Richard Hawkes says a visit to India showed him how a voluntary sector should be run – and that the UK is not coming up to the mark.
Last week I experienced exactly what the not-for-profit sector should be about – innovative, creative and dynamic; full of energy and ideas; focused on impact and how to make society a better place for all.
This was in India.
The contrast with the UK voluntary sector could not have been greater.
In both countries questions are being asked about the sector and the role of not-for-profit organisations. In the UK the overwhelming response tends to be disbelief that anyone could question the sector. Our sector contains too many organisations that think they can live off the history of having strong brands.
What I saw in India was exactly the opposite. Individuals and organisations just getting on with it, actions not words – and a dynamism and energy that is often sadly lacking in the UK sector.
This was my first visit to India for seven years. I love the country and have had the great privilege of having visited on many occasions over the last 20 years through my involvement in development work. But how things have changed in those seven years – in India overall and in the not-for-profit sector even more so. Mumbai is a city transformed – and so is the NGO sector. It was a genuine breath of fresh air to spend a week with so many people full of energy and ideas, but with an approach that is modern and dynamic and not about old-fashioned charity.
The organisations were much more entrepreneurial; they were far more about social enterprise than about helping people in a patronising way; they were absolutely focused on changing things and making society better – but in a way that is faster-moving with much less bureaucracy.
Everywhere there were organisations were embracing enterprise, embracing the role of the private sector, and embracing creative approaches to financing – seeking investment, openly expressing preferences for payment by results. One organisation actually said they would refuse grant funding because it doesn’t inspire the right focus and behaviours.
And not once did anyone complain about the sector being questioned or challenged. In fact it was the opposite. One group of people told me that if the sector is being challenged, that means you just have to be even better at what you do.
This was the perfect time for me to go to India as the British Asian Trust shapes its strategy for the future. It was exciting and informative and helps ensure that our strategy is relevant and appropriate. What I learned means we will have a strategy that embraces private enterprise as well as NGOs and the government, which includes creative finance mechanisms, social investment and bonds, as well as grant-funding, and above all, a strategy that will be led from the region.
I had expected to learn a lot, to meet lots of great people and organisations and to love being back in this great country once again.
What I had not expected was to see a not-for-profit sector that was so dynamic, so entrepreneurial and so full of innovation and creativity.
It was everything that the UK sector needs to be.
Richard Hawkes is chief executive of the British Asian Trust
