Does your charity have the skills it needs to make a difference?
3% of the UK’s workforce are employed by the third sector. That’s 865,916 people using their skills to drive charitable vision and purpose. But the sector is fast-paced and changing. Certainly, those working in fundraising have seen a considerable shift. You might still have a bunch of collection buckets in the closet, but the way we give and receive is changing. Does your charity have the skills it needs to keep up?
Generally speaking, the sector does pretty well – with voluntary organisations reporting fewer skills gaps than their public/private counterparts (thanks NCVO for consolidating the data!). Yet despite this, data still shows 14% of voluntary organisations lacking the skills they need. Specialist skillsets are a noted gap, particularly for larger organisations. Digital skills are another area to be addressed, with smaller charities also finding fundraising roles one of the most difficult to fill. Some of those digital skills gaps can be outsourced at relatively low prices, such as our Google Ad Grant AI tool, which not only applies to your Google Ad Grant, but manages your account with a 100% approval and grant retention rate.
Without those kind of solutions in place, it is a situation that has consequences. The most common of which is increased workload for others. Skills shortages also mean that voluntary organisations can experience practical challenges when embedding new working practices and meeting high-quality standards. It costs money. In fact, 21% of voluntary organisations report a link between skills shortages and increased operating costs.
Why does this shortfall exist? Clearly, diversity needs to improve - with high academic requirements limiting access to potentially valuable new recruits. Looking at NCVO’s report, the issue of training also comes to the fore. In a sector that is changing so quickly (particularly in governance and digital spaces) professional development is a must. Yet almost two-thirds of employers see ‘incomplete training’ as the main cause of workforce skills shortages. Half of the voluntary organisations were unable to provide the amount of training they needed to last year. You won’t be surprised to learn that money is a key barrier to this.
What’s to be done? We know there’s no magic money tree and we are pleased to see one in four organisations partnering with like-minded bodies to address their shortfall. There are definite perks to such partnerships - with NCVO citing a number of reports that showcase the success of this proactive peer-to-peer approach. It’s a good start. But we also want to take this chance to advocate the value of core funding and encourage charities (and their funders!) to embrace the true costs of running their organisation, training included! Every charity needs infrastructure. The stronger that infrastructure – the systems, the policies, the processes and the people – the better the services delivered and the better chance of growth. For real change to happen, we can’t be afraid to invest in the people that deliver it. It’s a bold ask, and one that needs to be seen as an essential part of organisational processes, not just a ‘nice to have’.
Speak to one of our Not for profit specialists to find out how you can use our Not For Profit solutions to meet your charities needs.
