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Why I quit as Head of Comms and what’s next…

I’ve worked as part of an incredible charity for almost ten years. I started out with Relationships Scotland as Development Manager back in 2007, became Digital Media Manager in 2010 and then landed the role of Head of Communications in 2013. The Head of Comms role was 14hrs per week and budget was limited… very limited.

Despite that, with the support of great staff, we managed to achieve an incredible amount – running successful campaigns both online and offline. The charity is front and centre when it comes to the big debates around reforming the family law system. The need for stronger relationship support services within Scotland is now on the political agenda in a way that it wasn’t before.

While I was working 14hrs per week as Head of Comms I was still spending the other half of my week with charities, social enterprises and communities groups across Scotland to help them get the most out of digital. In the last twelve months I’ve helped major funders up-skill grant holders to get digitally confident, I’ve given a range of charities beautiful, accessible websites they can be proud of, I’ve run a third sector digital senior leaders programme for SCVO and I’ve trained thousands of charity staff in digital and social media skills. This is something I’ve been doing since 2008. This is what I’m passionate about. From now on this is what I’ll be focused on full-time.

This is something I’ve been doing since 2008. This is what I’m passionate about. From now on this is what I’ll be focused on full-time.

I took the difficult decision to quit a senior role for a charity I love because I’m convinced these next few years are going to be critical for Scotland’s third sector and digital is going to be key. With ever-shrinking budgets and changed public expectations we can no longer ignore the potential offered by digital as way of delivering services, collaborating with our users, better understanding societal need and raising much needed funds. I want to make sure I have the time to be part of some of the amazing work going on across Scotland to get the third sector digitally confident.

At Third Sector Lab and Be Good Be Social I’m now working alongside a range of people to make this stuff happen – designers, developers, multimedia storytellers, animators, SEO & Google Adwords Grants experts, digital skills trainers and social media strategists. We’ve worked with a wide range of organisations, including Cosgrove Care, The RS MacDonald Charitable Trust, Big Lottery Fund, ACOSVO, SCVO, GCVS, The Alliance, Breast Cancer Care, Angus Council, NHS GGC, The Scottish Government and more to help them get the most out of digital.

So if you’d like us to help your organisation get to grips with all this give me a shout. Whether it’s a new website, delivering elements of a service using digital channels, making better use of data, training staff in use of social media, getting trustees excited about digital or if you’d just like a chat here’s how you can reach me:

I’m looking forward to working with more people across the third sector to ensure Scotland becomes a world-leader in the use of digital as a tool for social good.

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