Large charities have been encouraged to focus on shifting power towards local communities in order to remain relevant.
Lloyds Bank Foundation chief executive Matt Hyde told an event yesterday that larger charities should consider operating “less like a big, monolithic machine that’s focused on numbers”.
Instead, Hyde said large charity leaders should think about how they can “convert” their organisations to be “more like a movement and more like a network”.
Also speaking at the In Good Company webinar, organised by Martyn Drake, National Lottery Community Fund chair Julia Cleverdon said private sector organisations could do more to support civil society, particularly through their skills rather than their money.
Community model
Hyde, who previously led the Scouts, said shifting power to local communities was “not without risk” but praised some large charities that had already moved towards local community ownership in recent years.
“If you look at what Macmillan are doing, you know, they are talking about shifting towards communities,” he said.
“If you look at what Mencap are doing, it's a community model.
“So there are people looking at this already, and I think they, in the long term, will succeed in terms of relevance, because those communities will have that affinity and care, because they can touch it, see it, feel it, and it's not just another brand.”
He added: “Can you manage those services when you're so far detached from the actual local and if not, what are the ways you can create speed boats off the super tanker and invest in a way that is going to genuinely shift power and listen to people and the diversity of communities on their terms?”
‘Corporates have so much more to give’
Meanwhile, Cleverdon said some businesses had got “stuck” providing support to the sector through charity of the year schemes instead of offering their professional skills.
“Of course I want their money, but actually I want their time, their energy, their brain, their IT departments, their skills, their AI knowledge – I want everything they know,” she said.
She said part of her focus had been on “disentangling what drives” senior business leaders in order to work out the most effective way they can support the sector.
“I'm a great believer that corporates have so much more to give than the money, and money follows hands, in my experience, so we should be getting our hands in, and then more will come,” she said.
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