Not all charities are born equal

Everyone likes to think they are special and unique, don’t they?

For Sheffield Hospitals Charity, it’s not something simple or quick to explain in an elevator that sets us apart. Oh, the complexity of supporting the breadth and depth of the NHS!

It also takes more than a few seconds to explain why we’re choosing to operate a little differently to other NHS charities – more like a traditional (non-NHS) charity.

Yet regardless of time available, I actually can’t explain why we are subject to a little more scrutiny than others. Has any other health charity in Sheffield been challenged on partnerships with alcohol companies for example (there are some pretty good big ones!)? I don’t think so. We were challenged on this, reviewed our approach and changed things (more on that here). Worth noting that we consider Greg Fell a friend now! I certainly appreciate his input to our Festival of Debate session and general sharing of information and key contacts our way.

To be clear, I’m am 100% here for the challenges that come with this charity.

While thinking about them, I’ve been thinking about the Catch 22 that is:

-????????? needing funding to deliver impactful projects; but

-????????? needing impactful projects to attract funding.

Which comes first?

Some hospital charities go for income generation. They are primarily fundraising organisations. That’s a fair choice, but it’s not ours.

We’re going impact first, while building the team and capabilities to attract and crucially - to manage - more funding.

Impact first

Over the past 12months we’ve done a lot to get our house in order. We’ve introduced new systems and processes (new CRM and website), tightened up our financial and operational planning, and importantly, we set our three-year strategy.

Our strategy 2024-27 aims to get us on the right path for growth as a charity. Central to this is having the greatest impact. Impact is more than just funding good stuff across the NHS. It’s about understanding how our funding (within the context of one of the largest acute Trusts in the country (￡1.3bn) plus Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS FT) can achieve the most for our NHS and the people of Sheffield. The strategy itself isn’t particularly unique in terms of its themes. But how we deliver it, is perhaps a little different to other NHS charities.

We have historically operated by being open to applications from NHS staff for funding. We will continue with this, always. Additionally, we have introduced Funding Calls, so that we can set some parameters for what we want to fund and a deadline to encourage people to apply. We’ve just run two calls in parallel and approved some brilliant projects to fund. On top of this, we are looking at how we are proactive as a funder, seeking out the best projects to fund based on what’s happening across the city and where we can add the most value.

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What does proactive funding look like?

To me, it’s about:

1.????? Playing to our difference. Recognising that most other charities are typically focused on one (or very few) clinical areas and patient groups; they aren’t there for the NHS in itself as we are. This gives us scope.

2.????? The broader context. Knowing that e.g. patient experience in hospital is hugely important, but looking at it in isolation distracts from the challenges that lead to poor experience (you can make anything sound great if you remove the tricky context).

3.????? Looking upstream. Understanding where our proactive funding can support constitutional targets that result in a better NHS for everyone is delivering our mission. An example being, if 80% of health inequalities are caused by social determinants, shall we collaborate with others so that our total is greater than the sum of our parts? Shall we chat with the ICB, the Council, the Universities? Shall we fund things that contribute to a bigger picture of change that ultimately improves things for patients and staff in the NHS?

4.????? Convening. Bringing together experts from across both Trusts and beyond, to work through a process, or a patient journey, and/or to understand what happens beyond the Trusts. I reference us doing this for our upcoming dementia projects here.

Of our four funding priorities (pages 14-18 here), Tackling Health Inequalities, and Research, Technology and Innovation are the most complex for us as a funder. We've therefore sought out the best people to help us shape these areas. We’ll soon be announcing two fantastic people who are joining us as Ambassadors to influence our approach to these priorities. I couldn’t be more pleased that they are sharing their expertise with us to get these areas right.

It’s about ambition

Sheffield Hospitals Charity could carry on forever with a steady stream of gifts that trickle in from patients who have had a moving experience at one of our hospitals and want to ‘give back to the NHS’. The majority of the staff team could leave and it’d carry on funding projects – some of them pretty good.

But we’re not taking that route – we’re giving it rock all to see how great this charity can be.

Because if we can navigate the complexity and secure the support of brilliant people and organisations, together we could improve health outcomes for countless people in Sheffield.

I think that’s worth working for, don’t you?

So, bring it. Challenge us. We might just rise to the occasion.