Friday Facts: Uk Big Society is imploding

It started as a great scheme! The new UK Government aiming to get people involved in their communities with national citizen service, less  central control, more volunteering and more co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises. The Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured left) said "groups should be able to run post offices, libraries, transport services and shape housing projects."


Rolled out to great fanfare it now seems to be moving from big to bogged.  In fact, the situation in the UK now seems to be getting out of control:


First up as I blogged last week, Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch hired to be one of the main advisers for the Program reduced his time because he found out after his appointment that it was a voluntary role and he could not afford the time or money to volunteer. 


Secondly, this week   Liverpool Council one of the four cities involved in the Pilot project pulled out  after "the council learned in December that it would lose £100m in specialist grants from the government, many of which were allocated to charities and community groups tackling welfare issues, from worklessness to family breakdown.  The Prime Minister of England continued to defend Big Society as he attacked Liverpool Council.

Thirdly Charity leaders are starting to speak out against the scheme. Dame Elizabeth Hoodless, a formidable figure in UK volunteering ha weighted in saying that the Government cuts are destroying the Big Society. She was backed up by others including Sir Stephen Bubb, head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, who said Big Society "more soundbite than programme", causing "a tide of cynicism" and said it was "hitting the buffers".


Eight concerns I have about Big Society:

1. do vast numbers of British people want to overnight suddenly start running, for no pay, services in their areas that for decades have been run for them? e.g. their libraries
2. do we really want everyone to volunteer? There are some I don't believe should volunteer.  
3. a lot of people are no longer connected to one local area in today's modern world
4. Cameron has said: "“I don’t believe that civil society springs up of its own accord” yet has massively cut so much infrastructure  and support for volunteer management e.g. Volunteering England 
5. it means replacing paid staff  with volunteers -morally dubious
6. it ignores the huge numbers of volunteers already out there- will they be expected to volunteer more or will others really join them
7. most telling was that a number of Politicians when asked how they volunteer cold not tell people (ala the cartoon below!)
8. Big Society sounds awfully like the 21st Century version of Thatcher's Privatisation in disguise. A program detested by some Britons and welcomed as salvation by others

In the 70s and 80s there were many TV shows that imagined a future Britain in a state of collapse and bereft of services (The Guardians, The Changes, Noah's Castle).  If they are not careful Big Society may actually hasten that in and not prevent it.

"To tell you the truth Volunteering Sucks"

How would your charity feel if one of your volunteers posted the above comment on a public blog  following a call by your charity for people to volunteer? What would you do?

Here's the full post.

"I already volunteer 3 times a week just to get back on my feet after long illness, and to tell you the truth it sucks. The permanent staff think nothing of you, you get asked to take on their workload and all for nothing, trouble is i cannot find any work out there so the volunteering keeps me going."

This message on an article response on 1 February 2011 @ 9:19PM is now in cyberspace ...forever. It can be searched-and found. It can be forwarded. It can be agreed with. It can be copied and pasted. It can be read by several million people including potential volunteers, donors and sponsors of that agency.

There are two issues here:


1. The Volunteer Feeling
 How many of your volunteers would feel this? Would you know how many feel this way? Have you asked them? What can you do to overcome a situation where your paid staff were perceived to be treating volunteers in this way? How can you repair the damage done to that volunteer?

2. Agency Reputation
A lot of people dismiss the damage that a comment like this could do to your agency.  If the writer had said: I already volunteer 3 times a week for (insert your charity name) and to tell you the truth it sucks, you could probably handle it one way and many readers would dismiss it as one person venting. If other volunteers forwarded it and/or added their agreement to it, then you have a real problem online. Would you know how to handle it?

I am going to do a blatant plug here. This didn't start as a marketing post for me but now its going to be! I run two relevant workshops. One is for volunteer managers on working with employees and the other is a Social Media workshop. Both have had rave reviews from participants and I would love to share them with you or your colleagues or anyone you think might need them. More information is at: http://www.pfts.com.au/training.htm

Okay, blatant plug over-Love your comments on how would you deal with this situation? 

Friday Facts: There is no such thing as a Free Lunch

Imagine being head hunted by the British Government to take on a prestigeous role with Her Majesty's Government.

Imagine resigning from your Board positions to avoid having a conflict of interest.

Imagine steeling yourself for your first day of work.

Imagine the night before you start your new job, you find out that your role has no salary!

This happened to Lord Nat Wei of Shoreditch, the youngest member of the British House of Lords.

What is the connection to us in not for profit land?

On 18 May 2010  Lord Wei was appointed as an adviser for the UK Big Society Project.  One of the priorities of Big Society is to "Encourage people to take an active role in their communities" (volunteerism)

He is designing the approach to building the Big Society in the UK. In other words, he is trying to find strategies to get people to volunteer.

His 3 day role comes with a nice desk but no salary.

His reaction? After 6 months in the role, Lord Wei has reduced his hours from three days to one day a week saying to friends: " he is cutting his hours to allow him to earn more money and "have more of a life"

In other words, he does not have enough time to volunteer. Yes thats right the man charged with increasing volunteerism in England is reducing his own volunteering! Check out the Article on his situation!

Some Friday Facts 

1. Volunteer Management is not free. Why does David Cameron, the Prime Minister of England pay his Communications Director £140 000 and pay nothing to his director of volunteerism? How about we swap that around-ask the Comms director to work for free and employ a volunteering adviser for £140 000?
2. Not Enough time is the top reason in the UK for people to not getting involved in volunteering. Lord Wei has just shown this in action. Love to see his national strategy now for people who say they need more time for family and work.  
3. Money reveals priorities The government spends £4.9 million on  special advisers (ie media advisers). This is about the total budget for Volunteering England. The PM's own special adviser team is being paid about £1.3million of that money - a little less than the amount the Cabinet Office gave to Volunteering England last year. And guess who got reduced funding?
4. Accurate Role Descriptions will keep people engaged - the treatment of Lord Wei happens to lots of volunteers. They are told one thing on recruitment and another when they start the job!

How does your agency, community, department show their real value of volunteering?