rural charity

Coronavirus: Rural charities face funding crisis

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In Lincolnshire we have known this for months and are getting on and doing something about it through a peer support programme, developing action plans for the worst affected VCS bodies. If you want to know more drop me an email. The experience of RABI featured here is very typical. The article tells us:

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.

Charities aren’t just the cheap option for public service delivery

This thought provoking article looks at charities competing to deliver public services. Apparently the issue is not how further savings can be made to the public purse, but who gets to decide what the funds are spent on: is there really much difference between a charity or a government department delivering a public service it asks. The article illuminates a plethora of views that continue to divide commentators. It opens up the distinction between the mandatory and discretionary activities at local authority level, asset transfer, uncertainty over government reforms (health, welfare) and who is best placed to decide how public funds are used (commissioners, deliverers, end users)?

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.

Charitable giving: BT launches website where 100% of donations go to charity

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This article profiles a new approach to charitable giving which has been developed through a website by BT – it explains how: “BT said it has worked with a number of charities to develop the new website MyDonate – including Cancer Research UK and the NSPCC – to ensure it is a service that the sector wants.

“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.