Few months ago I was shortlisted in a selection process for a Grant Scheme. At the end, unfortunately, they decided not to give me the grant but I got to the last stage and it costed me a big effort to answer all their questions with only a few spare hours a week -I was making long shifts as a waiter and living far away. Yeah, it was a pity. However I believe that the work done say something (either good or bad) about me, my view of the charity sector and some of my skills. It could be they had someone better fit for purpose or just I was a newcomer to London -Now I'm living here a whole year and I believe I've got the grip. Although I am specialized in international development, there are all across the UK many charities I'd love to work for, and quoting one famous gentleman, I'm an optimist, it does not seem too much use being anything else, therefore I've decided to recycle some answers here, just in case someone in the sector think they are worth an interview. Indeed, we live the social job hunting era so, why not?
Do
charities make a profit?
Of course they do. Even though charities are sometimes called
Not-For-Profit, I believe that this name can be misleading. The
third sector organisations make a social profit, it is to
say, they make a profit not for their owners, as a private company
would do, but for the whole society. And we don't need to be talking
about economic profit only. Actually, I don't like the name
charities either, because it seems to me that it takes to a
picture of unequal and hierarchic relationships going from who has
to who has not (money, capabilities, knowledge) based in a sort
of somehow hypocritical generosity, a picture which I believe is
completely wrong. I'd prefer to talk about cooperation, social
organisations, third sector or non-governmental organisations. Words
are important, they say and they do, as we might put it, and
I try to use them in a conscious way.
Describe the purpose of twitter in 140 characters
twitter is the most powerful, immediate and horizontal tool for spreading information, ideas and actions #p2pmedia #democraticmedia
Why is it important to build a relationship / partnership with a donor?
 |
| uncle Scrooge willing to donate |
In my opinion it is key to build a healthy and honest relationship with donors. NGO work is not an occasional and static work, it is rather dynamic and constant, so it is fundamental to establish a transparent and careful relationship with them, because it is very important to ensure that donors are aware and satisfied with the work done and that our performance fits with the donor's interests and priorities now and in the future. In addition, a good relationship with current donors is a basic tool to achieve new ones and, besides, the feedback generated between both parts is an essential improvement tool for our organisation. Donors must know what we do, how we do it and which actual results are provided with their contribution, while we need to know how they feel about it and how they think we could improve our performance.
What are the three greatest challenges currently facing the not-for-profit sector?
This is a rather difficult and opened question, in a complex and changing environment. I would say, firstly, that the current financial crisis affects the sector in a particular double way: on one side it is harder to obtain the resources needed to develop the tasks entrusted and, on the other, it increases the targets we have to try to achieve and reduces the social protection networks and other formal and informal support tools that the beneficiaries could use before. Therefore I would consider the global crisis, together with a certain dismantling of the welfare state, as the first challenge we are facing. Secondly, too many times the NFP sector, in part may be due to the name issue, is not considered -and regrettably sometimes dealt with- as a serious, reliable and results-oriented sector. Consequentially some initiatives don't develop their full potential and at the same time we could find examples of superficial evaluations within the organisations themselves. My third challenge would be the mismatch between the skills of its workers and volunteers and the demands of the society. Consistently with what we have commented about charities displacing public sector in many fields and a not completely professionalized workforce, we find a gap between skills and needs, which should be resolved with a big effort in formation and a change in mentality. In any case, challenges are opportunities, and this is an exciting time to start a career in the UK's third sector.
Stage 3:
They asked a few more stuff related to charities management, community management in Charities and ICT. Firstly, they asked me to write some tweets, promoting now different campaigns of a charity. I am rewriting them again, to make it more realistic:
#QSA's Homestore empowers low income citizens by providing good quality, affordable furniture which helps them to build up their self-worth
— KepaGdeLatorre (@KepaGdeLatorre) 9 de febrer de 2013
the QSA's Knees Up Programme in 2010/11 helped to create bonds and a sense of community and trust between neighbours previously isolated
— KepaGdeLatorre (@KepaGdeLatorre) 9 de febrer de 2013
In 1998 #QSA gathered 130 years of Quaker fight against poverty andtough living condition in East London. #impactquakersocialaction.com/history
— KepaGdeLatorre (@KepaGdeLatorre) 9 de febrer de 2013
Then I had to make a pie chart with another charity's budget. They gave me this:
and I gave them back this:
and I gave them back this:
Well, there were some more questions -a Facebook profile, chosing business to visit and invite them to the dinner and so on. Anyway it was fun, despite the lack of time.
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