Real help?
Let's face it, the government's £42m 'real help' package (see news review) was not before time.
While it is good to be reassured by Westminster of the importance of its role in our society and economy, there’s nothing quite like a bit of hard cash – especially when HM Treasury’s tax receipts are not exactly buoyant right now.
The package might not be as much as the sector had hoped for, but it is a demonstration that the voices of our umbrella bodies are at least being heard. And as each day brings tidings of more charities having to restructure and find more efficient ways of operating, it is no coincidence that the largest element of the package (£16.5m) was earmarked to support this very process.
But government assistance brings its own problems. In January, I raised the issue of being a more ‘equal partner’ with the government, something Mark Lever of NAS develops in this issue: ‘the big challenge for the sector will be to retain its independence when lobbying and campaigning for change. This could be difficult when 90 per cent of your funding comes from the state’. The theme was picked up again during a recent debate between the incumbent OTS Minister and his shadow counterpart on BBC 1 (see news review in this issue).
It may be too early to say how this new relationship with the government marks the beginning of a new long-term trend and where it sits on a scale of ‘nationalisation’ to ‘privatisation’. This is a delicate balance but our data article on page 20 reviews detectable patterns of scenarios in government funding. Voluntary organisations have to behave more like businesses to survive, yet the sector’s values-based approach to serving its beneficiaries is what differentiates it. And it is in adverse economic times such as these that the gift relationship, where donors and volunteers act beyond
their immediate personal interests expressing something more about themselves, is most evident.
Ultimately though, the sector holds its destiny in its own hand. In an address to an NCVO trustee conference, Dame Suzi Leather talked of ‘our ability to act in concert… for the public benefit is of inestimable benefit to society’. She went on to tell Caritas that she believes independence is ‘a behaviour’ and goes as far as to state: ‘It is much more complex than simply saying “can I be independent if I am getting 90 per cent of my money from a single source?” yes of course you can – it is to do with how you reflect, decide and behave in that particular situation.’
So we are back to the fundamentals of governance and how boards deal with their funders and practise independence. It remains to be seen what sort of shape the sector will be in after the recession bottoms out; but it is down to all its members to establish the terms
of reference.
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from
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