Further articles Corporate Volunteering Shortage of Charity Trustees Weaknesses in Governance
Recession has a Silver Lining for UK’S Voluntary Sector
Reach Chief Executive Sarah King on the upside of the economic downturn
Most readers will share the hope that 2010 will see an end to the recession and an easing of the financial pressures that faced voluntary organisations and individuals alike last year. But while we may hope for easier times ahead, Sarah King argues that not all of the fallout from the recession was harmful.
Better plans, tighter control over our finances and the need for highly effective trustee boards or management committees. These are just three of the things that I have personally observed the voluntary sector being forced to focus on as a result of the recession.
Reach itself has had to look closely at these things as well as receiving significant requests for skilled support to help other voluntary organisations tackle the challenges of the recession. It has been a sobering experience but as my trustees said at the final meeting in 2009, we’re actually a better organisation and they are better trustees now. Not at all what I expected from a tough year of recession.
So why has the recession has been good news as well as bad? First and foremost I have seen voluntary organisations go back to basics and ask three questions:
- Who and what are we here for (our objects or goals)
- What are our priorities (our current plans)
- What can we afford to do (our finances and the level of risk we will take)
These are questions we should be asking all the time as paid staff, trustees and anyone involved in leading and managing a voluntary organisation. This is what the organisation is here for and yet, when things are going well, these can become less central to our thinking. In a time of recession most organisations can only focus on their primary goals and many find they have drifted away from their heartland. Many of the Reach volunteers we placed in 2009 have facilitated exactly these conversations with organisations and we know just how enlightening these discussions have been.
Undoubtedly, more people with skills and experience have become available as volunteers because of the recession. The unprecedented levels of redundancy hitting senior and professional people, and many others wanting to keep their CV as alive as possible ‘just in case’, has generated a new demand in the world of volunteering. People want to use their skills to help a voluntary organisation or good cause in order to provide a lifeline for themselves and not just the charity. Volunteering has offered them the chance to use their skills in a different context and to show they are adaptable. It has rebuilt esteem and confidence and in the process they have seen their contribution make an impact.
The unexpected outcome Reach has seen here is that people who started volunteering because their livelihood was threatened have been converted to the value of skilled volunteering. I will be watching with interest to see if this response outlasts the recession. Personally, I think it will.
Another positive product of recession has been that good governance has become an essential. Many people consider governance as the boring legal stuff with lots of red tape. To me this misses the fundamental point that governance is about leadership. It is about overseeing change and ultimately about transforming lives, saving our planet, eradicating disease and so forth. That’s why I am a trustee and I find the potential of being a trustee in that context exciting. When I talk now about what it takes to be an effective board or management committee, I encourage such bodies to focus relentlessly on three things:
- Make sure the organisation has clear goals (its strategy if you prefer)
- Make sure it is delivering against its goals (its business plan)
- Make sure the organisation is compliant (the legal bit)
The legal bit is not difficult. Yes, you need someone with a good understanding and attention to detail but it isn’t difficult. Exercising leadership I have found is far harder for trustees. We are so used to rolling up our sleeves and doing, relatively few of us know how to show leadership as a group.
So for me, the recession has had its upsides. I’d happily not go through the summer we had in 2009 again but Reach is certainly a better place for it, both in the services we are providing and in the way we ourselves run. And the best outcome of all, we believe in ourselves so much more. We believe in who we are and how we can make a difference and that means we will get better and better and helping the voluntary sector access the skills and support it needs.
Best wishes for a happy and more prosperous year to you all.
Sarah King, Chief Executive, Reach