Charities have been too slow to adapt to new ways of influencing politicians, the Conservative Party Conference heard last night.
Vicky McDermott, chief executive of the Papworth Trust, was speaking at a fringe event yesterday evening, organised by charity leaders bodies Acevo, about public trust in charities. She said that some charities and had not adapted their campaigning techniques to be able to make their points to politicians.
“Some of rules for campaigning have changed,” she said “and often organisations have not been quick enough to catch up.
“By rules I don’t mean the legislation, but the way in which to be able to do that effectively make our point and sometimes we haven’t been quick enough to respond to that.”
Tension is a good thing
McDermott also told the audience that the tension between delivering services well and being innovative was one of the the things that makes the sector distinctive from others.
She said that as a chief executive she faces a “dichotomy” when it comes to “delivering quality service” or “pushing boundaries”.
“That tension is a good thing,” she said.
“One of the things that I think is really helpful about organisations like mine and like the other several thousand that are represented by Acevo opportunity to do things that private sector organisations and public sector organisations couldn’t do.”
‘We need to speak up’
McDermott urged the sector to be more vocal and supportive of other charities as a way to restore public trust.
She said that while reports of falling trust was “frightening” it needed to be seen in the context of “hardening of views by public, hardening of views by politicians”. She said that this is partly because “for many people austerity never ended” leading to a “general erosion around trust in public services [including those delivered by charities]”.
To turn this around she said: “we have got to hear what the public are telling us.”
She added: “As a sector often we don’t speak with a single voice - we’re too worried about our own issue often override each other’s points and we don’t support each other enough.”
