‘Our people are our greatest asset,’ proclaims an empty management slogan repeated ad nauseam by executives across all sectors, as they downsize, modernise, streamline and restructure their way towards greater ‘efficiencies’ in which people become as replaceable machine parts. Nowhere is the contradiction more glaring than amongst civil society organisations. Those whose mission statements explicitly …
It’s so hard to find a parking space in Dulwich Village. At one of Southwark’s community councils not so long ago, there was some vocal (and visceral) opposition to a modest council proposal to slightly improve cycling provision and safety in a tiny part of the borough. The residents’ campaign against the proposed change led …
Julia Unwin, chair of Civil Society Futures, published “three dilemmas” for civil society. Here, Tom Levitt responds. Dilemma 1: Where are the boundaries? On the one hand, there is pressure do everything we can to avoid blurring boundaries, and to make sure that we are crystal clear about our definitions: what is charitable, what isn’t? When …
The Baring Foundation has taken the lead in the creation of Civil Society Futures – the independent inquiry into the future of civil society in England. We have done so as we believe it will be central to renewing our purpose of strengthening civil society. Since 1969, the Baring Foundation has given grants to voluntary …
Civil society organisations - and so our inquiry - are increasingly having to answer some difficult questions.
Chatting to people in the street isn’t scientific. But it does give you a sense of something. It does allow you to get a bit of a feel for how particular kinds of people in specific sorts of places talk about things. It permits a glimpse of the light from some of the fractures in …
No white, cisgender, middle class man just “lands” in a senior position in an organisation.
To launch the Inquiry into Civil Society, we interview some people about the sector that they know: how it has changed and how it will. First up is David Emerson, the former chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations. What’s your biggest hope for civil society in the next ten years? My hopes are …
