The National Trust was founded in 1895 by 3 volunteers. It is the largest membership organisation in the UK. It owns or protects roughly one fifth of the coast in England. The potential is enormous to use this platform for anything that people want to do. The architecture is already there, the staff and volunteers keep the doors and floors open.. So there are huge opportunities for people who want to take this further.. So what would people want to do? good question, no idea. But i'm very happy the NT are prepared to look at it.
- At a time of changing role of membership (clubcard or political parties - take your pick) they have 4 million members, who pay and feel an ownership over what goes on. Huge opportunity to make them more involved and let them use the platform.
- They are one of the largest UK charities by both income and assets. So while other social investment is plummeting, can add significant support to other voluntary groups through ethical procurement and joint working.
- They have 61,000 volunteers. some of those will want to continue being room guides, walking guides and other things. But many others will want to do something different - a massive opportunity if we give them what they want. The potential to demonstrate values-led leisure, or social challenges, or genuinely beneficial corporate volunteering from such a platform was too good to pass up..
I'll be talking more in coming months about specific plans - a lot of it will depend on where other people want to go (property managers, volunteers, external agencies etc) but there are many excellent people already on board and i'm really excited about seeing what it going on. Yorkshire & the NE is a massive and brilliant area.
I think the best way to protect our institutions is to make them relevant to the future.
More to come......
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