Management in Practice

In Need of Support

Working in the voluntary sector can be liberating in its independence and its freedom to provide, in the main, specialised or targeted services. However, that freedom comes at a price and managing a small voluntary organisation is fraught with problems scraping and scrapping for funding.

In general, funders prefer to back exciting, innovative projects that tend to have a fixed-term allocation of money rather than functions such as administration which come under the core funding banner. So when the cash stops so does the project - unless an alternative source is found.

This is the fate of a helpline run by Respond, a charity that provides services to victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse who have learning difficulties, and training and support for those working with them.

Funded with £150,000 over three years by the Community Fund (now the Big Lottery Fund), it built on a project funded previously by the John Ellerman Foundation.

"It's a service mainly for professionals who support people with learning difficulties who have been abused or who have abused others," says Richard Curen, director of Respond.

At the service launch, the number of people with learning difficulties who used the line were 10 per cent of the first 1,000 calls. Now 35 per cent of a 2,000 call sample was from this group. Curen is impressed: "This is really good, especially given that people with learning difficulties often find helplines difficult to deal with."

He acknowledges that funders were clear about the three-year cut off. "But towards the end you can apply for a development grant, with an emphasis on taking the project to the next stage," he says.

Respond's application for a £210,000 grant was linked in with a new project, funded from September, to provide individual therapy for five to 16 year olds. "We have always thought we should run a kind of ChildLine for children and young people with learning difficulties," says Curen.

Although no such helpline exists the bid failed. "They said they only have limited funds and have to make difficult decisions," says Curen.

"In a way, it's understandable and fair enough. But it's difficult to swallow because our helpline worker has been here four years and the helpline manager a year. Both have become integral to the organisation. They have loads of knowledge, enthusiasm and experience."

It proved even more difficult to swallow when a National Audit Office report in July - in the same week as the Big Lottery Fund turned down Respond's application - revealed that £2.7bn earmarked for good causes had yet to be spent.

According to Curen, efforts to find other sources of income also failed. "It's a struggle because we're up against thousands of other charities all competing for very limited funds."

He now has to manage losing a service and making staff redundant - a touch ironic for a therapeutic organisation. "We talk about it as openly as possible," Curen says: "We have a monthly team dynamics session facilitated by a group analyst who knows Respond well.

"I encourage staff to use these sessions to discuss what it's like losing your colleagues and what it's like for an organisation that is struggling with, on the one hand, incredibly difficult stories and experiences for its clients and, on the other, is also experiencing damage and trauma itself," Curen says.

He adds: "I am also aware that there are some difficult feelings, such as anger and resentment. By giving people a chance to talk about those issues and feelings, it allows them to leave in an open way."

Respond is committed to giving the affected staff time to prepare for job interviews. "That's the least we can do," Curen says. "Indeed, when I've seen or heard things that might interest them, I've told them. And we have been encouraging the trustees to get in touch with staff to say they are thinking about them and offering condolences."

And all this at a time when Respond is embarking on a new project. "We will be employing new people in whom I need to be instilling my enthusiasm so they will want to work here and make the project a success, while working with colleagues who are being made redundant. It's a crazy situation to be in," says Curen.

Curriculum vitae:    

Name: Richard Curen. 

Job: Director of Respond. 

Qualifications: Certificate in advanced counselling skills; postgraduate diploma in gestalt psychotherapy; postgraduate diploma in management; currently studying for the postgraduate diploma in forensic psychotherapeutic studies; trustee of the Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability. 

Last job: National co-ordinator, Survivors UK. 

First job: Trainee legal executive.   

TOP TIPS    

• Don't give up. Often things can only get better. 
• Speak to everyone you know, everyone they know and then everyone else - a little nepotism goes a long way. 
• Leave no stone unturned.   

RUBBISH TIPS

•  Ignore the problem for long enough and it will go away.  
•  Pretend to staff that everything is fine when it is not. There's no point in causing panic and lowering morale.  
•  Staff know the score. It's their problem, not yours.