There remains a very broad misunderstanding of charity work in the private sector, says David Philpott. Stop the condescension, he says, this is my business.
“I would love to do what you do. It must be wonderful to work for a charity - what with all those kind and friendly people around you. And to be working for such a worthy cause; well...”
Such are the words of the average Joe – for they are words, or words similar, to those I have heard a hundred times at least over this past decade. It is usually at a drinks reception or other function where an over-managed bank manager (whose strings are being pulled by some regional office) or a solicitor-cum-marketeer (for they must all find new business these days) is lamenting their lot and wishing that life were less complicated. The unspoken inference is that they are in the real world and I am in a soft and fluffy world where people are gentle and patient and everybody loves each other.
Yeah right, groovy baby – if you believe all that utopian clap trap. Such conversations will inevitably end up with he or she suggesting that if they could afford it, they would give up their real job one day and do something more noble, like the one I am doing, whatever that may be at that present time. I am ashamed to say that sometimes on such occasions, I seethe with frustration at their condescension as I contemplate the complications of managing unpaid volunteers and dysfunctional boards of trustees, and wish instead for their so much simpler job!
I remember making a speech on Tower Bridge once. Stop. Wind back the tape David. Did you say on Tower Bridge? I most certainly did. So there I was on Tower Bridge; well one of the suspended walkways, way up high over the more familiar road and footbridge - and I remember feeling a compulsion to tell all of those gathered together – about a hundred souls and all from the world of charity/not-for-profit/social enterprise - about just how important our sector is as an economic force in the British economy. At the time our contribution was a billion quid a week and 20 per cent bigger than the entire defence budget for Her Majesty’s forces which stood at £40bn per annum. My point then and my point now is that the charity sector is big business but unlike the vast majority of enterprises – ours is not driven for the benefit of shareholders and their profits but for beneficiaries and lasting outcomes.
As a branch chairman of the Institute of Directors I have made it my quest to bridge the apparent misunderstanding that exists between the private sector and not-for-profits so that there is mutual understanding of our respective motivations and aims. So whereas I agree wholeheartedly with the pithy little saying that “a business that just makes money is not a good business” it is equally true that a charity that thinks it can survive on commissioned work funded from central or local government alone, is already dead in the water and can probably hear the death knell even as I write.
And it is with all this in mind that the Institute of Directors no less, will be joint-hosting the first ever Kent Charities Convention at the magnificent Leeds Castle near Maidstone on the 14th of this month. Branded as Trade Secrets – A Fresh Approach for Charities, we will be exploring how trading and selling services (as opposed to waiting to be commissioned) can turn a charity around. We will be looking at the annual report as a charity’s most powerful marketing tool and we will be demonstrating how new technology is changing the way the world is doing business with a ‘use it or lose it’ sub-text.
It is of course a relief to me, that having put my head above the parapet and said to the powers that be that the Institute of Directors must start engaging with the charity sector – that our event is pretty much sold out, with chairs, trustees, CEOs, finance director and senior fundraisers signing up within days of the event being announced – such is the hunger to learn to do things differently.
So the next time I am at one of those canapé and champagne affairs in some asset brokers' offices in London and someone asks what I do, instead of telling them I work for/run/manage (delete as appropriate) such and such a charity, I shall be telling them that I am involved in a multi-billion pound social enterprise that is transforming the lives of millions of people and making our country a better place to live. I just need to reduce that to what our American cousins would call an elevator statement because this is my business and I am proud of it.
