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Be good in 2009

With the credit crunch well and truly with us, and household business names disappearing from the High Street, we all need to think carefully about plans for 2009 and beyond.

I recently had reason to look in detail at the fabulous work of Woolworths Kids First, a charity that was about to celebrate its 10th anniversary, and be acknowledged for some fantastic work they have done in local communities and in primary schools.  As Woolworths gets dismantled by the Administrators, please spare a thought for those at the Charity who are now trying to explore all possible avenues for keeping Kids First in existence, and continuing the long term projects they have started.

This situation highlights the need for everyone involved with charity fundraising and events, to do everything they can to maintain momentum around events and other projects.  Despite the global recession, kids don’t stop getting ill!  Cancer and other serious illnesses still create heartache in too many families!  Schools, communities and families urgently require help at home and abroad!

A recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers suggested that there will be a shortage of funding in the third sector next year, amounting to £2.3 billion.  We cannot hope to bridge that kind of gap, but we can all do our bit to make sure that events and projects we are involved with don’t get shelved.  Once momentum is lost, it is that much more difficult to re-establish your place in the calendar and in budgets!  We might all need to consider scaling back on our projects, postponing large corporate events for smaller projects which retain a ROI, but we must all try to keep a presence in the market, and continue to do good with the money we spend.



Is Football finally giving back?

Back in June 2007, The England football squad made a significnat announcement. Team England FC was born with the FC standing for "footballers charity". Players have chosen to donate their England match fees to the fund and have made a commitment, in terms of personal appearances, to the charities that will benefit from the fund. These include The Bobby Moore Fund and the PFA's charitable arm.

In principle the squad should be applauded for their collective approach and the meaningful donations that will be made to some fantastic and worthy causes. One can get a little more cynical however if you dig a little deeper. In his article in the Daily Mail at the time, Paul Hayward outlined the financial implications of the scheme - current match fees are £1500 for a win, £1000 for a draw and £750 for a defeat. If you multiply this by 23 in the squad and by the 10 or so matches per annum payed by England, you arrive at a tidy sum over any given year, (£230,000 if England drew all 10 games!). However, if you took a high profile member of the squad who was earning anything up to £100,000 per week, then even 12 England wins in a year would mean a personal donation of £15,000 per annum.

The point none of us should forget, is that the players didn't have to do this at all, and their collective approach means far greater impact over the life of the scheme. Apparently the players were reluctant to go public with the scheme initially, fearing a public backlash when the inevitable comparisons between earnings and donations were made. I personally would much rather see the players be proud of their commitment to any good cause and be prepared to talk at length about why they are giving up time and money to support others. Charitable giving means so much more, and has a far greater impact if you genuinely believe in the cause concerned. I am sure many players devote many hours more than most, and give support and financial support as well, so lets here about it! Footballers do get a bad press, sometimes deserved. The American model of sports philanthropy results in many stars having personal Foundations funded from regular donations or even a percentage of earnings, with many implementing charitable programmes back in their own neighbourhoods. It would be a major step forward to see a few players here, having the courage of their convictions and the generosity to match.

What do you think? Are sport stars in this country doing enough?

The views expressed in this article are personal, and not necessarily the views of All for Good Ltd.