Capacitybuilders: membership magazine
Relationships can get a bit convoluted in the charity sector.
When I was asked to help re-launch a magazine for Capacitybuilders this is a challenge I helped to tackle.
Capacitybuilders was a non-departmental public body that aimed to improve the support given to frontline third sector organisations across England. It did this by supporting organisations that help improve the way frontline third sector organisations run and work.
Readers of Improving Support magazine were third sector support providers – the organisations that provide support (advice, training, skills development, capacity building, sharing of best practice and sector learning) – to charities and other third sector organisations (for example, NCVO, Homeless Link, ACEVO etc).
Focusing on our aim
Improving Support aimed to bring together practical resources and learning to strengthen support services for third sector organisations.
As editor of the first issue of the re-launched magazine, it was my job to ensure that despite the seemingly complicated relationships, writers and contributors focused on this aim.
I came up with ideas for regular content, commissioned writers and edited their copy and worked with contacts at Capacitybuilders and the designers to get the magazine to press.
It’s a very practical magazine. It’s not about policies or programmes, but how support organisations deliver, respond to, or implement, those policies and programmes, and what others can learn from that. I made sure that we used subtle examples of people, programmes, charities or third sector organisations being enabled to make a difference through Capacitybuilders’ work.
We aimed to SHOW what difference the charity’s work made, rather than TELL our readers that it did.
Read the magazine here.
If you have a similar magazine project that you need help with, I’d love to help so do get in touch.
