publish a free blog series on LinkedIn. We also offer training and coaching for chief executives. For more information visit our website at www.centreforsocialchange.co.uk