In hindsight
“Being a charity means being part of a precious brand – it’s a huge social privilege. And it is important that charities are seen to be honouring their responsibilities.”
Andrew Hind
So how did it all start?
I grew up in Portsmouth and did my degree in accountancy and commerce at Southampton. I wanted an accounting qualification but had no idea what that would lead to. In a way, that was a reflection of the fact that I was hopeless at all the things my father was very competent at. He was an engineer and it was pretty obvious I had no talent in that area but I did have good English and maths skills. After my training contract I took a decision that became something of a pattern in my career, which was to work for established blue chip organisations but in an unconventional way. I joined the firm that is now Ernst & Young, choosing their Exeter office, because I knew that way I would get more experience and responsibility more quickly than had I joined in London. Which was what happened – we had a wide range of clients, from local pig farmers right through to large corporates. It was a brilliant grounding.
Why Africa?
My decision to go to Africa after that was one of those things you look back at and wonder ‘why exactly did I do that?’ Really, I think I just wanted more experience in an unconventional setting. A lot of accountants were going overseas but they were going to Hong Kong, the Caribbean and New York. But not to Africa. I had no idea at that stage that I would develop such an interest in development and charities, so going to Africa was about progressing my career in practice. I did not want to work with the major international firms who were only involved with international corporate subsidiaries. So, I joined one of the world’s top 20 firms, but one that had deep roots in Africa, PKF. They had taken over a practice which had grown up in the colonial era in East Africa and were well rooted in Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. It had a policy ahead of its time in 1980, in that half of their partners and managers were African and the other half were European.
Because of the company’s contacts with governments in the region, one of our clients was the Commercial Saving Bank in Somalia and so in 1982 I was asked to lead their audit. That was quite a big deal for a 26-year-old – it was a huge responsibility.
This was in the days when Somalia had a working economy and so I went round the country visiting branches of the bank. One day I flew into Hargeisa in the Horn of Africa. It was the time of the Ogaden refugee crisis. This small African city was full of thousands upon thousands of destitute people. This was the first time I had really experienced anything like that. It made a deep impact and when the time came to think about what to do next, I knew I wanted to use my finance background as an FD of an NGO. To gain line experience in industry I joined Balfour Beatty as a financial trouble shooter for three years, working in Africa and the Middle East. Then in 1986 I opened the papers and my dream job was there – finance director at Action Aid. I managed to convince Rodney Buse (the treasurer of Action Aid in 1986 and chair of the appointment panel) that this green-behind-the-ears 30 year-old had enough to make it worth the gamble.
That was a turning point in my career. You know what it’s like, you get your break and then you are away.
But people thought you were making some sort of career sacrifice?
When I came back to the UK in 1983 I remember going to a charity recruitment agency for some advice on how to become an FD of an NGO. A dyed-in-the-wool consultant who had gone through the former bank manager to charity expert route, asked ‘why are you throwing away the opportunities you have to make a career in business when you are still in your 30s?’ I said ‘this is what I really want to do.’
Back then it was unusual for people who were on a professional career path to divert into a charity.
But that attitude has completely changed. Why do you think that is?
I think society as a whole has become much more appreciative of the role charities play. There is increasing recognition that they are run in a professional way and there are a set of skills that you need in order to deal with the multi-faceted problems, challenges and difficult value judgments that come with working for a charity. So the sector is now a more attractive place for young people to think about building a career. I think it is fair to say that 30 years ago many charities were run in a way that probably deserved the title ‘well meaning but amateur’. Not all of them – there were some great people going back to the 1940s and earlier.
The formation of Oxfam is a brilliant case study of professional people coming together and launching a major international appeal. But on the whole there was much less professionalism in the sector. Hence my involvement in the foundation of CFDG in 1988 with CRUK’s then FD, Adrian Randall.
These days it is a more attractive sector for a strategy person, an accountant or lawyer. It would be useful to have some research on why this is – perhaps someone will do a PhD.
Tell us about the move to the BBC World Service.
I’d got to my late 30s, had worked in the charity sector for 10 years and was very interested in how you lead and motivate teams in the broader non profit world. I did not want to be working in charities for the whole of my career, but did want to be in and around them. I said to myself: ‘There are two jobs here I would really like to do – FD of the British Council and FD of the BBC World Service.’ Then the BBC job came up. It was the ideal place for me, because its role is to empower people to fulfil their potential and to give them the tools to make their own way in the world. To me, being without access to impartial information about the way you are governed or about the world beyond your immediate horizon is as much a restriction on your rights as being brought up without the chance to learn to read and write. The BBC World Service provides millions of people with access to those opportunities, like many charities do, which is why I regard it as part of the wider charity sector – part of what we would nowadays call civil society.
What are your thoughts on your six years at the Charity Commission – what has changed?
When I joined the Commission, I realised that this was a unique position in a unique organisation. The Charity Commission can’t be like other regulators, whose job is simply to enforce rules. The Commission works with a precious sector that represents peoples’ best intentions, and that exists to help people fulfil their potential. So the framework had to be right, the Commission had to become an intelligent regulator that focuses resources on the small number of high risk cases and keeps burdens on the majority of charities to a minimum. But at the same time, being a charity means being part of a precious brand – it’s a huge social privilege. And it is important that charities are seen to be honouring their responsibilities. That’s where regulation and the Commission come in. Our job is to create a regulatory environment which enables and supports charities, but which also enhances public trust. And I think, on the whole, we’ve got that balance right.
Isn’t there a danger that these developments result in people taking a consumer approach to supporting charities – comparing their efficiency and value for money like they would compare car insurance companies?
I don’t think that is where the sector is heading. But I have thought it important that people are able to access more information about charities and charities have a responsibility to be transparent about their work. That is why we developed the Online Register of Charities which allows people quick and easy access to data about charities. And it is true to say that people are becoming more discriminating about financial management in charities – our latest Public Trust and Confidence Survey1 shows us that. But supporting a charity is often a matter of ‘heart-over-head’ and I don’t think people will ever make decisions based on efficiency alone. That’s why the new reporting of public benefit in Trustee Annual Reports is so crucial. And while the Commission is encouraging charities to use their resources as effectively as possible, our aim was always to see a thousand flowers blooming – we don’t want to see an arid charity landscape in which only the most ruthlessly efficient prevail.
Do you think the Commission’s funding structure will ever include a levy on charities?
I am indeed worried about the spending review and what it might mean for the Commission’s future funding. We have always been clear that we cannot keep providing the same level and same range of services we do now if our funding is cut further. For instance, we have done a huge amount to support and enable the smallest charities – which are really the lifeblood of the sector. Small charities have been incredibly appreciative of that and it would be a shame to have to reduce our activity in that area even further.
Of course, the Commission’s role is set out in statute so if funding pressures force reductions to our remit that will have to go to consultation with the public and the sector itself. I think that, as part of that, it is time that we also talk about whether charities should make a financial contribution to the regulator. I personally don’t hold a firm view on this, but do think it merits serious debate.
What was it like working with two different chairs?
It’s been great. Organisations require different things from their leaders at different stages and both Geraldine Peacock and Suzi Leather have been able to provide what was needed, and is needed. Geraldine was our first chair and her great skill was being able to connect the Commission to the sector, to bridge what many saw as a gap between charities and their regulator. Suzi brought very different skills – for instance, she did a great deal to help us develop robust decision making processes, which helped us through challenging times. She also came with extensive experience in consumer affairs and has done a lot to help us focus much more on the needs of donors and the wider public.
The introduction of the public benefit requirement has been one of the biggest changes you have overseen. Are you happy with the way that has gone?
To the extent that I have any disappointments – and I don’t have many – the way the public benefit requirement was reported in the mainstream media is one. My view is that public benefit is an opportunity for charities to explain what it is that makes them special – it’s their chance to show off about the work they do to benefit society at large. And that opportunity applies to all charities, across the board. But the media characterised it as a spat between the Commission and independent schools – that’s frustrating to me, especially because so much detailed work went into developing the guidance, at all levels in the Commission.
And I do ask myself whether we could have done things differently, but I don’t see how – we were always clear this was not just about independent schools. And I do think that, with regard to public benefit, we’re not even half way through the story.
We’re at about chapter 6 of 20 – it’s an incredibly important and useful tool to help charities retain the level of public trust and support they enjoy and I am convinced that is how it will come to be seen. But the vicious personal attacks Suzi has suffered at the hands of certain sections of the press have caused me genuine sadness and anger. I look back and just wish we could have prevented that from happening. It was wrong.
So, after 31 August what next?
Well, I am delighted to be part of Lord Hodgson’s taskforce and I am also joining the Board of the Information Commissioner’s Office. And I do want to keep working in some way as part of civil society, the sector I have been engaged with for the past 25 years. I may take a look again at my book and perhaps update it (The Governance and Management of Charities 1995). This would be a good opportunity. I’m excited about the future.
1. www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ library/ about_us/ptc_survey_ 2010.pdf
Author: Andrew Hind
Andrew Hind is chief executive of the Charity Commission. He held senior roles at ActionAid and Barnado's before moving to the BBC in 1995. He was also co-founder of the Charity Finance Directors' Group
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