Now is the Time for Unity Not Apathy

By now most of you in the know will have heard about the decision by the Office of Third Sector to withdraw grants previously offered to a number of small to medium sized charities. I won't go into the details behind the case, information about that is already available in abundance but needless to say, I and my colleagues at Red Foundation are shocked at the way this situation has been handled and extend our sympathy and support to those charities affected.

What I want to reflect upon is how we, as the third sector, have to unite to make our voices heard on this issue. NCVO, supported by NAVCA, have taken up this case and have so far led the call for charities and voluntary groups to sign a petition to lobby the OTS, and are exploring the legal ramifications to ascertain if a case can be brought against them. Both NCVO and NAVCA are to be applauded. Both charities rely heavily on OTS funding and are showing considerable courage and leadership on an issue that affects us all.

And this is an issue that affect us all, make no mistake about that. If we allow the OTS to get away lightly with this decision then we open the doors for future governments to feel it is acceptable to treat the third sector in this way. These projects may have been small previously unheard of charities, but they are part of our sector and as such we need to show our support for them.

The petition set up by NCVO via their www.Louder.org.uk website has so far only attracted 200 signatures. Frankly that's a pretty poor show so far. There are at least a thousand charities on Twitter alone, not to mention those on Facebook and the charities that subscribe to NCVO, NAVCA etc. So why the poor turnout? It's not for lack of awareness I'm sure - Third Sector magazine alone have given the issue extensive coverage so far - so I suspect it may be more down to apathy.

It's very easy to sit back and ignore issues that may not affect us directly and I can understand that many charities that receive government funding may not want to rock the boat and be seen to be biting the hand that feeds them. But one day it could be any of us on the receiving end of such an outrageous policy decision and who would we look to to support us in our time of need?

The one thing that we as a sector have in abundance is our voice, and now is the time to make it heard. The government cannot be allowed to treat any charity in this way and only by uniting our voices to create a big enough noise will government, and the other powers that be, hear us and take notice.

NCVO and NAVCA cannot fight this case alone. They need every CEO, director, co-ordinator and manager of every charity and third sector organisation out there to make sure that the Office of the Third Sector understands in no uncertain terms that this sort of decision making is unacceptable.

Please show your support by signing this petition www.louder.org.uk/otscampaign today and offering any support you can. Your help today could make all the difference.

Jamie Thomas is Chief Executive of Red Foundation