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Yesterday I was on the phone to a client who works for an international NGO. She told me that her organisation has recently been informed by DFiD that its core funding would be cut from March next year and redundancy plans were now being put into place.
Unfortunately, a project we were due to work on with them is now unlikely to take place.
This is one of several conversations I’ve been having with people in the last few weeks and months.
At the other end of the scale, I had another conversation with the CEO of a small but growing charity who is about to have a big media opportunity with huge potential to raise its profile, as well as raising funds. As a supporter of this charity, I wanted to ensure that every step was being taken to ensure that coverage was being maximised.
Her response wasn’t as positive as I would have liked, citing ‘lack of time’ and ‘limited resources’ as a reason for not going above and beyond the work the charity was already doing. It’s simply not good enough.
Yes, this charity has currently got good sources of income and great relationships with corporate donors, but what about the year ahead? Or the next few years? Every pound will make a difference.
Today marks the start of challenging times in the Third Sector. We will all be affected by it in some way.
As a social entrepreneur, I should potentially be worried about the prospects for our future. Our work is based on providing services to charities, community groups and other third sector organisations. Our company then goes on to fund social projects out of our profits. So if people are using our services less, not only does it have implications for financing the work we do, but our whole ethos of supporting other projects might get lost in a battle for survival.
But I am not worried. I didn’t leave a full-time staff job to set up my own company only to start running away when the business climate gets tough. Like other social entrepreneurs we will adapt to the changing circumstances of the people we work with and for. We will adapt our services and products to ensure that they are affordable and relevant to the workplace. We will continue to be creative and innovative and to explore other opportunities to ensure that the people we work with get the training they need when budgets are being cut. For example we’ve started to do this by offering monthly free digital media networking events in partnership with the Third Sector PR and Communications Network.
I see the CSR as an opportunity for all of us to put a spotlight on the work we do. It will be strong leadership coupled with forward-thinking, creativity, innovation and working above and beyond, that will enable Third Sector organisations to survive. For reasons beyond their control some organisations won’t make it but I’m confident that we can all face these challenges head on.
My life plan wasn’t to set up my own business and leave the luxury of a staff job. But I have and I have had the pleasure of working with fantastic and dynamic people working for charities and other third sector organisations. It’s these individuals who’ll continue to remind donors, funders, trustees and supporters why their organisations need to exist and what their purpose is through simple but powerful storytelling. It is these stories that will ensure that the third sector will survive.
