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  • The importance of a good charity investment

    The importance of a good charity investment

    Having robust practices and systems to defend against such attempts is vital and need to be reviewed and adhered to at all times. Simple procedures like keeping PINs and passwords protected should be a given and be aware of more sophisticated attempts involving such things as social engineering.

    Do not donate to unknown individuals purporting to need aid that post on Facebook, GoFundMe, etc.

    Jeremy Lin

    Applying for grants

    The pandemic has quite rightly highlighted the great work undertaken by the sector but we know that at the higher governmental echelons of society, full recognition of the sector’s contribution is sadly lacking. 

    • Be on guard for a surge of solicitations related to any highly publicized crisis.
    • Do not respond to, or click on any attachments, links or pictures.
    • Beware of individuals or others claiming to be third-party intermediaries for charities or those in need.
    • Avoid name confusion by independently verifying that the charity is legitimate before you donate. 

    Finding grant funding

    However, shining a light on the tangible outcomes of all that hard work is crucial to truly understand the value brought to the beneficiary base. Here are just a few resources available that may help with analyzing and presenting your impact.

    For many charities, having enough funds to meet the increased demand for their services has been a real obstacle to address. Grants in particular remain and will always be an important source of funding. Locating such sources is only part of the challenge, the other is presenting an application that resonates with the provider and illustrates the charity in its best light.

  • Six characteristics of a resilient charity

    Six characteristics of a resilient charity

    Running a program designed to increase the resilience of small charities is a fantastic job, but one of the biggest challenges is measuring resilience. In reality, whether a charity is resilient can only be known when they face difficult events or changing times. 

    When funding is such a challenge and public bodies are using charities to deliver their mission, it can be easy to fall into the trap of following the funding, by allowing external entities to dictate your organization’s direction.

    It is important for the good governance of your charity that you record your decision and the reasons for it.

    Jony Doe

    PCharity governance

    • Charity Governance Code
    • Kent Good Governance Charity Forum, Brachers
    • Governing your organisation, NCVO

    This was our experience with one charity in particular. As part of our initial meeting, we asked why they existed because their work felt very disjointed. The charity could tell us all about what they did in terms of activities and projects – but struggled to articulate what they were trying to achieve. 

    Effective leadership

    In the time we’ve been working with them they have agreed to their purpose and reviewed how their activities fit with this. Their theory of change document has also allowed them to regularly ensure the organisation stays focused, makes informed decisions about strategy and measures itself against its intended impact.

    If you do consider such a decision is necessary, you should follow any rules in your charity’s governing document that allow for postponement or cancellation.

    Awareness

    In many parts of the UK, the local voluntary sector landscape has changed significantly in the last decade, let alone since Covid-19. As a board and senior management team, it’s important to spend time researching who else is out there because your information can quickly go out of date and this may have an impact on your delivery. 

  • Helpful tools and resources for charities

    Helpful tools and resources for charities

    Any success is usually based upon sound foundations and this will always involve strong leadership and governance. The demands on trustees and management teams are immense. This can often lead to difficulties recruiting and retaining the people who drive the culture and mission that ultimately creates the greatest impact for beneficiaries.

    Children are hardest hit by human-induced climate change as it limits their access to essential services such as foods, shelters, and education. 

    Jony Doe

    Recruiting charity trustees

    While our politicians ignore the fact that current disasters are intensifying due to the climate crisis, scientists are telling us we need to do more to reduce the intensity and severity of disasters. It’s not a complex theory or speculation—statistics paint a clear picture of what the future may be like.

    Shreya turns “climate warrior”

    Nepal is among the most vulnerable countries to the climate crisis. In just two years, a Nepali peak, Mount Saipal, has become snowless. Our lives are melting along with our mountains. As the impact of climate change intensifies over time, it is the young people of today who will face the worst effects. I am one among them.

    Children like Shreya are all over the world and are demanding more from world leaders. And it’s time we listened. The world must recognize and stand with children, acknowledging their voices, activism and leadership in the climate movement. There is an urgent need. Their lives are at stake. 

    Time to listen and to act

    I have been actively involved in raising awareness, influencing policymakers, and taking climate action. In 2017, I participated in the National Youth Conference on Climate Change organized by the Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA). The conference motivated me to join the network and make a collective impact. Since then, I have been working with NYCA, a youth-led coalition of the Nepalese youth and youth groups tackling the climate crisis, which is the biggest challenge of our generation.

  • 4 Things We Can Learn From Small Charity Fundraisers

    4 Things We Can Learn From Small Charity Fundraisers

    When we’re putting together webinars or virtual events on Fundraising Everywhere we see small charities as an excellent source of insight for the wider sector. Sure, they might not have the big teams or big budgets to do all of the flashy digital things but there are plenty of ways they’re amazing at the fundraising fundamentals.

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  • How to get started with data in fundraising

    How to get started with data in fundraising

    It’s time to rethink our approach to data in fundraising so everyone feels like a pro, even if Excel makes you break out in a worried sweat. When we use data we’re more equipped to make better decisions for our strategy, supporters and team; important in a year of more uncertainty!

    Children have experienced trying to stay safe from the virus for 18 months now.

    Jony Doe

    Use Zoom, Facetime, or Skype to keep in touch with family and friends, both local and overseas to stay social, and maintain friendships and relationships when you can’t be together.

    Invest in a good CRM – and use it!

    • Think about data in everything you do
    • Network with other data “non-geeks”
    • Get comfortable with a new way of working

    If you’re a fundraiser that’s daunted by data you may be surprised how much you’re already using it. Every time you segment your database, draft your budget forecast or analyze a campaign to see if it can be saved with a tweak (or it’s time to let go), you’re using data. Data in fundraising is using the statistics and insights available to you, not intuition or feeling, to make decisions.

    Find time for children to get fresh air and sunlight. This may be as simple as spending some time in the backyard or on the balcony. If you live in a place where you can’t get outside, open your curtains and windows if you can, and let the natural light in.

    Be aware of data pitfalls

    It’s time to rethink our approach to data in fundraising so everyone feels like a pro.

    Nikki Bell

    If we have a good idea that we’re passionate about, it’s very easy to analyse data in a way that will prove that we’re right. This is called ‘confirmation bias’ and is something you need to be mindful of from day one to keep yourself and your team in check. Without this awareness, we lack the opportunity for innovation and growth – a key focus for charities in 2021!

    In this time ask them if they just want to share, or if they want you to help them to find a solution. Children don’t always want advice, sometimes being heard is enough. If you or your children need further support, please reach out to a trained professional such as a psychologist, social worker or GP. 

  • Hurricane Ida Relief

    Hurricane Ida Relief

    Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, 2021 as a powerful Category 4 storm, was the fifth-largest hurricane to hit the U.S. Ida’s maximum sustained winds topped 150 mph, and along with its storm surge and torrential rainfall, Ida has left a trail of devastating flooding and structural damage as it continues to move northeast.

    Do not donate to unknown individuals purporting to need aid that post on Facebook, GoFundMe, etc.

    Jeremy Lin

    DONORS BEWARE

    As with any charitable contribution, Americans wanting to help with disaster relief efforts should only give to legitimate charities with an established track record of helping people in need.

    • Be on guard for a surge of solicitations related to any highly publicized crisis.
    • Do not respond to, or click on any attachments, links or pictures.
    • Beware of individuals or others claiming to be third-party intermediaries for charities or those in need.
    • Avoid name confusion by independently verifying that the charity is legitimate before you donate. 

    SEND A CHECK, NOT GOODS

    The best way to help is by sending a check or donating securely by credit card. Such cash donations enable charities to buy the most needed types of food, medicine, clothing, shelter materials, and other supplies. By buying relief products locally or regionally, charities can reduce shipping costs and more rapidly deliver assistance.

    For many charities, having enough funds to meet the increased demand for their services has been a real obstacle to address. Grants in particular remain and will always be an important source of funding. Locating such sources is only part of the challenge, the other is presenting an application that resonates with the provider and illustrates the charity in its best light.

  • Ratings of Small and Local Charities

    Ratings of Small and Local Charities

    While it is sometimes possible to obtain the data we need in order to subject these smaller organizations to the rigorous analysis necessary to be able to provide meaningful information to donors, often it is not.

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  • Coronavirus guidance for the charity sector

    Coronavirus guidance for the charity sector

    For some charities trustees may consider that holding a virtual or hybrid AGM or other required meeting is not a viable solution. It may also not be possible for them to move immediately back to face-to-face meetings.

    Wherever possible, we would ask you to file your annual return, report and accounts on time. However, where the pandemic has impacted your ability to do this, we have given a filing extension to any otherwise compliant charity that applied to us for one.

    It is important for the good governance of your charity that you record your decision and the reasons for it.

    Jony Doe

    If your governing document does not allow you to postpone or cancel meetings you should use any power in your governing document to amend the rules to ensure you can hold meetings in a valid format. You should update the governing document and approve any previous decisions as soon as possible.

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    Postponing or cancelling AGMs or other meetings

    For some charities trustees may consider that holding a virtual or hybrid AGM or other required meeting is not a viable solution. It may also not be possible for them to move immediately back to face-to-face meetings. In these circumstances trustees may consider they have no choice but to cancel or postpone.

    If you do consider such a decision is necessary, you should follow any rules in your charity’s governing document that allow for postponement or cancellation.

    Annual return and accounts

    Since the start of the pandemic, we have generally been understanding and taken a proportionate approach if trustees have decided to hold meetings on a remote or hybrid basis or postpone or cancel a required meeting where:

  • Putting families first

    Putting families first

    Over the last 15 years, Tata, and Yanti have been focused on one thing in their work: keeping families together when it’s safe to do so. But their jobs, along with the rest of the team at Save the Children Indonesia, have been made immeasurably difficult with the COVID-19 pandemic.

    This incredible journey heavily supported by my mum has taught me a lot about working internationally. I have attended several meetings with other delegates and have also been put into working groups to develop proposals we will be presenting to Ministers attending the Pre-COP26.

    There are thousands of children that have become separated from their families due to COVID.

    Jony Doe

    In 2007, two years after the Families First program started, about 500,000 children were living in more than 8,000 childcare institutions, the highest number in the world. In 2019, that number was only 100,000. Many of the reasons children are living in institutions, despite having parents or extended family to care for them, can be addressed, says Tata.

    Keeping children and parents together

    Often parents believe that they can’t afford to keep and educate their children. They desperately want their children to have a good education and believe these institutions can offer that. But education in some of these institutions isn’t guaranteed, and abuse and neglect are common.

    This is the way to be independent – providing families the opportunity to keep the kids with them and ensuring their basic needs can be fulfilled – love, attachment, food, education, a house.

    It’s never been a more important time to get involved

    Sometimes I feel disheartened and hopeless, as I hear how politicians continue to advocate for continuing with coal, but my Jewish background reminds me to never give up the fight. I stand up for others because I know there were people who protected my family. 

    The first-ever protest I attended was the School Strike 4 Climate Global Day of Action on November 30, 2018. I had never been to a protest before. The feeling of being surrounded by passionate young people was one I will never forget. From then on, I was all in.

  • What’s the future for Afghanistan’s children?

    What’s the future for Afghanistan’s children?

    Chris Nyamandi, Country Director of Save the Children Afghanistan is an eyewitness to the escalating chaos enveloping the country. Here he makes an impassioned plea to support the ordinary Afghan people who did not create this crisis.

    As harrowing footage emerges of children being passed over airport walls by parents in a desperate attempt to flee, many are asking me the same question: What does the future look like for the children who remain in Afghanistan?

    Let this be a loud cry for Afghan children and their families who need support, wherever they are.

    Jony Doe

    We have no intention of abandoning the staff, children and communities we have worked with for over four decades. So, our message to the UN, governments and other humanitarian agencies is clear: now is not the time to shirk your obligations to the Afghan people. 

    give Afghan children the future they deserve

    Since the end of May alone, the number of people internally displaced by conflict and in need of aid has more than doubled, more than half a million Afghans have been displaced within Afghanistan – over 330,000 of them are children. These families are living outside in the open under tarpaulins, with no access to food or medical care. While many desperately try and get to the airport, shots can be heard overhead.

    Safe passage to deliver lifesaving services in Afghanistan must be ensured for our brave female and male front line workers who, even amidst the chaos, tell us they want to go back to serving their communities, as doctors, nurses and teachers, among many other vital roles. 

    Save the Children

    Even before the recent escalation, almost half of the population – including nearly 10 million children – were in need of humanitarian assistance. Our staff has witnessed children succumbing to malnutrition, seen the devastation wreaked on communities by the drought, the impact on young girls when they have been subject to early marriage and then violation of children’s rights, when they are forced into work.