Did you ever think there would be a radio station dedicated to the third sector? Well there is now - Charitable Radio says its purpose to support good causes through good news initiatives, fundraising and more. Melissa Moody speaks to Ali Nicholls about what its been up to and how charities can get involved.

Melissa: What inspired the start of charity radio, particularly after the events of the pandemic?

Ali: Charitable Radio launched on the 16th May 2021 to provide a platform to inform and entertain individuals, companies and organisations who want to make a positive impact by supporting others.

The station’s unique radio for good concept promotes the work of volunteers, fundraisers and charities in the UK and acts as a vehicle for fundraising to a soundtrack of uplifting pop music.

The station gives a voice to all charities and their fundraisers and corporate partners, small and large, celebrating the efforts of all.

For listeners, after months of the gloom of lockdown, good news and inspiring stories are sorely needed. People want to hear more positive, generous and happy content. Charitable Radio fills a surprising gap in the broadcast landscape, providing a much-needed mood boost and normalising the promotion of good people doing good work in difficult times.

Melissa: How has the reception from listeners and charities been like?

Ali: The feedback has been incredibly positive since our launch and our reach is growing weekly on air and on social.

Our audience is a mix of charity staff and general listeners who enjoy good music and love to hear about all the amazing fundraisers up and down the country doing incredible things and the benefactors from these charitable good works.

We have had a great mix of interviews with celebrity patrons such as Dame Maureen Lipman, Michelle Gayle, Gemma Oaten and Chesney Hawkes and many more lined.

Our presenters have also been busy giving a voice to charities with interviews with their staff on their mission and goals. Here is an example with Bianca Robinson the Founder of CEO Sleepout.

We have promoted competitions to win a place at The London Marathon with Virgin Money Giving and a signed book from James Bowen to celebrate the launch of the Statue of Street Cat Bob last month, both with huge engagement.

Melissa: What are some of the segments and shows like? What do they consist of?

Ali: Creating a platform that celebrates the work of volunteers, fundraisers and charities to a soundtrack of late 70s-present day pop music, this new radio concept attracted the interest of JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving who were launch partners of the station. Just Giving are still with us.

JustGiving have a segment called Fundraising Fridays which picks out an amazing fundraiser from the JustGiving community and shares their story on air. Fundraising Fridays taps into the Charitable Radio spirit of ‘radio for good’, celebrating the fundraising efforts of extraordinary members of the public. Fundraisers are invited to reach out to JustGiving and Charitable Radio on Twitter with the with hashtag #fundraisingfridays, say what fundraising they’ve been doing and why they’d like to be interviewed on the weekly segment.

We have also partnered with Goodbox to sponsor the GoodNewsNews segment which allows charities and fundraisers to share their Good News, shout outs and Thank You messages, with content from three charities aired every hour daily. We would encourage you to submit these to us via this link


Melissa: What are the goals of the radio station?

With so much of the UK workforce still working from home, the number of average radio listener hours has risen. To ride the wave of this new context of increased engagement with the medium, Charitable Radio strives for complete digital integration. Aside from streaming on smart phones, tablets, PCs and laptops listeners can tune into the station from any device including the Amazon Alexa service. Both an Android and IOS app and CarPlay integration is planned in the next few months, giving listeners more options for how they tune in.

Charitable Radio is a social enterprise run on a not for private profit basis.
Our goals are to have 100,000 listeners within one year of launch and by the end of 2022 to have an excess revenue of £100K to distribute to worthy causes working alongside an appointed panel.

Melissa: How do you think it could help charities in the long run?

For charities, the pandemic forced the cancellation of many fundraising events and caused a drastic drop in donations.

Charitable Radio gives charities a platform to broadcast their good message, leading to more support and interest from the public.

There are three main partnership opportunities that you can be part of and get involved in one of the most unique radio stations ever launched in the UK.

We have ‘off the shelf’ partnerships which are a great way to profile your charity, brand, or event on Charitable Radio and these can be funded by Corporate Sponsors. We can also create ‘bespoke’ partnerships based on a specific brief from charities.

Our partnerships team has many years of creating engaging concepts to promote events, new campaigns, raise brand awareness, and get a call to action to help good causes.

We also have ‘show sponsorship’ opportunities, which are a powerful marketing platform as it takes your brand, beyond the commercial break and you become part of the editorial output of the radio station.

And finally, we launched a Charity Cracker Campaign on 14 December where we gave away one free month of Charitable Radio advertising to 24 charities every day from 1st to 24th December. Winning campaigns will run in 2022.

Competition winners are:
Family Holiday Charity
Mermaids
Cystic Fibrosis Care
ABF The Soldiers' Charity
The Big Issue Foundation
The Kaleidoscope Plus Group
Action Tutoring
Children with Cancer UK
DEBRA
GET KIDS GOING!
The Rainforest Foundation UK
Livability
British Youth Council
The Pink Ribbon Foundation
Carers UK
Beyond Reflections
Together for Animals
Plantlife
Bloody Good Period
Lymphona Action
The Matt Hampson Foundation
Beads of Courage
The Ben Kinsella Trust
Farms for City Children

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