A
great AGM last week. And a decisive debate at our Parliamentary Reception. It
was my departing Chair's last speech to ACEVO's
annual meeting. A feisty and robust defence of our right and duty to speak
truth to power. Indeed Hilary Benn MP, Shadow Communities Minister, said in
his speech how ironic it is that we all pledge "Je suis Charlie" despite
the fact we have a government who introduced the disgraceful "Lobbying
Act" which tries to stifle our right as charities to campaign .
In
my speech I said how proud I had been to support the vigorous campaign to
oppose the Act and how we must continue to campaign. "Keep calm and carry
on campaigning" is the rule we must follow.
I
also warned against conceding ground to the enemy and fighting battles on their
terms. We must avoid the transparency trap – that we have to reveal all, and
certainly more than any other sector of society. I said that was why we must
reject the idea in the current NCVO consultation that, as CEOs, we ask our
senior staff or our trustees to formally declare their political affiliation.
No sector does this; not councils , not civil servants and, as my Chair pointed
out, not even SERCO. This is where transparency comes face to face with civil
liberties and the employment rights of our staff. Civil liberties must win
every time. Je suis Charlie, not Je suis a member of a political party. ACEVO’s
member CEOs have rightly rejected this ideas in their responses.
Charities
certainly have to trumpet their impact and explain what they do. But we must
also be robust in defending our right to be professional. To pay CEOs properly
and not be ashamed provided – as ACEVO’s Good
Pay Guide said – that trustees, donors, beneficiaries and staff agree pay is good value for money. Of course there are critics out there. But they
are small in number and hard of heart. Our trust rating and standing remains
extremely high. I keep in mind George Bernard Shaw’s advice: "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty,
and besides, the pig likes it."
We
had a great turn out at our AGM. Why, we even attracted Geoffrey Howe, the
former Foreign Secretary, and we had kind words from our host Nick Hurd.
This
was the swansong of my chair Lesley-Anne. She has been a tremendous support and
guide. An individual who represents all that is fine in a charity CEO. And she
was ably supported by Virginia Beardshaw, CEO of ICan, the departing Vice
Chair. They have served 6 years. And now we move to a new Chair and vice Chair;
Paul Farmer of MIND and Sharon Allen of Skills for Care.
We
also have 4 new trustees. They are:
Jon Sparkes - Chief Executive
of Crisis. Prior to joining the charity he was Chief Operating Officer of
UNICEF UK, which raises money for UNICEF’s work with children around the world
and campaigns to improve the rights of children in the UK and globally. Jon led
the partnership between UNICEF and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 which
raised £5m and played a significant role in fundraising for children affected
by the conflict in Syria.
Previously
Jon was Chief Executive of SCOPE, the national disability charity, delivering
services for disabled people with complex support needs and campaigning for the
right of disabled people to choice and control over their own lives. Jon was
the Chair of the Disability Charities Consortium and worked closely in alliance
with disabled people’s organisations.
He has
wide-ranging experience across the charity sector, including as a trustee of
SeeAbility, a charity for disabled people with a sight impairment, and through
working voluntarily for charities. He has also worked on economic development
projects in areas such as long-term unemployment, support services for lone
parents, and employment improvement projects with black and minority ethnic
communities.
Before
working in the third sector, he was a Human Resources Director in the both the
public and private sectors. He is a Chartered Companion of the Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), formerly a member of the
Editorial Board of People Management magazine and Vice President of the CIPD
responsible for Diversity. While leading Scope, Jon chaired an ACEVO working
group bringing forward recommendations for voluntary sector chief executives for
improving employee engagement.
Jehangir Malik - Director of Islamic Relief UK.
Jehangir Malik graduated with a Law Degree in 1992. He first worked with IRW in
1991 as a volunteer-steward at the Islamic Relief Games and was later appointed
to various roles including Development Director of IR USA and Deputy Country
Director in Afghanistan. Jehangir engages with government departments by
providing policy briefings & strategic engagement on international
development and foreign policy issues while also often visiting field missions
and disaster zones for fundraising and media purposes. He remains active at the
UK community level through encouragement of civic engagement, initiatives for
youth development and a passion for Muslim engagement on mainstream issues. In
2006, Jehangir was awarded an OBE in recognition of his 20 years of
contribution to the humanitarian cause.
Kate MacDonald – Kate joined the sector three years
ago as CEO of the Young People's Support Foundation, a smallish charity based
in Manchester supporting more than 2,000 young people facing homelessness each
year. Previously Kate worked in local government although her professional
background is in the Probation Service. A theme throughout her career has been
socially excluded young people and her current role has provided the
opportunity to understand what a crucial role the VCS has in engagement. She is involved in a range of partnerships
both in the North West and nationally with the aim of improving delivery,
campaigning and ensuring service sustainability. Kate's championing of the needs of young people
is a primary reason for her other roles as a trustee for a local youth
leadership charity and as a governor at The Manchester College
Rachel Kelly – An active ACEVO member,
enthusiastic, passionate, grounded in reality about the work, challenges and
role of the Third Sector, who believes in representing charities and voluntary
organisations with smaller turnovers. Following university, Rachel spent 10 years in private sector
management, training and quality, and 3 years in education before joining
charity and social enterprise Reading Matters in 2009. She became Chief
Executive in 2012, turning their finances around. Reading Matters improve
reading, literacy and communication skills of children and young people and
offer volunteering opportunities and training. Working predominantly across
Yorkshire and increasingly across the UK, last academic year they supported
4600 children, improving reading ages by 13 months on average with 10 hours'
support, and trained 1000 individuals. They are a relatively small charity with 5 employees, and manage 100
Reading Mentor volunteers. Based in West
Yorkshire, she has 2 'tweenage' daughters and is trustee of Canterbury Imagine,
affiliated to Dolly Parton's Foundation.
Lastly, I hear from many members about continued plans for massive council cuts. I know times are hard. But
as I saw from the work I did for Government recently on A+E, there are still
great opportunities for our sector, and we should keep optimistic.
I
used a quotation from Robert H. Schuller in my speech: “Never cut a tree down
in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make
your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be
patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come”.
Maybe
not spring 2015. But we’ll see…
