Sue Tibballs: Too many services, not enough campaigning

10 Apr 2017 Voices

Charities are not doing enough campaigning, and in doing so are failing to fulfil a fundamental role, says Sue Tibballs.

My organisation believes people should be able to shape their world. And we exist to help them do just that. We work with campaigners and change-makers drawn from right across civil society from those seeking to effect change in their own community to those pursuing global challenges. So what does the future hold for campaigning in civil society? And what needs to happen to help our sector have optimal impact?

The first challenge is to re-build confidence in the legitimacy and importance of campaigning. Our own statistics show that one fifth of charities campaigned less last year. This is in part a reaction to the government’s various measures aimed at limiting charity campaigning (or lobbying, I would more say more precisely). But there is also evidence of a high degree of self-censorship with trustees and senior management teams being over-cautious. This is worrying. It is, of course, a board’s job to manage risk – but it is also their job to provide leadership. Charities, in particular, need to champion campaigning, and argue publicly for its value.

For charities that rely heavily on government contracts to deliver services, there is also a real disincentive to criticise. Who wants to bite the hand that feeds them? This doesn’t mean to say these charities won’t have influence, but they are more likely to carry out ‘insider campaigning’. This may well be effective – but it is problematic because it is invisible. When the public don’t see charities speaking up and taking a strong stand – while they do see them fundraising very actively – this creates a distorted impression. Which I believe is contributing to declining public trust in charities.

Are charities there to deliver services that alleviate pain and suffering? Or to campaign to change the systems that cause pain and suffering? My own view is that the sector has allowed itself to be pulled much too far towards the first, and as a result is failing to fulfil an absolutely fundamental role: to bear witness and speak up. In allowing successive governments to change the funding contract between government and civil society, we have swapped money for power. In crude terms, we’ve been bought off.

The second challenge is that voluntary sector must encourage a different culture. In its quest to ‘professionalise’, the sector has imported commercial management approaches that have become too dominant, such as performance management, accountability and targets.  It is important to know whether we are achieving what we set out to. But charities also need to be allowed to be innovative, to take risks, to sometimes just try things not knowing whether they will work or not.  Particularly now in today’s complex, fast-changing world.

For campaigning, this is particularly important as it is sometimes impossible to meaningfully monitor and measure really bold and ambitious campaigns. Campaigners also typically embody exactly the qualities I think the sector needs more of. They are intuitive systems-thinkers. And they are mission-driven looking out at what can be changed in the world, rather than at organisational performance. For campaigns and campaigners to thrive, charities need to relax a bit – take the foot off the performance management pedal, and take a few more risks.

Finally, I believe charities need to think differently about campaigning itself. They need to take a more open, collaborative approach, and devolve power and resources down. Leading edge campaigning charities like Friends of the Earth are already doing this – running ‘networked campaigns’ unifying a wide range of partners and players around ideas, while being entirely relaxed about brands.

The hard fact is that much of the most interesting and effective campaigning in civil society today isn’t coming from charities – but from individuals, community groups and social enterprises. This is great to see, but I think it will be a major loss if charities are not playing a central role too. Charities work with and speak for millions of people. Charities are powerful. But I feel the sector has lost confidence in that. Re-engaging in campaigning is a quick route to re-engaging in core purpose, and also can help bring in the skills and competencies today’s sector needs.

The opportunity is immense: never before has there been so much public interest and engagement in campaigning – largely facilitated by tech. Only by charities remembering core purpose, feeling our power and being open to change too can we convert all that passion into positive change.

Sue Tibballs is chief executive of the Sheila McKechnie Foundation

This blog was originally written for the think tank Civil Exchange, as part of a programme of work around its report, A Shared Society? The independence of the voluntary sector in 2017

 

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