Episode 7: Full Transcript

 

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Coming up in Episode 7

Tim Beynon: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Charity show, the podcast for Charity Insiders by Charity Insiders. Please rate, follow or subscribe to us on your usual podcast platform. And here's what's coming up in episode seven.

Saskia Konynenburg: We very much feel, I'm sure lots of listeners feel as well, that we are overlooked as a sector often undervalued, that our talents, our skills, our expertise really aren't often taken into to that initial decision making process. So the voluntary sector manifesto is very much for the sector, with the sector, and to really shine light on the sector, to say, this is what we.

Tim Beynon: Can do, you just got to look at the statistics to be blown away by the scale of volunteering at the Olympics. So, London 2012, there were 70,000 games makers, and Paris, they've got 45,000 volunteers. So if ever there's an advert for volunteering, then the Yellow Peaks is certainly it.

Piers Townley: I hope that everyone taking part in RNLI's fish Friday has a great time with family and friends, hopefully with no interruptions. And I never thought of it like that. But obviously the crews are on their pages. If they get the call, everything has to be dropped. They have to go out. So if they're into their fish and chips on a Friday, that has to go up by the wayside.

Tim Beynon: Sticking with the theme of volunteers, I think I'd like to see much more being done to recognise the incredible value that volunteers bring to the UK economy. The royal Voluntary Service estimates, that productivity is boosted in this country as a result of volunteering by at least 4.6 billion pounds a year. So that's the incredible value of volunteers and volunteering.

Welcome

Piers Townley: Hello and welcome to episode seven of the Charity show, with me, Piers Townley, PR manager at the braid humour Charity.

Tim Beynon: And me, Tim Bainon, head of marketing engagement at the Fire Fighters Charity.

Piers Townley: So what have you been up to this week then, Tim? Have you got Olympics fever yet?

Tim Beynon: Yeah, absolutely. Who hasn't? You can't miss it. It's all over the tellye. But it is fantastic. I do love the Olympics. It's been an amazing summer sport all around, but the Olympics is something special. I think the fact that you can turn on the telly and watch some random sports, you know, is amazing and get into it. I found last time around I got really into the mountain biking. It was great. I've never, ever watched mountain biking on the telly otherwise. But, that's the great thing about the Olympics. You can just get totally into some random sports and get swept away by it all. So, yeah, fantastic, but also love the Olympics because of the special nature of it in terms of volunteering. Now, I run with the running club and I know several members of the running club volunteered at London 2012 and they still talk about it in terms of how amazing it was and how great it was. and you just got to look at the statistics to be blown away by the scale of volunteering at the Olympics. So, London 2012, there were 70,000 games makers, 70,000 people who helped out. And these individuals, these volunteers, helped with every single aspect of running the games. And if it wasn't for them, it simply wouldn't happen. And Paris, similarly, I mean, amazing numbers. They've got 45,000 volunteers, involved in almost every element of the games and everything that's going on. So everything. You'd see all the logistics of running these events and getting athletes in and out and looking after athletes, looking after spectators, incredible organisation. And it's all down to volunteers. So if ever there's an advert for volunteering, then the Olympics is certainly it. So blown away by that. But, yeah, just reflecting on the whole summer of sport, it has been amazing. And I must also mention London Fire brigade, who, for many, many years have supported Wimbledon, the championships, the tennis championships. at, Wimbledon, they provide the stewards for the championships. So the men and women who help spectators to their seats and make sure that everything runs to plan, those are London firefighters, London Fire brigade firefighters, and that relationship has gone on for many years. And Wimbledon, the Wimbledon foundation, which is the charitable arm of the championships, are always incredible. Incredibly grateful to LFB for their support and as a result, they donate to us, which is amazing. So we benefit as a charity from, London Fire Brigade's amazing, support of the championships. So, yeah, this is kind of, that's kind of the hidden side of sport, really. And that goes on quite a lot, I imagine, with, these amazing events that happen and volunteering and how other organisations get involved and then how sport gives back to charities and to communities. So I love that whole thing about, about sport and about this summer, especially this amazing summer sport. So, yeah, that's definitely been a highlight for me. What about you, Peter? What have you been up to last couple of weeks?

Piers Townley: Yeah, just echoing what you've been saying about the Olympics. It is quite a spectacle. I'm also looking forward to this year being less of a time difference than, for example, Tokyo's. And I remember last time getting really into biathlon, which is a sport I'd never really approached. Or understood before. It's basically skiing and then waifu shooting as well. I just think the combination of those two disciplines is quite remarkable. Perhaps we need to see more of that, combining two different, completely different

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Piers Townley: disciplines into one spot. I love the bias one last time.

Tim Beynon: I would also say you've got to watch, if you haven't seen it already, daily. The, Netflix documentary about daily Thompson, if ever there was a decathlon, is an amazing event. You've got not be good at one event, you've got to be good at ten. And Daily Thompson, not only did he have the world's best tash, but he also was a master at that game. So that's definitely, if you haven't watched it cheque out daily on Netflix, it is brilliant.

Piers Townley: I've heard good things about that. That just takes me back to the old computer game as well. We were button bashing to get Daley Thompson track and field, I think it was called way, way back in the midst of time. And the big news for the charities, the huge congratulations for the diving pair of Tom Daly and Noah Williams getting on those medal podiums and just bringing the diving and their discipline and Team GB into the limelight for us and for us as a charity, support over the years have been amazing. So their congratulations to them and their Paris 2024 success and also as a charity, we've had quite a bit of a win the last few weeks. We will be having one of our adverts shown in cinemas throughout August at the Everyman cinemas. And this is to do with our, partnership and a bit of collaboration we've landed with Pearland Dean, the old, which is an earworm that I won't be to get out of my head right now, but there's a personal connection with that amazing company and we're managing to get our better safe than Tumour, which is our Brain Tumour symptom awareness campaign, and, to get onto the hallowed outlet of being in the cinemas. You know, it's an opportunity, that money can't buy or money can buy, but as a medium charity, it's possibly beyond our budget, normally. So this collaboration, this partnership, this ability to get out there in the cinemas across August is just huge. So eternally grateful to them for that.

Tim Beynon: Great excuse to get to the cinema as well.

Piers Townley: Absolutely, yeah.

Value of volunteers

So this week we're talking to Saskia Koinenberg from NCVO, about the new government and the voluntary sector manifesto. What would you like to see the new government tackling in terms of the third sector Tim?

Tim Beynon: Well, yeah, gosh, it's a big subject and you've got to be a bit careful here. This isn't a politics podcast, this is politics, whatever they are, whatever they're called. And I definitely know Laura Kunzberg. But sticking with the theme of volunteers, I think I'd like to see much more being done to recognise the incredible value that volunteers bring to the UK economy. I remember seeing some stats about this. The royal voluntary Service estimates, that product is boosted in this country as a result of volunteering by at least 4.6 billion pounds a year. So that's the incredible sum of money and incredible value of volunteers and volunteering. Ah, I'm certainly not in support of mandated volunteering. And the whole idea of making 16 year olds, forcing them, enforcing them to do volunteering, is definitely not something I would, support. I think that would be a disaster. But I certainly love to see the government supporting greater opportunities for individuals to volunteer at any point in their life, certainly through work as well. It'd be nice to see the government encouraging more companies and businesses to allow their staff and their employees to volunteer and to help local communities and local charities and so on. And that will ultimately, as has been proved by the royal voluntary Service, adds great value, in terms of productivity. So, yeah, much more, around volunteering. I'd love to see that. And I think ultimately volunteering benefits everybody, doesn't it? I mean, companies benefit, as RBS have shown, communities benefit, charities benefit. So, you know, it's, a win win all round. So, Kia Starmer, put it on top of your list. That's what I would say. What about you, Piers? What would you have him putting up there at his list?

Piers Townley: Well, I think generally there is a bit of positive buzz about the new government, about the new. Emphasis is that kind of out with the old and in with the new. So fingers crossed for some major changes. And obviously, health policy is key to what we do at, the Brain Tumour Charity following the general election. There's a whole raft of new MP's, more specifically, there's a whole raft of the health secretary west streeting and his team, loads of new ministers, loads of new MP's, actually with a health, a, social care background, actually, which is really interesting. So our policy team is organs blazing to try and engage with them, share our Charity work, press them for all commitments that were made by previous governments and actually improve that. So we're going to collaborate with other Brain Tumour charities in the UK, and send a letter to West street and find out if we can seek a meeting with him or his department and to discuss how they can be addressed. the research and the health concerns that are, affecting all our community. This is all part of us continuing to press the government, especially this new government, Keir's government, for our national Brain Tumour strategy, which we launched earlier in the year. And we've produced a handover document for the minister of health, Caren Smyth, explaining our call and the conversations we've had with her, previous health minister, who was Andrew Stevenson, who we were actually engaged with. So, change of government, change of personnel, we need to get in front of all of these new faces and also locally where the main Tumour Charity is in fleet, we have a new mp for the first time in many, many years. So with the Lynd dem,

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Piers Townley: Alex Brewer, she is now, in charge of our, award. So it's reaching out to her, see if she come along to the office, explain what we do and finding about more about the challenges of our Brain Tumour community. So a massive amount of work being done by all our policy team. I've shouted out one before, but you know, cameron and Steph and Liam and Claire, our team of four who are, organs blazing and seeing what they can do, see we can do to change.

New website launched to help charities with banking services

Okay, so let's look at some third sector news. What have you got, Tim, this week?

Tim Beynon: I've got it. I found an interesting story, actually. I found this article about this new website that's been launched, from the, from UK Finance, which is a trade body M and it's designed to help charities with their banking services. It's an important, really important, piece. Actually it was quite interesting because reading this further, it said that this banking is a major issue for many, many charities. The Charity commission a few months ago released, details of report and they said that nearly half of Charity trustees had said that their organisation had experienced poor service from their banks last year. and that lots of charities, especially smaller charities, struggle in, terms of simple banking and finances. So, I think this is quite a piece of good news that this website has been launched by UK finance to help charities to, find, the right kind of bank accounts and to guide them through the whole process of setting up and managing their bank accounts. So all for that, I think that sounds like a really good initiative. they say that they're going to include a step by step digital guide to answer charities frequently asked questions about opening and managing bank accounts. So that sounds like good news. And we'll put the links to the news site, in the show notes. So anybody who's interested in, like to find out more, take a look at the show notes, for the link to this new website. It's.

Channel Fours advert for the Paralympics

What about you? What have you seen in the news over the last week or so?

Piers Townley: Well, I'm going to go back into the Olympics, again, Tim, actually, and actually, it's the Paralympics this time, because something that gives me goosebumps when I first saw it and continues to do it at Crocsock is the advert, the Channel Four advert for the Paralympics. I just think it's a amazing short film. A really powerful, challenging stereotypes. Challenging, actually, the broadcasters own previous ways that they portrayed the Paralympics, and it's just a really arresting advert. I'm sure many listeners have seen it already, but if not, google it, it's out there. You're going to see lots of it. It is quite incredible. And there's just a lovely quote here. I think it comes from Lindsay Atkin, who's the head of for creative, the channel's in house agency. And she has, gone record to say that we know from speaking to the community that any idea of athletes overcoming disability is gross and problematic. She says it ignores the fact that the problems and inequalities associated with disability are created by society. We felt that actually, if anything should be overcome, it's potentially the attitudes of the people watching. And, I just. I can't go. It's just. It's really, really stuck with me, this advert. I think it's just absolutely superb. Great bit of comms out there for those games.

Tim Beynon: So. I couldn't agree more. It's classic channel four, isn't it? They are, they are, They always sort of managed to get it right and they are brilliantly creative. It's classic, sort of channel four pushing boundaries, which it has done for, you know, ever since it was founded. So, yeah, perhaps, yeah.

Piers Townley: So resting is powerful. It sticks with you. It's not what you normally see. It's just fantastic.

Introducing Saskia Konynenburg

Tim Beynon: Any change of government brings with it a period of uncertainty as every sector weighs up what's likely to change and whether the policies they want make it into the king's speech. However, the new Labour government boasts charity experience throughout the cabinet and throughout the election campaign, Sir Keir Starber reiterated his party's commitment to working with the Charity sector, labelling it essential to their plans for renewal. Now they're in power, though, will the promises of the campaign trail actually be carried through. Saskia Koinienburg, director of strategic communications and insights at NCVO, will certainly be keeping a close eye. She was part of the team that pulled together the voluntary sector manifesto, a blueprint for the way government should invest in the voluntary sector as an equal partner of the state, and a document that challenged all the parties to realise a once in a generation opportunity to forge a new and innovative relationship with our sector. So, will Labour see it through? And how can charities of all sizes hold them to account over the months and years ahead? Piers and I caught up with Saskia to find out. Hi, Saskia, welcome to the Charity show. Thank you for joining us today. It's lovely to see you and lovely to welcome you onto the show.

The voluntary sector manifesto

We're going to talk today a little bit about the voluntary sector, manifesto. Could you tell us, first off, for those who might not have heard about it, what it is and why it was drawn up in the first place?

Saskia Konynenburg: Yeah, we saw, the chance for an election this year as a real opportunity to engage, potential new governments. Although now we see we have got a new government with the challenges and really lay out our stall as a voluntary sector. So we worked with Akivo and engaged with lots of different members around

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Saskia Konynenburg: the country. We did workshops, we did online sessions, you know, for the real big charities, to our small grassroots organisations to really understand what they would want to see. In, voluntary sector manifesto, we had everything, we heard everything. So we had a huge amount, a huge wealth of information from, you know, really micro issues that are important to certain members to, you know, huge world changing ideas that we would all love to see, but might not be able to really, get traction on at the moment. So we then did a big task with Akivo really working through all those different things and really pulling together what would be effective for us as a whole sector. So we really tried to kind of take the top level, asks and put them into something that would really work for everyone because, you know, our roles are to try and improve, the Charity sector, the voluntary sector, and make it really impactful. So what would that be? And so we decided that the best way to do that as well is to offer solutions. So not just go with a whole list of asks of what we want, to also use the manifesto to demonstrate what we could do as a sector. You know, we very much feel, I'm sure lots of listeners feel as well, that we are overlooked as a sector often undervalued, that our talents, our skills, our expertise really aren't often taken into that initial decision making process. So the voluntary sector manifesto is very much for the sector, with the sector, and to really shine a light on the sector, to say, this is what we can do, this is how we can help you achieve great things if you work, with us.

Tim Beynon: Fantastic. I can imagine it's a m monster piece of work. One thing we've certainly seen with the show, if you ask people for their opinion in this sector, they will give it a. So I'm sure you ended up with a wealth of stuff. And actually pairing that down into a, manifesto, I'm sure was a real challenge. But looking at some, of the key headlines, looking at the manifesto, there's basically seven key headlines, aren't there?

The manifesto's asks

Perhaps you could just talk us briefly through them, because just to rattle them off, we've got engage charities in policymaking, ensure fair and sustainable partnerships, make sure every voice is heard, build strong and resilient communities, place value on volunteers, support a thriving Charity sector and make public giving easier. That's a huge amount of work. There's a lot in there, isn't there?

Saskia Konynenburg: Yeah. And under each heading, we then have other specific asks. So it is quite a meaty document. So engaging charities in policy locking is where we feel that the best policy solutions that will make a real good impact on our communities are those that are created or co created with the voluntary sector and actually involve the voices of people, who are going to be impacted by those policies decisions. So we started talking about whether we could get commitment to establishing a civil society charter, and that's something that we're working on now, as with other infrastructure bodies and, with our members, whether we could develop a civil society engagement strategy. So how we can really get the voices of those, who will be impacted by decisions to the right areas. And it's not just dcms. So quite often we work with just dcms and that's where our strongest engagement has been. But, you know, decisions made by the treasury are, know, hugely important to communities and the charities supporting them, and how we can also, within that policymaking, look at working cooperatively with other administrations and devolved, powers. So the second part is ensuring fair and sustainable partnerships. So this is all about making it much easier for voluntary sector, organisations to play a part in public service delivery. We know there have been lots of challenges around that. So how can we make public service contracts be delivered, by charities in a fair and equitable way? Another important m part of the manifesto is making sure every voice is heard. So how do we really raise the voices of communities so that, you know, they are heard by those decision makers. And that goes in terms of campaigning and people's rights and freedom to protest, to also how we might, suggest reforming electoral law. We talk about building strong and resilient communities. So in there, there's some stuff around, the shared prosperity fund, but there's also a lot around, like the community power act and developing strategies to support really direct investment into social infrastructure. Volunteers, of course, we can have, a voluntary sector manifesto without placing value on volunteers. So we're looking in this for support on our vision for volunteering, but also looking at volunteers week, big help out and how we really create the environment for people to volunteer. So breaking down any barriers to volunteering. We want to support a thriving Charity sector. So this could be about improving tax systems, the voluntary workforce, protecting the independence of the Charity commission, and then finally we talk about making public giving easier. So a, lot around gift aid, philanthropy and innovation and giving fund and things like that.

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Saskia Konynenburg: So really to help charities, you know, who do rely on fundraising, so that that's a real sustainable stream for them.

What's broken?

Piers Townley: That's a huge amount there, Saskia, a real huge amount there. And, you can see the ambition and you can see the goals in it. But for our listeners, beyond the opportunity that's been presented by the new government, by the general election this year, can you distil down why the change was necessary? What did you see as an organisation that was broken in the third sector or was falling down in the sector?

Saskia Konynenburg: I think that the areas that are broken are evident as what's broken in society. You just have to look at the stats, at the amount of people that are going to food banks, we talk a lot about. Actually, no food bank particularly wants to exist. charities are meeting a need where a government hasn't provided, you know, that sustainable economy, that's inclusive. There are, people up and down the country who are not living the lives they want to live, who have, feel disenfranchised, their opportunities are limited. I keep thinking about children born in 2024 and what their life will be like in 2034. If we're looking at Kirstama's ten years of, change, what does that look like for a child born now? Because at the moment, we've got significant challenges with the outcomes for many of our children and the education they're provided. I think charities are very much reflective of the society. Some of them exist to meet urgent societal needs and challenges and crises. But what our message throughout this has been, is that we want to m move charities from being that safety net, that kind of emergency response, that crisis, that gap filler you actually, where you can drive societal change. So work with charities. Don't just see them as, oh, thank goodness that that Charity is there, because they can plug the gaps. It shouldn't be about that. It should be like, thank goodness that Charity is there because they are helping prevent, you know, strains on the NHS in the future. You know, you know, you know what it's like if you do early drug intervention, for example, if you don't do that and then you see somebody that has been misusing drugs for 10, 15, 20 years, not only is the impact on, the NHS, there might be, you know, huge impact on other areas of society and obviously a huge cost. So how can charities actually be a solution as opposed to the kind of emergency, oh, just let the charities do it.

Tim Beynon: And just looking back at the, last government and the period they were in office and the longevity they were in office, how much of these issues lie at their door?

Saskia Konynenburg: I think it's really easy for a new government to come in and for us to be like, yay, it's going to be absolutely perfect now, and we are all saved. And I don't think that's the right attitude. I think it's very easy for a new government as well to blame old government and say, you know, they made the wrong decisions. And this is how, this is why personally, I think that there has been some huge world and economic challenges that were unavoidable. We're still feeling as a sector, the impact of COVID and of course, there's ten years of more years of austerity now. I, keep saying ten years, but it's probably 1214 austerity. But those measures were in response to, you know, challenges that were happening. So I wouldnt think its really useful for us to look back and say, oh, you know, the Tories made all these terrible, wrong decisions. I think as a sector, its probably more helpful for us to go, what are we going to do about it now and how can we work with this new government to really make the right steps in the right direction? And I really believe that charities and voluntary sector have that, have that answer.

The main parties and the manifesto

Tim Beynon: and you launched the manifesto at sort of peak campaigning time, if you like, in the build up to the election. What was your, what was your take on how the different, the main political parties took to it? And were you impressed or not impressed by different parties in that respect?

Saskia Konynenburg: Well, we obviously launched the manifesto. I think it was about five days after they announced the, general election was coming. It had been written. We didn't actually write it in five days. We were ready to go, but we were just waiting for the right opportune moment. And obviously that was really good. And it was, you know, it was a really busy time for people. People were campaigning. What we were really happy is that we then held a voluntary sector hustings, and we got really good representation at that. And we were able to raise the voices of our members with pertinent questions. We talked about the manifesto there, and we also make sure that the conservative party and Labour and other parties as well had the manifesto and hoped that they would bring some of that into their thinking around developing their own manifestos. We've had really positive engagement from Labour, so we had a civil society meeting with them right at the start of this year, obviously before, the election and before they were in power. And we heard some brilliant things and some real reassurance there from Kirstama

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Saskia Konynenburg: and from Lillian Greenwood, who was the shadow civil society minister at the time, and a real pledge to look at things and work in different ways. So I think definitely my colleagues in the room thought, this is what we really want to hear. I think now is the point where we're now going to say, now what? Can we put that into action? And, Yeah. Ah, fingers crossed it will happen.

Tim Beynon: Yeah, absolutely.

How charities used the Manifesto

Piers Townley: And flipping that onto the other side, Saskia, you called on charities to use the manifesto in the build up to the election, and generally, did they, and what results did you see?

Saskia Konynenburg: We know that for many of our members, m many of NCBA members are really small charities, like over 90%. So a lot of them don't have policy or public affairs teams, they don't have campaigners. Quite often, it's just like two or three people. So we wanted to make sure that they could use that manifesto so that should they get lobbied, even if they're at home and someone came and knocked on their door, that they had something that could. That they could talk to, that they could put in front of their prospective MP's, their prospective candidates, to say, look, this is the challenges that we're facing and these are the solutions that we see. Because I really believe that by having a joined up approach, we can make, you know, much bigger impact. We've, had some really positive feedback from our members, really, like, grateful for, you know, having something that they can talk to. I think, really that the manifesto was one part, but the hard work really starts now. Now we know who is in power. Now we know we've got Lisa Nandy as our, secretary of state. That's really positive. She's got a charity background. We know that a lot of the cabinet actually have a Charity background, either through working in the Charity sector or volunteering or being trustees. So there's some real positive steps there. But really at our, you know, at our smaller Charity end of the spectrum, there's a lot of local engagement to do. You know, with, we've only had local elections, so there's a whole new wealth of councillors, there's new mayors, like, how do people engage on a local level? So we are really building up our practical, support for those who need it. So people can really understand what are the best ways for me to engage on a local level. We're doing our best at a national level, but also we mustn't overlook local, level engagement as well.

Piers Townley: That's, a really powerful point because I think, as you say, with the smaller organisations, smaller charities having this man, is an invaluable resource. So the perception, real or otherwise, for many of these smaller charities is a monumental change. A new government and supporters and Charity workers and stakeholders will be thinking, well, what does it mean for us, no matter how big an organisation you are? So having that manifesto there is, even if they don't use it initially, they probably will do, because they'll probably be responding to stakeholders and supporters further down as the year goes on. Looking at the Labour party in particular, Saskia, the new government, how confident are you that they will come good on the things outlined in the manifesto?

Saskia Konynenburg: I think we've heard real reassurance that, from Lillian Greenwind in her previous role and from Keir Starmer that they want to work with charities. In fact, Lillian was very clear that she wasn't, you know, saying, we will work with you. She was almost like asking, really saying, like, we want you to have a seat at the table. We've already had a request from Lisa Nandy to meet with NCBO CEO Sarah Elliot, which is taking place this coming week. so that's a really positive step as well. Like, you know, she's only a second week in office and she's already reached out, so she's meeting Jane eyed from Akivo and Sarah Elliott in, you know, in her second week in office, I think it would have been in the first week, but obviously there was quite a big football game happening and her, you know, her mandate covered sport as well. So she felt a bit tied up with that. Her office has also reached out and asked, for us to provide her with some examples of charities that she could go and visit. So, you know, straight off the bat, she's wanting to engage. And I think all of these are really good indications, but I think it's still really important that we build relationships across government. So we're not just relying on working with the secretary of state for dcms, we're also across government. And so what we're looking at now at NCDO is building that 100 days in government plan for ourselves in points of who are we going to engage with? How are we going to engage with them, when are we going to do it? What are these key points? Obviously, we've got King's speech tomorrow, we've got party conference season, we've then got, autumn statement like, where are the points that we could influence? Where can we surface the manifesto again, where are the specific asks that we need to pick out and say, what about this? What about that? So, you know, it's a really critical time. There's some quick wins, I think there's some massive quick wins in the manifesto and there's also quick wins that a lot of people are lobbying for at the moment. So how can we get some kind of first steps? But also knowing Kia has said, it's going to be ten years of renewal. And Lillian Greenman also said that there just

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Saskia Konynenburg: isn't tonnes of money to go around, so how can we affect some positive change that's not going to require huge investment?

Tim Beynon: Yeah, I think it's an interesting time because I think obviously new government coming in, there's a lot of talk and a lot of, early indications, really. But it's great to hear that they're really positive, early indications that know the progress wants, they want to make progress, they want to move things forward. But as you look to the sort of the medium and the long term, how do organisations like NCVO and others hold the government to account to make sure they actually do follow through in the longer term?

Empowering charities to raise their voices through campaigning

Saskia Konynenburg: I think campaigning is a really important, well, one of the most important parts of the Charity sector, voluntary sector, ensuring that we have, we are able to raise our voices. And we've seen, like, over the past couple of years with the past government that, we have been challenged for doing that. You know, if we campaign, we're told that it's not. Charities shouldn't campaign or we've been caught up in culture wars and that's really dangerous. Charities should exist to raise the voices of people that they are supporting. Like, that's just important. And decision makers should want to hear that because you will only ever create positive societal impact if you understand what the challenges are. And no one knows better what the challenges are than the Charity sector. So I think what we want to really do at NCVO is continue to empower charities to raise their voices, either through us, and we'll give you opportunity and platform you and make sure your voices are heard at the right places, but also, as I said before, on that local level, so that over time, we are really, you know, the voice of the people. I think that's, you know, really important.

Tim Beynon: I just want to reflect on small, charity week for a second, because just looking back on that, it was really amazing to see the amount of engagement that and the amount of coverage that got and the amount of small charities doing incredible work. With that in mind, what would your advice be to smaller charities who want to support this, agenda, want to, hold, the government to account, want to make sure that they, can do what they can do, to support you and support the wider sector? What would your advice be to chief execs and senior leaders, perhaps, of those of small charities, to make sure that they are just as involved as the big charities?

Saskia Konynenburg: Well, I'd obviously be really cheeky and say, make sure you're an NCVO member, but I'd also say that small charities under certain income streams get it for free. And, the reason I think that's really important is that it's really hard to do things on your own, particularly when you're small, particularly when you haven't got the resources or the policy teams that you need. We are doing a lot of that legwork for people. But actually, you don't have to be a member to be part of what we're all calling for. You, don't have to be a member to use our manifesto. For me, what's most important is the Charity sector has a voice, feels supported, and really understands that they are valuable. What they have to say is really important. And even if you're saying that, you know, to your local parish councillors, or whether you're saying that to our new prime minister, that message has to get through. I think it's if we can continue as a sector having that drumbeat and having something like a manifesto we can talk to, which might have not all the, you know, might not have all your specific points for your charity, but has some overarching themes, then I think that's a really powerful thing for us to drive forward. We saw during small Charity week that there is so much love for small charities. That was our thing, like love your small Charity, and we really wanted to evolve small charities so that it's actually more of a public facing campaign. And that's our ambitions over the next couple of years to grow the campaign. So, you know, we see it actually making a huge impact in terms of increasing fundraising, increasing volunteering opportunities, because as much as small charities, obviously the big stuff is really important. There's also the day to day stuff that's critical for them because otherwise they won't exist. So they need fundraising, they need funds, they need security, they need support through volunteering. You know, all of these things that, affect whether they open their doors in the coming weeks and months. And we know that many of them have had to take really, really tough decisions and many of them are closing. So I think this kind of the political engagement is really important, but if you don't have the means or ability to do that, we will continue doing it for you, at the same time trying to support you with getting people to help you out as well.

What will change over the next 5 years?

Piers Townley: So assuming Keir Starmer does eventually give the sector the support that you've asked for, and charities and volunteer organisations, they get behind it, what do you think this will mean for the sector in the next, say, five years? And what things do you think realistically are going to change?

Saskia Konynenburg: I think if we can get the right seat at the table in the decision making process, then that could just have a huge impact on how whole of society operates. So you often quite have businesses like Circle G, four s, examples like that who are engaged with let charities have that seat

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Saskia Konynenburg: at the table as well. So there's a three way conversation between business, government and voluntary sector about what are the challenges, how can we work together, how can we solve them? If we did that, then I just think the impact would be huge. But there's other things coming over the horizon. At the moment, we seem to be, as a country, very much focused on the immediate cost of living crisis, high levels of poverty, food insecurity, wars around the world that are impacting us. But, you know, we're looking at also down the line, new technology we need to adopt and work with. There's also crisis, with the climate emergency. That's really going to. It's quite easy for us to ignore a little bit at the moment, but actually that's going to massively impact the Charity sector over the coming years. Are we set up to respond to that, like, I'd say probably nothing. So I think as much as dealing with the immediate challenges, we also need to start taking a much longer term view. And I really hope that, our new government supports charities to do that.

What's your long term vision for volunteers?

Tim Beynon: Shifting the focus onto volunteers for a second. What's your long term vision for volunteers? And all those people put in countless hours and all the amazing things they do to support good causes across the UK. How do you think that hard work and all that effort should be valued and recognised going forward would.

Saskia Konynenburg: I think that volunteers are the absolute backbone of this country. It feels like a really british thing to go and do volunteering, although I know people volunteer around the world, but I think quite often people don't know how to volunteer. So we've seen that our time well spent. Research actually. Ah, says one of the things, people responded said, well, I've never been asked, so I'd always say, like, we need to ask. I know, that there's big national programmes, like big help out who, who have done an amazing effort to corral people and get back into the public mindset, but it's how do we make that work all year round and how do we make it work for people who don't see volunteering fitting into their lives? So I think Covid really taught us that there's other ways to volunteer. You know, you can volunteer from your own living room, you don't have to leave the house because you could do, you know, online peer mentoring, which has been a huge boom in online volunteering. But we'd also want the government to really work with us on, vision for volunteering. We've had great engagement as support from dcms and we really want that to continue. we're developing this ten year strategy which is really looking at what are the barriers to, volunteering, why people can't volunteer. From speaking to our members, we know that there's simple things around. Some people say they can't afford to volunteer because they can't afford to the bus fare, you know, if people want to volunteer, they should be able to. Other people say they can't volunteer because they can't get time off work, you know, again, like, what can employers do in that conversation? So the vision for volunteering is going to be really important, really critical piece of work, really to identify, like how we can encourage people volunteer and also encourage that new generation of volunteers. you know, we've got a really awake and public, you know, like socially conscious generation and I think it's brilliant to harness that and say, like, how can we get this generation finding that love of volunteering for causes that really matter to them early on so they build that kind of lifelong love of it?

Piers Townley: Yeah.

Tim Beynon: Fantastic. Absolutely. Really important to do that. I completely agree. Saskia, thank you so much for your time. we're ever so grateful to you. Thank you for joining us.

How can charities hold the Government to account?

One last question for you, and it's just really to ask your advice and what's the one thing that someone listening to this can do or what would your advice be to them? To put pressure on those in power to make sure that the voluntary sector manifests so ultimately is acted upon.

Saskia Konynenburg: Yeah, well, the voluntary sector manifesto is really huge. And not every point in it might be pertinent for every single charity, but generally the overarching message is, work with charities, value charities, support charities, and we will help you solve the issues that you cannot solve on your own. So I think that's just the overarching thing that I would ask people to really hold onto. You shouldn't have to, but keep demonstrating your value, keep demonstrating what it is that you can offer, and keep making sure that you sing that and shout that, as loud as you can at any opportunity. As I say, you shouldn't have to, but unfortunately, you might have to.

Tim Beynon: Brilliant. Saskath, thank you ever so much for joining us.

Superstars of the Week

Thank you. In each episode of the challenge show, we want to celebrate our sector superstars, those incredible people working, volunteering and fundraising across our sector. And you can nominate your deserving colleagues, volunteers or fundraisers too. Just email us at, thecharityshowpodmail.com. we'll get in touch through the links in the show notes. You can even send us a voice message that will play out in the next episode. So who's your superstar this week, piers?

Piers Townley: Well, mine's actually a collective one. It's, an idea to empower their supporters by making the opportunity across a month to do something to set up their own event. And it's the RNRI's, fish

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Piers Townley: Fridays in August, which I just think is a great idea. I mean, most, yeah, we all love fish and chips. As a Friday, you're going to be by the seaside, you're going to get your bag of chips. Doesn't have to be fish, obviously, their campaign is aiming that those four Fridays, four, five Fridays in August, they're supposed to go away, create their own event, raise money, raise vital awareness. And there's just a lovely quote here which explains, I think, the idea of a supper, an interrupted meal and there's a great quote in there from, one of their supporters. It's from James Gillespie, who's the Bangor lifeboat helm. and he said, as part of their marketing material, taking part in the RNLIS Fish Friday is a great way for people to support volunteer crews like mine. He goes on to say, we really appreciate the support of the public. We simply couldn't do our job without the life saving training and equipment they help us to fund. And it's this sentence here that kind of just encapsulated the fish Fridays that you don't really think about. He says that, ah, as a volunteer lifeboat crew member on call to save lives at sea, I'm very used to meals being interrupted by the sound of the pager. I hope that everyone taking part in RNLI's fish Friday has a great time with family and friends, hopefully with no interruptions. And I never thought of it like that. But obviously the crews are on their pages. If they get the call, everything has to be dropped. They have to go out. So if they're into their fish and chips on a Friday, and that has to go up by the wayside. So, big shout out. It's an overall campaign, month long campaign. Lots of charities do them, empower them, from bake sales to gamers, whoever else. But RNLis fish Fridays in August is mine.

Tim Beynon: Brilliant. And I can say everyone can emphasise with that, can't they? Because if you have fish and chips on a Friday night, there's nothing like it. It's amazing. But if you let it go cold, it's not the same. Fish and chips have to be eaten out, of the paper, hot batter, crispy, all that kind of stuff. You leave it. You got to leave it, go off. And do, you know your duty, if you remember the RNLI as they amazing guys do, and lots of firefighters likewise live by the pager. You know, those interrupted meals, you got to feel for them. That's awful to have to leave that and go and do what you have to do. Amazing.

Piers Townley: Well, when I was reading that, I was thinking of your Charity. I think the firefighters Charity, Tim, because I guess, you know, firefighters on call, the same sort of thing, isn't it? That pager goes off, any of the emergency services, those pages goes off, that call gets off, off. Everything has to be dropped, which is just, you know.

Tim Beynon: Yeah. And on a serious note, it is a, you know, that is a. It does disrupt life. It can disrupt family life significantly. You know, we hear stories of. Of, you know, parents who have to leave children's birthdays, because the page has gone off and they've got to go. You know, it could be the middle of Christmas dinner, and the pager goes off and you got to go. So it does impact, you know, living by the pager, living, you know, living, you know, those lives that these incredible, men and women do for our emergency services. It does impact them significantly. And you can't. None of us should forget that, because we take it for granted. You can sit around the table and have a meal. You can enjoy Christmas dinner together. You can do all these things, but somebody somewhere is, answering a pager, so, yeah, mustn't forget that.

Valley Fest

So, I've got a good one this week, and actually, it's, kind of a personal one in that I'm going to mention a guy called Luke Hazel, who I went to school with. So, Luke, is a, guy, from the west country, my neck of woods. he's a farmer, and he put. He's put on what's called valley fest, which is an amazing festival that takes place, in the chu valley, which, is where I'm from, where my family's from, where I went to school, and where Luke learned his trade as a farmer. And basically, he inherited his farm from his parents, who, very sadly died, at a very young age. and Luke done an amazing job of turning his farm around and creating this incredible, opportunity for people to come onto his land. His tagline is get on my land, which is obviously, if you know, farming, it's the opposite. So he's put on this event, and it's grown and grown and grown over the years. and, it's taking place very shortly in west country. The latest one has been going for ten years, and they've got, their lineup includes sister sledge, the feeling, and Sophie, Edda's baxter. So they've got an amazing, lineup, and they have grown significantly over the years, and it's becoming a rival to Glastonbury, really. Glastonbury is not the only festival of significance in the west country anymore. Valleyfest is getting bigger and bigger, and it's going to be right up there before you know it. So luke's done an amazing job not only putting on this incredible festival, but he's raised, the festival itself has raised more than 70,000 pounds for charity over those ten years. So it's, an amazing initiative. He's done an amazing job. And the money they've raised is going towards teenage cancer Trust, as well as a homelessness charity called Billy Chip and a local project, the community farm. So an amazing job by Luke. So hats off to you, mate. I hope you're well and I'm sure your parents would be incredibly proud of what you've done. It's an amazing achievement. And here's to Valleyfest. And if anybody's ever wanting a Glastonbury alternative, I highly recommend it. So yeah, Valleyfest, head there.

Coming soon

So that's it for this episode. Thanks to saskia for shedding some light on the challenges facing the new government and the role we can all play in holding them to account. So this is the last episode of the season, peers, as we're going to take a little bit of a summer break. But what's coming up

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before we return in September?

Piers Townley: Well, we'll be back in a fortnight with a special highlight show looking back on the first seven episodes, and then we'll kick season two off on the 16 September where amongst other things, we'll be looking at challenge events and charity marketing. And we want to hear from you too.

Tim Beynon: That's right. If you've enjoyed our first few episodes, come and be a part of the next few. There are loads of ways you can get involved. Share your news, tell us about your latest innovations, events or campaigns, or just get in touch to tell us what you'd like us to cover.

Piers Townley: You can get in touch through the links in the show notes or email us@thecharityshowpodmail.com and we want to know that your superstars are too. So nominate someone outstanding.

Tim Beynon: And in the meantime, please follow or subscribe to us on your usual podcast platform and leave us a review, both of which help, others to find the show.

Piers Townley: So that's it for this episode and for season one. Enjoy the highlights show. Take care and we'll see you in a few weeks time in September.

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