George Moore was partnered to an educational support charity through the Pilotlight volunteering programme. Here, he shares his lessons learnt as a first-time corporate volunteer.

I’ve always been called an optimistic cynic. An oxymoron some might say, hoping for the best, but often seeing the worst. So when I came across a charity that exists to help other charities, it wasn’t surprising that at first I wasn’t exactly…excited. “Pilotlight enables small, ambitious charities and social enterprises to help a greater number of people, more effectively.”  What does that mean? was my first reaction...and what exactly will I be doing? But I was intrigued enough to find out more. So I signed up, and along with a few colleagues on the RBS graduate scheme, was assigned to a charity called Globetown Learning Community.

Globetown exists to give an education to young people who have been excluded from school, and supports local parents and families. Going along to meet them and the people they help what really struck me was how incredible their work is and how effective it is at changing young people’s lives.
 
What is more astounding is how this entire organisation focuses around a very small team led by Jackie who founded the charity. This charity that helps so many people is run on so little. Every pound that they raise is critical to ensure that the charity can continue to exist, from one year to the next. Working in a large corporation with the resources that follow, it certainly was an eye-opener.
 
Our task was simple: Jackie and the team wanted to rename their organisation ‘It’s Your Life’ and we were given the job of coming up with a whole new identity for the charity, based around its new name. The second part of the assignment was to help them with the daunting task of fundraising. Over six months, and several late nights at the office (and in the pub) we delivered a brand new website, social media, set of logos and newsletter templates. To us, Jackie and the team were our clients, and clients we really wanted to deliver for.

During our six months working with them, we also introduced them to some charities that would fund ‘core’ costs. One thing I had never realised before was how hard it was for a small charity to get funding to literally keep the lights on. Individuals, local government, charities and corporations want to see every pound they give to the charity spent on a specific project with defined outcomes. It seems no-one wants to fund the less sexy, but vital, needs of a charity, such as doing the accounts, paying the utilities and rent, or paying  staff to run the day-to-day operations.

Small charities such as It’s Your Life and Pilotlight are responsible for doing so much in our communities, and are often overlooked because people volunteer and donate funds to the huge organisations that we know through adverts online, on TV and on radio. The experience showed me that we should look to support what is close to our homes and offices, as it’s these local organisations that can spark change and make a difference in our communities. Working on the ground with a charity and experiencing the difficult decisions they have to make day in, day out has not only changed the way I think about charities but it has  changed how I will give my time or money in the future.

I will definitely be encouraging any fellow cynics out there to get out there and see for themselves what small charities are doing.