Most charities can tell you what they do. Fewer can tell you the difference they make. In this first episode of The Difference Podcast, Matt and Helen sit down with Frank Fletcher, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, the charity that opens Chapter 1 of Matt's book The Difference, to get behind the story in the chapter.

The Trust takes young people who've been through cancer treatment on four- and five-day sailing and outdoor adventures, giving them the chance to challenge themselves and build new memories. For years, the team came home with a yacht full of inspiring stories. But when they asked, "Have you had a nice time?", the answer was yes about 99% of the time. Lovely to hear, and almost useless for knowing whether they were actually changing lives.

This episode is about what happened next: the shift from a "do" organisation to a "difference" organisation, the honesty it took to get there, and what it feels like to go looking for the gaps in your own impact, and then publish them.

Why this one's worth your time

·       "Do" or "difference"? Most organisations talk about activities, sessions delivered, people reached. Difference organisations talk about the change they make.

·       The "So what?" test. "We take 700 young people sailing each year." So what? "It builds their confidence." So what? Keep going until you reach the change that matters - for the Trust, helping young people believe in a brighter future, living through and beyond cancer.

·       Form follows function. Decide the difference you want to make first, then design the activity around it.

·       Honesty is an asset, not a failure. The Trust openly shows how many young people didn't improve their wellbeing, and that honesty makes the successes believable.

·       Its hard to measure a "nice time." A favourable experience and a genuine difference are not the same thing.

Go deeper in the book
This episode is the behind-the-scenes version of Chapter 1 - "'Do' or 'difference'?" You'll find the full "do" vs "difference" breakdown and a simple test for your own organisation, the Trust's reworked need, vision and purpose statements, the "So what?" diagnostic step by step, and the three golden rules Matt set at Street League: never over-claim; back every percentage with absolute numbers; make every outcome auditable.

See the Trust's live impact dashboard: https://www.trst.uk/emct

About the guest
Frank Fletcher is CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, which supports young people aged 8–24 to rebuild confidence after cancer treatment through sailing and outdoor adventures across the Isle of Wight and Scotland. He began working with Matt and Trust Impact shortly after the consultancy was founded in 2019.

Find out more: https://www.ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org

The Difference Podcast goes deeper into the ideas from The Difference: How to Understand, Measure and Maximise Social Impact by Matt - out now. Enjoyed the episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who talks a lot about what they do, and not enough about the difference they make.