If charity begins at home, then PR begins with making sure the rest of the world actually knows what you’re up to.
You can run the most inspiring campaign in the country, but if nobody hears about it, it’s like baking a Victoria sponge and forgetting to tell anyone you’ve put the kettle on.
At Satsuma, we love working with organisations that do good – and then helping them look good while doing it.
Because in today’s world, a great cause needs more than goodwill. It needs cut-through, character, and sometimes a cheeky media headline or two.
The National Disability and Carers Card Scheme sounds simple enough: a discreet ID that helps carers and disabled people access support and adjustments. But simple ideas can be the most powerful – and with the right comms, they can snowball.
Working with this exceptional social enterprise saw us build a Facebook group from scratch that gained more than 8,400 members in six months, which is about the same as filling Ipswich Town’s away stand four times over.
But the group isn’t just big, it’s buzzing.
Carers and disabled people swapping advice, sharing lived experience and recommending everything from mobility hacks to must-watch box sets.
Add in partnerships with the likes of LEGOLAND, Warner Bros. Studio Tour and Disneyland Paris, and suddenly this little plastic card isn’t just getting you through the door. It’s opening up a national conversation about inclusion and independence.
Then there’s Will Aid. Not the most attractive of subjects, you’d think – who wants to chat about death over their morning coffee?
But wills mean security, legacy and peace of mind. And with the right PR, they can also mean front-page headlines.
We shook up the campaign in 2023 and by 2024 it had its most successful year in three decades.
Think 565 pieces of coverage, from BBC News and Good Morning Britain to The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, where a single segment triggered 25 enquiries per minute and temporarily crashed the website.
By the end of the campaign, the scheme had raised a record-breaking £775,000 for charity -proof that even life admin can be headline-worthy.
Of course, charity PR isn’t always a fairytale. The social media landscape is a bit like an overgrown hedge maze: ever-changing, occasionally hostile and prone to Elon Musk popping out when you least expect it.
Some big charities have left X (formerly Twitter) altogether. Others are doubling down on LinkedIn or dabbling with Bluesky.
The trick isn’t to be everywhere – it’s to be where your community feels safe, heard and valued. And sometimes that means swapping doomscrolling for platforms where stories shine rather than get buried under conspiracy theories.
What ties all this together? A few simple truths. Authenticity trumps polish. Communities matter more than vanity metrics. And humour – used with care – can disarm even the trickiest topics.
At Satsuma, we like to think of ourselves as the fruit bowl in a world full of beige biscuits. We bring colour, zest and just enough tang to make serious subjects sing.
Whether it’s wills or wheelchairs, carers or coverage, our job is to make sure the good work gets the great headlines it deserves.
Because in charity communications, success isn’t just measured in column inches or AVE.
It’s measured in lives supported, communities empowered, and futures made brighter. (Though, let’s be honest, a slot on The Martin Lewis Money Show doesn’t hurt either.)
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