The winners of the inaugural Asian Voice Charity Awards powered by Charity Clarity earlier this year congregated with other members from the charity sector for an in-depth training session organised by Charity Clarity earlier this month.
The two-day training session was hosted by leading fund managers Sarasin & Partners, who won Investment Management Firm of the Year at the Awards. Overlooking the historic St Paul’s Cathedral, the training connected award-winning and other with social enterprises and leading figures in the sector.
From the attendee organisations, Magic Bus is a non-profit organisation working with 300,000 children and 8,000 volunteer mentors every week from marginalised communities in India. My Life Films is a charity that uses filmmaking to improve the lives of people with dementia. They strive to make films that tell the life-stories of those suffering, celebrating memories and shifting focus away from the illness. Asian Circle is part of the charity The Circle founded by Annie Lennox OBE. The charity is a network of British women from diverse backgrounds supporting disadvantaged women in South Asia. The Govindbhai Foundation is a registered charity that hosts annual events raising money to support disadvantaged children in the UK and India.
There were two US-based charities also which attendees, namely Polio Children, a UK and US registered charity helping children afflicted with polio become productive citizens of society just like any able-bodied child; and Shanti Life, a UK and US based microfinance charity that provides financial capital, skills and training to people in India enabling them to build sustainable businesses.
The diversity of the attendees was impressive, with AgriLedger’s Founder also attending. The company is a distributed cryptoledger (blockchain) mobile app which acts as an incorruptible source of truth for co-operatives of small farmers. Two of the senior members of GoodWorks, including an economic lecturer from London Metropolitan University were also in attendance. GoodWorks is a charity that uses creative techniques based on Catholic Social Teaching to help people engage with each other about applying ethics in the workplace.
Sarasin & Partners provided the group with an understanding of the fundamental principles of charity investment, as well as their responsibilities as a trustee or charity managers. One of the most popular sessions covered the dynamics of charity trusteeship, especially trustee legal duties as well and the relationship between management and trustees.
Charity Clarity’s team explained how social impact measurement works and how it could be a valuable tool to clearly quantify the impact of an organisation. It helps charities to accurately plan, effectively implement strategies, and gives assurance to donors that their money is being used correctly. Other speakers presented interactive sessions on the importance of liablity insurance for charities, how to develop social enterprise trading arms, social media, advanced email marketing tools and how to get pro-bono legal aid.
NuSound radio was present interviewing charities and will be broadcasting highlights and interviews over the coming weeks, so watch out the space.
Are you a charity trustee or work at a charity? Want to understand more about governance, trustee responsibilities and how to increase donations and impact? You can email [email protected] to attend the next training session in December.
