Helping is simple. But inviting people to help is hard.
Charities, NGOs, local communities and such organisations will always face the challenge of getting people to participate in their movement. To get people to care about the causes they bring. So many creative ways have been invented in order to promote a caring society, but some challenges won’t budge.
According to the 2019 Charity Landscape report conducted by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the main concern for charities today is uncertainty and change. To be specific, here are some of their highlighted challenges.
1. Public Trust
Negative media coverage has badly impacted public trust upon charities and fewer people understand the importance of charities. Coverage of corruption, for example, has led people to distrust organisations including (or especially) those with charity purposes. There are also news of conspiracy and “made-up” problems by international organisations, where they actually create the problems to later come as a hero for rescuing the victims.
2. Technology
This sector always gives a double-edged sword on everything it affects. Nearly all charity leaders think that technology can help them innovate new ways to apply kindness, yet some think that technology will instead shift the main problems that charities need to address.
3. Government
Most charities are pessimistic about government support on charities. They even think that within the next few years, the government will only see them as a nuisance for criticising the policies. As we know, some policies are not made merely for the public’s interest. It seems like benefiting the public, but some policies do contain “hidden benefits” for special interests. Charities who are public-pro and more critical will stand up for public interest if the hidden benefits are potentially harming the public.
4. Income
Out of all challenges, generating income remains a problem that charities are facing. The increasing demand for their services is unfortunately followed by more reduction in public or government funding, which makes it hard for charities to meet ends.
However hard (and seemingly constant, if not perpetual) the challenges may be, charities are still optimistic that they will be able to survive and deliver their services. If you were a charity leader, what would you do to face these challenges?