Charities on the Frontline

Sometimes your expectations are blown out of the water – I love it when that happens.

I recently met Michael. He was a fellow speaker at an event and blew me away with his humanity, humour and ability to tell his story. Read More »

I’m a serial workshop attender – how to market, fundraise, teambuild, whatever – I’m there. The bacon butties are a draw and it’s a good way to network.

The trendy workshops recently have been on social networks. They’ve helped me; I’m on LinkedIn and Twitter; but recently I went to one that stood out from the crowd. It was practical, recognising that social media can take over your whole life if you let it, with little to show except a superficial knowledge of Justin Bieber, the occupy movement and what everyone’s watching on TV. Today may just have saved me from becoming a disillusioned ex-tweeter. Read More »

In January 2011, Voluntary Sector North West responded to the consultation paper Supporting a Stronger Civil Society under the expectation that this would be the starting point for how Office for Civil Society was going to develop its’ strategy for working with VCS infrastructure in the future.  Knowing that the money available would be significantly less, we know how important it is to get the strategy right. Read More »

I can’t remember when the term “third sector” first came into being – probably long ago.  Even before we used this label, it did of course exist. Charities and the concept of charitable giving have existed for many hundreds of years.

For this reason, it’s very difficult to imagine what society would look like in the UK if charities simply did not exist. Would the responsibility of looking after the needs of 60 million people in our country fall solely on government? Taxation would be unimaginably higher for corporations and individuals, and the government machine would need to be substantially larger to take on the incredible range and depth of responsibilities the third sector currently carries. Read More »

A few years ago you couldn’t move for publications, training and think pieces on full cost recovery. Now, I rarely seem to hear the words uttered and, on reflection, I think that in an age of austerity we have let the government ignore the concept and start to put price right at the heart of all commissioning processes. Read More »

It’s true to say that mentality and culture in the third sector are very different from those in the corporate sector. It’s more difficult, however, to define exactly what that difference is. Some see the corporate sector as shrewd, canny, and businesslike. The very purpose of a corporate entity is to provide a return for its shareholders. Although there may be some aspects of the corporate sector that we in the voluntary one don’t like, there is much that chief executives of charities can learn from the way the private sector is run. Read More »

Six months ago on my allotment I got an insect bite. It made me very ill and I’m only just recovering – slowly. I took the good fortune of my health for granted; it’s been a huge shift to adjust to my new reality.

We good people in the voluntary sector are so great at caring; we’re champions of those we work for. It has been a shock to discover I didn’t know a fraction of what it really is like. I just had no idea until I ‘walked in their shoes’. Read More »

The Community First programme was officially launched last week. ‘Yippee’ we are all suppose to say, and I really want to be positive because our sector needs all the help it can get.

This programme is designed to replace/continue the highly successful Grassroots Programme which ended in March. Locally, Grassroots enabled Staffordshire Community Foundation to develop an endowment fund of £2.5m with local community groups directly benefiting from £1.1m in grants. If Grassroots was the invention of the round wheel, Community First is attempting to replace that with a square one – undoing every bit of good practice and success. Read More »

Funders, the government and circumstances are pushing our sector down the road of mergers. I don’t doubt planned mergers or collaborations can cut costs, increase impact, improve services and increase efficiencies in the long term. However, on the other hand, mergers imposed are forced marriages. They can cause a loss of self
esteem, independence, identity, and thus a symbolic sense of failure. For these reasons it’s argued they cannot
possibly work. Read More »

The party conference season is always a good opportunity to reflect on the position of the third sector and the issues likely to face us all over the coming months. Speaking to people across the sector on the fringe this year, I have been struck by one common theme – predictions of increased demand for charities’ services and busy times ahead for us all. Read More »