Read on Twitter
a thread @theprivacywolf in answer to your point on competition, duplication, too many charities, whether it's ok for a private entity to receive almost as much £ support as an entire sector @mikeW4ID and @jonathan_m_cook you were also engaged...1/
it is often said 'there are too many charities'. in 2014 i wrote this https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/caron-bradshaw-charitable-endeavour-just-numbers-game/finance/article/1299748 you might find it interesting. within the c170,000 charities 86.7% have income less than 500k. those r local orgs often working exclusively with vols or v few staff.2/
duplication or serving local communities? in the Tesco analogy they= local corner shops. they don't compete w other small orgs they work @ the heart of their communities on a shoe string. these coming 2gether 2reduce charity numbers wld be madness 3/...
there r 13 charity purposes (see https://www.gov.uk/setting-up-charity/charitable-purposes) they include eg amateur sports, education &religion. many of the smaller orgs will be sports clubs, pre-schools, schools & churches - all very place based. again merger is not nec possible or desirable.4/...
for the other c22k? undoubtedly gr8r consolidation cld be in the interests of beneficiaries (where location is not a factor) 2improve outcomes, make services more holistic etc but in my experience it doesn't nec reduce costs. so on to competition...5/
. @theprivacywolf u say competition is great 4 biz bcoz it 'lowers prices, encourages innovation & offers people choice' but consider that bonkers 4 charities. firstly charities are often working where the market has failed & subsidising public contracts (we've done research)..6/
2ndly r beneficiaries not entitled to choice or innovation?would u prefer 13 great big charities that cover the 13 purposes? is there a perfect number? u also say that charities operate under the same rules as Tesco-but then in the same sentence say charities shldnt compete...7/
surely it cannot be both? there is undoubtedly greater consolidation that could happen in the sector. There's prob unhealthy competition 4funds sometimes. back 2 the main point; Tesco rate relief not far short of the total £ support for the vol sector...8/
u say bcoz Tesco have suffered increase costs & their share price hasn't shifted in 20 years the bailout is ok. i don't understand. r u saying that bcoz Tesco have failed 2 increase their market share price that this justifies a Gov bailout?...9/
or r u saying it's ok 4 gov 2subsidise a profit making entity bcoz it's struggling but has performed a service & created jobs since March? if so (as 'same rules apply') why r charities, with greater costs, more demand but less income not being afforded the same support? ...10/
i've no prob w Tesco or competition. i do have a huge prob w the charity sector sharing only slightly more between us than Tesco's rate relief. we create £200bn value 2 GDP, employ c1 mill, & millions of vols. Combined income has decreased c£12bn whilst demand has gone up...11/
final thought charities cannot distribute profit-all funds get reinvested -if the same rules apply 2 us all, as charities r told 2 spend reserves b4 looking 2gov should Tesco have distributed £625m in dividends or shld it have covered it's own overheads before accepting £ms?
