How important is branding and marketing to charities? What challenges do they face in these areas? What pain points do they encounter, and what lessons have they learnt that could help others benefit? Every charity is different and every person we speak to on this podcast will have a different experience and story to tell. 

Compassion is a global Christian aid charity based in Colorado, with 12 partner country offices around the world. Head of Comms and Creative Delivery at Compassion UK is Steve Coffey, who speaks with Owen about the challenges of international brand management, the value of values that mean something, and the benefit of using empathy rather than shock tactics to retain long-term relationships with supporters.

“If you’re doing great and you’re not prepared to invest in telling people about the fact that you’re doing great work, and they’ve got a fantastic opportunity to get involved with that, which great design does, then it’s like a huge missed opportunity really.”

Steve Coffey

You can listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts (and Google Podcasts soon, depending on interest), or watch the full video above or on our Youtube channel.

As the season continues, you’ll hear personal anecdotes, valuable learning points and get a first-hand insight into the world of charities including Dogs Trust and First Give, and how they approach and apply their brands. Don’t forget to check back and listen to James Reekie from Macmillan Cancer Support on episode 1 if you haven’t already.

With a new conversation each month, subscribe on your preferred streaming service to make sure you don’t miss a thing. We want this to be an open conversation – if you have questions or points to add, just get in touch. And if you work in charity comms, design or marketing and fancy being a guest on the show we’d love to hear from you.

And if this interests you, you might like to check out our recent article exploring the concerns and benefits of branding within the charity sector once you’ve finished the podcast.

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Written by Owen