Charity begins at Home!

Once upon a time we livid in a country where charity was deemed something one did as a good citizen and as such was thought to b reward in itself. Further, charity was practiced by whatever faith one happened to be in and across social and ethnic divide. We were all taught that charity begins at home and to give was reward in itself.

Noblest Oblige was also very significant once upon a time and the landed gentry were at the forefront and gave and led by example. Same with industrialists and those who had earned a bob or two. Lord Nuffeild for example was a very wealthy man in that he ran Morris Motor Car Company. But he gave most of his money away to charity or for the building of hospitals and schools. As many others did. Half the trust organisations we know today came about over a hundred years ago. So, we have a good foundation of charitable works and organisations in this country to be proud of.. However, of recent date and probably starting some 30 years ago the charity and the industry of which it is a part has attracted people and groups very much at odds with the basic principles of the charity and is frequently used as a front for something else, be it self interest or worse.

From the Trustee who likes a charity on his/her CV to the further his/her contacts or simply to look good, to the Government intent on shifting responsibility for this or that thorny issue to any NGO/Charity they can then dump the blame on. History is littered with financial, hard ware and operational waste endemic with charities who have been given too much too soon with no accounting as to the organisations ability to provide the service they have been set up to deliver as an expediency for government, corporation or individual.

Further, many organisations have suffered from being a conveyance to bigger organisations corporate PR image and worse for Governments use to act as a cover for its state covert services. The UN being a particular good case in point. One could recruit a complete special forces company from so called retired former special forces personnel working for NGOs. Which is probably why most countries state departments and foreign ministries look after deployment of donated staff to NGO's and the UN.

On a smaller level abuse of charities particularly in this country are in many ways crippling the industry, although to call it an industry (as that is what it is) sticks in the throat. From the former retired army Colonel who joins a London based charity for retired soldier (a true case) simply to be allowed a parking space near Hyde Park. Tp the Inns of court and Law practices who use charities to generate claim cases and the Corporate giants who wish to higher their green credentials, charities really can be cash cows.

Naturally, what makes it all the more galling is the small charity that started with normal people trying to fill a gap or help a group of disadvantaged people that through its popular appeal grew and was then taken over by charity "professionals" and the people they once helped feel the loss and the loss is also the leaving of the staff who began the endeavor. This is common, tragic and slimy.

My personal (I have some experience here) pet hate are the totally useless idiots who gravitate to positions of some power within big NGOs and Charities. As a case in point:
I once worked for a engineering and electronics company working in developing countries. This brought us to the attention of a major UK Charity.. I had recently returned from working with UNHCR as network manager for their communications network and so was well versed in current comms technology. I received a call from the communications manager of this major charity asking for some advice and I wondered over to Oxford to have a chat. When I got there I was amazed at the size and content of the car park. Rolls, Bentley, Jags and Mercs in abundance. I met the chap concerned and immediately realised he had not the first clue as to his job, its requirements and how to deliver it.

I was to find this problem again and again as I gravitated towards more working with NGOs through the Foreign Office - for whom I worked as a contract staff member. With the UN and then the OSCE I came across international staff who were either spies or simply useless at their job. Indeed, it was a delight when as as Senior Personnel Officer in Belgrade I was allowed - thanks to the mission being in the hands of a truly professional serving General of the Army of Finland to recruit and post properly qualified personnel to key jobs. Naturally, the effectiveness of the mission increased significantly, but the chagrin of those who fell by the wayside due to being found wanting in the simple ability to do the job was a struggle Ill not forget in a hurry. Amazingly I found it easier to fire a observer from Norway for being hopeless easier than one from UK for being drunk and incapable half the time..The old boys network really does exist.

So, from top to bottom and never mind the size it appears that many charities are not fit for purpose and used as vehicles for other than their designed purpose by a collection of individuals who are not even remotely qualified to do the job they are paid to do.. or, indeed volunteer to do (usually this group through no fault of their own) at considerable cost to those they are supposed to serve and to the public who give up the money to run and pay them. Notwithstanding the ambulance chasers who get their money from charities in referrals.

Sad, but do we not get the charities we deserve? for is it not a case that charities are made up of members of that same public it is supposed to serves.. erm! Maybe therefore the degeneration of the charity as an institution is simply a reflection of a general decline in what charity once stood for and our own standards..

A case in point. I have a friend with M.S. she is a retired midwife of over a thousand deliveries and a good egg. We have a basket list and she has ticked off a few of the things she needs to do now and while she still can. Yesterday she went gliding and was lifted out of the cockpit by a strapping KLM Captain as she was unable to get out.. She reports that it was a very nice day.. It took one phone call to arrange that.. Do I make my point? I hope so, because one, i think, should give a little charity as often as one could. Quietly, for it is for you to know what you did.. Its a good feeling.

This week with Kids Company hitting the headlines all I can say is it will not be the first classic charity cock up and until someone decides its time to get Charities regulated properly it will not be the last. I wish it were not so for the sake of many who sadly are dependent upon the goodwill of others.