An away day that wasn't so far away...

This week is Small Charity Week and these days I try  NOT to refer to Culture Shift as a 'small' organisation (because our impact is big!) but this week feels like a good time to proudly identify as a small charity (that is, a charity with an annual income of less than £1 million).

On Monday, we brought together our staff team, board members and some of our freelance creatives and project partners for our annual away day.  We spent the day in the glorious peace of Moulsecoomb Forest Garden   - a hidden secret of East Brighton - and we reflected on the past year, planned for the year ahead and had some of the big conversations that there sometimes doesn't feel space for.  It was a much-needed, much-appreciated day in the company of supportive people with shared values and purpose. 

I know that small charities generally are feeling thinly stretched these days.  It has never been a more challenging time to be a small charity with more need for action in our communities, less funding to deliver and a context of higher-than-usual levels of uncertainty and anxiety.  

So, I for one am hugely grateful for people who choose to work in and for small charities (for some of us we like the flexibility and creative freedom that small organisations can offer).  I'm also grateful for the people who choose to voluntarily give their time and expertise to those organisations as trustees, ensuring that the governance in place is as robust as that of much bigger organisations. 

And let's be realistic. The fact is that 85% of charitable funding goes to 4% of registered charities (according to data from The Centre for Social Justice) and so I'm very grateful to the supporters, funders, commissioners and partners who choose to invest in small charities, presumably because they get good work done and represent good value for money. 

We're not able to take an Away Day every week, it's not Small Charities Week every week but BOTH of those things have coincided for me this week so maybe that's why I'm feeling reflective and determined not to take any of these people and organisations for granted.  

If Small Charities Week achieves anything, let's hope it inspires us to reflect and not take small charities in general for granted.  This week, I'm proud to say Culture Shift is a small charity. 

Julia Roberts, Culture Shift CEO