Everything’s coming up roses!

January 6, 2014Uncategorizedsufficeuk

“Now’s your inning. Stand the world on its ear!
Set it spinning! That’ll be just the beginning!
Curtain up! Light the lights!
You got nothing to hit but the heights!”
(Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) from the musical “Gypsy”) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything’s_Coming_up_Roses

It has been another exciting couple of days in Suffice HQ (my bedroom). Things are beginning to take shape, and I cannot quite believe how far we have progressed already.

The logo has now been designed by my talented son. His name is Xavier Churchman-Conway; his ‘tag’ is XiCC – look on deviantart.com for more of his designs, http://xicc.deviantart.com/gallery/ @Prof_XiCC on Twitter. He’s 21, and has Asperger’s Syndrome.

The logo is a basket with symbols of sustenance and talent – fruit, flowers, music and sketching materials. The ribbon around the handle is in rainbow colours, representing the spectrum of autism, or diversity.

We have three trustees on board now, and I am thrilled at their involvement – they each bring a range of skills and life experiences to the Board and I expect meetings will be truly inspirational. I am so grateful for their commitment. I hope to profile each of our trustees in later posts.

There are a couple of potential trustees in the pipeline, and I do hope they will be able to join us; we need 6-8 voluntary trustees on the Board – all welcome to apply (expenses only paid). I will be arranging to have our first board meeting in Birmingham at the end of January/early February. Please get in touch should you be interested. Our telephone number is 01286 727 007.

Purposeful.

January 3, 2014Uncategorizedcharity, disability, start-up, supportsufficeuk

‘Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value’.
Albert Einstein

The purpose of a charity is to make itself redundant, unnecessary. An outrageous statement from the founder of a brand new charity, perhaps, but one in which I fervently believe.

The Charities Commission is quite clear on the purposes of a charity, taken in conjunction with the Charities Act 2011:

The prevention or relief of poverty

The advancement of education

The advancement of religion

The advancement of health or the saving of lives

The advancement of citizenship or community development

The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science

The advancement of amateur sport

The advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity

The advancement of environmental protection or improvement

The relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage

The advancement of animal welfare

The promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown, or of the efficiency of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services

Any other purposes currently recognised as charitable and any new charitable purposes which are similar to another charitable purpose

The box that Suffice ticks is “the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage”, one of the newer purposes expanded from the earlier 2006 Act. We would previously have ticked “relief of poverty” but the new purposes are better defined and hopefully remove any woolliness in charitable aims.

The history of charity and philanthropy is fascinating, and there is wry amusement to be found in the existence of charities for “really distressed foreigners”. Evidently, these were necessary at the time they were formed. We should be happy that we no longer require Foundling Hospitals for illegitimate babies (although anything is possible in today’s reactionary society) – but it doesn’t mean that the need for support for young inexperienced mothers before and after the birth is no longer vital.

Then there are the charities that start out with a very real focus and need, and do great work for a number of years. The socio-political climate changes, and they find that their purpose has now become the focus of government policy. Great! Isn’t that how Lord Shaftesbury achieved factory reforms and stopped boys going up chimneys? Times have changed, though, and the government’s focus on welfare reform and targeting those distant from the job market now means that charities compete to win contracts from the JobCentrePlus and are the ones who must apply sanctions to beneficiaries who fail to meet the exacting conditions of the Work Programme. I heard just this weekend of someone who was constantly penalised because he had not logged in his job-seeking activity when, in fact, he could not use a computer to do so. I expect rules are bent and allowances made, but how awful to find yourself in a position as a charity where you add to the distress of your beneficiaries! Maybe Suffice will not hold those big public sector contracts, maybe our poor trustees will strain their eyes ploughing through the small print to make sure we never find ourselves in that situation, but I promise you this: Suffice will never operate any project or programme that leaves any of our clients wishing that they had never heard of us.

So, back to my earlier point – our aim is therefore to obviate the need experienced by people at disadvantage. This is a pretty sweeping statement, encompassing definitions of want and adequate means, the thorny issues of equality and positive action, and much more. I will be addressing some of these subjects in later blog posts. For now, suffice it to say (every pun intended), that Suffice will endeavour to make mediation and intervention, firefighting and advocacy the role of everybody. Everybody. Disadvantage through poor education, health issues, hidden disabilities or lack of support should and will become as heinous as child labour and Sunday visits to laugh at the madhouse inmates.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything. You are you, and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets. (Henry Kissinger)

Short but sweet . The old year ends, another will begin in a matter of hours. It is trite, perhaps, but yesterday is history. Let us all enter 2014 with the last year behind us. We can’t change it. maybe was necessary, the way things happened. Let us start afresh with hope tempered with pragmatism, ambition with experience.

I hope that 2014 brings you opportunities, openings, possibilities. In a perfect world we would all have equal opportunities, the same chances, but reality has shown that this is not always so. All we can do is be open to the slightest crack in the door, the glimmer of light at the tunnel’s end.

Suffice will launch in 2014. I do hope we will make a difference, but I really need you to tell me what will help, what you need. I want Suffice to be real, a genuine support, to give those of us with obstacles in our path the chance to prove our worth, that we’re good enough.

Happy New Year…