How and Why RSA fellows are Giving What They’re Good At

Ella Minty is a public relations expert volunteering with Give What You’re Good At. She has recently joined the RSA. Here she shares how both networks are adding value to her world.

Ella, specialises in cross-cultural and crisis communication has always been fascinated by the way in which the cultural differences between people and organisations mutually and, often undesirably, influence one another.

What would you change in society given the chance?

 

The value of human life – the Western society considers that the human life and human values / culture are priceless and that men and women are equal. As we head further south, towards the African continent, and further east towards South East Asia, these facts our modern society has been built upon rapidly lose value.

In what capacity do you think you could contribute to society through your involvement RSA Fellowship and with GWYGA?

Although “una hirundo non facit ver”, each swallow has its part. There are many issues that various organisations and charities face and, more often than not, they simply do not have the necessary funds to retain top consultants. Although we live in a global society and the communication processes are no longer restricted or limited by numerous barriers, we cannot make the mistake of assuming that our messages, missions or objectives will be understood by all parties – on the contrary: the higher the globalisation, the more intense the tendency of retaining individual, local and national identity.

What attracted you to join the RSA Fellowship?

The Fellowship’s mission of effecting change on all levels of society

What’s the most interesting volunteering opportunity that you’ve had with GWYGA?

Elaborating Beyond Food Foundation’s (BFF) Public Relations Strategy: they have a great mission and their ethos and commitment to homeless people is equal to none. And, having always been a great admirer of hands-on charities, I wanted to make sure that BFF will employ the appropriate communication techniques and channels for their various categories of stakeholders, ensuring an adequate and consistent brand awareness and mission whilst capitalising on their success stories.

 

Build rockstar non-profit teams with expert advice from Aviva

HR’s got Talent will see Aviva’s global HR leaders from across the group, using their expertise to support charities with problem solving their HR related challenges. 

Joining the phone in session will be experts in Talent Management, Recruitment, Learning and Development, Generalist HR Managers, Corporate Responsibility and much more. The group will also have a wide range of international experience from operating in Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Singapore, India and other countries. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to make contacts and receive expert advice for your charity or social enterprise.

Submit your HR questions to kate@givewhatyouregoodat.co.uk 

How to equip charity staff to achieve change

Charities have much in common with commercial organisations. Both exploit capital and labour resources in pursuit of goals and, for both, the raising of funds is critical.  The people employed define the reputation and capability of the organisation and determine the funding that will be available. Since charities need to build commitment, they must give interesting work and engage in career development through training and mentoring.

They must take a long-term view, ensuring that they practice ‘commitment HR’; human resource management practices designed to achieve commitment. With limited resources, this is a feat indeed.

If you’re bamboozled by HR and want to have a friendly and informal chat about some of your challenges register to access expert FREE advice on Wednesday 15th May. Dial-in details will be sent nearer the time.

Senior HR colleagues working at Aviva will be answering your calls. You can submit your questions to Kate@givewhatyouregoodat.co.uk

Equip your people to achieve change. Register now.

 

Volunteering one lunch at a time

Do you struggle to give large amounts of time for charitable volunteering due to other commitments and a busy lifestyle? Then try giving your skills over lunch. Give What You’re Good At is launching a new feature which will enable professionals to find charities that need their skills to solve a problem over lunch.

Here is how it works: A non-profit posts a small project or question that requires professional expertise. The request must be something that can be given during the hour and have a clear deliverable: Think signing off on fundraising marketing or clarifying a term in a contract. The request is routed to individuals  that have an expertise in that area  and are nearby and available to meet for lunch.
The beauty of the new part of our platform is that through the non-profit can get their challenge solved and even get more than they originally asked for.  Non-profits can quickly get a range of responses that were outside the original problem but it can also give the non-profit a broader context and bring new issues to light.

The lunch search will be available in June. Register here for free.

Charities Need Financial Freedom to Cure Social Ills

Give What You’re Good At was established in the hope to give charities greater financial freedom – to invest money in the areas they know will be impactful. Most charities are blighted by limited unrestricted resources. For the uninitiated, unrestricted funding is funding charities can choose how to spend. This is usually non-government or voluntary income, such as unspecified donations or grants and its rare!

In his recent and brilliant Ted Talk Pallotta made the point that we expect charities to invest £1 million in fundraising for a 75% + return. We would never expect this of business. In his marvelous talk he highlights the tensions between the non and for-profit sphere, but fails to articulate why charities need financial freedom. Charities are at the coalface, they know what will and won’t work for their beneficiaries – they are experts in their fields and full of great ideas/innovations and evidence to action them. What they lack is the resource to achieve.

Financial freedom is integral to innovation, which in turn is integral to curing social ills. It harks back to the principles of the lean start-up model. A widely popularized phenomena that tells us to learn all we can from the way the markets behave to our products and services and to continually iterate and improve our offer. Charities tackling hugely complex problems need to do the same, they need space and time to connect with their beneficiaries and to apply their funds in a way that will achieve the biggest impact. How else can we understand how to help youth offenders or people with addiction?