Today is our third annual conference – when our vibrant community comes together to learn from each other and debate the issues facing the sector. The conference title is ‘Future-proofing the sector’ and we are focusing on what we believe are three topics essential to the survival and success of the charity sector going forward.
To shape the debate, over the past few weeks we asked our community what they think about these key topics – leadership, funding and governance – and the results are very interesting. Here some of the responses:
- On leadership, 77% agree that the charity and business sectors require the same leadership attributes. We recognise that both the private and charity sectors needs leaders who are authentic and grounded, and who have an understanding of different perspectives.
- On funding, 67% think that securing funding is the biggest challenge facing the charity sector. Interestingly, although this is the most talked about topic for charities, 21% of respondents disagree.
- On governance, an overwhelming 88% do not believe that trustees are always aware of their roles and responsibilities. This is something that our panel will address later today and I’m very interested in the questions that this will provoke.
I’m looking forward to discussing the results of this opinion poll and to hearing from our expert speakers on these topics. What needs to happen, and what are the opportunities to support and develop areas we believe are crucial to a thriving third sector?
Sharing stories of success and challenge in our charity case studies is always one of the highlights. This year we’ll hear about a charity CEO’s leadership journey and how that affects the organisation as a whole, and from another organisation dealing with the delicate issue of a new power balance. It’s sometimes surprising, and always illuminating to hear how the teams overcame their particular hurdles.
Bringing our Partner Charities, Pilotlighters, trustees, friends and staff together is a great opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones, to find common interests and to make a date to get together in the coming weeks and months.
We work with incredibly motivated people and hear inspiring stories of the work different charities do on a daily basis, but there is nothing like the buzz of having them all in one room once a year. The only downside is that there simply isn’t enough time to hear from everyone!
By Gillian Murray, Chief Executive, Pilotlight.