Craig Bennett from Friends of the Earth, Frances Crook from the Howard League for Penal Reform and Steve Ford of Parkinson’s UK were among the chief executives to make it onto this year’s list of the top 30 charity leaders on social media.
The names of this year’s top 30 "social CEOs" over the past year were revealed at an awards night at JustGiving’s headquarters in London, hosted by the marketing and digital communications consultant Zoe Amar and Matt Collins, managing director at the agency Platypus Digital.
Other new entrants onto this year’s list, which is not ranked, include Robert Meadowcroft of Muscular Dystrophy UK, Jessica Taplin of Get Connected, Liam Hackett of the anti-bullying charity Ditch The Label, Edel Harris of Scottish learning disability charity Cornerstone and Andrew Johnston of Christian youth charity The Boys’ Brigade.
Matt Stevenson-Dodd of the football charity Street League and Andy Winter of the Brighton Housing Trust also made it into the top 30 for the first time.
Three new awards were also introduced this year alongside the top 30: best senior leader, best trustee and the rising star award.
They were won respectively by Karl Wilding, director of public policy at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Leon Ward, Cardiff project manager at the youth leadership development organisation UpRising and trustee of the charities Brook and Plan International, and Angela Style, chair of the healthcare charity Endometriosis UK.
A total of 158 nominations were received for the awards, which were judged by a panel of charity chief executives and representatives from organisations including Twitter.
The idea for the "social CEOs" list, which is in its third year, was devised by Amar and Collins, who also launched a free guide today for the third year running – this time with JustGiving - to help charity leaders develop their use of social media.
Amar said: "2015’s winners have adopted digital as a natural part of how they live and work, using social media strategically to champion their cause, grow their organisation’s networks and to influence opinion. They show how charity leaders can use social media to help their charity’s brands punch above their weight and demonstrate the difference they make."
The top 30
Deborah Alsina, Bowel Cancer UK, @DeborahAlsina
Owen Barder, Centre for Global Development in Europe, @owenbarder
Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth, @CraigBennett3
Caron Bradshaw, CFG, @caronlb
Paul Breckell, Action on Hearing Loss, @pbreckell
Stephen Cornish, MSF, @Stephen_Cornish
Frances Crook, Howard League for Penal Reform, @FrancesCrook
Mark Flanagan, Beating Bowel Cancer, @MarkFlannCEO
Steve Ford, Parkinson’s UK, @SteveGFord
Nicky Goulder, Create, @NickyGoulder
Liam Hackett, Ditch the Label, @DiageoLiam
Stephen Hale, Refugee Action, @SHaleGeneva
Edel Harris, Cornerstone, @Edelharris
Jon Hibbs, the Hibbs Lupus Trust, @hibbsy
Helena Holt, Devon Air Ambulance, @hgholt
Rhidian Hughes, VODG, @rhidianhughes
Andrew Johnston, the Boys’ Brigade, @boysbrigadeceo
Dalton Leong, the Children’s Trust, @DaltonLeong
Louise Macdonald, Young Scot, @Louisemac
John May, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, @johnccmay
Robert Meadowcroft, Muscular Dystrophy UK, @MDUK_Robert
Jo Smith, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, @JoSmithDWT
Matt Stevenson-Dodd, Street League, @Matt_SD
Ruth Sutherland, Samaritans, @SamaritansRuth
Jessica Taplin, Get Connected, @JessicaTaplin
Jeremy Taylor, National Voices, @JeremyTaylorNV
Jan Tregelles, Mencap, @JanTregelles
Peter Wanless, NSPCC, @PeterWanless
Andy Winter, Brighton Housing Trust, @AndyWinterBHT
Jo Youle, Missing People, @JoeyYoule
