Rural charities are facing a sharp drop in income, as the coronavirus crisis scuppers fundraising initiatives, but they are reassuring farming families there will be no cuts in the support on offer.

The cancellation of agricultural shows and events as varied as tractor runs, summer balls and YFC initiatives has led to a fall in donations to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (Rabi).

 “We will have a significant drop in our income this year because the structure of how we raise our voluntary income has been wiped from under us,” said Rabi chief executive Alicia Chivers.

“The expectation is that larger events aren’t going to happen anytime soon in 2020 – and that’s where we’ve got a gap.”

She pointed out, however, that would-be donors were thinking creatively, organising such events as a Virtual Tour of Pembrokeshire cycle ride and a virtual Kilimanjaro trek.

“People are doing some amazing things, but we have to accept – and it will be across the board for charities – that this situation will have an impact on our income, certainly in 2020,” she said.

In my role as Visiting Fellow, I have been at Nottingham Trent University this week, talking at a symposium with people from Chinese local authorities about how the Rural Excellence Programme was a cracking example of the application of the principles of the Learning Organisation to the delivery of rural services. They have a huge national programme of formal learning programme structures as part of their scary determination to improve public sector delivery. Made me think hard that just at the time we are turning off most of our resources dedicated to shared learning amongst authorities they are really investing in just that process. The similarities between their world and ours are amazing. One even put up a slide showing how important it was to break down departmental silos in Chinese Local Government. Uncanny!  Please contact me if you would like a copy of my presentation.

“The service has been designed to be inclusive to all UK registered charities and increase the online donation market. Last year the total amount donated to charity by adults in the UK was estimated to be £10.6bn, with only 7% of givers donating online. By contrast, 58% of adults regularly shop online.”

The difference indicated here between the number of people who shop on line and give to charity on line makes me think about the difference between the number of people who volunteer (formally and informally) in their communities and the number of people who so far seem interested in signing up for a more engaged approach to the Big Society and service delivery.

It seems to me that if we are to get some wheels under the devolution of services to communities we might want to think a bit harder about the role ICT can play in supporting that process.