Very proud to be listed as one of the top Charity Chief Execs on Social Media

Last week a list of the top 30 Charity Chief Execs on Social Media was announced and I was thrilled to be on it.

The list is explained here by Zoe Amar and also here by Matt Collins . Zoe and Matt put together everything with a great team of volunteers- including Simon Blake, Lucy Caldicott and Abbi Davies.

The initiative was covered in both Civil Society and Third Sector and Zoe herself wrote an excellent piece for the Guardian. It was a real pioneering effort and, I believe, a very positive thing for our sector.

I was very pleased to be in such esteemed company. Other Chief Executives listed were people such as Peter Wanless of NSPCC, Julia Unwin of Joseph Rowntree, Mark Flannagan of Beating Bowel Cancer, Ciaran Devane of Macmillan, Ben Summerskill of Stonewall, Dalton Leong of The Children’s Trust, Matt Hyde of UK Scouting, Caron Bradshaw of CFG and Vicky Browning of Charity Comms and many brilliant others. Speaking with my Young Charity Trustees’ Hat on it was good to see Gary Buxton, Charlotte Hill and Louise Macdonald mentioned.

As well as being listed as part of the top 30, I was very pleased to speak at the Awards event on behalf of the Small Charities Coalition, emphasizing how social media had helped me, how it could help the sector and how small charities could use it to their advantage. I also wrote a piece for the social media publication linked to the event- on blogging! Another contributor to the publication was Ben Matthews, someone I always enjoy learning from and a lovely bloke to boot.

I have already written about how I think that small charities can get a lot out of social media. I was very pleased that many of the ‘top’ Execs are from smaller charities and hope that Zoe and Matt’s brilliant initiative prompts more small charities to think about how they engage online.

Of course, a charity having an effective media presence is never going to be just about the Chief Executive. For a start, many of the people who use social media most brilliantly in our sector are of course not Chief Executives (though I’m sure many of them will be one day!). But social media can only work its wonders when a decent amount of people in any organisation understand it and care about it. The point about celebrating Chief Execs who ‘get’ it are that they will hopefully inspire and encourage others to make a contribution online. Every day that I use social media I learn something new. I pick up things from different people, I see individuals and organisations who use different platforms a lot more skillfully than I do. Social media is never a destination, it’s a journey. Please join me!