chartities

Whilst it is well understood that charities should not act in a party political manner, this article ask two straightforward yet complex questions: should charities campaign and if so, how? The authors identify a spectrum of approaches for getting charity messages across – from full blown campaigning to quieter methods. They suggest undertaking a skills audit of the charity board to identify who has the talent needed. With the cost of public service design and delivery becoming more dominant than quality, strengthening the capacity of a charity to make its case becomes of heightened importance.

While campaigning may work for the charitable organisation in ensuring its continuation and sustainability, linking this directly as to how it improves the experience and outcomes for its beneficiaries remains unclear. I presonally question the mandate of many very large “super charities” when they “ride into battle” on issues of national policy which may not event be central to their core purpose.

This article is worth quoting in some detail as it provides some very powerful evidence about how the charity sector is being hit by the recession:

“The report, carried out by the Charity Finance Group (CFG), the Institute of Fundraising and PWC, asked 488 charities across the UK in October and November 2011 about how they were coping with the downturn. It was the fifth such report (the first was in December 2008 – you can read them here). On the whole, and notwithstanding the eternal optimism of the people who run charities, the data collected by this survey over the period shows much of the sector sliding into ever deepening gloom.

These are the main points of the latest survey, published this week:

Charities have experienced a net reduction in income across all income streams, and expect further shrinkage, especially from public sector sources. At the same time, over two thirds have seen an increase in demand for their services, the same amount anticipating demand from beneficiaries to increase further in the next 12 months.

Government attempts to put the voluntary sector at the heart of its Big Society agenda have failed: half of charities thought ministerial policy had had no impact; of those that thought it had, 82% said it was negative. Overall, nearly two thirds said they had been “negatively affected” by government spending policies.

Voluntary organisations are being forced into radical restructuring to cope with financial crisis: a fifth surveyed said they were considering merger (up from 12% last year). Other measures include: making staff redundant (28% of charities); freezing pay (36%), and reducing staff hours (21%).”

We all know how important the “vol/com” sector is in rural England and this evidence of its decline should give us all considerable cause for concern.