COMPARING CHARITIES AND VOLUNTARY BODIES

The voluntary sector is huge and incredibly diverse. Opportunities for rewarding work, both paid and unpaid, are abundant.

The more you know about the voluntary sector and the organisations in it the easier it will be for you to decide if you really want to work in it. You’ll also be clearer about the kind of work you want to do and you’ll understand how to go about getting it.

Broadly speaking there are two types of organisation in the voluntary sector:

• 1.charities
• 2.non-charitable voluntary bodies.

In this book they are both referred to as voluntary sector organisations. They work in almost every area of life at local, national and international levels.

Recognising a charity

Each year around 12,000 new charities are added to the Charity Register and around 10,000 are removed. At the moment there are close to 200,000 charities in the UK although about 30,000 of these are subsidiaries or branches of others. For example, every branch of Relate is registered as an individual charity, though they are part of the main organisation.

An organisation can only be a charity if it works in the public interest and not just to further the interests of certain individuals. It must do one or more of the following:

• relieve poverty, disability and/or distress
• advance education
• advance religion
• do other charitable things that benefit the community.

The last condition is a catchall; so, for example, animal rescue organisations come under this category.

There are tight restrictions on the kind of activities charities can get involved in and the way they are run. For example, they can’t promote political views, which is why organisations like Amnesty International, which is often very critical of governments, cannot be charities. Also, the people who have overall legal responsibility for running charities – the trustees – are not allowed to receive any financial rewards for their work.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales produces a booklet called Registering as a Charity. It’s aimed at people who want to set up their own organisation, but it’s also a very useful introduction to understanding charities.

Recognising a voluntary body

There are as many voluntary bodies in the UK as there are charities – around 200,000. They range from your local amateur football team or hill-walking group, to internationally known organisations like Greenpeace and Amnesty International.

The definition of a voluntary body is that it uses volunteers for some of its activities and that it is non-profitable. There could be a number of reasons why such a body does not become a charity:

• it might not meet any of the conditions for being a charity
• it could be involved in political activities
• the people running it might not be ready to apply to be a charity
• it might be a public body (like the Special Constabulary).

UNDERSTANDING HOW CHARITIES AND VOLUNTARY BODIES WORK

In many ways working in the voluntary sector is similar to working in any other type of environment, though there are some important differences.

Raising money

Like any business, voluntary sector organisations need money. However, they don’t have shareholders and therefore the reason they need money is not to make profits for the sake of profit, but to continue doing the work they were set up to do. They can raise money in a number of ways:

• through grants from public (government/local authority) funds
• by fundraising
• from membership fees
• by selling goods and/or services.

Needing skills

Raising money, administering it, providing services and achieving the aims of the organisation all require skills as sound as you would find in the commercial world. Just as in business, voluntary sector organisations need to make use of real, solid work skills in order to function properly – skills in areas such as:

• administration
• finance
• marketing
• fundraising
• publicity
• research
• information technology
• specialist skills according to the nature of the organisation, e.g. medical, agricultural, technical, scientific and so on.

Responding to customers

In the voluntary sector customers are often referred to as clients and they are the people who benefit from what the organisations do. For example, homeless people are clients of organisations like Shelter.

If you work in the voluntary sector you may very soon hear two phrases: ‘needs led’ and ‘funding led’. They refer to the way an organisation decides its priorities and can be the subject of fierce debate between the service providers and the fundraisers in an organisation.

‘Funding led’ means that decisions on policy and work areas are taken on the basis of what the money can be raised for. But ‘needs led’ means that priorities are decided according to the needs of the clients, whether or not they are easy to raise money for.

Some causes are easier to raise money for than others, even though they may be equally deserving. Children are easy to raise money for – the Children in Need television appeal raises enough money in one day to put it in the top ten charitable trusts. However, mental health is a notoriously difficult cause to raise funds for.

Committing to equal opportunities

Voluntary sector organisations are usually very committed to equal opportunities. This affects their policies on recruitment, as well as promotion, pay, and terms and conditions. One advantage of this should be that everyone knows where they stand, what the rewards are and how they work.

Another advantage should be that the recruitment information and process really is fair and designed to recruit the best person for the job regardless of age, gender, race, ethnic background, religion, disability, sexual orientation, family background or social status. Often the results are impressive and better than those of many private sector organisations. This isn’t just about equal opportunities, but about a very real concern to get the best person for the job and use limited resources as effectively as possible.

You might sometimes read statements on job adverts encouraging applications from ethnic minorities and/or people with disabilities. In fact some work may be open only to particular groups because the nature of the work being done means it is excluded from the provisions of the Race, Sex or Disability Discrimination Acts.

Being positive

Some organisations have client groups who are disadvantaged not only by their situation, but by the way other people perceive them. One way of helping such clients is to challenge those perceptions by changing the way we describe people or things.

This has made the voluntary sector something of a champion of ‘political correctness’, which is essentially about valuing people, not being judgmental and avoiding stereotypes.

A good example of positive political correctness is the Spastics Society changing its name to Scope (for People with Cerebral Palsy). The word ‘spastic’ had grown to be used as an insult and it devalued the people who suffered from cerebral palsy. By changing the organisation’s name the perception of its client group also changes. Another word for ‘scope’ is ‘potential’, which is positive, and using the phrase ‘people with cerebral palsy’ puts people before the condition and emphasises the human connection between those of us who do not suffer from it and those who do.

Volunteering

A volunteer is someone who gives their time freely without expecting a financial reward. This means that they are often very committed and work extremely hard. However, because they do not have to do it and so can stop at any time, volunteers need to be motivated and managed in ways that are different from paid workers. In most cases a volunteer cannot be told to do something, they can only be asked.

Many voluntary sector organisations rely heavily on the volunteer help they get. The volunteers in turn become ‘stakeholders’ in the organisation. In other words they have a concern for how the organisation is run and for its future. Some organisations address this by developing membership schemes for volunteers that give them voting rights at annual meetings. This leads to a greater feeling of ownership of the organisation for the volunteers and a real sense of having a say in the way things are done.

Managing

Committees usually run voluntary sector organisations. In charities these are called boards of trustees or management committees and they have legal obligations and restrictions to observe. Voluntary bodies may have similar committees or they may just have a loose collection of people who ‘run the show’.

The committee may meet from once a year to once a week depending on its role, its obligations, and the size and nature of the organisation it is responsible for. Some committees have a very hands-off approach and meet only for progress updates on how the organisation is meeting its objectives. Other committees may be more active with individuals meeting employees and volunteers, producing discussion documents and taking a real and immediate interest in the day-to-day work.

One point to bear in mind about working in an organisation run by a committee is that major policy decisions need its blessing, so when a committee meets only once every four months this can slow down the pace of change. While this can mean that there is more time for reflection on the suitability of any action, on the other hand it can be very frustrating.

FUNDRAISING AND ITS IMPORTANCE

Fundraising is probably the most common way for most people to come into contact with a voluntary sector organisation. Children come home from school with forms for sponsored swims, the local church holds a jumble sale, there are fundraising telethons and concerts, and of course people in the street with collection tins.

Fundraising does two jobs for voluntary sector organisations:

• 1.it raises money
• 2.it raises awareness.

Both are very important because they affect the stability of the organisation and the effectiveness of its work. If you are finding out about an organisation or you have got as far as the interview stage for a job, it is a good idea to find out how it gets its money.

There are lots of different ways for an organisation to raise money:

• Applying for grants from local, national or international government bodies.
• Applying for grants from trusts (trusts are charities that give money to specific causes).
• Encouraging donations from companies by, for example, sponsorship deals.
• Encouraging donations from individuals through street collections, mailshots, TV appeals and so on.
• Getting donations from support groups that might, for example, organise jumble sales or sponsored walks.
• Getting income from membership fees, in return for which members get regular updates about the organisation’s work.
• Selling products (through catalogues and shops) or services (such as consultancy work).

Effective fundraising is a highly skilled job. Individuals tend to give to what they can relate to or to things which have a strong emotional pull. But businesses, trusts and governments have strict rules and guidelines about how they allocate funds and organisations have to show how they match up. The competition for funds is intense, so skilled fundraisers are highly valued.

If you are applying to a small voluntary sector organisation for paid work and you are concerned about job security you need to consider its track record in fundraising.

LOOKING AT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WORK

Because the sector is so large and diverse, then whatever your skills and interests there will be something you can do either in a voluntary capacity or as a paid worker. Here’s a small list – and it is very small – of the kind of work you could do:

Organisations vary in size, from those run by only one or two people, to those with hundreds of employees. There are lots of small local organisations and many of the larger ones operate at local levels, so there should be something available close to where you live. On the other hand, if you want a paid position at the heart of a major organisation you need to remember that the majority are based in and around London.

FINDING OUT MORE

The first thing to do is get the contact details for the organisation you are interested in. You’ll need a name, a telephone number and an address. If you don’t have a contact name then ‘the personnel department’ or ‘the volunteer co-ordinator’ will do, depending on whether you are looking for paid or voluntary work.

There are lots of organisations listed in Chapters 9 and 10 of this book. You can also try telephone directories, The Voluntary Agencies Directory and financial profile directories such as Baring Asset Management Top 3,000 Charities, all of which should be available in major reference libraries. If the organisation is local you should be able to find out about it from your nearest volunteer bureau.

Some questions to ask

If you manage to speak to someone at the head office of an organisation, it will be useful to be clear about the information you want. Have a pad and pen to hand so you can jot down some notes.

• What does the organisation do – activities, when, where?
• Where is it based or run from?
• How many staff and volunteers does it have?
• Who benefits from the work they do?
• How do they do their fundraising and how financially healthy are they?
• (If you want a paid position) does it ever have any paid positions available and how can you find out about them?
• (If you want to volunteer) what kind of help do they need?
• Can you go and visit them or one of their projects to find out more? (They may not encourage this, but there’s no harm in asking.)
• Can they send you some information – general information/publicity, annual review, corporate strategy and anything else they are able to let you have?

If you are writing for information it is better to send loose stamps than an SAE, unless you know what size of envelope the information will need.

Reading up on the voluntary sector

A lot of texts about the voluntary sector are quite dry and academic, but it is probably worth exploring the library to see if there is anything that interests you.

One book worth reading is Understanding Voluntary Organisations by Charles Handy (published by Penguin). It’s especially useful if you are interested in working in administration or management in the voluntary sector. Also, the voluntary sector has its own magazine, Third Sector, which you may be able to get hold of through your local reference library (it is also available online at www.thirdsector.co.uk).

Going on courses

You can do courses to find out about work in the voluntary sector before deciding if it’s what you want. These courses are designed mainly for people wanting paid work. They range from half-day workshops to week-long seminars with work placements in a host charity.

For more information you should contact:

• CF Appointments Ltd, Lloyds Court, 1 Goodman’s Yard, London El 8AT. Tel: (020) 7953 1191. www.cfappointments.com Email: enquiries@cfappointments.com
• Charity People, 38 Bedford Place, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 5JH. Tel: (020) 7299 8700. www.charitypeople.co.uk
• Working for a Charity, NCVO, Regent’s Wharf, 8 All Saints Street, London N1 9RL. Tel: (020) 7520 2512. www.wfac.org.uk Email: enquiries@wfac.org.uk

Also your local volunteer bureau may know if there are any local courses available.

Some organisations that recruit a large number of volunteers may run open days, seminar evenings or workshops for potential volunteers. These events will often have volunteers on hand to answer questions, so they are well worth going along to. They are usually advertised in local newspapers. Otherwise you could contact the organisation you are interested in to see if they do anything similar.

CHECKLIST

• How would you define a voluntary sector organisation?
• What are the distinctive features about working in the voluntary sector?
• How are charities different from non-charitable voluntary bodies?
• Why is fundraising so important?
• What can you do to find out more about the voluntary sector?

USEFUL RESOURCES

Useful addresses

These are addresses of bodies that regulate or provide advice and other services for the voluntary sector. Addresses of individual voluntary sector organisations can be found in Chapters 9 and 10 (and, where relevant, at the end of each of the other chapters).