Barely Civil Society

About the Blog

Like most of the organisations I work with, I have precious little space day to day to really think about why we are here and what we are trying to achieve in the third sector. For all of us, that leaves very little room for challenging the fundamentals of what we do in our work, and especially its ethical, political, economic and cultural implications. I also know that many people who work in the sector feel frustrated, and sometimes alone and unheard. They need a space where they feel their frustrations are visible, accepted, and addressed.

We also need to move beyond a bubble of charitable provision to recognise our involvement in a much wider world in terms of politics, policy, and social justice. BCS tackles the big questions, not just the to day to minutiae of charity work.

It’s 100% independent, unfunded, and unrelated to the work of any organisations I work with, past or present. Some weeks are satirical and humorous, others cover serious issues, most often there is a mixture. For me, the most important question I want to ask is: how could it all be different? And why aren’t we supposed to ask?

Why is it needed?

Whereas in the US there’s a fairly developed radical critique tradition in ‘non-profit studies’, the UK’s intellectual approach sometimes appears near-universally technocratic, managerialist, and focused on governance, finance, and risk management. Most mainstream intellectual work in the sector is focused on ‘effectiveness’ ‘efficiency’ and ‘evidence,’ where the ideology of those terms and their value system are unquestioned and unchallenged. Infrastructure organisations, think-tanks, policy units, and even most university departments rarely seem to consider how things might be radically different - or indeed, whether aspects of the work we do might sometimes be fundamentally opposed to our goals. And indeed, they rarely consider the goals themselves. They also proceed from an assumption that charities are, at best, a ramshackle mirror of the public or private sector (or ‘shadow state’) in need of greater effectiveness.

Who Subscribes?

You might be surprised to know that subscribers to the blog are from an even spread of frontline charities, grantmakers, infastructure organisations, universities, and policy organisations, and include senior executives and trustees from some of the largest charities and grantmakers in the UK. Some are clearly keeping their enemies close, but others have engaged much more fully and deeply with the critique and questioning than you might expect. Of course, no doubt some haven’t. I’ve been turned down for at least one job because of it. Well, c’est la guerre.

It’s okay to have a sense of humour

Some of this works through satire. So much of our public discourse in the VCS can be painfully sanctimonious. This is in contrast to what we see in our day to day work, where there’s a rebellious sense of humour in charities that is stronger than in any other sector I’ve worked in. (The only other place I’ve seen with a gallows humour of its equal is in other high stress environments like casualty departments.) It keeps us going.

So I ask tricky questions with a sense of humour - sometimes of the gallows variety. Because serious work can, and should, be fun. And of course it’s always easier to hear criticism when it’s delivered with tongue in cheek.

Subscribe and get involved

So, thanks for visiting my website. If you’re interested in the same things, please do subscribe to Barely Civil Society.

And of course, please do get in touch if you’d like to discuss how I could help you in your mission in my day job.