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Friday Jul 28, 2006
Lies, damned lies and research
In the battle for headlines, charities are finding that research can be a powerful tool.
Speaking as a journalist I can say that we are, as a breed, lazy. Give us a press release with an eye-catching headline and some statistics to make it look serious and we will copy it out, put our byline at the top and head for the pub.
Of course, some research is of groundbreaking importance but sometimes you can't help wondering, "So what?"
NCVO's Voluntary Sector Almanac produces some real prize news fillers. For example, did you know that North Yorkshire, Dorset and Devon are "charity hotspots"? Or that Londoners are the least likely to donate to charity? (Unless their postcode starts with EC)
No doubt someone can make use of this intelligence but, either way, at least it's enabled me write this story. Off to the pub...
Posted by Tom Green ( 2:05 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Tuesday Jul 25, 2006
Lunch expenses campaign update
"Crusading" might not be a word that is often associated with Volunteering England but their response to the Department of Work and Pension's (DWP) recently published guidance on lunch expenses for volunteers in benefits has been loud and vigorous.
They've issued press releases, written letters and set up a special campaign page where visitors can follow the action and see if their MP has signed Diane Abbot's Early Day Motion.
The most recent letter is from Baroness Hanham of Kensington CBE, Chair of the England Volunteering Development Council, and the stakes have been raised. The letter is copied to DWP Secretary of State, John Hutton, and Third Sector Minister, Ed Miliband, but it is addressed to the Prime Minister.
On the basis of Home office and Department and Work of Pension figures we estimate that there are almost 2,000,000 people in receipt of benefits who volunteer. These volunteers are some of the most marginalised people in our society. For these people especially, volunteering has a major role to play in their lives and personal development. Volunteering enables people living on benefits to feel that they play a valuable part in the life of our nation, contributing to integration, community cohesion and social capital.
The issue pits two of Tony Blair's pet policy themes against each other - social inclusion (paying lunch expenses) versus attacking 'the benefits culture' (not paying them). Which one will win out?
Posted by Tom Green ( 9:42 AM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
Thursday Jul 20, 2006
An A,B,C of URLs
URLs, like office air conditioning, are normally taken for granted until something goes wrong.
A few years ago www.do-it.org was bought by someone selling Russian brides. It was a URL we should have snapped up when do-it was launched, but somehow it was overlooked. We did finally manage to buy it, but only after months of lengthy negotiations.
Google, it seems, is determined to make sure they have covered every base. According to Neil Patel they own 520 domain names – some to cover their ever expanding empire of products and some (porngoogle.com for example) to stop other people using them.
Some organisations find that their name makes creating a decent URL quite a challenge. Take new youth volunteering charity, v – they have chosen www.wearev.com. Not very memorable, in my opinion, and www.wearev.org.uk and www.wearev.org go elsewhere. Their page ranking (greatly helped by a descriptive URL) isn't the best, either. A Google search for both "v" and "v volunteering" fails to bring the organisation up on the first page.
The real problems come, however, when someone takes a URL close to yours with malicious intent. When the National Association of Volunteer Bureaux was still in existence they found that their .org domain was occupied by something even less savoury than mail order brides, demanding a high fee to surrender the URL. I won't describe exactly what people saw when they happened across navb.org – but the heading was "1,2,3, pee".
Posted by Tom Green ( 2:00 PM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
Wednesday Jul 19, 2006
RESPECT pic and recording
If you weren't able to make it to the launch of the RESPECT report yesterday (see below), here's a recording (30MB).
The pic shows members of the RESPECT Advisory Group: Katie, Emily, Sophie, Emma, Kate, Rachael, Mohammed, and Emily.
Tuesday Jul 18, 2006
RESPECT: YouthNet's campaign kicks off
Two pensioner ladies are walking down the street in Colchester on the way to the shops. As they approach a bus-stop, they see four young men sitting on wall, dressed in tracksuits. One has his hood up, another has a baseball cap on, a third is smoking. What do the two ladies do? They quickly cross the street.
And can you blame them? According to the press and our political leaders, young people are yobs, hoodies, thugs, scum... is it any wonder that these two ladies fear four teenage boys?
Well as of today, YouthNet is aiming to change all this.
For about six months now, YouthNet and our friends at British Youth Council have been working behind the scenes on a report which has now been released. It's called Respect: The voice behind the hood. For the first time, someone has actually talked to young people about what they think about anti-social behavior, the media, politicians and how young people are treated in society.
I don't need to go into detail here about what the report says: you can read it yourself here. But what we hope to do is show that young people often think the same as other people; that they are more likely to be a victim than a perpetrator of crime; and that the demonising of young people causes problems for everyone, not just for young people.
Tonight, we're running a discussion at the House of Commons which will bring together young people and politicians. We'll post some of the key points here tomorrow, hopefully along with an audio feed.
And what can you do? Tell your friends and colleagues about the report. Badger your local politicians to take on some of the recommendations. Remind your journalist friends that young people are out there doing good things too. Look for ways to open dialogues between young and old.
We're hoping to change the way young people are discussed. Not just for their sakes, but for the good of all.
Posted by Dom Waghorn ( 12:01 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Monday Jul 17, 2006
The public sector fights back
Not everyone, it seems, is entirely happy with the government’s determination to increase the role of the voluntary sector in public service delivery.
The Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) has commissioned a report into the provision of employment related services by the third sector that questions whether they do any better than the public sector.
But it is in the Foreword by the PCS General Secreatry Mark Serwotka that battle-lines are most clearly drawn.
We consider that many questions about the expansion of the state’s use of the third sector have not been answered, or even considered in any detail. It has the potential to return significant sectors of the public service to a pre-war model when the “deserving poor” were expected to show gratitude to their charitable benefactors. This would be another phase in dismantling the welfare state. It is of massive concern both to those who currently battle to provide services in the face of cuts and privatisation, and to those who use them. Both have a right to expect better from society. This report should mark the beginning of a real debate within the trade union movement, with service users and with government about how stable and effective services are provided, without jeopardising the security of staff or quality of service.
In The Guardian, David Walker continues the debate.
Are charities a Trojan horse? If the game is about replacing state with private sector provision, then dishing out contracts to non-profit organisations may be a holding operation, or tactic. Once inside the walls of social and employment services, let alone health, out of the belly of the third sector will pour real profit seekers. Cynics say Blairite ministers know this, but it suits their political reputation to insist that they want "social" rather than "free" enterprise.
Unfortunately for the public sector unions, away from the left of the Labour Party none of the main political players have any interest at being seen to bow to their pressure. In fact, the opportunity to face down union opposition will probably make contracting out to the third sector even more appealing.
Posted by Tom Green ( 4:05 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Thursday Jul 13, 2006
A generation of bank slaves
A new survey tells us something most people under 30 know already: that most young people live in a permanent state of debt. Apparently three-quarters of 18-29 year-olds have an overdraft facility, averaging out at over £650 per person.
The banks are rightly being seen as part of the problem. The moment you reach 18 you are encouraged to take on overdrafts and credit cards; some banks even offer free gifts such as i-pods and music vouchers to hook in the new 'customers'. Meanwhile, financial literacy is at best patchy in most schools so you have a a generation of young people who are low on money skills being offered all kinds of opportunities to rack up debt.
The issue of debt comes up all the time on TheSite.org discussion boards. Credit cards, overdrafts and student loans all make it difficult for young people to make the starts they want to in their 'adult' lives. This is from one thread:
"I have roughly 2 grand on a credit card and a 500 quid overdraft. The interest is really starting to kick in on the credit card and all I want to do is get rid of the damned thing. Trouble is, no matter how much I wanna pay it off, something else always seems to get in the way of me paying off a great amount. Thing is, now I'm getting a bit older as well, I'm starting to become conscious of the fact that i've never saved a penny in my life and some day soon I'm gonna need money to set up with my own place and live my own life etc etc, but again, never seem to have any money left to save."
The survey also says that over half of young people have gone over their overdrafts and had to deal with the consequence of the outrageous penalties that the banks hand out. It's good to see some people fighting back by reclaiming charges from the banks. But what's really needed is a more responsible approach from banks in the first place in the way they offer services, particularly to those with no financial history or experience.
Posted by Dom Waghorn ( 1:55 PM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
Tuesday Jul 11, 2006
Chugging begins at home
Chugging (or 'street fundraising') is, for many, the unacceptable face of charity. On Upper Street where YouthNet is based you can't walk for fifteen seconds without being accosted by on over-friendly student-type with a desperate grin asking you if you care about children dying/cancer/global poverty etc.
The trouble is that it works. According to Andrew Moffat of the Mental Health Foundation last year chugging brought in over £12m for UK charities. And, since most people are signing up for direct debits, that figure underestimates the true value of this most direct form of fundraising.
Moffat has now decided to take his street fundraising in-house which is a brave move. As with any direct selling, most people are happier when it's kept at arms length from the more genteel activities of the organisation. But Moffat is convinced that chugging is also a way of engaging the public, not just getting their cash.
Starting our own street fundraising team has not been easy. We have had to challenge some of the usual misconceptions within our own staff. Time has had to be spent discussing why we are fundraising this way and the benefits it brings. Happily, we seem to have convinced everyone to the extent that some existing staff members are now looking forward to going out themselves and helping the new team fundraise.
I think more charities should follow suit. Let's see senior managers out on the street in branded anoraks confronting the general public with their clipboards. Even better, replace the normal banal ice breakers at charity meetings with a quick chugging session on the local high street.
Posted by Tom Green ( 10:06 AM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
Friday Jul 07, 2006
Name calling
Spare a thought for the trustees of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation. It's difficult for any charity to consider changing its name, but you don't expect to be vilified by Max Hastings in The Daily Mail (that sort of treatment is normally reserved for charities like YouthNet).
Max is is typically understated form. Angry that a name change is being considered in order to make the organisation better understood, he calls it "a sordid business, which leaves a rotten taste."
Sordid? This is the largest UK voluntary sector provider of support to disabled people. They are trying, presumably, to make sure that they do their work as effectively as possible. The charity is there to do the work, not to serve as a memorial to war hero Leonard Cheshire.
Had the management and trustees tried to do this in private without any consultation that might be different. But in fact they emailed supporters well in advance to say that this was being considered. Stung by Hastings' attack they have now issued a statement to further clarify the situation.
Despite being one of the largest charities in the country we are not well known - only one in five people under the age of 35 recognises the name ‘Leonard Cheshire’ and an even smaller number associate us with the support of disabled people. In view of this we are exploring options that would give an immediate clear understanding of our support for disabled people whilst still maintaining “Leonard Cheshire” in the name.
A name change might, of course, be counter-productive (free registration required) but Leonard Cheshire should be allowed to have a full and reasoned debate without being distracted by the hysteria of Max Hastings and The Daily Mail.
Posted by Tom Green ( 9:07 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Thursday Jul 06, 2006
What does a self-harmer look like?
Black clothes? Tattoos? Dyed hair? Piercings?Think again.
I'm at a conference at the British Library on self harm, put on by the Camelot Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation. One of the speakers this morning was a young woman called Sian Davies who readily admitted she was a classic middle class girl: has a degree, father is a head teacher. She also isn't dressed in black. However, for the past seven years she has been self-harming. "You don't know what we look like" she told us.
The conference comes on the back of a report from the National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People called Truth Hurts.
It's obviously a very detailed conference with practitioners, teachers and youth workers all here who work at the coalface, supporting young people who self-harm. But for us, who run a more generic, broader service on TheSite.org, many of the same messages are coming through when it comes to helping young people:
- Young people are often afraid to disclose their problems or behaviour because of fear of being ridiculed or told off
- Adults shouldn't focus on trying to stop young people from self-harming; success is subjective so for one young person, not self-harming for ten minutes might be a success
- Education is needed for all people, not just those working directly with young people; a better understanding in the wider world will help people feel less inhibited about talking through their issues
- Self harm needs to be treated holistically, alongside other issues
- Peer support is crucial and support mechanisms are needed for those young people who are helping their friends.
- Young men and boys are still reluctant to talk to anyone face-to-face or call helplines and may look to the internet instead
Tuesday Jul 04, 2006
Seducing the sector
First the voluntary sector was spotted across a crowded room by that nice Mr Brown (v, countless speeches about civic values, the Treasury review of the sector, Miliband as Third Sector Minister etc).
But now a new suitor is trying to muscle in - the equally nice Mr Cameron, who is planning a concerted attempt to win the hearts and minds of the voluntary sector.
Later this month the first Tory MPs will be dispatched on a programme of voluntary service, with backbenchers encouraged to 'roll up their sleeves' and spend a week working with a charity to underline the commitment to noble causes. Cameron has already spent a day mopping floors and changing beds in a Midlands hospital.
Isn't it nice to be wanted.
Posted by Tom Green ( 4:45 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]Subscribe to TheSite.org
Here's some great news for those of you who want to know immediately when we put up new stuff on TheSite.org: we've just launched RSS feeds for the whole website.You can either subscribe to the complete site, or choose specific sections such as Sex and Relationships or Health and Wellbeing. We also have a live feed of new threads on the discussion boards. As I write this, the feed includes topics such as: Watching people have sex; Ebay for noobs; Rolling joints; Parents; and a thread on the death of the British Muslim soldier in Afghanistan. Even if you don't want to read each thread, it's a great way of getting a snapshot of what's being talked about by 16-24 year-olds.
We think that RSS will become crucial to the way that people source content on the internet in the coming years. Microsoft's next operating system Vista has RSS at its heart and although using feeds this way might currently be mainly for geeks and the young, it's only going to get bigger.
Posted by Dom Waghorn ( 1:33 PM ) Link to this post Comments[1]
