Part Two - Challenges - What are the big challenges facing the non-profit and third sector organisations?

In my previous blog, I wrote about the crisis within the charity and third sectors, and the financial strain that has been put on charities due to government budget restraints – in part due to COVID. In this blog I would like to go a little deeper and discuss the challenges that these sectors are facing. Since these organisations are very dependent on government funding and often have limited income streams, money is in short supply. As my pastor once said; “no money no vision” - and although this may sound a little extreme, it has truth to it.

As the government’s credit card is reaching its limit and donating residents look at a possible upcoming recession looming, it seems very likely that there will be increasingly limited funds for the charity sector. What effect will this financial constraint have on the charity sector and various agencies? Will services be cut? Will everyone try to operate with less staff or less quality of programs? How will the charity sector adapt?

The biggest challenge that I see is from the lack of resources, time and planning put into corporate capacity, building skills and innovation on the next steps. Instead, everyone continues doing the repeated cycle of cutting overheads and waiting for better times to come along. This strategy does not help the individuals who need the assistance and support. To be brutally honest - this is laziness. Charity organisations have been maintaining dependence on the government and to be crude, need to get off their butts, roll up their sleeves and do the work.

Further to the above, below are some other examples approaches the charity sectors takes to save costs;

1.     Currently, one of the main methods of maintaining a sustainable budget is to cut, cut and cut - mostly aimed at the overhead. This may be a reasonable approach in the private sector, as the only real loss is customer service and less services for the customer. However, to do this in the charity sector is more devastating since those who will suffer will usually be those who are vulnerable and need to support. At the end of the day, the people and families pay the price.

2.     Housing associations that used to be small with personalised services are now merging with other housing associations to increase their balance sheets. However, these mergers are making employees redundant to maintain sustainability due to a reduction in financial support. These mergers have also meant that many shelters and low-income housing properties that are operated by the housing associations are now finding a reduction in services, leaving the elderly and vulnerable in more dire situations.  

3.     Addiction and mental health charities use interns to work with clients since they need the hours for certification. This method can be very dangerous if not monitored, supervised, or utilised correctly as it is supporting clients with unqualified guidance.

4.     Client’s assessments, counselling sessions, therapies, and key working sessions etc times are being reduced which has a negative knock-on effect for the individuals seeking the support – one example of this is increasing recidivism.

All in all, we are not investing in people which causes the escalation of underlying costs and health and wellbeing problems.  The charity sector, agencies, and the government need to come together and convert an old system to a more sustainable and advanced system.

Once upon a time, a man walking along a beach saw a boy picking up starfish and throwing them into the sea.

He asked the boy why he was throwing starfish into the sea.

The boy replied, "The tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll dry up and die."

The man smiled patronisingly and said, "But, there are miles of beach and thousands of starfish on every mile. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The boy smiled, bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it into the sea.

"Well," he said, "I made a difference for that one."

In my next blog, I will discuss some ideas and solutions by using the following 10 practical points of any organisation - especially the charity sector.

·     

• Income streams and money management

• Resources/boards and governance

• Overhead costs                                  

• Marketing sand branding

• Volunteer network

• Partnerships

• Training

• Healthy management

• IT – social media

• Internal health and well being  

Seems like a very daunting challenge doesn’t it... It seems that you can’t stay still in today’s world for 5 minutes before change happens... but there are many more methods, tools, and strategies to utilise to continue the great work that the charity sector is doing. Sometimes outside help and resources are necessary to overcome such barriers.

I hope that my blogs so far have been some help. I know that what I’ve covered is only one aspect of the challenges faced, but it would be impossible to go through the whole list with all the challenges – and also depressing!  The good news is that my following blogs will provide some ideas and solutions to these very issues.

If you have any questions or would like additional information about our services, feel free to go through our web site and contact us for a chat over a cup of tea if you desire. We are here to help.