Island’s vibrant charity culture impresses visiting speaker
GUERNSEY’S charity culture is similar to that of the UK but with ‘bells and whistles on’, according to Joe Saxton of the Association of Chairs.
Mr Saxton was in the island at the weekend to address the Association of Guernsey Charities’ annual conference, which was attended by 120 representatives of the voluntary sector who were given talks and workshops.
Among the topics covered were artificial intelligence, digital marketing and how to fundraise.
Mr Saxton said the Anglo-Saxon tradition was for a vibrant charity sector.
‘And I would say that Guernsey expresses a lot of that with bells and whistles added on,’ he said.
‘It’s very powerful to see how many different charities there are for an island that isn’t even the size of a medium-sized city in the UK.’
The AGC has about 340 members out of a total of some 640 volunteer groups in the island, said chairman Wayne Bulpitt.
Finding volunteers was often highlighted as a need by many such groups, but he said that 41% in particular said doing so was their biggest problem.
‘That was about double the number who said that money was their biggest issue.
‘That’s one of the key things, for me – it’s not all about money.’
The gathering gave people the chance to network and talk about the challenges facing the sector. The idea of using artificial intelligence to help out formed the topic of one workshop.
‘We talk about being short of charity secretaries and administrators, so is AI part of that solution? And in our communication?
‘So we had a workshop around that, how to better use social media, and how to fundraise, how to ask for money.’
Among the contributors were Lloyds Bank and the Social Investment Fund, while Skipton ran a session on the difference between a company’s marketing budget and its corporate social responsibility.
‘If you ask a company to sponsor your event, they look at that slightly differently than if you ask them to give you a donation,’ said Mr Bulpitt.
He said Mr Saxton had made a valuable contribution.
‘He brought fresh perspectives. It’s always great to have the views from people on a much wider basis of experience.’
