Small charities may be a fraction of the size of charity juggernauts such as Cancer Research UK, Shelter and the British Heart Foundation, but what an impact they make.

Small organisations make up the majority of the sector – more than 90% – and continue to fight for the causes so dear to our hearts.

This week is small charity week and to celebrate, we've compiled our top five small charity blogposts from the network - they're either written by small charity experts or are from our series dedicated to you – but most of all they celebrate what small charities do.

5. Falling at the first hurdle: marathon fundraising passes small charities by

According to Ogden-Newton, everyone knows the London Marathon raises millions for worthwhile causes but few realise that small charities miss out. Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Earlier this year, small charity chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton wrote that small charities find it almost impossible to fundraise through events like the London Marathon. Despite sporting events having huge fundraising opportunities and potential, the high price of entry costs and often the unluckiness of the draw, means that smaller organisations often miss out.

4. How-to guide: public relations for charities on a shoestring budget

Hamilton explains how small charities can manage their publication relations on a small budget. Photograph: Image Source / Rex Features

In at fourth, we have the most popular of our how to guides - PR on a budget. The charity PR extraordinaire David Hamilton wrote the piece and explained that by picking up the phone and asking for help, any small organisation can be a media whizz.

3. Wanted: musical sea eagle. The five weirdest volunteer roles

It's Volunteer's Week - to celebrate we have rounded up the five wackiest volunteering roles. Photograph: Robin Utrecht/EPA

Next up is our most recent and fun. During Volunteer's Week 2014 we hunted down the weirdest and most bizarre of volunteering roles. From Wheatfields Hospice calling for a chicken knitter to larger charity RSPB asking for a sea eagle that could play the fiddle - the list demonstrated that the charity sector is wacky and pretty original!

2. Pancreatic Cancer Action: why we ran a controversial ad campaign

Photograph: Pancreatic Cancer Action

When PCA ran their 'I wish I had' campaign there was much backlash from the public and media. However, chief executive Ali Stunt explained: "We knew that the response generated was strong and was therefore likely to lodge in people's memories – thus helping our objectives of raising awareness of this terrible disease and its symptoms."

1. Why my charity CoppaFeel! partnered with the Sun newspaper's Page 3

Hallenga thinks partnering with the Sun's Page 3 was the best move for Coppafeel!'s campaign. Photograph: The Sun

Whether you agree with this partnership or not - Coppafeel!'s link up with the Sun page 3 sure had an impact. Kristen Hallenga - the founder of the breast cancer charity - explained that as a small awareness charity with a little marketing budget they rely heavily on corporate and media partnerships to help broadcast their message.

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