I've always thought August is a bad time for holidays so
tend to stay around and make use of the meeting free month. Though this time it
may have been meeting free but rather media full. Making the case for the
professional third sector and the need for strong leadership and governance in
the wake of Kids Company in particular. It put the fundraising issue into
context I thought.
I spent my Sunday lunchtime talking to Sky news about
fundraising in the light of the excellent letter from some of the top national
charities CEOs which outlined how they will act to implement new arrangements
to reinforce the highest ethical standards.
We welcome these reforms as necessary to restore any
deficit in public trust. Fundraising is
the lifeblood of many charities and we can’t afford to lose too much of it. There
is a danger that less asking will mean less giving. Given the huge strain on
many charities coping with increased demand its vital these efforts continue to
be supported by the public. The recent major media attention to the refugee
crisis shows how vital the work of bodies like the Red Cross, Save the
Children, Oxfam and Unicef are - to name but a few of those at the centre of
efforts to relieve real hardship and distress.
One thing I try to do in August is visit members where
they work. Its been a memorable time. Starting with the Reader Organisation in
Liverpool; based in a splendid
"Calderstones Park" (they are planning on buying it off the
Council). They aim to encourage children in reading out loud - so based in
groups and where reading is valued and promoted among many kids for whom
reading is uncommon. They are based in the old mansion in the park. Once home
to one of the great Liverpool trading families its now a major community asset.
I also spent a day in Lancashire visiting facilities run
by Future Directions for people with learning disabilities. The CEO is an
active ACEVO member Paula Braynian and she took me to visit a range of facilities from high
to low dependency. I was able to talk to a number of people who had spent time
in the NHS long stay hospital Calderstones and was shocked to hear their
stories about treatment there that is so often based on a regime of seclusion,
medication and physical restraint. It was both heartening to hear their
progress in a community facility and horrifying to reflect on the trauma of
their time in an institution. The 2 people I saw had spent 10 and 12 years in
institutional care at that hospital. One of these was a woman who had has a
broken shoulder as a result of physical restraint. And now they are cared for
in a home that refuses to use such restraint, has no seclusion rooms and won't
use medication for control. A woman that was judged to be so dangerous to
herself and others they predicted she would be back within 3 months is now
managing her own medicine, leaving the home regularly to see her parents and
teaching on courses about self harm and why it happens. She has even started
volunteering with older people. It
brought home to me so vividly
why we must close down institutional care and move people
with learning disabilities into community support and independence. That is why
my work following up on my November report on Winterbourne is so crucial. I
will not rest until institutions are closed and we give people with learning
disability the future and the well being they deserve but are so often denied.
I'm planning on a year review of that report by the end of they year.
Then a change of tempo and it was the wonderful Battersea
Dogs and Cats home, led by the dynamic CEO Claire Horton. This
charity has been around for over 160 years and like the RSPCA was founded on
the principle of direct action to home strays but also campaign for better
conditions for our nation's animals. The revisionist wing of charity history,
much in evidence in parts of our media, forget that many of our great national
charities wee founded with those twin aims. People who argue the RSPCA, the
NSPCC, or the RSPB should somehow just "stick to their knitting"
don't understand the founding mission of those organisations where campaigning
was woven into the fabric of their very existence. Caring for an abused dog is
good. Preventing and rooting out abuse better.
As a dog lover I so enjoyed being shown around the
wonderful facilities there and chatting with Claire about the animal charity
world! There was a rather lovely terrier who was looking at me dolefully but I
don't think my very own Jack Russell would be keen on a rival....
Battersea is a great example of why Britain should be
proud of its charitable heritage - Battersea is an example that has been copied
around the world and they continue to attract attention across the globe for
their work.
You should read
the great story of the Home, "A dogs life" produced for their 150th anniversary.
Then continuing the animal theme I went to the Vauxhall
City Farm, led by Matthew Lock, one of ACEVO's younger CEOs. A wonderful place
where sheep and alpacas, ducks and chickens roam within sight of the looming
towers of MI6. They have a new block of stables for the horses much used by
Riding for the Disabled. Its both an educational and health promotion venture
where they work with London schools in introducing pupils to the adventure that
is nature. They are in the process of a major development but are keen to
expand the work they do, particularly on the health front.
Then last week I was in Suffolk to visit the Befriending
Scheme, a relatively small but growing charity led by a CEO, Shirley Moore, who
started with them some time back doing 5 hours a week and now runs this
fabulous charity full time with over 20 staff and 300 volunteers. Its provides
support in the community for people with learning disabilities as well as those
with other disabilities that would otherwise isolate them at home. Shirley has
wonderful plans for future developments and we talked about these over lunch in
the lovely town of Lavenham.
Now Parliament is back and meetings begin in earnest. I already
have 6 today! Will they be as educational as my charity visiting I wonder...
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