YouTube - Change Your Words , Change Your World

improving BIG Lottery fund

I was at the yorkshire funders forum on friday, with 20+ very clever and knowledable people who I suspect feel powerless in the face of crisises in the voluntary sector. Yet the talk was exactly the same as any time over the last 3-5 years; about outcomes, evidencing impact, not reinventing, 'loose and baggy monster', it all seemed a bit, well, predictable... What else could we do..?

Well, I'd suggest some more radical changes.

1. fund the problem not the organisation
2. start funding unprofesional orgs
3. allocate a higher % to volunteer run orgs
4. accept a higher level of risk
5. make turnaround times for low grants much faster (yes i know this has been looked at and judged impossible, but look again..)

I'll add more to this list when i think of it..

Do we need to ctrl-alt-delete the Third Sector

In the midst of £5 billion being removed from the voluntary sector each year through the cuts, organisations are bunkered down, salami slicing their budgets. Local authorities have been through huge restructures, yet voluntary organisations for the main have not. Is now the time to #ctrlaltDELETE the #thirdsector

'charities' vs 'social enterprise' = old vs new..?

There is a risk that new social organisations will poach the business of existing voluntary organisations in the way that bloggers have poached journalists jobs by writing for free. The we'll see different sector using their 'charity status' (read brand) as the sole reason that they are right. We don't have the right to get paid to do this, we have to consistently demonstrate we can do it better than others, or at least act as the platform where people can do it for themselves.

Would we be happy to have all businesses as social enterprises in name only..? If we have a community benefit test for all social enterprises won't we miss the chance to massively grow the number of businesses that operate in a social way..?

Films with 2 female characters who don't just talk about a man (few and far between)..

AIDS sufferer, Selinah, agreed to film herself for 90 days to help others..

Topsy Foundation from Ogilvy South Africa on Vimeo.