Jenko Real

I hold positions on the executive of three local charities and, I have done so for many years ...
Along with running a very busy marketing, design and display company, I find the rigours of 3rd sector life utterly dehumanising at times - they are often at the mercy of an over-wieldy public sector and rely on the generosity of the private sector as income generator drones ...
After many weeks hard work as well as, and, in between, tending to our clients, I found out this week that a funding bid had been turned down. I should point out that I am chair of an organisation called Survivors Hull & East Riding, we receive little or no direct funding from our local authorities and, following the closure or cessation of service from a local 'sexual violence' agency, we are the sole point of call for victims of sexual assault who are looking for therapeutic care and counselling. I am staggered to acknowledge that victims in a city the size of Hull and immediate rural environs have no recourse to traumatic therapy and there aren't any immediate plans to provide any either.
I began to wonder what actually goes through the minds of those who provide decisions for needy organisations such as mine - do they sit and speed-read the application and concur with other panel members and arbitrarily nod (without so much as a sigh it would appear) to the NO! pile of applications?
Organisations such as ours were formed out of abject need for service delivery - I believe this is the case for many community groups, whereas the public sector tend to be reactive as, when, and if it suits them and their precise agendas.
I am in awe at the courage of founders of such vital groups and the determination they have to deliver services in the face of adversity - indeed, they match the grittiness of some of my private sector peers when it comes down to survival - its a tough world and don't we know it!
I hope you are getting a picture of a shell-shocked family member or friend who has witnessed a need for change or just to do so something positive in response to emotional pain. Very quickly, a support group is formed and, it isn't many months before the individual has to learn about the heavy layers of organisation it seems to require to perpetuate such a help-giving organisation. A poor unsuspecting mum, dad, friend or citizen is all at once expected to be an expert on property sourcing, setting up an executive, begging and cajoling all and sundry to become a trustee, employment law, Mem's and Art's, The Charities Commission, office administration - the list is endless. Then there is identifying and dealing with the potential public sector partners who don't know a thing about your organisation and, are therefore off their radar. Eventually, there is that vital funding bid that, after many weeks of late nights has had all of the passion for the topic squeezed out of it and condensed down to the pitiful level where an allotted expert can make a decision and tick that bloody box - or NOT!!!! On top of this frustration - mum has never written a Big Lotteries Fund application before - the organisation still has a huge waiting list of clients desperate for service ...
It is such a shame that there is so much valuable 'magic-wand thinking' going on and, those people at the coal face do know instinctively what is needed and exactly how they could respond and tragically, their efforts mean so little to those with the power to say YES. It has to be one of the great crimes of our society to place so much onus on gravitating those noble ideas into the 'one size fits all' application for meagre funds only to be turned down by a super-annuated panel of anonymous people.
Please support your local social health pioneers - lets hear less sighs of disappointment and more resounding gasps of relief.

Well, after an hour or so of setting style, I finally get around to doing what I really want to do and that's get some content down. The anticipation is really getting to me and just really want to input some words.

Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel!

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara - 1928-1967