Ask the Expert: Working with charities
Paul Clark
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
We work with some small charities at our local authority, who often don’t appreciate the pressures we have to deliver more with less. How can we work together more effectively?
Many organisations with a local and specific focus are finding funding a struggle. They want to help their local community, but will often think you have more resources than you actually do.
Spend time to help them develop a longer-term plan to determine what they do, how, for who, how they will show what they have done, and any funding streams that they could access. You can help each other if you can agree on resources, the results they need to show, and how they collect the data. Focus on practical signs of success, changes and the views of service users.
Agree ways of recording the impact of their work, and record and share the information regularly. Share it with managers, councillors, other statutory agencies and the media. It is important to show what is achieved and its value for money.
Answered by Paul Clark, director of the Potential Organisation. He was director of children’s services in Harrow for seven years