One of the first lessons I learnt about charity was: “Don’t ask for jam jars!”
One of the first lessons I learnt about charity was: “Don’t ask for jam jars!”
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I spent my happy hours as a child and teenager working with my dad, helping run summer fetes, car boot sales, jumble sales (do they still exist?) and various other events. Dad was a member of the Association of Friends, an organisation that did everything it could to raise funds for the National Children’s Homes (now NCH Action for Children), which operated Killay House Children’s Home and later a respite care unit in Killay.
Someone had the bright idea of making jam to sell at one of the events, but we were short of jars. So an appeal was placed in the local paper (it was the 80s) asking for help. Thousands upon thousands of jam jars flooded in — we only needed about 50.
Apart from spending time with my dad, which was great, I learnt loads. I had my first experience of dealing with customer complaints. I learnt cash handling, event management, and, without knowing it, began picking up customer service skills. Looking back, it was where this shy kid first started to develop a love of dealing with people.
Dad did loads for NCH (and still does under the moniker of The Gower Woodturner — look him up, he’s really good), and I grew up thinking volunteering for a charity was something that everyone did.
I’ve done my fair share of charity work over the years. I’ve had my legs waxed so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve shaved my head (the irony isn’t lost on me). I’ve cycled miles, dressed up as an Oompa Loompa, and, most recently, given my time on a Wednesday and Sunday morning to host a radio show (award-winning, I should point out) on hospital radio.
Every time I’ve done something, I’ve learnt something — and that’s the key point. Charity work is a chance to try something new, learn a new skill and, if all goes to plan, bring that skill back into your business and drive it forward. For example, radio presenting is all about timing, a skill I now use when I do my weekly update videos.
Charity staff and volunteers have a whole raft of skills that can be useful for businesses. Swansea BID is a small team — there are two of us — so in recent years we’ve partnered with the Welsh Air Ambulance for the Castle in the Sky project.
Without their team of experienced event organisers and sponsorship managers, we’d never have got the event off the ground (did I mention there are just two of us?). Castle in the Sky was hugely successful, and both BID and WAA gained something. They raised tens of thousands of pounds, and we backed a project that generated footfall and art in our city.
A partnership between business and charity needs to be more than just, “This is the charity we’re supporting this year.” There’s so much to be learnt from working together. Charities bring expertise your company may not have — event management, training and specialist knowledge, for example. A good example is Swansea BID’s work with the local branch of the National Autistic Society. They provided us with autism awareness courses for businesses in the BID area, and in return we helped them secure new computer equipment via our contacts in the business world.
So, when your business is choosing the charity it will support next year, put some thought into what you can learn from them and what they can learn from you. Of course, it has to be a cause close to your heart, but a charity partnership can be so much more than a donation.
Oh, and by the way — if anyone out there still needs jam jars, I’m pretty sure there are some left somewhere.
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