Big Society

A colleague running an air ambulance charity elsewhere in the UK recently wrote an article suggesting that Big Society will be a good thing as it will sort the wheat from the chaff of charities receiving public funding. The assumption was that public funding equals complacency and a lack of accountability! Having worked in this sector for more than 20 years I've seen more funding models than you can shake a stick at and both excellent and abysmal practice at all stages on the statutory/voluntary income spectrum.

He states that noone "has an automatic right to funding" and argues that "if a charity or not-for-profit organisation can clearly demonstrate a need or societal desire for their services then they can attract voluntary funding simply by getting proper fundraisers in place and being more savvy about key messages." What a wonderfully simple world he must live in!

Unfortunately, the reality is that the causes which are least appealing will be the easiest to cut, regardless of how good the service provision is. "Proper fundraisers" tend to want "proper" salaries (he would know all about this as his own salary has attracted significant criticism from his charity's supporters!). "Proper fundraisers" are very rarely found in grassroots community organisations serving some of our most needy, and frankly unpopular, members of society.


Big society may well prove effective in areas with plenty of social capital and relatively simple social needs. But in some of the areas I've worked in in the past and with some of the people I worked with and for, there will be very few people both willing and able to step into the breach with community led independently funded initiatives. The cost of withdrawing funding from these people and areas will be met by all of us in the long run.

I am wholeheartedly grateful for the amazing support that Devon Air Ambulance receives from the people and businesses of Devon. I am very glad we are in a position to be completely independent of government funding but I am acutely aware that this is because it is a popular cause with almost universal appeal.

A small part of me is very relieved that I am no longer tasked with raising funds for community care services for chaotic and challenging people with mental health, drug and alcohol problems in North London or young "NEETs" (Not in Employment, Education or Training) in Tower Hamlets.

I can honestly say that the charities I've previously led have been much more rigorously monitored and evaluated because of the statutory funding they received. With the constant round of regulation, inspection and reporting to the various funding bodies, we didn't have time to sit back on our laurels getting complacent. I am absolutely delighted that my colleagues at Devon Air Ambulance embrace the same levels of transparency and accountability simply because we believe our supporters have a right to expect it, even though there are very few people who ask us for it.