The Problem of Bea, or Royalty in the face of changes to the charity landscape

[In All I Do]

Some posts this morning about Beatrice and her role, and the question of a more "streamlined monarchy" got me thinking. Then I remembered that someone, somewhere, said that Bea was doing the events that Kate should be (which I'm not really interested in debating at all). My initial reaction was that Bea's events are more akin to Alexandra's, again neither here nor there.

At any rate, that set me off thinking about charities in general and the role royals play in them. Specifically, there are currently a massive number of charities with Royal Patrons, which clearly can't be sustained even if Bea ends up being a working royal. However, I begin to wonder if the change in strategy to a streamlined monarchy might be in response to changes in trends with charities themselves.

There are two main trends I see:
1) charity fatigue/too many charities chasing dwindling dollars
2) changes in the way money granters are approaching granting

For the first, it's pretty obvious. There are 180,000 registered charities in England and Wales according to the regulator for the same. On that regulator's website, I counted 12 charities that work to provide clean safe drinking water in Africa. That's a lot of overlaping effort and a lot of people who are chasing the same pockets. Unfortunately, we're also at a time when both individuals and governments have smaller budgets for charitable giving. 

In the non-profit I'm on the BoD of, we're finding a growing trend amongst granters (that is, government and umbrella organizations, etc) to change the focus of their giving. Rather than looking to fund individual charities, they're looking for two or more charities working together to run programmes that achieve ends each charity working alone might not be able to accomplish. Collaboration is the new name of the game in charities.

When we take this back to the realm of the royals, TPT and the RFoWKH are already doing some of the latter. For instance, TPT partners with schools to deliver the XL programme. Invictus is a collaboration between TRF and the MoD, with sponsorship by Jaguar. M-PACT is arguably the best example of this kind of collaboration, with two charities involved and two umbrella charitable granters.

All of this makes me wonder if the arguably unsustainable charity model we've been used to and the upcoming trends in collaboration aren't part of what's driving the streamlined monarchy concept. If the tens of thousands of small, focussed charities start to either fold or merge, the need for royal patronage becomes lessened, and the impact of royal patronage arguably increases.

Anyway, just some thoughts for a muggy August day.

[Curryong]

 :goodpost: Good thoughtful post, Adrienne. That does appear to be the trend.

[wannable]

That is what Charles and William (Harry and Kate) are going at. They also created The Charities Forum and the Charitable Gift Fund. You can read about what each do, unifying all charities in the forum and gift fund in their linked to the pow website.

[Macrobug]

I like the methodology that they are using.  They have made it very clear that the purpose of the Forum is to bring various charities together.  I read somewhere how the meetings that are held allows the charities under the Forum's umbrella the opportunity to share ideas and form coalitions.  The end result can be seen in such events as the Women in Hedge Funds event in London.  Each year they support a different charity.

You are correct Adrienne, there are too many charities devoted to the same thing competing for the same money.  And hopefully a framework like what the Forum utilizes  will alleviate that.

[TLLK]

Adrienne thank you for sharing your experience and perspective here at RIF!! Admittedly I know nothing about how charities and foundations are run so I appreciate hearing from someone who is actively involved in one at the board level.

[In All I Do]

Thanks for the kind words.

To be fair, we're not a charity, but a non-profit community theatre with charitable status from the government. I wouldn't want to give anyone a puffed up idea of my activities. :)

[PrincessOfPeace]

Excellent post Adrienne!! Macrobug here is the model William, Kate and Harry are using.

The Charities Forum is the collection of charities, of which The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are Patrons.

The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry founded the Forum in 2006 as a way to bring their individual charitable interests together and to explore how they could best lend their support to them all in an effective and efficient way.

The Forum has evolved over the years, expanding as The Princes' charitable activities grew. Today, there are over 30 organisations involved in the group including The Duchess of Cambridge's charities.

All the charities work in sectors that support Their Royal Highnesses key charitable areas of focus, including: supporting members of the armed forces and their families, helping children and young people, and promoting conservation and sustainable development.

The group is as diverse as it is unique but all members share common aims and values. The primary purpose of the Charities Forum is to generate ideas and influence in the charitable sector by combining the profile of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry with the diversity and experience of the Forum members.

The Charities Forum meets biannually, with each organisation taking it in turns to host the group. The meetings not only provide an opportunity for the Charities to update Their Royal Highnesses on their recent activities and projects, but they also provide a platform for collaborative activity between the organisations.

Opportunities to support each other are explored at meetings, relationships are developed and bilateral work is initiated, often between charities and organisations that would not ordinarily have been linked through the course of their own work.

For example, in July 2012 Mountain Rescue England and Wales, of which The Duke of Cambridge is Patron, hosted families and young people from the Child Bereavement Charity and Centrepoint (two of The Duke's other charities) and Prince Harry's charity WellChild for a day of outdoor activities. The children learnt how to abseil and how Mountain Rescue teams conduct rescues and evacuations. It was an enjoyable day for all the children and families involved, and was made possible thanks to the links the organisations were able to make through the Charities Forum.

The Charities Forum

[Macrobug]

It really is a smart, well thought out framework.  As Adrienne said, collaborations are the future of charities

[PrincessOfPeace]

Ontario's top court says a Roman Catholic man can't challenge a royal succession law that he says discriminates against his religion.

Bryan Teskey tried to ask the courts to strike down a rule prohibiting Catholics from ascending to the throne, arguing it violates the charter.

But the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a lower-court decision, ruling that the succession rules are not subject to charter scrutiny and that Teskey had no standing to bring the challenge.

Canada joined 16 other Commonwealth countries, following a British request, to fast track a change to royal succession laws.

The revamped succession laws eliminate the outdated tradition that favoured male heirs over their older sisters, giving females equal status, and end a 300-year-old rule that bans the monarch from marriage to a Roman Catholic.

Teskey tried to argue that the changes did not go far enough because they still mean a Roman Catholic person cannot succeed to the throne.

But the Appeal Court dismissed Teskey's appeal, agreeing with the lower court that being a Catholic appears to be his only interest in the case.

Royal baby law stands as court dismisses Catholic challenge - Politics - CBC News