My first six months at ShareGift

This was originally going to be a ‘my first 100 days’ piece but day #100 turned out to be Good Friday, in the midst of acclimatising to lockdown, both personally and professionally. So much can change in a matter of just a few months.

The weeks now have a new rhythm and routine. Thursday is actually my new favourite day of the week, as it includes our weekly team video call, my grocery delivery to my parents (who are both shielding) and a yoga session via zoom in the evening. And yes, home-schooling happens around and in parallel to this, too. Thankfully this responsibility is shared somewhat with other members of my household.

At ShareGift we closed our office down about a week before the Government’s lockdown order in March. We made this decision because a) working from home and remotely has long been a part of ShareGift’s DNA and so many of the practical and logistical points had already been covered; b) almost every member of our small team commutes to the office using public transport and we were increasingly concerned at the lack of cleanliness (once barely tolerable, in the teeth of a pandemic it becomes unacceptable); and c) our office is tucked away in St James’s / Mayfair borders in London, close to very busy thoroughfares and attractions for international tourists.

That said, there were still some core processes to adapt and post to be diverted. Working still with paper certificates, transfer forms, dividend and residual cheques, we had to set up a ‘Keepsafe’ facility with the Royal Mail which involves them holding onto our post until we can re-open the office (and then work our way through opening it all). Messaging had to be added to our website to encourage people to contact us by telephone and email wherever possible. Electronic signatures had to be adopted for the bulk of our own administrative and governance-related tasks.

Elements of our grant-making process had to be adapted too and are thankfully proving more convenient for recipient charities, stretched as they are in terms of both volunteers and income. During the first six months of this calendar year we granted ￡1.4m to 239 charities (128 of which were first-time recipients of funds from ShareGift). This also means that we have now reached two amazing milestones, albeit a couple of months apart from each other: ￡35m in grants distributed to more than 3,000 charities, since our inception in 1996. In more normal times we would be celebrating in person with the supporters who have made this possible, however that is delayed, at least for now.

Our six-monthly trustee meeting in April was conducted remotely and went without a hitch. We are all becoming increasingly adept at using technology where once we might have defaulted to a manual or in-person route as a matter of course. I’m convinced that this forced ‘remote working at scale experiment’ will cement technology in a greater role in our working (and possibly personal) lives than ever before, even when we eventually become a post-Covid19 world.

Lockdown might have deprived me of the opportunity to continue meeting ShareGift's corporate supporters in person, but it has given me the chance to more easily join many webinars and Zoom meetings that are being run by charities. Charities up and down the UK are using digital means to stay in touch with their funders and supporters remotely, in order to keep them appraised of the impact of their work. It is an education, to say the least, for me to hear about their tireless efforts to support people in need. I’m in awe of their ability to adapt and overcome so many challenges posed by the pandemic. Re-configuring services at speed to meet beneficiaries’ often complex needs - and with severe constrictions on fundraising income and with some staff on furlough - is no mean feat, but the charities I’ve been in contact with have nevertheless achieved this.

So what comes next? On the bigger picture, and worries of a second wave of the virus, I have no idea. I am not an epidemiologist, of either the professional or armchair type, so I shall stick to ShareGift! We will be launching our supporters’ newsletter soon, which I hope you’ll sign up to. We will continue to work with the DCMS and other interested parties on the expansion of the Dormant Assets Scheme (if you're planning to respond to the Government's consultation, it closes on 15 July). We will further our pro-bono work helping smaller charities to access funding from donated shareholdings. And we will carry on working closely with all of our partners, contacts in the corporate and governance worlds, and donors and shareholders, to continue generating this unique and much-needed funding stream for our country’s charities. Their role is set to expand even further in coming months and years, and they are never more needed than now.

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To find out more about ShareGift's work or how to donate shares, check out our website: www.sharegift.org or get in touch with me.