Ethical design agency helps charities and community groups to benefit from the latest online media. Hyson Green-based ethical design agency Third Sector Media is offering charities and community groups in Nottinghamshire free advice on how to make the most of having a website – and the latest online media – as part of its aim to make sure the voluntary and community sector gets a fair deal when it comes to design.

Third Sector Media, which is a social enterprise and re-invests its profits into good causes through its partner charity the Partnership Council, was set up in response to the way many charities and community organisations are treated by some design agencies and media companies – often unused to dealing with the charity and community sector. 

Alan Carter-Davies from Third Sector Media explains:

“I’ve worked in the charity and community sector for a few years now and during that time I’ve seen many organisations who are doing good things settle for bad websites. Often, organisations are sold expensive and technically over-complicated websites that they don’t need and don’t have the skills or expertise to keep updated.

Similarly, I’ve seen organisations sold websites that just aren’t up to scratch design-wise. Naturally many charities and community organisations don’t have large marketing budgets, but that shouldn’t mean they have to put up with sub-standard design work.”

Alan continues:

“Third Sector Media’s approach is to help everyone make the most of online media, regardless of their budget. For example, we’ve recently helped a small start-up business get off the ground by designing them a website using existing online software, which is therefore free. Using this software we’ve been able to create a website that can be easily updated – even by someone with no technical know-how. Plus members of the public can post their own comments on the website which means it’s very interactive and can be used to gather feedback – something that’s very useful for any organisation.

By using existing online software we’ve been able to save our client money, which has instead been spent on creating a strong, original and professional design for the website.”

Third Sector Media has also recently helped the East Midlands School for Social Entrepreneurs (EMSSE) to promote its courses.

Fergus Brazel from EMSSE says:

“As a social enterprise ourselves I was keen to use a social enterprise like Third Sector Media. I was amazed though how they managed to make such good use of my modest marketing budget, primarily by using online media to promote EMSSE courses and events. They handled every aspect of the campaign too, from suggesting how I could best promote EMSSE to designing and writing promotional materials. I’ve had a great response as a result and it’s been good to work with a design agency who really understands the charity and community sector. Third Sector media are fast, efficient and highly professional.”

Alan believes that it’s now more important than ever for charities and community groups to make sure they have an effective, hard-working website.

According to a recent article in Third Sector magazine, one of the UK’s leading publications for those working in the charity and community sector, more people than ever are visiting charity websites. In fact, the research shows that the proportion of visitors to charity websites rose by a third last year, whilst over the last five years, the numbers have almost doubled.
 
It’s a similar story for voluntary organisations too, with volunteers nearly twice as likely to look for voluntary opportunities online, compared to non-volunteers. 49 per cent of volunteers said they surfed the net to find voluntary work, compared to 25 per cent of non-volunteers.

Alan concludes:

“I really believe Third Sector Media’s approach offers charities and community organisations something new – design produced by creatives who have worked in the design industry for over a decade, combined with a unique understanding of the charity and community sector.  We therefore understand just how precious charity and community budgets are and feel very strongly that they shouldn’t be squandered on unnecessary or ineffective media projects.” 

To find out more or for a free initial consultation please contact Alan Carter-Davies on 0115 970 8200 or email alan@thirdsectormedia.com

www.thirdsectormedia.com

To view the East Midlands School of Social Entrepreneur e-flyer visit www.thirdsectormedia.com/emsse/

To find out more about Third Sector Media’s partner charity, the Partnership Council, please visit www.partnershipcouncil.co.uk