Politicians should take the philanthropy sector more seriously with some “extreme enemies of civil society”, the chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) has said.
Dan Corry has predicted that charities, civil society and philanthropy will not figure prominently in the manifestos of the major political parties ahead of the next general election.
“I’d be surprised if there’s more than a paragraph or two about philanthropy in someone’s manifesto,” he told the NPC Ignites Conference yesterday.
Corrie said charities were not being included in political debates about the issues they work on and that marginalizing the sector in such a way was wrong.
“Some of it may be ideological on both sides […] Some doubt that civil society can do it, while others are completely hostile to civil society,” he said.
“Having a strong and vibrant civil society, with charities everywhere, doing all sorts of things, is certainly at the heart of healthy democracy.”
Other speakers at the event discussed how charities can campaign effectively while avoiding partisan politics.
Government approach to charities not ‘one size fits all’
On a panel on the role of charities in policy and politics, Joseph Rowntree Foundation chief executive Paul Kissack said charities can be powerful and even ‘bend’ on government policy while engaging with respect in policy discussions.
He said his organization had a “quietly constructive” relationship with the government despite disagreement “on some very fundamental issues”.
“It’s entirely possible to be both a vocal campaigner of the sort that governments and other political parties may dislike, and to be a respectful and engaged member of the policy process behind the scenes.”
He said his experience as a civil servant showed “organizations that would simultaneously attack the government” in some areas of policy and very publicly in the media, but “at the same time have absolutely reasonable health and debates, very respectful debates that can move some forward policies”.
Kissack said it was “unusual” that charities should be involved in a broad and open policy-making process and that his charity “doesn’t shy away from politics” but avoids partisan politics.
Rebecca Gill, executive director of ROSA, said many women’s and girls’ organizations lack the resources to make an impact, as around 85% are micro-organisations.
He added that small charities don’t always have the “bandwidth” so others follow, meaning if other bigger organizations are careful then they might be too.
Emma Haddad, Chief Executive of homelessness charity Mungo’s, said she noticed differences in the charity sector in how the public service was engaged, for example between refugee and homelessness services. He said the sector is not “homogeneous” in that way.
Haddad also noted that as the charity is somewhat dependent on government contracts, she initially approached the role and engaged in a very “polite” way, but has since “pushed against it”. He said although the charity was still “cautious”, he found the government was often receptive.
Sunder Katwala, director of the charity think tank British Future, said that if charities were to be taken over they would probably not be in good shape and only in “flashbacks”.
However, there may be a “change of tone” with the charity sector if there is a new government. Katwala also advised that charities should be involved if there is a mission-led government.