This year’s election could mark a “once in a generation” opportunity for charities to push for radical change, chief executives have said.
Speaking yesterday at the Change Conversations webinar, hosted by the Good Agency, a group of charity leaders discussed the importance of seizing opportunities as the UK heads towards an election.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said 2024 “has got to be the year of hope”.
He said: “If we have a change in government, a Labour government with a decent majority, it is probably a once in a generation opportunity to really push the government to make radical changes.
“We have to grasp that opportunity. And critically, we need to focus in a laser-like way on what we are for and what are the realistic and deliverable solutions.”
He added that in the refugee sector, the “hostile environment is incredibly damaging”, adding: “It’s really the government that has the levers to fundamentally shift that.”
Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB, said that to tackle the climate and nature crisis, “systemic change” is needed due to the scale of the problem.
“And that’s absolutely where you need a government that is prepared to step into that space and drive that systemic change through its policy interventions, domestically and internationally as well.”
Simon Gunning, chief executive of the mental health charity Calm, said it was key to “ride that wave of change” this year, adding: “I feel that the shackles are coming off for us quite a lot.”
Speaking about the charity’s work on suicide prevention, Gunning said: “We’ll be doing the best we can to agitate and try to make that part of the public discourse as we go into what will inevitably be a pretty torrid and exhausting few months as we try to get to the next election.”
Working with other sector organisations will be key, the panellists noted, with Speight saying: “One of my learnings over the past year was the importance of collaborative work in the face of such huge issues.”
Solomon agreed that collaboration would be vital, but said: “You have to recognise that collaboration is not always easy. It does take time and it is hard work and it does involve a different mindset, but it is worth it if you can deliver a greater impact.”
Gunning added that Calm was working to “stimulate a change in corporate benevolence” in order to grow its revenue from these partners.
He said: “One of the key threats we can see, that we ignore at our peril, is that there is growing confusion among the public that supporting a benevolent and sustainable brand equates to supporting a charity.
“We’ve got to hold our corporate partners to account and find ways to be funded in far more effective ways by our corporate partners than we can by the public.”
The panellists also emphasised the importance of positive leadership when reflecting on what they had learned over the past year.
Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: “As a leader you can either bring energy to the situation or you can suck energy out of it.”
Solomon added: “It requires confident leadership to stand up for the values that you believe in, to stand up for what you’re for and not just what you’re against, and to take risks sometimes.
“If you lead with confidence and emotional intelligence you can absolutely position yourself and the sector in the right way.”