Charities should not shy away from making tough decisions because of a fear of scrutiny and complaints, the chief executive of the support charity P3 has said.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Charity Law Association annual conference in central London this week, Mark Simms said “facts trump feelings” in relation to dealing with complaints about tough decisions at charities.
“We make a decision and sometimes you just have to live with it. You can’t go on appealing stuff forever,” Simms said.
“But some people think you can, that’s how ferocious they feel about it.
“Fairness isn’t everyone getting their own way and compassion doesn’t mean avoiding difficult decisions in charities.”
Simms said he faced difficult decisions “all the time” regarding use of resources and entering contentious spaces.
“But we shouldn’t back away from difficult decisions because it means that people won’t agree with us or will contest some of the decisions we make,” Simms said.
“So long as we focus on our purpose and discharge our legal duties, I think we should be emboldened to make those difficult decisions and not shy away from that because somebody’s going to complain.
“Complaints can be really useful because we don’t get stuff right all the time, but sometimes complaints help us reflect on when we’ve made the right decision and where we’re able to communicate that.
“Learning from that is just as important as learning from when we get things wrong.”