It is the year of the podcast, but perhaps more specifically, the month of podcasts with Mandy Johnson on!
You can hear her talk about mental health, equality and diversity on domoregood podcast and on Simon Scriver’s too. But on Cracking Charity Chat Mandy joins me to talk about small but vital charities. As the Founder of Great Charity Speakers List and former CEO of Small Charities Coalition, who could be a better person to discuss this topic with?
We cover:
- Challenges and opportunities facing small charities
- Income composition – why it is how it is, how we can change it
- The range of support available to small charities
- What small charities should do now, to ride out these uncertain times
- Why doing a charity masters is a good idea (my thoughts on that here)
Highlights for me:
- Income composition of small charities is predominantly voluntary funding, but statutory cuts are often stated as the reason for charities closing. What is this about? Perhaps it’s is due to a lack of sustainable fundraising (i.e. volatile or one-off funding) combined with lack of assets and reserves. Moreover, in 2017 the FSI’s Small Charity Sector Skills survey found that over 65% of respondents felt they lacked skills across major donor fundraising, online fundraising and working with business. So training from organisations such as The FSI and SCC is really important. And cheap. So get involved.
- Large organisations can provide security, reach and the ability to scale-up projects. But if you’re a large organisation, think of smaller charities as partners – and if you’re in partnership or sub-contracting, make sure any partnership has equal weighting. Small charities, you need to understand your value and hold your own here too.
- Now is your time. Build your army, as Mandy says. During these uncertain times, people are looking for ways to make a positive difference. Begin by listening and engaging in conversations within your community. It might just be the beginning of something amazing.
You can listen on SoundCloud or iTunes . If you like it, please rate or review – thanks!
You might also be interested in these blogs (they have gin recipes at the end – should I bring that back?):
- Fundraising for difficult causes – ideas for small charities
- Charity Masters Degree – a balancing act
Beth Crackles 