Is our sector facing an existential crisis?
About this session
Are we experiencing an existential crisis in the charity sector? Do we really need to challenge ourselves about the way we do things in order to effect real positive change?
Non-profits worldwide have been struggling with a number of seismic shifts over recent years, well before the current squeeze caused by the ongoing pandemic. Beyond the well-known issues of slowing, plateauing or dropping income, there are other more ephemeral challenges like relevance, legitimacy and trust with stakeholders.
For international INGOs there’s the challenge of north vs. south power and colonialism, for climate and environmental groups we’re seeing more impact being driven by individuals and disruptors stepping around what they may see as institutionalised organisations who are losing the fight. Societal attitudes and expectations are shifting. No longer is supporting charity the default position to deliver one’s personal purpose.
Is the charity sector at a strategic inflection point? Has the sector lost its passion and its way? What are we getting right and what are we getting wrong? Do we need to rethink the notion of charity – it’s construct and expectation? Does the moment we are in right now – a pandemic turning-point of history – present the perfect time to change our ‘business as usual’? Is this a natural evolutionary time for extinction of charity as we know it?
To discuss these huge questions, join a fantastic panel of changemakers from inside and outside the traditional charity sector: Marcus Missen, Director of Communications & Fundraising at WaterAid; Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, CEO at Oxfam GB; Kumi Naidoo, Global Ambassador at Africans Rising; and Clare Farrell, Co-Founder of Extinction Rebellion.