Avoid automatic assumptions
A few years ago, at the Association of Sail Training Organisations annual conference, I was fortunate enough to watch a presentation by Caroline Fiennes of Giving Evidence. In that presentation, Fiennes spoke of the danger of automatic assumptions about what works, what doesn’t and what represents good value for money in the charity sector. She gave examples of scenarios in which the generally accepted ‘best practice’ methods turned out to be less effective than other methods. This, Fiennes said, demonstrated the need for proper, rigorous data analysis when charities, or funders, make decisions on what to spend their money on.
Giving Evidence have been in the news this week as they have just published research into whether royal patronages offer good value for money, or any overall benefit at all, to charities. I suggest you read their results [https://giving-evidence.com/2020/07/16/royal-findings/], but the short answer is: No.
This might seem surprising, but should it?
A royal patronage might be expected to bring an increase in public profile, but the royal patronages are spread so thinly a charity may be lucky to get a royal visit (and press coverage) once every few years.
And though a royal patronage might be supposed to confer an air of legitimacy, a royal stamp of approval, I have never seen a funding application form ask whether a charity has a royal patron or not - suggesting that funders don’t consider it important.
No doubt, there are exceptions to the rule (HRH The Princess Royal’s support of Wetwheels proved most helpful when launching Wetwheels Yorkshire, for example), but Giving Evidence’s research suggests that a charity may do well to focus their limited resources on areas other than royal patronage.
Naturally, this prompts the question of which other activities carried out by charities (or businesses), because they are assumed to be beneficial, might actually be of little benefit. Likewise, which activities, previously assumed to be of low value, have the potential to be more helpful than expected?
The answers will depend on the charity, of course. Each organisation will have a different level of operational capacity and a different supporter base. What works for one, may not work for another. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to get these decisions right, but by asking the questions, at least you stand a better chance of providing the greatest possible benefit to your beneficiaries.