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voluntary organizations who are preparing to close the back of public spending cuts, can form effective partnerships with the private sector to meet social needs?

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reports on a seminar

From the increasing prevalence of food banks with the consequences created by the government "tax room" benefit housing reform, the United Kingdom is experiencing unprecedented levels of social needs. Wages have stagnated and public spending cuts in the sector still have an impact on frontline services. David Cameron's vision of the "Big Society", helping to bridge the gap, but the latest research from the Charities Aid Foundation shows that one in six charities fear they could face closure due cuts and declining donations, while one in three is destruction services or works.

donors Finding effective ways to work with the private and voluntary sectors to meet the social needs has been a recent seminar, which brought together a group of industry experts and charity an invited audience, which included more than 60 opinion leaders from private funding and volunteer. The event was organized by The Guardian and the support of the Big Lottery Fund (BIG), which is the largest distributor of National Lottery funds, more than 90% of the 600 million are awarded each year is used for voluntary and community organizations

The workshop began with presentations on the panel intersectoral work, which laid the groundwork for the event. The presentations were followed by a wide and open debate is part of the event was held under the Chatham House Rule, which allows comments to report anonymously to encourage frank and open discussion. The participants were then divided into separate groups for discussions with representatives report their findings to the audience.

A recurring theme of the seminar, in the comments of the panel and the floor was the importance of volunteers and members of the private sector to achieve the "proper" relationship. Panelist Diana Leat, principal investigator of the voluntary sector and council member of Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Fund, against the nature of a good collaboration with the difference between a date, cohabitation and marriage. "We must be willing to put in the time ... and I hope you have a long and very happy, "he said. And partners must look beyond stereotypes - the donors and the private sector are" more than a lot of money, " he said. An assistant for companies of the hearing, said: "We are sometimes seen as a source of income, rather than technical knowledge."

honesty around objectives

good listening skills are crucial to achieving a successful relationship, said Leat, who said that voluntary organizations were "major offenders" because they often do not take the time to learn on other sectors. "Just because you're in different sectors does not mean they have nothing to learn from each other."

Honesty

on the objectives and outcomes of the collaboration is another secret of a good relationship. Panelist Nat Sloane, Chair in England Big Lottery Fund, said that the various parties come to the relationship with different objectives. For example, a private sector organization would be interested in working with a partner from the voluntary sector as they may want to make connections in the local communities where it operates the volunteer organization is "good for business." For the past relationship, donors and charities need "a common mission -. Shared goals, common objectives"

A favorite charity

in kind rather than financial aid, told the seminar. "Be very honest, very early," advised one of the participants. "The charity does not want money, but they need skills pro bono."

One participant stated that the voluntary sector "to see things through the prism of business." However, a representative of the collaboration between the voluntary sector warned against purely selfish reasons: "If [companies] work in their own interest, they will leave once their needs are not satisfied interest is not sustainable." . And Sloane said that donors like poles BIG the challenge of change: "How is additionality of funding to charities and services are reduced in a manner unprecedented"

Faced with these challenges, the seminar examined whether the language of collaboration still fit for purpose. Leat suggested that instead of using the term "interest", the partners should think in terms of "profits." For example, a mobile phone company could be linked to a voluntary organization to take advantage of expanding markets for the benefit of both parties. Experts Caron Bradshaw, CEO of Group Finance Charity, cited the example of the association of the Samaritans with Network Rail - the training of staff are trained to recognize and prevent suicide attempts - as a win-win. "If you can find where they are, the interest is not necessarily a bad thing," he said.

The committee also discussed a new study commissioned by BIG intersectoral collaboration Clore Leadership Fellow Program Sappal social Bally. Sappal asked 26 multinational companies, donors and a number of NGOs to identify the benefits of collaboration, barriers to success and interventions to improve relations. The report found that cultural differences are among the biggest barriers to collaboration, noting that businesses are there to make money, and donors and charities not.

reflection on the relationship, the seminar participants agreed that all parties can do more to make the collaborative work. One donor said he would like more co-development partnership where donors and charitable programs in assembly design. Another company has admitted that tended to wait to be asked "instead of being in the forefoot and ask what they need."

Despite the obstacles mentioned, participants also recognized the many examples of cross-sector collaborations, such as "shwopping" partnership between Marks & Spencer and Oxfam. As Close report, initiative, launched in 2007 under the Plan-A M & S CSR strategy of the company, including the company's customers offer their unwanted clothes from local shops when purchasing new items. Oxfam sells clothes in its stores, or distributes products in developing countries.

Over the past five years, 11 million items were donated by M & S stores, raising ? 8 million for Oxfam. In addition to supporting the charity, M & S hopes to reduce the number of items sent to landfill in the UK - approximately one billion pieces per year -. And changing attitudes commercial inviting customers to give something when they buy

Reports
after group discussions, participants cited the lack of capacity and know who to partner with two of the biggest barriers to collaboration. "The problem is who to give money. There is a tendency to give large organizations," said a source of funding.

Lack of time was identified as another barrier. One participant noted that planning in the voluntary sector is often "varied" and "not enough time to understand the issues in the business world."

Another point of agreement was that donors can support the work of intermediaries in the trade.

One participant acknowledged that corporate social responsibility can sometimes work teams "in splendid isolation almost" the rest of society. The challenge is to work with human resources, marketing and other departments to help bring "greater" for their collaboration.
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