Does anyone else feel their heart drop when there is another charity “scandal” in the news? Whether it is mismanagement of funds, misleading donors or missing governance documents, I know that the reputational damage from these mistakes is felt across the not-for-profit sector.
It’s no secret that our sector is struggling financially. Normal people are struggling too. Whether during the pandemic, or the continuing struggle of a cost-of-living crisis, it is only fair to assume that the public hold our sector to a higher standard during the times when donations really matter.
It therefore feels unfair to me that the actions of a few rotten apples can shake the trust the public place in us all. Beyond my anger, these stories do raise an important question – how can we mitigate the impact when our transparency is called into question?
Transparency and trust have to go hand-in-hand in our sector. Being clear about our actions and intentions is how we build relationships with donors and funders, demonstrate our impact, and galvanise support for our work.
The actions of a few rogue agents have shaken our sector on more than one occasion, but I am beginning to worry about the long-term impact this has on organisations already struggling to survive.
Take the recent report published around The Captain Tom Foundation.
I have my own thoughts about this case. Setting those aside, the amount of coverage this story has seen won’t just impact the Foundation. It will impact us all. With stories like this resonating in donors’ minds, how can we ask for financial support?
Anyone who reads information about the report can see it is a clear-cut case of an organisation operating within a grey area. This led to confusion, misinterpretation and ultimately, a feeling that the public had been manipulated.
We could go back and forth about whether this ambiguity was intentional or mere oversight as a result of the rapid and unexpected growth of the Foundation, but the result is the same.
We are all now firmly under the spotlight. We are all exposed to harsher scrutiny at a time when we are clinging on white-knuckled in an attempt to survive the next financial year. Organisations are already struggling.
This is happening across the board, in every local authority and every geography.
What does this case tell us? It highlights that charities need to investment more time and resource into fostering transparency in their operations and communications. It is the only way that we can build resilient relationships and grow our funding.
Stories or “scandals” in the sector create a false image of charities. They make the public believe that activities and spending aren’t handled carefully. They fuel an idea that donations go towards exorbitant chief exec salaries or extravagant canapés for lunchtime meetings – overshadowing the essential work that relies on support through fundraising.
We know that essential work is delivered by determined individuals who are often in low-paid roles. They aren’t in it for the money; they do it to make a difference. To see their dedication could be overshadowed by a scandal feels deeply unfair.
I started this piece out of frustration. I was fed up that all organisations seemed to suffer because of one “bad apple”. In the process of writing this, I came to the realisation that it is about much more than that.
This story highlights that charities need to do more to promote transparency. Without it, we lose our strongest currency – trust. I know that times are tough for our sector currently and many of us might feel our backs are against the wall. We need to continue to deliver vital services, but we can’t do that at the cost of overlooking transparency.
Charity leaders and trustees need to champion transparency in an organisation’s culture, operations, and the way they communicate with donors, partners, staff and beneficiaries.
By embracing this level of transparency, we can all build unshakable trust that allows us to rise above scandals whilst ensuring we are reshaping and rebuilding a sector with a sustainable future.
