Report Shows Charities in London Struggling With Rising Demand

Earlier in the year, we reflected upon research that showed two-thirds of charities have seen an increase in demand for their services, a demand that charities are struggling to meet as they deal with a fall in income.

Now research carried out by the London Voluntary Service Council has highlighted that over 80 per cent of charities in the capital have seen demand for their services increase as a result of the economic or policy climate.

This increase in demand is the highest since the survey of London’s charities began in 2009, and marks a significant rise from the figure of 66 per cent last year. The report summarising the research, ‘The Big Squeeze 2013: a fragile state,’ argues that there has been a particular increase in demand for advice and support as a result of the Government’s welfare reforms.

As a result, 93 per cent of charities responding to the survey revealed that they have had to change the way that they operate, with 51 per cent reporting a reduction in their overall funding, down from 60 per cent in the previous report.

In more positive news, the survey did show that there has been a reduction in the number of charities being forced to close a service in the past year, falling from 41 per cent in the previous report to 27 per cent. However that means that over a quarter of charities are being forced to reduce the services that they provide, which will have a real impact on the vulnerable people who turn to charities for support.

Challenges for charities aren’t limited to London, of course, and last week CAF’s Campaigns Manager Steve Clapperton was on BBC Radio Oxford, talking about the economic climate facing charities, and how this is impacting upon their ability to keep pace with rising demand.

We’re particularly keen to hear about the experiences of charities across the country. We’ve already heard some heart-breaking stories of how some charities are struggling, and the impact that this is having, and that’s why we’re so keen that people from all walks of life do what they can to Back Britain’s Charities. If you’d like to share your story please get in touch with us, at contact@backbritainscharities.org.uk

Charity Struggles not Limited to Britain, Report from Ireland States

A survey carried out in Ireland has shone a light on the difficulties that charities are having as a result of falling donations from the public and reductions in government spending, mirroring the challenges that many British charities are also struggling with.

The survey, carried out by the Irish Independent, found that some staff are taking unpaid leave to keep costs down, and the report in the same newspaper highlights than one charity, Inclusion Ireland, has been forced to make interest only payments on their mortgage.

Further research carried out by charity umbrella group The Wheel discovered that of 230 charities stating they had received a sharp rise in demand for the services that they provide, two-thirds were trying to keep up with this surge in demand whilst coping will falling revenues. Since the beginning of the year, one in three has been forced to cut back or suspend services.

These statistics aren’t that surprising, and indeed reflect some of the findings of CAF’s research last year which discovered how charities in Britain are having to adapt in order to deal with the challenge of doing more with less.

As the British economy returns to growth, we will be watching with interest to see whether there will be a similar improvement in people’s disposal income, and if that will have any impact on charitable giving.

We know from CAF’s report on Britain’s ‘Civic Core’ that a number of people would consider giving more to charity if their personal economic situation improves, and the Back Britain’s Charities campaign will continue working to encourage people from all walks of life to do what they can to support good causes.

We’d be interested to hear how the economic climate has affected you. Has your charity suffered as a result? Are you suffering from falling incomes? Get in touch with us a campaigns@backbritainscharities.org.uk and share your story!

Reporting Back from Conservative Party Conference!

We’ve now returned from conference season and, after spending a weekend resting our feet, are able to reflect on an extremely successful few weeks for the Back Britain’s Charities campaign. Last week we were of course in Manchester, enjoying the surprisingly sunny, dry weather and mingling with politicians and activists from the Conservative Party.

We had numerous visitors to our stand with people keen to find out about our “people power” report, as well as play our interactive game! So popular was our stand that by the end of conference we’d run out of bears to give to our guests!

We received a number of high-profile visitors to our stand, including the likes of Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps MP, Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health, and Sir George Young MP, Chief Whip. Whilst none of the MPs who played our game were able to topple Ed Balls, we can confirm that Europe Minister David Lidington set a fast time and took top honours for the blues!

We also held another great fringe in Manchester, where the Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd MP kindly joined us to offer his thoughts on our conference research, as well as giving the audience his ideas on how to get more people engaged with charities. In addition to CAF’s John Low, Penny Mordaunt MP and Pete Moorey from campaigning group Which? came to share their experiences of both charitable activity and ways that people can be mobilised to get involved with causes.

It’s great that we’ve received such a positive response throughout conference, and we’re delighted we’ve been able to explain to conference goers the challenges that charities are faced with, and what can be done to support charities during difficult times. Now we’re back in London, we’ll continue to make the case for the importance of charities and see how we can learn the lessons from conference season to get more people backing Britain’s charities!

How we got on at Lib Dem Conference

We’ve now returned home from Liberal Democrat party conference 2013 after spending a few days in Glasgow with one half of the Coalition partners. Whilst there we managed to speak with a number of senior Lib Dem politicians about our people power report, and explain to them why it is so important that we get more people involved with charitable giving.

Our stand game went down a storm with both MPs and activists, with many chancing their arm more than once to see if they could set the top time on our people power game. After the closing of conference, the winner of our game was Michael Wallace, who was presented with a CAF charity cheque worth £50 to give to a charity of his choice.

Our leaderboard was a constant source of interest, and the competition between Lib Dem MPs was extremely fierce! The quick MP was Paul Burstow, who set a very respectable time of 8.68 seconds – let’s see how that compares to the quickest that the Labour and Conservative parties have to offer.

We were also joined on our stand by the likes of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP, who were both interested in the findings of our report, recognising the value that charities bring to society and their important role in helping people who need help the most.

Our political visitors weren’t limited to those representing the House of Commons either, with politicians from the Welsh Assembly, European Parliament and House of Lords also coming along to find our more about our report, as well as councillors from across the country.

Our fringe event was also the source of much interest, with the likes of Esther Rantzen dropping in to hear what our panel had to say about getting more people involved with charitable giving. You can read more about it here.

It’s great that our report was able to spark so much debate, and our interactive conference game certainly got people to think about the power they’re able to generate. We’re looking forward to moving the show onto Brighton and challenging the best that Labour politicians and activists to prove their people power!

Charity transparency

This morning an article in Third Sector has chosen to examine the extent to which charities should aim to improve their transparency. The majority of those consulted suggested that most charities need to get better at communicating both their costs and achievements to donors and potential donors in order to improve their lot in the long run.

Both ‘impact’ and ‘transparency’ are words you hear a lot in the sector, generally woven into an intense dialogue about things that need to be demonstrated, or indeed purposely not demonstrated, in order to prove credibility and/or attract donations.

The Back Britain’s Charities campaign has similarly spoken about the need for value and impact to be evident and tangible, and the importance of charities really ‘banging a drum’ about what they do. Nevertheless, for some charities - and particularly smaller ones that we hear from on a regular basis - most resources acquired must necessarily be diverted straight to the frontline and directly to beneficiaries.

So are debates around transparency a luxury of larger, more well known charities? Well this is complicated by the ambiguity around what we are even talking about when we consider transparency. Within the Third Sector article, Joe Saxton of npfSynergy suggests there could be some dispute:

 ”When people are talking about transparency they are talking about different things. Some people are talking about impact. Other people are talking about finance and figures. It can be in the way you present a set of figures. We probably do need some agreement about what it means to be transparent.” (Third Sector)

When we launched Back Britain’s Charities we felt that it was important to include an ‘ask’ to charities, to sit alongside our asks to the public, government and business. We wanted our stakeholders in business, government and the public to be clear that charities were also taking on responsibility for their own future, and that the campaign wasn’t under the illusion that all voluntary sector organisations work in a super efficient way, or that all fundraising was carried out flawlessly. Equally, it was important the campaign wasn’t solely about other stakeholders from other sectors being called upon to wade in and bail charities out.

A key part of that ‘ask’ reads as follows:

“It’s clearly the responsibility of all charities to ensure that the donations people give are used to achieve the greatest impact possible. Charities should always use resources as effectively and efficiently as possible”.

In real testimony sent to us through the sign-up section of this website we have, since our launch, received an avalanche of anecdotal tales, each telling what good has been done with what little money. Stories of how shoestring economics have been deployed and still achieved results for beneficiaries, making an important difference. What is evident is that some small local charities have few avenues through which they can showcase their ‘value’ or ‘impact’, nor do the they have the manpower or flexibility to do it - or indeed the financial means to justify diverting money away from their beneficiaries to demonstrate their impact. Increased transparency of expenditure would, and does in many cases, reveal organisations on the brink - or at the very least holding it together with limited resources.

We’ve now come to see talking about value and impact as one of the key functions of the Back Britain’s Charities campaign, stepping in where many charities are unable to voice their successes or concerns.

If you have a story that is worth telling to a wider audience (like the one below!), we invite you to send it to us at contact@backbritainscharities.org.uk so that we can talk about charities like yours, their impact and the consequences of the current financial climate.

Charity Impact Watch: Edwards Trust

Service user, Prabjoat Layal, speaks of the impact the Edwards Trust charity had upon her life…

I was 10 when I had my first session at Edwards Trust. My father had just passed away after being in critical care for 5 weeks. Being so young I was so confused about how I felt. I was upset. Heartbroken. Angry. Confused. Lonely. The only thought that ran through my head was, why me? Why my father? But I never talked about it and my family were worried about me so they referred me to Edwards Trust.

I spent my first session talking to my counsellor, Sue Dale. She made me feel so safe and comfortable; it was nice to be able to talk about my father without it ending in tears. During our sessions we made a memory jar, a jar filled with different colour salts to represent different memories I had of my father. We spent the rest of our sessions creating a painting of one of the best memories I share with my father, visiting the golden temple together. Sue helped me express my feelings in ways I didn’t think were possible and helped me open up and talk about what was on my mind.

After my experience at Edwards Trust, I find it so much easier to tell people close to me when I’m down or just  the need to talk. I also understand my feelings and why I’m feeling them and that it’s ok to feel them. Sue helped me realise that.

I recently took part in the Young Philanthropy Initiative with my school which engages young people in creating social change. I presented the valuable work of Edwards Trust because I wanted to try and help raise funds and say thank you. My team got through to the finals where a YPI judging panel picked my presentation as the best from many other organisations and awarded Edwards Trust £3,000. I never felt so good and I was so pleased to be able to say thank you in the form of a cheque. As a finale to YPI experience we were all invited to London for a YPI party to celebrate our achievements.

Right now I am doing my GCSE’s in English, maths, science, French, religious education and child development and hoping to get good enough grades to go to sixth form. I want to go to university as I am an aspiring journalist and hope to be writing for a fashion magazine in the future.

I want to thank Edwards Trust for everything they have done for me and to thank Sue because without her I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

Has your charity made a real difference? To find out how to submit a blog for the Charity Impact Watch section of the website just email contact@backbritainscharities.org.uk.