Polly Toynbee, Sefton, Liverpool and PA of the Year.

One of the delights of the ACEVO job is the leadership lunches we arrange for members to hear from politicians, civil servants and other opinion formers. On Tuesday we had that formidable journalist, Polly Toynbee, to a lunch at our friends CCLA (ethical investors for the sector). Not only is she an intrepid commentator, but she has written extensively about income inequality. So she had some very topical comments about recent news stories on chief executive pay in charities.

She was keen to remind us of our strength. Our sector is vital for its beneficial impact on the lives of many of Britain's and the world's poorest and most vulnerable people. And when we speak our on their behalf, people listen to us. We are a strong force, particularly when we present a united front. And a great example of that is our current campaign by over 70 charities to challenge people's attitudes to people on benefits. In a case like this administration costs are not just a negative; they're an essential component to ensure we have maximal social impact. Though I admit we have yet to properly communicate this to the public.

So income inequality remains a defining public debate for our time. But when we look at average salaries in our sector relative to their social impact - and compared to the social impact of CEOs in the public and private sector - we see they offer tremendous social value for their money. That is key, even if it won't make a Daily Telegraph headline.And that's not to even mention the fact that the average salary of a FTSE chief executive is £4.3m as Polly reminded us! 

   

Yesterday I was in Sefton to speak at the Sefton CVS annual meeting. Packed out audience sitting in the Balliol St Methodist Chapel, a magnificent Edwardian building of great architectural note. Angela White is the dynamic CEO and a strong ACEVO member active in our regional forum. She runs a thrusting CVS who help support the local sector to deliver.

I gave them a barnstorming speech; an overview of our challenges and opportunities. "Hard Times and Great Expectations" was the Dickensian theme. Of course I was warning of the difficult climate ahead. The major cuts in funding still to come: 25 billion in the next 2 years; 43 billion in the 3 years after. Don't think these hard times for our third sector are over yet!

Then there are the attacks on our civil society rights to speak truth to power and our legitimate right and indeed duty to campaign. Wisely I'm sure (in case I got criticism), I told the audience that I have 6 dead relatives buried in Sefton. Limricks; descendants of my Anglo-Irish 3-times great-grandfather. Indeed my cousin of some degree is commemorated on the Crosby War Memorial!

I apologised for not having any living relatives there...

But its difficult to be in our sector and not be relentlessly optimistic. It's in our bones as CEOs. There are opportunities; for more work with government in delivery of services like rehabilitation and health and social care. The Government wants this alongside an expansion of social finance. It is not all doom and gloom. And our sector is often at its most magnificent when our leadership is tested. 

It was very gratifying to be told by a lady in the audience that it was the best speech she had heard for decades. And as she reminded me, at 90 she has heard many!  But I must not be immodest...

I spoke about the need for reform in health and social care.  And used the examples of dementia care. I was desperately hoping no one would notice that I had come to Liverpool wearing odd shoes. One black loafer and one brown one.....oh dear. A senior moment as they say.

I also facilitated a workshop!  Haven't done that sort of thing for years. One of my ACEVO team were very worried that I wouldn't be able to run a session where I let everyone else speak. What a cheek. 

But I was not finished and hot footed it to Liverpool 8 where I was meeting Clare Dove in her lair. Clare is the CEO of a famous social enterprise that is 30 years old. Situated in the grand former home of the Lord Mayor of Liverpool it became the first girls school in Britain. Much written about by Dickens; a theme there eh! Edwina Currie was educated there too. Now, Blackburn House is a multi-purpose further education and training centre, cafe and well-being spa amongst other activities. It's pretty impressive. 

Clare is also Chair of Social Enterprise UK and a new member of the Charity Commission. As you can imagine we touched on recent developments over our lattes in her cafe!

Well, while I've been away the ACEVO office has been in celebratory mood. My PA, Leeanne Graham (who has the pleasure of posting my Blogs amongst many other lovely tasks) was awarded the prestigious "PA of the Year 2013" at the Executive PA Magazine /Hays Awards on Wednesday at a glittering ceremony in the City. Beating off rivals in the private sector, this is a triumph for Lee and for our sector. What a great honour and well deserved. Of course as I said to her that means she has to stay with me for a long time. So no poaching. You have been warned!

Reflections on Leadership.

Both main Party Leaders have talked at their Conferences about their leadership role. We tend to discount reflections from politicians about leadership but we shouldn't.

Being Leader of a political party must be a relentless, full on and difficult task. You are rarely thanked and have to put up with some gross nonsense; Cameron with the pics of him on the beach changing, or the disgusting articles in the Daily Mail about Ed's father (which really plumb new depths in so-called journalism).

Politicians are held in low esteem, but imagine how those in our sector would cope with this sort of publicity?

The job of a charity CEO is not in the same league, but there are parallels. One word you don't tend to find on the CEO job spec is resilience. But you need that in spades.

It’s a bit of a cliché, but the CEO's job is a lonely one. It can be hugely stressful. I was interested in the interviews with the CEO of Lloyds Bank when he admitted the job had been so hard he had been told by doctors to take time out. I doubt anything in our world matches the scale of the Lloyds problems, but if you are running a charity and the financial pressure is such you fear the organisation may go under, that is a huge strain on the CEO. In ACEVO we continue to get calls to our CEO in crisis line. Only last week we had to refer 4 CEOs to our legal and advice support services. This is at a level we have never experienced in ACEVO for a decade - so it gives you an idea of the real difficulties being faced by members.

That level of stress and pressure can have consequences if we are not resilient and part of our core function as ACEVO is to provide help to the individual CEO; that's part of our public benefit mission to improve governance and charity well-being in our sector. We are the only body that does this work and I know from members who have been supported how valuable that is.

When matters get personal and things move from a criticism of decisions to personal attack - as can happen to politicians - then it's particularly difficult to know how to respond, let alone the toll it takes on you. I had a taste of this myself over the summer when a routine ACEVO stakeholder event in the Lords, for which I paid half (as some family were there too and a birthday cake was brought out), was portrayed in the Daily Mail as a personal birthday party - as though anyone writing such a story would invite a heap of politicians, journalists and other stakeholders to their birthday party! Difficult to know how to respond to this, in the wake of the stories on CEO pay in certain sections of the media. It was clear this was a particular media attempt to undermine my robust defence of executive pay.  I have to say the firm response of many members who saw through the attacks was enormously comforting, though I worry that the episode may put off others from being so upfront on explaining the need for professional pay.

In a leadership position, ultimately, you have to accept that speaking out brings consequences. So resilience is needed. The bottom line is always what is good for the clients, members or beneficiaries you represent. It can be a tough and unpleasant job to get right.

Conferences

Although I'm sure attending Party Conferences is a health hazard; bad food, drink, unsocial hours and bad hotels, they're invaluable for the contacts and networks you need to make if you want a leadership role in our sector, as well as the intel you pick up.

So it was amusing that as I sat with my new Policy Officer, George Bangham and Karl Wilding, the NCVO Director of Policy in the "Coffee Club" talking about the Lobbying Bill, Andrew Lansley pops by. We had another word about the Bill timetable and issues involved. That followed our meeting with him in more formal circumstances last week. We are currently working on views on the amendments to the Bill to be laid this week - though of course if this Bill is to make high-quality law that addresses public demand, it must be paused to properly listen to the views of those who it affects.

The first meeting of the new Civil Society Commission (www.civilsocietycommission.info) takes place today, and they will announce their Chair. I'm confident the huge diversity of Commission supporters shows that opposition to the Bill had nothing to do with politics; rather it's about fairness, democracy and good law. My own Chair, Lesley Anne (RNIB) is a member and indeed they are meeting at RNIB .

Parliamentarians have now been informed of the Commission's existence and aims.

The Commission will aim to take evidence around the country in the next 3 weeks, select committee-style, including testimony from:

- Organised civil society
- Politicians
- Expert witnesses e.g. lawyers
- Members of the public
- and the inevitable Celebrities!

Lastly, at the Conference yesterday we heard from the Chancellor about his latest efforts regarding unemployment. Charities have long led the way in supporting the unemployed back into work. However, if the government expects charities to take on many more volunteers through the ‘Help to work’ scheme, then those places will need to be funded. Governments tend to think of volunteering as without cost, but volunteers need to be supervised, managed and trained and that costs money. Many charities would also have strong reservations about accepting volunteers on mandatory placements- volunteers should be motivated by passion, not the threat of lost benefits. Many of my members will not want to take on the role of penalising people on schemes who may loose benefits. We are the voluntary sector, not an arm of the State, let alone an enforcement agency for DWP.

Speaking Truth to Power.

The phrase trips lightly off the tongue, but how many of us in the sector really stand up when times get tough? This next year will certainly be a test.

It’s been interesting to reflect on the debate over pay and now on the Lobbying Bill and see the balance between heads down and speaking out. We had an interesting ACEVO leadership lunch last week with Roland Rudd, one of the world's top PR experts and founder of Legacy 10. He is a strong charity supporter and has many trustee positions under his belt. He was crystal clear that the sector must be robust and spell out why professional salaries are right and why our voice should be heard.

I warned recently that the climate seems increasingly hostile to charities. I've had a mixed response and that is not unusual in such a diverse sector. Some feel the best approach is to hunker down and not be seen as critical.

I think this is wrong. Of course we have to be balanced. I'm clear no one likes perpetual oppositionists or whingers. So in the same week I strongly condemned Chris Grayling for his speech on "professional campaigning" and attempts to limit judicial review, I also gave him credit for the probation reforms and praised him and MoJ officials for listening to sector concerns and making changes.

But speaking out is a duty. I have no time for the view that you keep quiet publicly and only voice concern behind closed doors. That is a sure way for politicians to walk all over you.

I'm told an interesting story from the Blair years about a discussion on a particular policy announcement. There was a discussion about who needed to be spoken to. Various sector names came up but were discarded on the grounds they never criticise publicly so need not be troubled. A few were earmarked: those that would speak out on an issue where they felt the sector would be harmed. It is a big mistake to think never being critical publicly pays off. You get walked over. Now is the time to stand up and be clear where the dividing lines are. Praise where it is due, but criticism when it is necessary.

An interesting Sunday morning on that subject when I was debating " Big Society" with Nick Hurd on the religious slot at 7am. We were in violent agreement on the animating spirit behind the Big Society concept; that of empowering citizens and communities. And many of the initiatives supported or pioneered by Nick are ones that have helped grow the sector at a time when finances have been a problem. Any government will face the need to cut 25billion form the public finances over the next 2 years. So the challenge for our sector remains grave and voices must be strong. After all "big society" also means big voice. Civil society needs to stand up and be heard. That will require courage at times, but speak up we must.

Anyway, I'm in Manchester for the Tories, or to be more accurate in Salford where my hotel is. But whilst miles out it is near the brilliant Lowry Gallery so I popped in. So here are some rather splendid pictures...

Rehabilitation and Brighton.

So now down at Brighton. 2 down ; 1 to go! Started of this morning with a fringe organised by Social Investment Business and Big Society Capital. Hazel Blears MP reminded us that the origin of BSC lay with Labour legislation. She is right but as I pointed out one of the good things about the social finance agenda is that it has strong cross party support. David Cameron has been a huge fan of social finance and made this one of the themes at G8. Indeed there is a G8 task force , led by Ronnie Cohen to take forward this agenda. This has been hugely beneficial. 

And on that cross party theme it was good to see support for the new plans for a rehabilitation revolution launched last week. Stuart (NCVO) and I were able to meet key officials last week to discuss the last details of the announcement. We both felt much progress has been made in understanding the special circumstances of charities and social enterprises in bidding for contracts. Much has been learnt from the Work Programme about PBR and sector tendering. And credit to Chris Grayling and his MoJ officials for the time they have spent listening to our views and our input. It has been more than the traditional "consultation”; we have been involved in the design. Now before I get carried away we have yet to see how the tenders will go and whether we get the private sector cleaning up again; a point I made at a roundtable we held down in Brighton today!