[WiLT] Benevolence Today: New Charity Coalition set to Help more People in Need

[WiL Admin]

Benevolence Today: New Charity Coalition set to Help more People in
Need

Benevolent Charities Initiative sets out for talks with Charities
Sector to Encourage Wider Collaboration in Service Delivery

A new charity coalition is contacting other charities to develop
channels for wider cooperation across the charity sector. Over the
coming weeks, the Benevolence Today campaign will be contacting major
umbrella organisations as well as hundreds of other charities that
provide services to individuals in the UK. This is following the
launch of the http://www.benevolencetoday.org website earlier this
month.

"Benevolent charities have identified the problem that as working-life
patterns are changing, they are increasingly concerned whether they
reach all individuals and their dependants, who qualify for their
services, once they have left a profession, trade or industry," says
Fred Payne, chair of Benevolence Today and CEO of the Bankers
Benevolent Fund.

"In order to reach out to a wider community and gain in effectiveness,
we aim to develop referral relationships with other charities which
provide services to people, who in the course of illness, crisis, old
age, disability or sudden events face hardship or social exclusion."

The 31 charities behind the Benevolence Today campaign helped 26,000
individuals in 2006. Most of these coalition partners provide grants
to people in need, alongside a variety of other services, such as care
places, advice, visiting services and much more. They have to
fundraise, much like other types of charities, but with pressing need
and many individuals in distress, the Benevolence Today partners are
focusing on how they can best help more people by working together.

Over 11 million people still live in poverty in the UK, and those
figures do not yet take into account hidden poverty and financial
distress that can hit due to old age, job-loss, illness or other
life-crises. At the same time there is often a big reluctance keeping
individuals in need from asking for help, as 2004 research by
Elizabeth Finn Care and the Future Foundation has shown.

In order to overcome these known access problems, Benevolence Today
expects to build referral partnerships with other service-delivery and
advice-giving charities.

"Most of our partners have an occupational link in the criteria for
who qualifies for their help," explains Benevolence Today's Head of
Development, Susanne Kendler. "So we will require other charities to
ask their customers for current or past occupation. Charities often
have small armies of field-workers, who could point people at
additional complementary help. Those in need often feel they go from
one cul-de-sac to another. We want to improve that situation by
starting a discussion about how service-deliverers can refer customers
to others who can help."

"Although we provide a range of other support services too, we believe
that what makes benevolent charities special is that they can give
small grants to individuals. With this, we can complement the work of
so many other charities and we hope that by reaching out to them we
can effectively reach and help more people."

All current Benevolence Today coalition partners are members of the
leading umbrella organisation in the benevolent sector, the
Association of Charity Officers (ACO). ACO's Chief Executive Val
Barrow is pleased with the collaborative model of Benevolence Today.
"As an umbrella organisation, we work closely with members on
improving charities' effectiveness over time and on developing good
practice models. Benevolence Today is a great initiative from within
our membership that clearly demonstrates how in a long established and
traditional part of the charities sector new ways of working can be
embraced to pool resources and improve access to services."

Notes:

1. Benevolence Today is a joint charity campaign. Run out of the
Association of Charity Officers,* the Benevolence Today campaign
office is based at the Bankers Benevolent Fund, as the BBF's CEO is
also Chair of Benevolence Today and an ACO Trustee. The Benevolence
Today office currently has one full-time member of staff who
coordinates activities of all partners and acts as a representative of
the campaign. http://www.benevolencetoday.org

2. Benevolent Today coalition partners can help individuals from the
following industry sectors, professions and trades: Actors *
Architects * Mechanical Engineers * Civil Engineers * Dentists *
British Office Supplies and Services * Book Trade * Charity Employees
* Commercial Travellers * Electrical and Electronic Industries *
Merchant Navy * Furnishing Trades * Officers * Chartered Secretaries
and Administrators * Structural Engineers * Musicians * Postal Workers
* Hardware & Housewares Industry * Solicitors * Timber Trades *
British Nuclear Industry * Licensed Drinks Trade * Bankers * Chartered
Accountants * Grocers * Confectioners * Civil Servants * Public Sector
Employees * News Trade and Journalists, plus other individuals as some
partners do not have an occupational restriction.

3. The Benevolence Today campaign is financed through contributions of
all coalition partner charities who finance the project as a joint
resource pool.

4. The Association of Charity Officers (ACO) is one of the longest
established umbrella organizations in the country. Having been founded
in 1946, it now has over 200 benevolent and care-provision charities
in its membership. The ACO supports their members with information,
policy-work and by providing a voice for the sector. Registered
Charity No 1118605. A Company limited by Guarantee No 6113479.
http://www.aco.uk.net

5. Elizabeth Finn Care - who are developing a complementary website
which will support the objects of the Benevolence Today campaign -
found in a research report commissioned from the Future Foundation in
2004 that their beneficiaries wait on average 5 years before looking
for help.

Posted on WiLT blog at
http://www.freecharity.org.uk/~womeninlondon/?p=407