Leading charity consultancy Charity Clarity and investment managers Sarasin & Partners hosted a fascinating training session for charity trustees from across a wide spectrum of organisations last week.
The main attendees were award-winners from the Asian Voice Charity Awards powered by Charity Clarity, for whom the Winners’ Package includes regular training and networking opportunities throughout the year. Six members of the team from Start-Up of the Year One Kind Act attended over the two days of the training, as did eyecare charity Graham Layton Trust and human trafficking organisation Shiva Foundation.
The focus of the training was to provide a series of masterclasses to trustees and programme managers attending to enable them to be more effective in the leadership and management of their organisations. The diverse range of other attendees included charities and social enterprises with a focus on OCD and mental health, East African diaspora in London, feminine hygiene, a parish, microfinance and others.
The two-day course, unique in its breadth and depth in the charity sector in England, featured sessions on developing leadership skills amongst trustees, measuring a charity’s impact, a masterclass in digital marketing through emails, AdWords and video, investment management, fundraising through crowdfunding and digital marketing, as well as managing currency risk for organisations sending money abroad.
The investment management training in particular is an important one for Asian charities more widely. Charity Clarity have found that faith-based charities are often cash-rich but do not operate an adequate investment or reserves policy. This is one of the most important legal responsibilities of a trustee, and one that is most often unlikely to be fulfilled to the standard the Charity Commission requires.
Another area of focus where Asian charities lag behind is in their digital marketing. While mainstream charities place a high premium on ensuring their digital presence is optimised on social media, website and newsletters, trustees from Asian charities often do not have the skills to maximise their wider marketing. This means they are unable to reach as broad an audience, and development relationships with new stakeholders and potential donors.
The nominations for the 2018 Charity Awards are now open. You can submit your entries at www.asianvoicecharityawards.com. The Awards ceremony is on 18 May 2018.
