Small charities need a big voice in Westminster

L-R: Baroness Rennie Fritchie, Chair of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales, Lord Blackwell, Chairman of Lloyds Banking Group and Judith Ford, CEO of Wyre Forest Nightstop and Paul Streets, Chief Executive, Lloyds Bank Foundation of England and Wales

Judith Ford, CEO of Wyre Forest Nightstop, a charity funded by the Foundation, spoke at our Westminster Reception yesterday and called for MPs to take forward the experiences of small and local charities with them to Westminster. Here she shares her thoughts:

At Wyre Forest Nightstop we work with young people aged 16-25 who are homeless, or at risk of being homeless. We support them with a range of services from emergency accommodation to family mediation, volunteering opportunities and give them a chance to develop skills and experience.

“You have nothing but the clothes on your back…”

I can’t do justice to the difference this support makes to the young people we support so I’ll share with you a few words from Courteney, a young woman who we first worked with when she was 18. She recently blogged:

“Everyone’s opinion on homelessness is different but you truly won’t understand how it feels until you experience it yourself. Try to imagine; you have nothing but the clothes on your back, you have nobody to help you as they just walk past, you feel invisible to all those who you thought cared about you. You want to scream and get somebody’s attention and nobody listens. The street lamps are your only source of light as you’re under the slide trying not to get wet from the rain.

Many people aren’t aware of the important role small charities like Wyre Forest Nightstop make. It’s why we need the support from others – from MPs, government, businesses and supporters.

“I’m lucky I found Nightstop because I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t. They provided me with the care I needed and helped me to get into supported lodgings. They are such a friendly bunch of people, they made me feel like I am a part of the family and welcomed me with open arms. “

Courteney is just one of the hundreds of young people we see every year who fall through the gaps in our care or welfare systems and find themselves with nowhere to live.

As a local charity we’re able to take time to get to know the people we work with so we can provide targeted and personalised support that responds to their unique and individual experiences. We can only work this way because we know our community and we know the support they need.

Support through difficult times

When I joined Nightstop back in 2011 we were on the point of going under – one of our first grants was paid in two instalments just in case we didn’t make it past the six month stage. Our turning point came two years ago when we were given an Enable grant from Lloyds Bank Foundation.

The grant allowed us to work on our organisational development, undertaking a review, training for trustees and myself that equipped me with vital leadership and business skills to lead the charity through the challenges we faced and continue to face. It really ‘Enabled’ us to move forward!

Listen to small charities, our local solutions have the potential to solve national issues too.

Like many of the other charities funded by the Foundation we’re operating in difficult times. We’ve had cuts in statutory funds but at the same time have seen a big increase in demand for our services.  Thanks to the support from Lloyds and out Enable grant we’ve been in a position where we were able to tackle these challenges head on. We’ve since secured a partnership grant for over £500,000 from the Big Lottery Fund. I know that part of the reason we got that grant was because we had gained stronger governance, robust systems and passionate staff thanks to our support from the Foundation.

All the way through our journey the Foundation has been by our side. They have just awarded us an Invest grant of £68,000 to cover some of our core costs like salaries. It’s rare for grantmakers to fund core costs, most want to fund new and exciting projects, but they understand that it’s our core costs that keep us going, and allow us to provide the support and services we know our community needs.

Small but vital voices

Yesterday the Foundation brought together charity leaders with MPs in Parliament to recognise and celebrate the role small charities have in their communities. They’ve given the small charities they fund the opportunity to not just keep doing what we do best but also doing but make the case to politicians why they are so vital to the communities they serve.

Sadly though many people aren’t aware of the important role small charities like Wyre Forest Nightstop make. It’s why we need the support from others – from MPs, government, businesses and supporters but it’s also why we need to make raise our own voices to champion who we are and what we do.

We need those MPs particularly to take what they see, hear and learn from their local charities back with them to Westminster. When they are making policies they need to be aware of the impact their decisions can have on the most vulnerable members of our community. To take just one example – no-one should have to wait 6 weeks before they can buy food or pay their rent. That policy around Universal Credit alone has a huge impact on our ability to do our work and help people like Courteney.

So I say please talk to and listen to small charities, our local solutions have the potential to solve national issues too. Please use our experience to inform decisions and improve the lives of the people we support.

 

 

 

Putting out the fires of ‘burning injustice’

It’s hard to reconcile public sector contracting with our values and mission, so we must return to our campaigning roots, writes our Chief Executive Paul Streets.

This was originally posted in Third Sector on 2nd November 2017. 

I am encouraged by recent events I’ve been to and by comment in social media that the third sector’s relations with government might finally be turning away from a preoccupation with delivering public services to remembering why most charities were set up in the first place.

James Rees and David Mullins’ book, The Third Sector Delivering Public Services helpfully sets out the historical context for our relationship with government over the past 30 years. It begins with the Thatcher-driven “contract culture” to Labour’s third way of what Rees and co call “hyperactive mainstreaming” – seeking to build us centrally into public provision – and on to Cameron’s volunteer-driven big society.

Over the years some governments just paid us lip service, while others were well intentioned. But taken as a whole, they’ve seen charities pushed from pillar to post by shifting transient visions of their role in society, driven by whoever ruled the Whitehall and Westminster roost. No wonder the sector is confused about its identity. And no wonder the public are confused too. If Serco wins a public contract it doesn’t ask the public to dip their hands in their pockets to cross-subsidise the cost. So why should big, national, contract-providing charities?

No wonder the sector is confused about its identity. And no wonder the public are confused too.

As the screws tighten it’s becoming increasingly hard to reconcile public sector contracting with our values and mission. Small charities we fund at the foundation are seeing their public funding slashed as grants disappear, and a reducing pot is captured in contracts they have little chance of securing as the big players – voluntary and private – slug it out between them.

I hope the Children’s Society and Scope are showing the way by withdrawing from large-scale public provision, deciding it is incompatible with their mission to improve the lives of the majority they exist for. Just like Polly Neate at Shelter who called recently on big charities to focus less on brand and more on partnership so that they use their scale around a united front with smaller charities to achieve influence.

Different commentators have commented on this government’s lack of vision for the sector, but perhaps being ignored by a government battered by Brexit thunderclouds brings its own silver lining. We no longer have a government that sees the third sector as an instrument to be played. It doesn’t know what we’re here for. It doesn’t seem to care and, even it did, it doesn’t have the time.

Perhaps being ignored by a government battered by Brexit thunderclouds brings its own silver lining.

In the absence of someone else’s vision for the sector, maybe we can reclaim our own. Julia Unwin’s Civil Society Futures inquiry should help us. Given what’s happening to the lives of those many of us exist for, there is no more important time to do this. Every day at the foundation we see the battles of universal credit, homelessness, poverty and failing services played out on the front line of the hundreds of small, local charities we fund. The government’s focus on helping the “just about managing” compounds our charities’ sense of being alone in reaching the “nowhere near managing”. Society’s marginalised are fast becoming collateral damage, ignored or inconsequential – a new norm in austerity Britain. No wonder the government’s been happy to co-opt our silence with a contract.

In the absence of someone else’s vision for the sector, maybe we can reclaim our own.

Charities won’t do what’s right by those we serve unless they return to their campaigning roots, projecting what they know and hear every day into public and parliamentary consciousness.

Many of us were founded just to do that. Most charities are an embodiment of previous calls for action from someone who knew enough to care, and who cared enough to respond.

If that means our relationship with government is less comfortable than it might have been in the past, all to the good if that discomfort is being driven by our intimate first-hand knowledge of the “burning injustice” at the heart of austerity pre-Brexit Britain. If Theresa May is true to her word she will welcome it, listen and act.

‘Digital transformation’ doesn’t have to be mysterious

The annual launch of Lloyds Banking Group’s Business Digital Index is an important reminder that the digital world is constantly moving and that charities, just like businesses, must keep abreast of the change. For that reason, we’ve invested £576,830 in digital support for 380 of our charities, in addition to the grants we provide to make sure they are working as smartly as possible.

The digital world is constantly moving and that charities, just like businesses, must keep abreast of the change

However while ‘Digital transformation’ seems to be on everyone’s lips lately, it seems to come with the implication that it is something mysterious or unknown. This is causing a significant attitudinal barrier towards technology for some charities who fear they might get it wrong, therefore creating procrastination and stagnation. So we’ve been considering some of the opportunities and barriers to embracing digital.

We know technology needs to be discussed as an enabler, for example the postage costs saved when emailing a newsletter, easily getting stock for a charity shop from a Facebook appeal, organising a supporters’ meeting through Whatsapp etc.

We know technology needs to be discussed as an enabler

Yet among charities we fund, investment in technology is often viewed as a ‘nice to have’ with staff pondering the implications of what they can’t deliver if they spend their funds on digital tools. Often the converse is actually true and they should instead consider what they can deliver more efficiently and more effectively with technology on a day to day level.

Taking a longer term view, we know from the Charity Digital Skills Report that only 27% of charities have aligned their organisational and digital strategy. Doing this makes the best use of any investment and ensures the consideration of purpose first. Digital no longer sits separately with an IT person, rather it underpins the work of the whole organisation and should affect everybody who interacts with it.

When working with charities on digital transformation we encourage them to get advice from multiple sources. They often face a lack of unbiased advice coupled with a lack of knowledge of the digital market place, which means that the advice they’re given may lean towards preferred suppliers rather than the best solution for their service.

The Lloyds Bank Digital Index states that 50% of charity leaders lack confidence in introducing technological change and many lack digital leadership, so recruiting someone on the Board and at senior executive level that embraces and champions technological change can be influential when investment is needed. Making time for peer-to-peer learning and sharing about how best to use technology will also reap rewards in the long run.

Having a great internet presence can create and maintain local advantage and supporters in a fiercely competitive environment. A strong Facebook Whatsapp, Snapchat or Instagram presence, which lots of people use ‘in real life’, can often be better, more interactive and cheaper than a traditional website, so thinking about how your audience uses technology is important when deciding which platforms to use. The Lloyds Bank Digital Index states that charities using social media are 51% more likely to report an increase in donations.

Having a great internet presence can create and maintain local advantage and supporters in a fiercely competitive environment.

As we know, the digital world is fast moving, so refreshing systems and people’s skills is something which needs doing every 18 months or so. It should be regarded as an investment that will support growth, innovation and succession. This needs to be built into the organisational strategy, otherwise investment in technology can be wasted and not properly embedded.  Getting your early adopters and your naysayers on board early is a useful tactic to support implementation.

Finally, it is important to use data, not just collect it, but select the right things to measure, rather than measuring everything which will tell you nothing. These key performance indicators can alert the charity to emerging issues before problems arise. Eliminating paper based systems and storing data in a consistent way brings data together for comparison. This, coupled with feedback from users can be used to drive service improvements.

At Lloyds Bank Foundation we are proud to fund charities who are punching above their weight with the services they deliver with the limited resources they have. The call for digital transformation shouldn’t draw focus from this, but should encourage charities to make their systems work harder for them; to streamline their processes, strengthen their evidence base, and make them stronger contenders for future funding so that they can focus on what they do best, which is changing lives for the better.

Harriet Stranks, Director of Grants, Lloyds Bank Foundation
@HarrietStranks

National Mentoring Day: A Mentor’s Story

Today on National Mentoring Day we’re looking back at some of the great mentoring relationships between charities and staff from Lloyds Banking Group that have developed through the Charity Mentoring Programme we launched in 2015.

Chris Tucker, a Senior Manager at Lloyds Banking Group, is one of around 200 staff currently matched to a charity. He shares his experience of mentoring in London:

“Over the last two years then I’ve been a mentor to two charities tackling very different societal issues.”

Chris was initially paired up with Trailblazers, a prison-based charity which mentors young people to help them break the cycle of re-offending.

I’ve worked a range of roles at Lloyds which has given me a range of experience I felt I could bring to charity mentoring. I think we forget how many skills we learn in our professional lives that are useful outside of the office.

“With Trailblazers I was thrown straight in at the deep end. They were trying to fundraise, something which can be quite challenging as for some people it’s a controversial cause. At the same time, they were trying to recruit a new Trustee. I hadn’t dealt with either of these issues before but I still found I was able to use my general corporate experience to help support them.”

When that journey came to an end Chris was re-matched with Choice in Hackney, a community charity who provide advocacy and living support to disabled people in East London.

“At Choice in Hackney I work closely with Caroline Nelson, the Chief Executive, acting like a sounding board. Being a Chief Executive can be a lonely position with a lot of responsibility, so she uses me to bounce ideas off and offer a different perspective on whatever she’s working on. My experience at Lloyds in areas like risk management, fundraising and governance has been really useful for my work with Caroline.”

Mentoring seemed like an ideal fit. It was an opportunity contribute in a way that felt deeper than a one-off volunteering project, a way to make a sustained contribution to an organisation

Working as a mentor Chris has found that often change isn’t about instant impact and quick fixes but is about offering specific, longer lasting support.

“I initially signed up because I wanted to do something that makes a difference in the community but also challenge myself too. Mentoring seemed like an ideal fit. It was an opportunity contribute in a way that felt deeper than a one-off volunteering project, a way to make a sustained contribution to an organisation and to learn something new in the process.

“I’ve worked a range of roles at Lloyds which has given me a range of experience I felt I could bring to charity mentoring. I think we forget how many skills we learn in our professional lives that are useful outside of the office. You end up making jokes about the corporate language and tools we use, things like ‘best practice’ and ‘slide decks’ but the skills you learn in that environment are really in demand, especially in small charities.”

Using these skills Chris has been able to both have a positive impact on the charities he’s worked with but also gained a lot himself from his time as a mentor.

“For me personally the experience has been really rewarding. I’ve learnt a lot from the charities and I feel they’ve appreciated my contribution. Choice in Hackney recently celebrated their 25^th anniversary and as part of the celebrations I was presented with a big thank you certificate for the work I’d done. I really wasn’t expecting it – I feel like our work together has just started to get going and that I don’t deserve it yet, but it’s great to know they feel my support has been helpful.

“If anyone was thinking about becoming a Charity Mentor my response would be do it. As a LBG employee there’s lots of opportunities to volunteer and support great causes but I think mentoring is definitely one of the best.”

You can find more inspiring stories about our mentoring programme here.

If your charity is funded by the Foundation and would like a mentor contact your Grant Manager for more information.

 

We need to make the most of research

Given the lack of resources for research in the sector, we must extract every drop of value from what we learn, writes our Chief Executive Paul Streets in his latest column for Third Sector.

This blog was originally published on Third Sector on 3rd October 2017.

I recently spoke about how the foundation uses research at the annual Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference.

It was a potential undiscovered goldmine of useful research relevant to practitioners on subjects as wide as engaging black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, working with refugees, research methods and working with volunteers. It left me wondering why I’d never heard of it before. Researchers talking to researchers might improve knowledge but it won’t spread learning. And that’s a major challenge for a fragmented voluntary sector.

We know funders are fortunate to have the resources. This is why it’s so important that those who research the sector speak actively to those who work in the sector.

Our detractors, especially those in central and local government, often chastise the voluntary sector for being an evidence-free zone. Often with an assumption that small and local charities are particularly guilty.

When it comes to delivering services, local charities end up having to plead the case to would-be commissioners, often against much larger competitors. In my experience, commissioners should be beating at the doors of local charities that can reach people and places larger providers can’t get near. The Grenfell Tower tragedy showed this starkly. When the chips were down, only the local charities got anywhere near.

The evidence challenge is, of course, a big problem for small and local charities that rarely have the resources for research – or the time to engage with other researchers out there.

So what role can commissioners of research play?

Funders should certainly help practitioners to get back on the front foot – by building an evidence narrative that speaks to the intimate knowledge of local organisations that reach parts of our communities that others can’t.

Large funders such as Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales that work directly with frontline voluntary sector organisations have an important role in this. By bringing together what we learn from the many organisations we fund, we can produce unique insights into what matters and what works to tackle disadvantage. And because we can aggregate data from hundreds of small charities we can create a story of scale through hundreds of delivery points – not a single standard contract or provider.

Given how poorly resourced sector research is, we must extract every drop of value from what we learn.

We know funders are fortunate to have the resources. This is why it’s so important that those who research the sector speak actively to those who work in the sector.

Succinct summary evidence briefings, such as those produced by the Economic and Social Research Council, can be very useful for busy chief executives who only have 10 minutes to spare. But as Karl Wilding, director of public policy and volunteering at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said at the research conference this isn’t just about “disseminating findings”; it’s about active engagement between researchers and practitioners.

Given how poorly resourced sector research is, we must extract every drop of value from what we learn.

Those who fund research should insist researchers spend as much effort on discussing their findings with the practitioners they’ve researched, and asking how they can improve their own service evaluation, as they do on a glossy report that may tick a funder box, but will then likely gather dust. Without this, those researched are little more than lab rats.

It’s a huge task, but in gradually bringing together knowledge of what works to tackle disadvantage from those we fund, we hope to help reshape and re-educate the thinking on what others – with deeper public sector pockets – might value. And by doing this, we’ll bring the voices of those at the receiving end of services to the fore and help determine how services are commissioned and paid for. It’s what good consumer-driven organisations strive for and we should do the same.

Enhancing the fantastic work of small and local charities

Harriet Stranks, Director of Grants at Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales sheds light on the Foundation’s flagship Enhance programme and how charities can make best use of all the extra support on offer. 

Here at Lloyds Bank Foundation we consider ourselves more than just a funder. We recognise the value of small and local charities and are committed to doing everything we can to support you to survive and thrive in this tough economic climate.

With over 30 years’ experience of awarding charities grants, we recognised that there was more we could do to help you become stronger and more sustainable so you can keep supporting people facing disadvantage in the years to come.

Three years ago, we developed a new programme called ‘Enhance’. The programme aims to offer the charities we fund through our grants a menu of bespoke and tailored support that can help them to grow stronger, become more fundable and ultimately improve more lives through the services and support they provide.

And even better, we help you identify suitable suppliers or consultants who have experience working with small and medium-sized charities – and the bill’s on us!

There are so many areas of support available through Enhance, including (but not limited to):

• Practical and tangible help such as improving social media skills, website development or even support to renew a lease.
• Leadership skills for senior charity staff such as courses from School for Social Entrepreneurs, Ella Forums for similarly minded voluntary sector leaders in your region or taking part in action learning sets. We know small charity leaders relish the opportunity to share ideas, opportunities and challenges, learn from and support each other.
• Mentoring opportunities for charity staff made possible through our access to the skills and expertise from within Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds staff bring with them many useful and practical transferable skills but also a passion for helping a local organisation. Positively, we have noticed significant numbers choosing to take on a more formal role with the charity, such as becoming trustee when their mentor relationship comes to an end.

Watch our Mudlarks video to hear more & see our funding in action

Charities often tell us they feel like a kid in a sweet shop when we explain what’s available through Enhance and often naturally initially want everything on offer.  From experience, we know that this approach isn’t sensible in the long run so your local Grant Manager, who will already have a deep knowledge of your charity, will be on hand to help you to consider your charity’s needs, priorities, and the actions you might need to take to get to where you aspire to be in three years’ time.

Charities often tell us they feel like a kid in a sweet shop when we explain what’s available through Enhance

Each charity’s Enhance journey is different. Some start from a tactical need with immediate impact whilst others take a more strategic approach and revisit mission, vision and values. Often a large factor in what’s possible is the time and energy charities can realistically commit to these development opportunities.

It is key for charities to remember that, for Enhance to really come in to its own, there needs to be genuine trust and openness between themselves and their Grant Manager.

Sometimes it can be tricky for charities to feel like they can be totally honest with us and we understand this. But we do sincerely see ourselves as your critical friend, not just a grant giver and we want you to be able to tell us when things are going wrong.  Our simple aim is to ensure you get the best and most appropriate support to strengthen your charity. It’s important to us that we maintain your confidence, so we choose not to stay involved once we have commissioned the support you need. That’s down for you to manage with your consultant/ supplier, unless you ask for our help.

Our simple aim is to ensure you get the best and most appropriate support to strengthen your charity

Since we launched Enhance, we’ve arranged 436 packages of support for charities across England and Wales. This hefty menu of support, available to charities in each year of their grants life cycle, is only expanding as demand rises. So, if you’re a Foundation funded grantee, what are you waiting for? Contact your Grant Manager and take advantage of our offer to enhance your already fantastic work.

A summer with the Foundation

This summer the Foundation welcomed interns Emily and Emma to our team. In this blog post, the two students reflect on what they will take away from their time at an independent grant making foundation, and why they think our partnership with the Bank has powerful potential.

Emily and Emma are participants on the Lloyds Scholars programme, a unique social mobility programme run by Lloyds Banking Group.

Why Lloyds Bank Foundation is worth knowing about

The best kept secret in the Bank is its own Foundation

This statement certainly rang true for me before being offered an internship in the Foundation as part of the Lloyds Scholars Programme. Initially, I incorrectly assumed the Foundation fell within one of the Bank’s streams; so writing this reflection, nearing the conclusion of my ten-week placement, is a great opportunity to portray a snapshot of this independent organisation and its dedicated teams, from an alternative perspective. Whether you are a fellow Scholar, a Bank colleague, a grantee or a casual follower of the Foundation, it is worth knowing about the crucial and compassionate work of this thirty-strong team that touches every part of our community.

The Foundation offers holistic support packages to small and medium sized charities who assist clients in breaking from cycles of multiple disadvantage. In my first week, I processed applications for the summer round of Invest, one of the Foundation’s two funding programmes that allow charities to develop and increase their reach in the communities they serve. Grant-recipients can then benefit from the Foundation’s Enhance programme, which offers non-financial, tailored support to help these smaller charities prosper in an increasingly competitive and turbulent environment.

Only after visiting real grantees in London and my home county of Dorset did I fully appreciate the essential work of grant makers in ensuring the continued existence of local charities, who are often the only link to those most marginalised in society. Paradoxically, it is the most ostracised groups, concerning the most stigmatic issues like sex-work and offending, that struggle to gain recognition and support from mainstream society; it is here the Foundation and its committed staff step in to provide much needed assistance.

I will take so much more away from these ten weeks than I ever thought; the tangible impact of the Foundation on communities across England and Wales was something I knew hopelessly little about before starting this experience. The relationship between large corporates and the third sector can seem mismatched at times, but by committing funding to the Foundation, Lloyds Banking Group is not only strengthening its Helping Britain Prosper Plan, but also allowing this indispensable organisation to fulfil its promise of Breaking Disadvantage, Bettering Lives.

Emily Rigler-Gillingham, 1^st Year Law student, University of Bristol

A cross-sector partnership 

Ask many Lloyds Bank colleagues and they may well not know the Lloyds Bank Foundation exists. And yet – if you listen closely – you will hear moving stories about schemes scattered across England and Wales where the two organisations work in close partnership to deliver priceless work in communities.

Their Charity Mentoring Programme is one scheme to take inspiration from. Bank staff are matched to Foundation funded charities and, using their expertise in areas such as strategy and business development, they help support the charity to become stronger and more sustainable, not to mention improving the bank colleague’s own skills. This mutual endeavour tackles the Foundation’s long-term mission of Breaking Disadvantage; Bettering Lives while simultaneously furthering Lloyds Banking Group’s (LBG) commitment to Helping Britain Prosper. Both organisations – despite representing different sectors – share the same ultimate goal, so working together makes perfect sense.

And just think how much more the two could achieve with increased awareness of the Foundation among the Bank’s 75,000 employees. Possibilities are endless – imagine, for instance, if the 260,000 hours of volunteering bank colleagues gave last year were used to support small to medium charities that work to break multiple disadvantage. Or envisage the domino effect of a collaborative piece of work between the Foundation and the Bank’s Responsible Business Division showing fiscal benefits of assisting ‘vulnerable’ customers to gain from bank profits. The Foundation’s expertise and knowledge, coupled with the Bank’s well-known brand and presence could help to raise awareness about key issues the Foundation supports that are sure to affect the Bank’s customers – from homelessness, to domestic abuse, from addiction, to isolation.

While the Bank can be found on almost every high street, the Foundation supports work on almost every backstreet. It seems to me that a bigger and better partnership could increase impact 10-fold. Could it be that in our wariness not to blur the lines between business and charity we are all missing out on creating even more positive change? Agreed, a healthy independent balance must remain, but combining unique expertise that sit on both sides can make powerful things happen, as seen through the Charity Mentoring Programme. So, what will I take with me into my next role in the bank as a Lloyds Scholar? Well first and foremost it would be the Foundation’s URL and a copy of the 2016 Impact Report – I think this secret is too well kept.

Emma Evans, 1^st Year International Relations and Politics student, University of Sheffield

Small sex-worker charity breaks taboos

Luton-based Azalea is one of those organisations that show the small local charity model at its best, writes our Chief Executive Paul Streets in his latest column for Third Sector.

This blog was originally published on Third Sector on 31st July 2017.

Small charities often come into their own when breaking taboos. Let’s take the very taboo subject of sex workers as an example. It’s one of the toughest and often overlooked issues, where local charities are often the only means of reaching these most vulnerable of women.

Over the years, I’ve visited or spoken with many charities we fund that work with sex workers. Meeting them can be deeply affecting, especially for those of us a long way from this sharpest of front lines.

I recently visited Azalea in Luton, which was founded in 2007 by its chief executive, Ruth Robb. Azalea has just relocated to an old hat factory near the centre of town after the youth organisation who were previously in the space moved on.

 

Azalea, like the flower it’s named after, is wonderfully bright and fragrant. There are lilies on the reception and it smells of fresh paint. Robb tells me what lies behind the design. It’s being decorated and furnished to look like a home rather than an institution, an important perception for the women the charity supports. The room where therapeutic work takes place is warm and comfortable. The women sit where they can always see the door so have their escape route in view – a powerful metaphor for lives that are trapped.

Next door there’s a nice shower and a rack of clothes. Many of the women Azalea works with are on the streets or sofa surfing and have very little. There’s also a cupboard full of free toiletries and food that can be eaten cold or microwaved, because most of the women it works with don’t live in homes with ovens.

Robb explains that sex work in Luton is currently worse than that she encountered in Kings Cross, London, when it was the sex work and HIV centre of London.

I ask her what she means by “worse”? She says she means price. One of the women charges £7 – or a packet of 20 cigarettes – for full sex without a condom. Think about that for a moment.

The 82 women supported by Azalea are sisters, partners, mothers. In one case, a grandmother.

That’s because sex work is largely intergenerational. One of the women was groomed by her mother, the same mother who is now looking after her children while she works. It’s the only thing they know. Almost all are drug users. Most are under 40 and some are between 16 and 18 years old.

The majority have at some point been through the care system. It’s a sad indictment of society’s  approach to supporting vulnerable families and “looked-after” children.

It’s hard not to be affected by the dedication and commitment of people like Robb who run small charities. Often self-deprecating, they are truly the saints of the voluntary sector.

It’s hard not to be affected by the dedication and commitment of people like Robb who run small charities.

Supporting sex workers is one of the cause areas where the small local charity model is at its most effective because street sex workers have a deep distrust of anything that smacks of institution or authority.

The nights that Azalea opens its doors, the charity is staffed by volunteers. This is a deliberate move: it helps to create trust and make it clear that this is not a place where “officials” work, because that would prevent vulnerable women from approaching them for help.

Street sex working is surely a tragedy of our times. But thankfully, and despite all the challenges and struggles they face, small charities are still with us,  providing some light at the end of the tunnel.

The experience the charity has developed over the years means it is now ready to take its work forward, applying what it has learnt to new ways of working. It’s an innovation that comes through specialism, expertise and a deep-rooted knowledge of the women and communities it supports.

It’s a fantastic example of small and local at its innovative best and sometimes a story is the best way to show how and why that is.

The Queen’s speech wasn’t all bad news

The new Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill has the potential to save lives says our Chief Executive Paul Streets. A version of this blog was first published on Third Sector on 4 July 2017. 

The Government recently voted on the Queen’s Speech including the new Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill – one of the few pieces of legislation outside of Brexit to make it onto the statute book.

It’s been interesting hearing the response to this Queen’s speech. “Empty, tired or weak” are just some of the terms commentators have used. It makes me wonder what words people affected by Domestic Abuse would use to describe a Bill designed to save lives.

Let’s not forget that two women are killed by their partner or ex-partner every week in England and Wales.

Apart from the impact on lives it has a massive impact on our hospital, Police, court and benefit systems and, as our colleagues at Lloyds Banking Group know all too well, it destroys financial health and drives people into debt.

The movement fighting domestic abuse is an embodiment of the immense power of voluntary action. Starting with the first refuge in Chiswick in 1971 and now encompasses hundreds of small, local charities as well as the larger representative bodies such as Women’s Aid and Safe Lives.

As a Foundation, we’ve been funding charities supporting women on the frontline since we were founded and while it’s still one of the areas we invest in the most, we’ve grown and evolved our approach.

In 2016, we became the lead philanthropic funder of Drive, a pioneering programme that works with perpetrators of abuse to tackle their behaviour. It’s astonishing that there is still controversy around getting people to ask “Why doesn’t he stop?” instead of “why doesn’t she leave?”

An important development but we must recognise that it is still small, local charities that provide the lion’s share of support to victims and survivors.

And rightly so. This is an issue that requires a high degree of trust, understanding and specialist knowledge.

Much of our grant making has therefore been targeted at core service provision for these charities but we know there is more they want to do and more we as a funder need to do to  improve the environment that affects how these charities work.

That’s why we developed Transform. A one-off grants programme, we invited bids from charities and partnerships wishing to influence policy, build the evidence base, develop models which can be grown and replicated, or create collaborative partnership models to tackle abuse and violence.

We had a terrific response demonstrating the range of innovation and partnership working across the sector and recently announced the 17 diverse projects we have chosen to fund.

From tackling domestic abuse of disabled people to improving the response to those in LGBT relationships. Because this stuff matters. 16% of disabled women and 8% of disabled men experience domestic abuse and most mainstream support doesn’t work for people in LGBT relationships.

And whilst domestic abuse increasingly receives public and political attention the greater unspoken taboo is sexual violence – perpetrated by people who the victim doesn’t know.

Small local charities are often the only major source of support for people experiencing sexual violence and we’re therefore also supporting some important collaborations in this space.

One in Manchester that is researching the needs of female survivors of sexual violence and exploitation with an aim of developing a model that reaches across Greater Manchester. And whilst women are the most frequent victims: 16% are men so another project is looking to improve how organisations support male victims.

Our overall aim is to influence responses to domestic and sexual abuse and strengthen the sector which supports it. It’s a huge issue. Affecting more than twice as many people as the 2 million that Cancer Research UK estimate have survived cancer.  And yet it is not a ‘popular’ cause. Cancer charities have 30 times the combined incomes of those working on domestic abuse.

There are other funders investing in this space but even together we can’t make up the shortfall between demand and their income and it’s an area where the state, and state funding – both local and national – will always be critical.

We should therefore be thankful to the thousands of small local organisations that are working with people in their local communities.

We hope, through Transform we can begin to find new and effective ways to reach individuals and families who need support. And as the new Bill makes its way through parliament, I hope we never hear the words weak or empty used to describe society’s attempt to tackle these destructive issues.

Paul Streets is the Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. Tell him what you think @PaulStreets_

What to do when your grant application isn’t successful

Harriet Stranks, Director of Grants explains what to do when your funding application hasn’t been successful. Our latest round of Invest applications has now closed.

Over the coming weeks, our Grant Managers will be busy, reviewing and assessing all the applications we’ve received. Some will pass through to the next stage which involves a site visit from their local Grant Manager so we can take the time to properly understand their funding needs and how a grant from us might help. Others might not even get to this stage and they will be informed that their request for funds has not been successful.

When we do reject funding applications, we send a personalised letter giving concrete reasons why the charity was not successful. Our Chief Executive Paul takes the time to sign all of these letters and often encourages charities to try again. Of course, it’s much more enjoyable to write letters telling charities they have been successful, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less important writing those that aren’t.

Our letters encourage charities to contact their grant manager to discuss this feedback but it’s surprising how many charities do not take up this offer.

Asking for feedback can of course be an uncomfortable experience. We worry about what we will be told and that’s probably why around 95% of our applicants who aren’t successful don’t ask why they didn’t get funded. We know charities spend hours making an application but then don’t take the final step to understand why it wasn’t successful.

At the Foundation, we want to build long-term, constructive relationships with the charities we fund and constructive feedback is a critical part of our approach. Every two years, we take part in a bench-marking exercise against other funders. Conducted by nfp Synergy, they carry out an anonymous survey to find out what people say about us. (We do it this way because it is virtually impossible for funders to get honest feedback from applicants, particularly when money is involved). It’s easy to become complacent if you don’t have external validation and that’s why this is such an important exercise for us.

At the Foundation, we want to build long-term, constructive relationships with the charities we fund and constructive feedback is a critical part of our approach

One of the main points we learned from the nfp synergy survey was that we as a Foundation needed to get better at providing feedback to the charities who have applied to us for funds. Whilst many charities said they received feedback from us, some said it wasn’t useful. Getting feedback on your feedback is surely the worst type of feedback to get! But if the feedback isn’t useful, it’s effectively a waste of everyone’s time.

Giving challenging feedback is never easy, and some people are notoriously bad at doing so. It’s why many people fall into the trap of superficial comments such as ‘there was a lot of competition out there’ because it’s easier than having a deep and meaningful conversation.

Of course, feedback is subjective. Sometimes the person on the receiving end doesn’t agree with the perspective of the other person. Sometimes people feel criticised, especially knowing that they may have to share this information with their board or superiors. In some ways feedback is as hard to give as it is to receive.

That’s why we take the time to give such a personalised response. Charities invest time and energy in their applications, we have to respect them by doing the same in our response. Our grant managers visit and speak to hundreds of charities every year. They are skilled at what they do, can benchmark charities against each other and know what good looks like.  Their judgement and experience means that they can understand what they are looking at, can ask the right questions, signpost to others when appropriate and suggest new ways of solving problems. To us, they are much more than grant assessors, they are coaches, critical friends, allies and sounding boards all rolled into one.

Charities invest time and energy in their applications, we have to respect them by doing the same in our response

We know that a robust feedback loop can improve a charity’s service, target resources more effectively, create stronger relationships and ultimately stronger organisations. It’s why we encourage our grantees to seek and act on feedback from the people they support.

So, if you aren’t successful in this latest round, don’t be disheartened. Our feedback is well considered and well-intended and we hope it helps you become more successful in future applications. Not just with us, but other funders too. And remember whilst it’s good to reflect on and act on it, it’s equally important to retain your own perspective and not obsess –  and above all, don’t take it personally.