Kirsty Weakley: What do Conservative Party members think about charities?

04 Oct 2018 Voices

Kirsty Weakley went to the Conservative Party Conference and asked party members what they thought about charities. This is what they said.

It might come as a surprise to some in the sector to discover that despite the bashing the charity sector gets in the right-wing press, most of the Conservative Party members I spoke to were both supportive of charities and quite involved with the sector.  

Party members are fundraisers, volunteers and charity founders. Their almost universal reaction to the concept of charity is broadly positive. 

A ‘great’ sector

Most of those I spoke to started by describing the sector as “good”, or even “great”. And almost everyone had been involved with the sector either as a volunteer, trustee or as a donor. 

One man told me that he had founded his own local charity supporting young people with work experience. 

One young member went so far as to praise the Fundraising Regulator. 

“It seems to be doing a decent job,” he said, which "gives people confidence donations are spent well".

Untroubled by scandal

Most were unconcerned by the safeguarding scandal earlier this year, saying it had not affected their overall view of the sector and viewing it mainly in isolation. 

One member said: “There are always going to be scandals in any sector.”

Others said they did not give to Oxfam or others involved in the scandal so had not thought about it very much – they were confident in the causes they chose to give to. 

“I mainly give to animal and cancer charities,” one said. 

Concerns 

It’s not all good news though. Some, particularly younger members, clearly had never given much thought to the sector, and concerns from older members seemed centred around fundraising techniques and professionalisation. 

One delegate told me that: “I ran a hospice charity shop for 14 years until that hospice decided to hire a paid shop manager – I was completely opposed to that.”

Another said: “I support about 20 charities and I am inundated with material. I also feel if they saved all that money could go to the cause” but doesn’t want to ask them to stop writing because “I don’t want my email box inundated”. 


 

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