I recently attended a series of charity events where the speakers invariably asked which charities we worked for. Those from large national charities all responded by saying their charity’s name loud and proud. And rightly so. But, as the chief executive of a small local charity, I found myself muttering “Oh, you wouldn’t have heard of it”. I felt that my contribution wouldn’t be as worthwhile as those from the big charities. After all, how could I add as much value as them?
I feel inferior because of how small charities are treated. Just this week several small charities were told by a local authority officer, in a commissioning meeting that there are too many voluntary organisations in our county. “It’s costly, and wasteful, and you should all merge,” he declared.
Now, I am not opposed to mergers. Mergers can create stronger charity brands but having experienced two corporate mergers, I have seen that the fallout of bringing organisations together can divert focus from beneficiaries and damage the quality of services. Besides, being small has advantages.
Small charities can reach and support people that local authorities and larger charities can’t. For example, in our local area, we help 265 local people in person through our home-visiting project, in comparison to a national charity that supports fewer people remotely through Skype. Our staff and volunteers are therefore much closer our mission and there’s enormous value in that. Our workers live and breathe our mission and we all work together as a team. Our community benefits greatly from thriving local charities yet, larger charity brands gain funding more easily and attract very talented workers. For small charities, that makes them stiff competition.
Sadly, we’re also undervalued by bigger charities. My organisation was recently courted by a large charity needing local partners in a bidding opportunity. It was suggested that my charity should operate below cost, because of our low overheads through using volunteers. It’s true our costs can be significantly lower, because we operate in a leaner, more flexible way; without high overheads of research and development, policy and governance, marketing and fundraising or even HR departments. Volunteers perform many of our functions without payment, such as bookkeeping, IT and maintenance.
But just because we’re small, doesn’t mean we should be underpaid. Why shouldn’t we earn a surplus from contracts to reinvest in our charity’s development? There may not be high costs associated with our services, but there’s definitely value and a fair price to what we do.
I feel there’s an enhanced status in working for larger charities and a perception that those charities are better managed. But having worked in both large and small organisations, I’d argue that my charity’s professionalism, efficiency and high-quality standards would rival the best charities of any size.
My hope is that those of us running smaller charities gain the courage to express pride in our achievements. It’s only by opposing negative attitudes and championing the value of our charity’s work that will win us that confidence. So, while you may not have heard my charity’s name, the amazing work we do speaks volumes. Next time I promise to say our name.
Confessions of a charity professional is the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network’s anonymous series where charity workers tell it how it is. If you would like to pitch us an idea, click here.
