GoodGeist
A podcast on sustainability, hosted by Damla Özlüer and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network. Looking at sustainability issues, communications, and featuring global guests from a wide variety of sectors such as business, NGOs and government.
GoodGeist
Be Brave, Have Impact & Make it Happen, with Adeela Warley
Sustainability and positive social change don't just happen by accident – they require strategic communication that cuts through the noise and inspires action. In this episode we're talking to Adeela Warley, Chief Executive of Charity Comms, as we explore the vital role communications plays in driving meaningful impact for charitable causes.
Adeela reveals how her passion for purpose has evolved into a powerful career dedicated to positive change. With over 20 years of experience and an OBE for services to charity communications, she offers unique insights into what makes campaigns truly resonate.
From the groundbreaking Big Ask climate campaign that led to the UK's world-first Climate Change Act to innovative approaches like Breast Cancer Now's AI-powered Gallery of Hope and Bite Back's cheeky "Commercial Break" campaign against junk food advertising, Adeela unpacks the DNA of successful initiatives that drive change.
And looking toward the future, Adeela identifies key trends reshaping charity communications: the ethical challenges of AI and evolving social media landscapes, the rising influence of Generation Alpha with their hunger for activism, and the charity sector's shift from doom narratives to solution-focused messaging that empowers people with agency.
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Good Geist, a podcast series on sustainability hosted by Damla Özler and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello everyone. You are listening to Good Ge Guys, the message on sustainability which is brought to you by the DNS Network, the global network of agencies dedicated to making the world a better place. This is Damla from Mira Agency, Istanbul, and.
Speaker 3:This is Steve from Creative Concern in Manchester. This podcast series explores global sustainability issues, how they're communicated and what creativity can do to make positive change happen.
Speaker 2:So in this episode we're going to talk to Adila Wole, the Chief Executive for the organization Charity Comms. Adila has over 20 years experience in charity communications across everything from strategic planning, market research, media, media, pr, events, brand publishing and digital wow, it's a lot.
Speaker 3:And before joining charity comms, adil led the development of organizational communications in brand and audience strategies for friends of the earth, which is where we first met adil a very long time ago that is a long time ago, steve, I know don know, let's not think about it Hugely successful in that role and you've even landed yourself an OBE for services to charity communications. So thank you so much for talking to Damla and myself.
Speaker 4:Delighted, delighted to talk to you both.
Speaker 3:Amazing. So what we always tend to do like lockwork, adila is try and find out who we're talking to and get a little bit more about them and find out how you got to where you are today. So tell us about your journey to becoming the CEO of Charity Commons. What led you here?
Speaker 4:Well, I think my parents really instilled in me a strong sense of purpose and a desire to make the world a better place, but that really didn't point towards a particular career path, I have to say. When I went to university I did a degree in English and American Studies and I followed that up with a film diploma in film theory and again, no obvious steps towards a career out of either of those things. My first job really after leaving university was to work for a local authority in the library service and I became a children's librarian and that really fed into my lifelong passion for reading but also for learning and a lot of community engagement, because it was very much rooted on a council estate in London and it was an amazing experience. And then I went from there to my first charity role, which was with the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection BUAV big mouthful, but what I was doing with them is running a resources library communications resource. And then I also worked on two anti-bivisection campaigns. One was about the use of animals in medical research and it was called Health for Humanity and the other was the Choose Cruelty-Free Cosmetics campaign. And it was my first experience of working in a corporate partnership with the Body Shop at the time, which was absolutely amazing, and that was a springboard for me to go to the environmental campaigning organisation Friends of the Earth, where I spent several decades and I started out running the photo library and then I went on to run lots of amazing arts events which allowed me to work with museums and schools and publishers just an amazing experience. But of course I worked on lots of communications campaigns on things like healthy cities for people, protecting the rainforests, climate change, safer chemicals in the home, as well as the fantastic B-Course campaign which was all about protecting pollinators.
Speaker 4:And I think over the decades what I really saw was how environmental issues moved from the margins, I think, to become really mainstream and to move from focusing on species and then habitats and then moving out from there to really look at much broader sustainability issues and systems change. And by the time I left Friends of the Earth I was something called Head of Communications and Supporter Experience and I was part of a department that was called the Engagement Department and it really put people-centered experiences at the heart of organizational strategies, kind of broke down all those internal silos between fundraising and comms and campaigns and actually brought us together in a shared purpose around giving people an amazing experience with us and building their loyalty and driving their actions. That was a really incredible experience. And then, from there, what I wanted to say was that, throughout that career path, charity Comms was by my side. It was providing me with a network of people who really understood what I was going through in my daily life, the lived experience of being a comms professional, giving me a safe space to learn and to share ideas and experiences.
Speaker 4:And so I was really delighted, in 2015, to become a trustee for Charity Comms, so to kind of give back to the organisation that had nurtured me in my career, to the organisation that had nurtured me in my career. And then, in 2017, when I left Friends of the Earth after such a long time and I stepped down from the board of Charity Comms in order to become the CEO, I applied for the job of CEO for Charity Comms, and this was my absolute dream job, you know, to go from working for one organisation that I passionately believed in to actually being having the privilege of working with charities from across the sector, from tiny organizations to big high street brands, and on all issues, a whole range of issues. So, yeah, dream job.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's inspiring and I must say, steve, can I use the phrase the woman of good deeds for her.
Speaker 3:Yes, you can.
Speaker 2:I'll take that.
Speaker 3:Oh, before you come in, damla, I have to say to Adela, so I totally remember your BUAV campaign. Wow, no, I complete the medical research one and I used it so accidentally I ended up on this. You may remember it damnly you won't because it's a very UK reference but there was a tv show on channel, on our channel four, called the people's parliament and they ran a special on animal research from this section and I was on this people's parliament and I was a vegetarian campaigner at the time and and so I did all this research and I was so dependent on your campaign materials for that show.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's good to know. Thank you, steve. That is an amazing throwback to the past. I know.
Speaker 2:Well, adila, you worked in various organizations and, as we see, you have created very impactful campaigns over the decades which can be still remembered. Can we get a big picture view around your take on the role of communications in delivering positive change?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely. For me, the most effective charities are those that put strategic communications at the heart of their organisations and that they understand that communications is a critical tool really for achieving their charitable purpose and for driving pro-social change. Because charities exist to solve problems, and being able to communicate what the problems are but also, really importantly, what the solutions are, and being able to help galvanize support for the cause that really just can't be done without really amazing communications, and I think nothing in the current political, social or technological context has undermined the proposition for doing good in the world. But demonstrating how charities are achieving positive change rests on our ability to communicate effectively and finding new ways, I think, to capture people's imagination, to make an emotional connection and to talk about the collective impact that we can make. And I think that the rise of grassroots movements in recent years and also the ability to use quite sophisticated theories of change and techniques to influence people and drive people power does really create waves. I'm definitely not suggesting that charities should abandon traditional forms of political advocacy, where persistence and numbers can have local, national and global impact, but I think we do need to consider what methods are best. Do it on a case-by-case basis so that we can really cut through the noise and sway the changes that need to be made. And strategic comms is not a silver bullet, but it is a vital part of addressing the challenges that we face and helping to bring people with us on that journey.
Speaker 4:I read a fantastic book recently. Well, I didn't read the book, I read about the book. I still want to read the book, which is by Barney Callum. I don't know if you guys have heard of him. He wrote a book called Making a Movement back in 2023. He wrote it. He's a journalist and a campaign analyst reporting on global social issues and he took a look at why movements are really successful and he used case studies like the Black Lives Movement, the Ireland's U-turn on abortion rights and Britain's drug law reforms as well, and he really goes into the tactics used and the underlying principles and gives us some insight into what sustained those campaigns, and I just think it's maybe of interest to other people as well.
Speaker 3:Amazing. Well, the we're all going to go away and have to read that book, and then we'll come back and we could do a sort of book review version of the podcast. Couldn't we a deal? That'd be fun. Yeah, so you could say, in fact, you could set our reading list each, each week, and then we'll come back. But I was you know on that as well. I always think when we look, when I look, I mean we work with so many charities, as does damler and rest of our, our network, and I'm always struck by how communications dependent their strategic aims are. There are very few elements of their mission that aren't in some way dependent on really effective communications. It's like it's totally woven into achieving change, isn't it? It's quite extraordinary. Even if you're just playing back to people what you've achieved, it's still vital, even if you're just playing back to people what you've achieved.
Speaker 3:It's still vital. Exactly exactly so I before we get into the sort of real theories of communications or any top tips or examples, it will be remiss of us, adela not to do a plug for charity comms. So for people who haven't encountered charity comms, what? What's your elevator pitch? How do you describe what you guys do?
Speaker 4:Well, so Charity Comms is the membership network for communications professionals working in the UK and basically we convene that community to share their expertise and experience, and we do this by holding a wide range of events, by creating on-demand content and digital blogs, reports, and we also run an amazing mentoring scheme. I think I mentioned the value of having a safe space to learn from others in your network, and our aim really is to connect people, inform them and empower and inspire them to do the very best that they possibly can in their work. And, as I said, our members come from right across the sector. So organisations, freelancers, agencies like yourself, steve, and Creative Concern, who really want to make the communications sector thrive and prosper, so, yeah, so our focus is always listening to our community and finding out what they need from us to do a great job.
Speaker 2:Charity campaigns. Sometimes there are a lot of amazing ones, and sometimes some campaigns are not just advertising campaigns but intellectual food. You have to devour them. I feel like that. I like that thought so which ones are the ones that you really loved, and why?
Speaker 4:do you know what this is like, being on desert island discs and having to pick only eight tracks? Because I found it enormously difficult to decide. But I'm going to start with one which was from my time at Friends of the Earth and it was the Big Ask climate campaign. And it really did prove that people power can create big change. And after almost three years of sustained campaigning, in 2008, the UK government brought in a world first it was historic a Climate Change Act which enshrined in law binding targets to reduce dangerous carbon dioxide emissions year on year. Why do I love this campaign so much? Well, because it's one of the biggest challenges that humanity faces, of course, but I loved it because the communications team my team was given the budget and the freedom to innovate and to help create mass public engagement, and we did things like cinema advertising, we worked with Tom York from Radiohead on music gigs, we did a whole nationwide tour of comedy gigs, we held climate-friendly banquets, and all of this helped to create the kind of groundswell that was needed to drive political change, really big political change. I also love it because the campaign united the whole of Friends of the Earth. No matter what your role was in the organisation. You were working on this endeavour together, and so it combined not just great communications but extraordinary parliamentary and legal expertise. We worked with our grassroots Friends of the Earth local groups up and down the country, lobbying their MPs, talking to the public, and also partnerships across the sector, because one of the things that many things that I love about Friends of the Earth is it's it's very collegiate and collaborative, and it has always worked in coalitions and partnerships to achieve change. So that's that's topped my pops.
Speaker 4:I think that one, but I choose a very different one next, which is um breast cancer. Now, I don't know if you guys saw this campaign, but it was a campaign, it was a, it was an initiative called the gallery of hope, and what it did was it was working with people living with terminal cancer and a renowned photographer I think her name is Gillian Endelstein and also in collaboration with a creative agency called Untold Studios, they used AI technology to create an exhibition of future portraits, and the photographs captured moments of hope and it really gave a powerful insight into the value of research into secondary breast cancer. And the gallery, I think, showed for me a spirit of innovation by using AI in a creative way, but also and you'll love this, Steve and and and Danla because it was such creating such touching, simple and powerful stories and presenting them in a new way, and that's really why I love that campaign. And I know this podcast looks at sustainability issues, so I've chosen another one really that relates to sustainability, and it was in June 2024, the Restore Nature Now March. And why was this extraordinary? Because it brought together thousands of people from across the country, but it was spearheaded by an extraordinary collaboration from really well-established, quite traditional charities through to very radical movements, all working together around a united call for nature. All working together around a united call for nature. And I just think it was a really good example of why collaboration is so important. And Chris Packham, who was one of the celebrities leading it, in his thanks to everybody who had taken part, he was really honest. He acknowledged how hard that had been to organise, to facilitate so many disparate, diverse players, but he said that it was testimony to the shared vision and a belief in change is possible, and I absolutely loved that.
Speaker 4:And then I'm going to give you one. I'll give you one last one as well, which was a very recent one, in April 2025, biteback, the youth campaigning organisation launched their commercial break campaign I think, steve, you may have seen this one and basically what they did was they took over ad spaces in London and they carried one simple message, which was young activists bought this ad space so that junk food giants just couldn't. And I absolutely love it. I love the cheekiness of it, I love the inventiveness of it, and they won the Sheila McKechnie Campaign of the Year Award for that. And they were also finalists in Charity Comms' own award scheme for communicators, the Inspiring Communicator Awards. And I have to say a big thank you to Chris here, because Creative Concern is our creative partner for our award scheme to celebrate the amazing skill that goes into the communications that drive brilliant campaigns, and Creative Concern really brought to life the stories behind those successes. So thank you very much, steve, to you and your team.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's lovely. We know, you know, just realized that we never get a plug for our agencies on this podcast. It's about time we should seed more of that. I think the so those are wonderful campaigns and, a bit like us, you're you're going to be one of those people who's always looking at campaigns and and analyzing them, seeing what makes them work and what makes them kinetic and magnetic and shareable and all of that amazing stuff. And I really love. I love what we do collectively the three of us and the rest of it, many of the listeners to this podcast, because it goes back a long way. There are people who've worked on really effective, charity-based and progressive campaigns for many, many years and I find it just fascinating to look at it and find it such a wonderful antidote to everyday marketing and advertising that we get saturated by. But for you, for all those many years of deep experience in this area, if you had a sort of tip list or the building blocks of a really effective campaign, what would they be?
Speaker 4:So the starting point, I think, has got to be audience insight. That's the foundations of everything, I think really understanding how to interpret and predict and work with people's behaviors and motivations, so reaching and retaining audience connections for your cause. So that's the first building block. The second is actually we need a whole podcast on this, steve, because I'm not going to go into it but it is the power of framing. It's about the ability to develop narratives which really they don't reinforce the things you don't want it to reinforce, and they do land well and elicit the action that you really intend. And I think in recent years more and more charities are becoming familiar with the techniques and tools of framing, understanding the context for your work, so taking that wide view of the political, social and legal landscape that your messages are talking within. You need to understand that because then you can work out who you need to speak to and what the levers of power, where the blockers are and the opportunities. I've already spoken a lot about this so I won't go on about it, but it is about collaboration, so it's recognising, whether that's with local groups or community action, national or international. It also goes for when charities team up with businesses and with agencies I mean amazing creative partnerships between agencies like both of yours and charities to really make a difference. I think the other thing is also making sure that you create multiple ways in to your work for people. So give people lots of different ways that appeal to them, that make it easy for them, that suit their lifestyle and their dreams, you know, actually realize something and create amazing experiences for people. I think that's really important.
Speaker 4:We've talked in the examples that I shared with you earlier. I talked quite a bit about innovation and creativity. I think it's also about risk-taking being quite brave, because if you weren't, who will be? Who will be brave for your course? And these are. They sound like housekeeping, but they are absolutely essential in the toolkit, which is testing things out, learning, taking time to learn and evaluate so that you can avoid the things that didn't work and you can build on the things that did work.
Speaker 4:I think you need ambition and resilience Now. Campaigning is a long, long game and there will be things that you couldn't predict. There'll be setbacks, and you need to learn to celebrate the stepping stones, your external audiences, because if we can't give people hope, then we haven't got any chance of giving them agency. And so I think that that celebrating of success it sounds trite, it sounds, you know, of course we should, but really of course you should acknowledge that it is really important and I think the organisations who really excel are those who put all of these things like a golden thread, running through everything. Running through not just communications, but, you know, through every aspect, whether that's fundraising or policy work or marketing or brand. It needs to run through everything. That discipline, that fundamental toolkit, does that make sense? Oh, completely what? Run through everything, that discipline, that fundamental toolkit, does that make sense?
Speaker 3:Oh, completely. What do you think, Delma?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And what you said about being brave if you won't be brave, then who can be? We have a saying in our agency. Sometimes you get tired, sometimes you just don't want to lift your finger, and then one of us always, always says if not you, then who? Yeah? So that is the question, I think if not us, then who, yeah, yeah. I agree with you totally so it really makes sense, steve, so could you share with us a future look how are charity campaigns changing over time and what trends should people watch out for?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely so. It goes without saying that technology is shifting our communications challenges, and AI it's a scary thing, you know it's a scary thing, you know. It's kind of like where is this going to go? Is it going to be a good force for good, or is it going to really undermine lots of things that we hold dear? And changes in the social media landscape. We've seen how rapidly that has changed and what challenges that that has posed for charity communicators needing to balance ethical and practical decision making across all of this, particularly through their digital campaign activities and looking at research from across the sector that we see anyway, transparency and considered choices remain at the heart of those effective decisions and we've explored this topic in some of our seminars, and we've explored this topic in some of our seminars and we've got some brilliant resources on AI and social media on our website. But we're likely to see more impacts in the tech sector over the years.
Speaker 4:Looking forward, I think another thing that is an obvious one is the generational shift that we're seeing in the demographics and Generation Alpha those people born between 2010 and 2024, are going to be entering adulthood now, and so there's an energy amongst younger audiences to create a fairer and just world and obviously, a rising interest in global and national issues and in activism, and alongside that, there are concerns about social media's increasing influence on this audience and how it fuels, or can fuel, division and misinformation among young people too, and so I think this demographic shift really does call for charities to step further into the world of young people and to nurture their education, their involvement and their commitment to issues, and to champion their voices and position them as a key part of positive change. I think we mentioned framing earlier and alignment and collaboration across the sector, and there's a fantastic piece of work that's been done by Frameworks UK called Moving Mindsets, where they've looked at deep narratives which derive people's how people feel, what people see and what people do. And the good news is that there are ways for us to use communications to change those unhelpful deep mindsets. And alongside that, I think we see I'm really pleased about this we see charities leaving behind the doom and gloom. We spent decades trying to tell people the world was going to end and that we needed to act, but we also need to tell people that actually we know what the solutions are. We just need to get on and do it. So giving people that sense of agency. So I think really, in summary, I suppose I think deeply understanding our audiences. In summary, I suppose I think deeply understanding our audiences, deploying the very best communications tools that we've got, knowing how to influence and making that that a shared endeavor with our colleagues, no matter what their skills and disciplines are. It's the only way to go.
Speaker 4:And I and one of my team sent me a link to an article on LinkedIn this morning because they knew I was doing this podcast and it was a piece by Edward Dark. You may know him, steve. He's co-founder of Cat Snake, the storytelling agency, and he finished his piece because he was talking very much the similar theme that we've been talking about today. Because he was talking very much the similar theme that we've been talking about today, he ended by saying I'm just going to quote him this isn't a sector in decline, it's one in transition. And the charities that stay focused, open and human in their response, they won't just survive the changes ahead, they will shape what comes next.
Speaker 3:And I absolutely love that. I I love it too. That's amazing adela. Well, I do. You know you've put so much thought into talking with us today. It's really quite fun. I think we might have to write this one up as a sort of you know, a keynote article as well as a great podcast episode, because that's been an amazing run through there and, I'm pleased to say, we are talking to Frameworks next week about moving mindsets, so you've teed it up like beyond beautifully oh wonderful, I didn't know that, but that's very good news.
Speaker 3:I know so, so we are out of time, but we're just going to sneak in one last question that we always like to ask, which is our final question. Our network is ironically called Do Not Smile, because we need to make sustainability a subject that brings happiness into the world. So what object, place or person always makes you smile?
Speaker 4:I'll tell you what my partner is going to kill me for not saying it's him which it is, of course, but it is also my beloved cat, my. He's called roly and he's a big ginger and white tom, and seeing him come through the door in the morning when he's been out on the tiles always makes me smile oh well, we can see that cat right now coming through, presumably not dragging bits of animal with him, hopefully fingers fortunately very, very rarely oh, that's good news.
Speaker 3:That's good news, brilliant. Well, listen, this has been a wonderful conversation. We're gonna have to do it again. We're gonna have to go away and read that book. Come back, talk about how you make a movement happen, but, damley, you better wrap us up. We We've run out of time.
Speaker 2:So thanks to everyone who has listened to our Good Guys podcast, brought to you by the Do Not Smile network of agencies.
Speaker 3:And make sure you listen to future episodes, where we'll be talking to more amazing people about how we can work together to create a more sustainable future. So, adila Damla, see you soon.
Speaker 4:Bye, bye.
Speaker 1:Bye, good Geist, a podcast series on sustainability Hosted by Damla Özler and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network.
