Digital round-up: CBM launches app to help disabled people access life-saving disaster relief

Overseas disability charity CBM will launch the full version of its Humanitarian Hands-on Tool on Saturday to coincide with World Humanitarian Day.

The app, which is designed to provide help for people with disabilities seek life-saving relief services during emergencies, was unveiled in prototype version last year, since when CBM has consulted with humanitarian and disabled people’s organisations and incorporated their feedback.

HHOT aims to provide practical, step-by-step guidance that emergency workers can access freely and easily to ensure that the help they provide, such as emergency shelters or food and water points are accessible to people with disabilities or other marginalised groups.

Zoe Hopkins, senior programme officer at humanitarian aid agency Mercy Corps, who took part in the consultation sessions, said it was important to adapt common emergency responses to be more disability inclusive.

“Interactive use of the HHOT tool revealed many practical ways of adapting all sectors of emergencies, from quick wins such as appropriate signage in a camp, to more participatory approaches of ensuring disabled people’s organisations are present at Cluster meetings,” she said.

Breast Cancer Care has created a video to celebrate 25 years of the pink ribbon, the global symbol for breast cancer.

The Pink Ribbon 25 anniversary film, which also features the charity’s new limited edition pink velvet ribbon, has been launched across Breast Cancer Care’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels. It features 25 people who have been affected by breast cancer in some way whether that is through facing their own cancer diagnosis or supporting someone else.

Samia al Qadhi, chief executive of Breast Cancer Care, said: “Since the first pink ribbon was created we’ve helped millions of women, men, their friends and families live with, through and beyond breast cancer. This year, as we celebrate and mark its 25th anniversary, it remains as compelling as ever – a powerful symbol of hope, strength and unity.”

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Almost 500 people access the Fundraising Preference Service hours after launch

According to the Fundraising Regulator, 484 suppression requests were made by 10.30am today, five and a half hours after the preference service began operating

Almost 500 requests to stop charities contacting people were made in the first few hours after the Fundraising Preference Service went live this morning.

At a reception this morning to mark the launch of the FPS and the first anniversary of the creation of the Fundraising Regulator, Jenny Williams, who sits on the board of the regulator, revealed that 484 suppression requests had already been made since it was launched at 5am today.

The FPS, which will be run by the regulator, will allow people to block all phone, email, direct mail and text contact from specific charities in groups of up to three at a time.

Speaking at 10.30 this morning, Williams said: “As of about an hour ago we already had 484 suppression requests since the website and system went live earlier on this morning, so the FPS is well and truly under way. This is a tremendous achievement on behalf of the team.”

People who want to block communications from a particular charity will be able to log on to the website or call the telephone number, then choose a charity and the communication channels they wish to block.

The charity will then receive a notification from the regulator and will log on to its own portal on the website to get the person’s information.

Williams said that 641 charities already had portals on the system and more would be joining shortly.

She said the regulator would carry out a formal review of the system in 12 to 18 months’ time.

“We’ve designed the FPS to be flexible,” she said. “If necessary we can increase its capacity, but we hope the wider efforts to improve fundraising standards and the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation will mean there’s much less demand for services over time.”

Stephen Dunmore, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said the FPS set-up and running costs for its first year were likely to be significantly lower than predicted a year ago.

In August last year, the regulator predicted those costs would be £750,000, including £250,000 for set-up.

But Dunmore said today that the set-up costs had been £250,000 and the predicted first-year running costs would be £450,000. He said he expected the actual figure to be lower than that because the regulator was encouraging FPS users to use the website rather than the telephone line, which is more expensive to provide.

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Prince’s Trust launches new digital platform to widen online access

Prince’s Trust Online has been launched to support a million more young people over the next ten years

The Prince’s Trust has launched a new online platform to help vulnerable young people access its services.

The charity said the portal would allow young people to benefit from its programmes even if they were unable to attend in person because of where they lived or the nature of their personal circumstances: those living in rural areas, for example, making travel to a Prince’s Trust delivery centre difficult, or those whose lifestyles made it hard to access programmes, such as single parents and young carers. The charity said it would also enable them to complete their programmes at a pace and time that would fit in with their other commitments. A group of such people were involved in road-testing the platform.

Prince’s Trust Online is a key part of the charity’s aim of supporting a million more young people over the next 10 years. The new platform, which is supported by founding patrons Nominet and NatWest and the content sponsor L’Oreal Paris, means the trust’s programmes can be accessed by smartphone, tablets and computers.

The new platform was unveiled at London Tech Week’s TechXLR8 this week. A digital version of the Prince’s Trust’s enterprise programme, designed to help young entrepreneurs develop their ideas into businesses, was also launched. Prince’s Trust Online mirrors the enterprise programme by providing and combining e-learning modules with an e-mentoring service.

A speaker at the event was Duane Jackson, who was supported by the trust to found a tech business after spending time in prison. He has since sold the business and become a member of the trust’s Enterprise Fellowship.

David Ivell, the trust’s chief information officer, said: “With the launch of Prince’s Trust Online we will be able to support more young people than ever and, perhaps most importantly, break down barriers that have previously prevented us reaching those who may have the most to gain from one of our programmes.”

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