The alternatives for delivering greater impact are legion…
It’s quite rare to read a charity strategy these days without seeing the phrase “we recognise we can’t achieve this alone.”
And that’s a good thing. Most non-profit visions require a lot of things to change; things that are far beyond the gift of a single organisation to do on its own. Recognising that fact is an important first step.
But the second step is even more important. It’s the step that carries that recognition through to the very centre of our thinking. And it’s the step that 90% of charities are still stumbling over.
You can see the stumble whenever the question comes up: “how do we have a greater impact?”
Because, almost invariably, our first thought is to raise more money to do more stuff. To win over more donors, more grants, more corporate partners, more contracts, so we can deliver more services, more advocacy, more advice, more desperately needed support.
And, almost invariably, there’s an unspoken assumption that it’s “by ourselves”, as a single organisation. Irrespective of our rhetoric, this generally remains our default.
Nor are we alone in thinking that way. Most funders, most commissioners, most donors and philanthropists, look to individual organisations to do individual things.
Of course they do, not least because that’s how we’ve consistently approached them for decades, if not centuries: “If you want to end homelessness, this is the organisation to fund.”
All of which reinforces the pressure of competition, the need for name recognition, the branding on the programme, the individual-impact way of thinking.
And yet, a single organisation delivering direct support, is just one of dozens of different ways we can have an impact. And if we’re serious when we say, “we can’t achieve this alone”, it’s probably not even the best way.
From collective hubs to integrated services; from commercial partnerships to training and consulting; from IP licensing to place-based change; from social impact bonds to enterprise incubators; from cross-sector convening to community capacity development. The alternatives are legion.
Only last week I raced through a list of around 30 different ways have a greater impact with a bunch of charity CEOs, only to have a bunch more added to my list by them.
And these aren’t random ideas from consultants or academics, these are things that real organisations, like yours, are doing right now. Over the last 18 months I’ve explored a whole load of them in conversations with charity leaders who’ve been there and are doing them.
Next month I’ll be speaking with Gemma Peters, CEO of Macmillan, whose organisation is actively involved with at least half a dozen inspiring alternatives for achieving far greater impact than the traditional “individual services” approach. You’re welcome to join me.
The point is, this is our choice. We have agency here.
We can continue to play the individual impact game, or we can start exploring the vast array of alternatives.
“But what about funding?” I hear you ask – quite rightly, by the way.
That’s the hard part, but that’s also our choice. We can continue to allow our potential to be limited by the expectations of others, complicit in the system as it is, or we can change from being shaped by the system, to shaping it ourselves.
This is partly why such a big part of the Civil Society Council’s inaugural discussion focused on commissioning, with the PM and the Minister for Procurement both in the room.
But discussions in Downing Street are only part of the solution. To change the system those conversations need to be replicated in streets across the country. Which means, dear reader, you have a role to play too.
I probably don’t know your organisation, its situation or its vision for society. But I’d be willing to bet you probably can’t deliver that vision by simply doing more of what you’ve always done.
Maybe now is the time to start exploring the alternatives.