Flexible working practices key to future, says academic

In a lecture on the ‘post-work world’, Dr Justin Davis-Smith of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness outlines four ways in which charities should respond to a future in which most people work fewer hours

Charities should introduce more flexible working practices and build better partnerships with the private sector to help society adjust to a world where people work significantly fewer hours, according to a fellow at Cass Business School.

Dr Justin Davis-Smith, senior research fellow at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School, was giving a lecture on charities and the post-work world, a future in which some believe that greater automation could render as many as 50 per cent of jobs obsolete.

Davis-Smith said that for a more utopian vision of the effect of widespread job losses to come true, charities had four ways in which they could help.

First, he said, charities should model good workplace practices themselves and campaign for the private and public sectors to follow suit.

“I think we have a responsibility as charities and voluntary organisations to take a lead in terms of restructuring our workplaces,” he said.

“So that means offering more opportunities for flexible working, more opportunities for job sharing, and more ways in which people can blend their use of time in the paid labour market with hobbies, voluntary action and charitable activity.”

Second, Davis-Smith said, charities should be more creative in terms of engaging people in social action and volunteering, and in finding ways of blending that with their paid work and other activities.

He said this involved understanding the rise of episodic volunteering, “the desire to just dip in and out of volunteering and wrap it around their lives rather than engage in something for an extended period of time”.

Third, said Davis-Smith, the sector should note the “blurring of the boundaries” between the private and voluntary sectors, and build better relationships with ethical businesses.

“I think there’s a real opportunity for charities and community groups to make much more meaningful partnerships with for-profit groups to try to pick up on the appetite, particularly from the millennial generation, to work in organisations that are doing some social good,” he said.

“I think what we are seeing is that young people in particular are not that choosy about where they work and which sector they work in; they just want to do some good. It seems to me there is a real opportunity for our sector to build more meaningful partnerships with small businesses, social enterprises, B-Corps and some emerging hybrid organisations that are blending for-profit and not-for-profit motives.”

Finally, Davis-Smith said, charities should look at the “sharing economy”– Uber and AirBnB, for example – and how a more “social aspect” could be introduced to that concept.

But he also warned about the challenge to established charities of retaining relevance in a world where technology makes it easier for people to “self-organise”. He said charities should begin to better understand the ideas and values that cause people to interact in this way.

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Regulator finds ‘concerning lack of safeguarding practices’ at new military charities

From a random sample of 21 such organisations registered since 2007, the Charity Commission also found problems with fundraising and financial controls

There is a “concerning lack of safeguarding practices” and issues with fundraising practices at newly registered military charities, according to a Charity Commission report.

When surveying a random sample of 21 military charities registered with the regulator since 2007, the commission found a litany of problems involving fundraising, financial controls and the safeguarding of beneficiaries.

Its report says the commission decided to carry out the exercise after hearing concerns about fundraising practices and the adequacy of safeguarding procedures, particularly for veterans with physical and mental health needs, such as those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The report says some of the military charities in the sample that used professional fundraisers did not have fundraising agreements in place, which is in breach of legal requirements.

It says that some of the charities could not demonstrate why using a professional fundraiser was in their best interests, and had not assessed or managed reputational risks associated with the fundraising methods they used.

Some had “not operated systems or controls to demonstrate sufficient monitoring which ensures the charity receives all of the funds raised by the fundraisers and people given permission to raise money on the charity’s behalf”, the report says.

The report also highlights concerns about safeguarding, particularly in charities dealing with veterans suffering from PTSD.

“The commission found a concerning lack of safeguarding policies and practices in some of the charities and a need to strengthen existing policies in a majority of the others,” the report says.

“From the evidence seen, this was due to the trustees not having considered their beneficiaries to be vulnerable.”

The commission says in the report that in many cases failures in safeguarding or fundraising policies were linked to other problems, such as insufficient controls over the charity’s finances or a lack of financial planning.

There were also concerns about complaint policies and the management of conflicts of interest at some of the charities included in the sample, the report says.

But it adds that the charities examined were generally set up with good intentions and a passion for helping military veterans, and the report highlights some good practice, including effective collaborative working to help beneficiaries and cooperation between trustees.

As a result of the commission’s work, one charity ceased to operate and another is in the process of closing down.

Michelle Russell, director of investigations, monitoring and enforcement at the Charity Commission, said: “My message to those thinking of setting up new military charities is to think carefully before doing so. There are other ways of supporting the armed forces community, including supporting with money or time an existing, established veterans charity. Setting up a new charity might not be the most effective way to help.”

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