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There is a very unpleasant smell down here in the grassroots. Advocacy Alliance bites the dust, with its work hoovered up by a national organisation, and all around me other small local charities are being battered by the big boys (and girls).
I know where this smell comes from – it is pure, undiluted, greed and self-interest. Read more »
I’ve just come back from our annual community accountancy holiday – oops, I mean ‘conference’. Despite the tough times we had a good number of people there, and the barn dance was fantastic, but there are major challenges facing us. Lots of services, particularly in London, have disappeared and most of us are experiencing significant cuts in grants. Read more »
So Charity Business is being wound up and the great back-office outsourcing debate hots up. I don’t know the details, of course, but it did strike me that the headline prices advertised by Charity Business were a bit on the low side. Charities face enough problems at the moment without their back-office support collapsing in a heap. There is help available, of course, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Charity Business mark two is already up and running, probably with the same people in charge. We see lots of groups come and go, and it’s remarkable how the same names keep cropping up, as well as the same people behind them. Read more »
I’d like to meet the person who invented competitive tendering for the voluntary sector (or whatever we are called today). Despite keeping my head down and getting on with the job, the joy of a competitive tendering exercise has finally landed on my desk and it feels a bit like a tidal wave.
I’ve had three meetings in the last two days with groups that might be facing closure, or at least, some painful reductions in their activities. I suspect the cuts over the last year are beginning to bite.
Back to work this morning after two days out of the office to find a mountain of emails.
I’m sure we all have ways of dealing with this. Leave them long enough and then press ‘delete’ is a favourite – just like the items at the bottom of the in-tray that have a built-in desire to locate the bin during that time between Christmas and New Year.
I quite enjoy our trustee meetings at CA Plus. Last week, not only did
we have cake as well as the usual discussions on keeping chickens, but
much interest was generated when it was suggested that the budget I was
presenting could be improved if we had alternate shading on each row.
How good to read Debra Allcock Tyler in
Third Sector recently. The last thing I want CA Plus to become is a ‘business’.
The idea that charities are inefficient and useless, and we should all learn
from the smart and clever business world, is really quite hilarious given recent
economic history. Yes, there are some very nice businesses out there, and
yes we will be efficient, we will manage risks, focus on quality etc; but I
have no desire to screw our clients for all I can get and then retire to my yacht.
On days like this I need to remind myself
that if I really did have perfect knowledge of the future, what an awful world
this would be.
It’s a new financial year and, as always, a bit of uncertainty is
fine. But there are limits. Trying to plan and make decisions on spending when
you have little idea of the income is quite a challenge.
The interaction between trustees and
managers is always fascinating. I think I actually wrote a dissertation on it
years ago. At our last meeting, one long-serving trustee commented: “I don’t
know why we are discussing this at all, surely it’s up to John, and if he gets
it wrong then…..”
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