Where small charities should be focusing their attention
A few weeks ago, we wrote this blog, which championed community fundraising over chasing grant funding (at least, for small charities). There was certainly some agreeance from VCSE organisations, particularly those that are currently wasting hours of their time on the off-chance a funder says ‘yes’ to their idea.
The true stats
Even if a small charity is granted some money, it typically comes with a raft of conditions:
Where the money has to be spent
When the money has to be spent
On what, specifically, the money can be spent
That the forecasted outcomes are exceeded
It tends not to cover the things charities really need help with, i.e. their running costs, staff salaries, venue hire, insurance fees, etc.
Anyway, we’re only reiterating the same points….and this blog is another gem of wisdom for these small charitable organisations that are trying to solve or manage our society’s largest failings.
Most small charities, perhaps because they’re doing the work their local authority would have been doing twenty years ago, often look to said council/authority/local government for funding support. Logically, why shouldn’t they receive some of the localised budget when they’re doing this frontline work?
No pot to pee in
Whilst this may have been the path to funding some years ago, a significant number of local councils are bankrupt.
However much these local authorities would like to financially back charitable organisations on their doorstep, they haven’t got any resources left to play with. They’ve all on paying local utility firms for refuse collection, street lighting, grass cutting and the like. For many years this country has suffered, because of central government’s austerity measures.
So, where does that leave local charities who desperately need to cover their core costs before they even deliver any fluffy project stuff?
There’s no point, as a small charity, spending all of your time with local MPs and dignitaries. They can’t help you now - not when it comes to funding your good cause.
So, who you gonna call?
The answer: the private sector. They can provide funding. They can affect real change in your local area.
This shouldn’t be a begging bowl exercise either. The private sector actually need to partner up with local charities. Because one thing many local authorities have done is to engineer public works tendering to include social value and CSR (commercial social responsibility) pledges. The ‘green coin’ no longer differentiates one company bidding for a council contract any more than the next one, as the majority of businesses in 2024 are environmentally responsible.
Currently, the differentiator for the private sector is what they do for their local communities. As much as 40% of a public tender score could depend on how a company ‘gives back’ to its local community.
It’s a win-win situation. Charities receive donations, volunteering hours, and credibility from partnering with a local company. The company has an opportunity and framework in which to demonstrate the help and support it gives to the area where its customers and employees most likely emanate from. And the local authority just continues to fight with itself over what it intends to do for the locality it sits in (that’s our view, anyway).
And when effective local charities come together with successful local businesses; when they get to really make an impact in their local area, they can bunny-hop over the local authority. They can campaign for change from central government and join up with even bigger companies. Their voices will actually have a chance to be heard.
Small charities have such limited time and resources to play with, and it’s our plea to any business reading this that they buddy up with them instead of a national, larger charity. Play fair. Don’t plump for the good cause that’s already doing okay, that has fundraisers and marketers on its payroll - work with the grassroots organisations, with those founders who are trying their very best to affect as much change as they can in their local area whilst working all hours God sends to simply survive.
Back the little guys and give them as much support as you can.
We see so much waste in the VCSE sector; donations don’t always see the greatest impact or realise as much potential as they should (again, just our opinion).
Businesses and charities are a match made in heaven. Let’s both roll our sleeves up and sort this country out.