We kicked off our Rethink, Rebuild initiative with an open event inviting speakers Ravi Gurumurthy, Chief Executive, Nesta, Joe Ferns, Director, Baobab Foundation , Edel Harris, Chief Executive, Mencap and Arvinda Gohil, CEO, Central YMCA, to share some of their thoughts about how the sector can take on the lessons learnt through the crisis, build on the innovations and address the highlighted inequalities to build back stronger:   Want to hear more about what Edel and our other guest speakers had to say? Watch the full Rethink, Rebuild event recording. We’d love to know how you feel about collaboration? Do… Read more “Edel Harris, Chief Executive, Mencap on supporting each other”

We kicked off our Rethink, Rebuild initiative with an open event inviting speakers Ravi Gurumurthy, Chief Executive, Nesta, Joe Ferns, Director, Baobab Foundation , Edel Harris, Chief Executive, Mencap and Arvinda Gohil, CEO, Central YMCA, to share some of their thoughts about how the sector can take on the lessons learnt through the crisis, build on the innovations and address the highlighted inequalities to build back stronger: Want to hear more about what Arvinda and our other guest speakers had to say? Watch the full Rethink, Rebuild event recording. We’d love to know how you feel about collaboration? Do you… Read more “Arvinda Gohil, CEO, Central YMCA on the importance of collaboration”

It is often said that change moves at the speed of trust. When people trust each other, they can share information, take risks and act together in pursuit of a shared agenda.   Yet this assumption of trust as a precondition for collaboration can limit our possibilities for influencing change. Gravitating to people and groups we already trust can reinforce unconscious bias. The scale of the Covid-19 crisis means that collaboration out of our comfort zones, across traditional boundaries, is essential for the system-level response we need. This means working with unlikely allies and learning to work with people with whom… Read more “Unlikely allies: Collaborating beyond the comfort zone”

Philanthropists or charitable funders are uniquely well-placed to support innovation and drive systems change as we rebuild from the Covid-19 crisis. Their independence lets them fund areas that are less popular or seen as risky. They can take the long view and fund areas where change takes time or impact is harder to measure. They can share power and resources with groups that have been historically marginalised.   In reality, most philanthropic funding is often fragmented, and channelled to areas that reflect the personal passions of the philanthropist rather than where the greatest need is. This is illustrated by the misalignment… Read more “How cause-related networks can help create systems change”

Collaboration can sometimes perpetuate inequality, exclusion, and unhealthy power dynamics. When this happens, organisations can end up perpetuating the unjust systems they are trying to address through the way that they work.   Collaboration should be equitable, and that includes how we work with other organisations. At NPC Ignites in October 2020, Natalie Creary of Black Thrive revealed how grassroots black and ethnic minority groups are sometimes exploited by charity partners that “want to have a bit of melanin” in their funding bids. If the collaborative funding bid is successful, these groups may find they have little decision-making power in the… Read more “Taking out the tokenism: Ensuring equity in collaboration”