Charities and not for profit – End of Year Reflection

The “Christmas” holiday period is often seen as a time to escape from work and recharge the batteries whilst enjoying time with families and friends. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many of the beneficiaries our charities help, nor for the charity workers and volunteers that support people over this time.

However, as we enter the next decade the sector does need to step back and refocus itself to consider how it will meet the challenges of the next 10 years. It would be lovely if in 10 years’ time there was no need for charities to exist, but this is highly unlikely as the need for services and support continues to grow.

What are the key areas to focus on when considering the future?

• Rebuilding the trust in charities – the sector needs to build its connections with the communities in which it operates. Be clear on the benefits your charity provides and the work it does. Engage with people to help build the pool of supporters, volunteers and advocates.
• Staff well-being/culture – the latter half of this decade has been blighted by the news stories on safeguarding. The culture of an organisation is crucial to its sustainability and a large part of that is how we treat our staff and the supportive infrastructure we put in place.
• Change culture – I am not advocating change for change sake, but a fair and constructive review of what we do, and could it be done in a different way with different resource and support? Funding will not get any easier. We need to embrace the benefits of change and flex our style to get the best outcome for every situation.
• Digital – the sector can’t focus on the next 10 years without considering the impact of digital. How can you streamline the services you provide or that are used as a marketing tool to reach funders, donors, supporters or crucial people that need your help?

Within Kreston Reeves, we have five cultures and values we adhere to:

• Understand
• Look ahead
• Make it personal
• Be crystal clear
• Be human

These are all values that can easily apply to the charity sector. You might like to see if you could use these values, or similar ones, to help focus your charity.

I hope you do manage to get some quality time over the next two weeks, but on behalf of the charities team at Kreston Reeves I would like to say congratulations on all you achieved in 2019 and to wish you all the best for 2020.