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Charting a course: Purpose, conviction, ambition and optimism · And More | In Conversation: Insights from Experts on Philanthropy & Fundraising

• 0:06
  Liz Reilly: Hi Joanna.
• 0:07
  Joanna Motion: Hello Liz.
• 0:08
  Liz Reilly: Nice to see you.
• 0:09
  Joanna Motion: You too.
• 0:10
  Liz Reilly: So we're here today to talk about a combination of pieces that More has published in the past year.
• 0:17
  Liz Reilly: We've just published a series called Charting a Course, and we're about to do a session at the Case Europe Annual Conference about the series that we published.
• 0:29
  Liz Reilly: And the series itself builds on a piece that you wrote last year called Weathering the Storm.
• 0:34
  Liz Reilly: So I wonder if you want to just share a bit around what prompted you to write that piece and maybe some of the few, the key points that you still find yourself thinking about and talking about with others a year in.
• 0:47
  Joanna Motion: Well it's great that it's had an afterlife.
• 0:49
  Joanna Motion: I think it was prompted by a sense that there was a tremendous noise of anxiety and uncertainty right across the sectors where we work.
• 1:04
  Joanna Motion: Education, the arts, international NGOs, health, everybody was battling with.
• 1:10
  Joanna Motion: There's so much going on, and how do we make sense of it?
• 1:14
  Joanna Motion: So it was an attempt to stop and think and reflect and try and come up with some ways in for people to get headspace to to see clean air.
• 1:29
  Joanna Motion: And I think the central notion was how useful it is to distinguish between climate, big picture stuff, which an individual has very little influence in affecting or changing, and the weather, which to some extent is atmospheric activity which you can predict and plan for.
• 1:53
  Joanna Motion: And our starting point was the famous fell walker, Alfred Wainwright, who used to clump across moors and hills and said, I'm sure rather grumpily, "There's no such thing as bad weather.
• 2:10
  Joanna Motion: There's only unsuitable clothing." So it was okay, what's the suitable clothing for people in our business in and around philanthropy that equips you to deal with whatever is being chucked at you.
• 2:25
  Joanna Motion: And we identified four elements that made the difference, and and purpose is one, conviction was another, ambition was the third, and optimism was was the last one.
• 2:40
  Joanna Motion: And I'm so pleased that that you and I think Adrian Punaks have developed that and taken that further.
• 2:45
  Joanna Motion: So what have you been doing with it?
• 2:47
  Liz Reilly: That's right.
• 2:48
  Liz Reilly: So so we, Adrian and I, who is our former colleague who's moved on to new pastures, but Adrian and I, in the past year, have had a series of conversations with leaders, both fundraising leaders and those that are operating kind of institution-wide across sectors and across geographies, around how have they navigated these turbulent times.
• 3:10
  Liz Reilly: What would they point to as some of the approaches and ways of working that really helped them make it through?
• 3:19
  Liz Reilly: And interestingly, we were having those conversations, I think, while you were first developing Weathering the Storm, we started those conversations.
• 3:27
  Liz Reilly: And as we reflected once we'd had a number of these discussions, as we reflected on what was really rising to the surface in terms of the tips that we were hearing, we actually found that your four all-weather garments were still really the right way for us to reflect back some of the their insights.
• 3:46
  Liz Reilly: So the piece that we are now going to be talking about at the Case Europe conference, we have actually four different pieces on each of those garments.
• 3:57
  Joanna Motion: Neat.
• 3:58
  Liz Reilly: So throughout them, what we've asked these leaders to talk about is again kind of what helped you navigate through these times.
• 4:06
  Liz Reilly: What kind, first of all, what kinds of turbulence did you face?
• 4:10
  Liz Reilly: So was it financial, was it political, was it cultural?
• 4:15
  Liz Reilly: And then how did you determine whether you needed to really fundamentally change your approach to navigate those things, or whether actually just continuing to stay the course and be committed to the best practice that you've already had was the way to navigate through those those challenges.
• 4:34
  Liz Reilly: And I think then finally what we asked them for is just to help us come up with really pragmatic tips to help others think about you know how they'll navigate future challenges themselves.
• 4:45
  Liz Reilly: So the series includes those tips at the end of each.
• 4:49
  Joanna Motion: Can we have a sneak preview that you might you might do for the conference?
• 4:53
  Liz Reilly: Yes, sneak preview.
• 4:54
  Liz Reilly: So I think maybe I'll highlight three of them.
• 4:57
  Liz Reilly: It's really hard to choose and the series covers more of them, obviously, but at the conference we'll be speaking about this in more depth.
• 5:05
  Liz Reilly: But I think as a number one tip, we'd say first give yourself a moment to identify what kind of turbulence you're facing.
• 5:14
  Liz Reilly: And I'd quote Katherine Planas from the Edinburgh International Festival, who has a great way of framing this and says, you know, give yourself a moment to ask, is this a "put your seatbelt on" kind of turbulence, or is this a "oxygen masks are dropping" kind of turbulence?
• 5:32
  Liz Reilly: So the kind of extent of the turbulence being one of the first things to ask yourself, which I find really helpful.
• 5:37
  Liz Reilly: So that's that's the first tip.
• 5:39
  Liz Reilly: I think secondly, then don't grow meek.
• 5:44
  Liz Reilly: Don't grow meek in the context of a really difficult period.
• 5:48
  Liz Reilly: So another one of the people that we spoke to who will also be on the panel discussion at the case conference, Ali MacLeod from the National Trust for Scotland, she spoke about how during COVID, working in heritage, there was a moment of having to kind of question for herself, how do I make this case to donors that right now, of all the things that they should be supporting, that supporting the upkeep and renovation of these historic spaces should be amongst their top priorities.
• 6:19
  Liz Reilly: And she reflected, I think, really powerfully about how one of the ways that she landed on the answer for herself, which then helped her represent her cause, was by recognising that heritage helps to ground us and to give perspective on the challenges of our time and actually preserving that sense of heritage, recognising that the moment we're in now is hard, but we'll get past it, we'll see better times, that that's important, and actually heritage has a real place in those challenging times.
• 6:53
  Liz Reilly: So I think do not grow meek and continue to ask for support, continue to talk about the good that your organisation does, even if, in the case of Ali's example, you're not delivering healthcare during a pandemic.
• 7:06
  Liz Reilly: You might be delivering something that's really essential to help people navigate through that time.
• 7:11
  Liz Reilly: So I think first two then are what kind of turbulence are you facing?
• 7:16
  Liz Reilly: Second, and determine that for yourself.
• 7:19
  Liz Reilly: The second is don't grow meek, keep asking.
• 7:23
  Liz Reilly: And I think the third would be there can be a tendency when you're in a difficult moment and you don't have all the answers to kind of shut down communication and say, let's wait until we figured this out before we talk to staff about how we're gonna handle through, for example, financial challenges, or before we talk to donors about what this is gonna mean for certain programs and how we can engage them in the future.
• 7:47
  Liz Reilly: There can be a tendency to just wait until you have all the answers figured out.
• 7:51
  Liz Reilly: And I think the third tip would be don't wait.
• 7:54
  Liz Reilly: In fact, increase your communication both internally with staff and with donors, and be really honest about this.
• 8:01
  Liz Reilly: Is something that came out through many of our interviews, be honest about the things you have answers to and the things you don't yet.
• 8:07
  Liz Reilly: Be a bit vulnerable and keep talking to continue to build the trust that you already have.
• 8:14
  Joanna Motion: Those are three such interesting points.
• 8:16
  Joanna Motion: I can't resist just jumping in on the other two of them.
• 8:19
  Liz Reilly: Please do.
• 8:19
  Joanna Motion: The the first one, Katherine's one, I think it's a lovely distinction, and it leads me into another point, which is is it oxygen mask drops?
• 8:30
  Joanna Motion: And then the the next thing that the air crew will say is put your own masks on first.
• 8:36
  Joanna Motion: And that sense of are you in shape to lead this when the pressure is really on?
• 8:42
  Joanna Motion: Are you looking after yourself well enough to to do this?
• 8:44
  Joanna Motion: Anyway, that's a sidebar thing.
• 8:46
  Joanna Motion: And Ali's standing tall and confident and urgent about the value of arts and heritage in a health crisis, I think is such a good lesson that you know what is it worth staying healthy for?
• 9:06
  Joanna Motion: What matters in the in the long run?
• 9:07
  Joanna Motion: And it is the kind of thing that she's advocating for.
• 9:11
  Joanna Motion: And that staying in touch with your donors.
• 9:15
  Joanna Motion: Yes, absolutely.
• 9:17
  Joanna Motion: Right back when we did the Pears Report 2012 on the state of giving to UK philanthropy, there was an insight there that came from Rory Brooks, I think, the donor who was on the steering group, the big donor to Manchester, who made the point that this is not just about the money, this is about the intellectual and emotional intelligence that donors will bring to your organisation.
• 9:47
  Joanna Motion: So it's not it's not purely a transaction, it's a relationship, which means that we have a responsibility to maintain the relationship and keep our donors in the frame for as you say, the vulnerabilities and treat them as insiders.
• 10:05
  Joanna Motion: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:07
  Liz Reilly: Interesting, yeah, no great points.
• 10:08
  Liz Reilly: And you're making me think too about be really interested to hear from from your experience and thinking about different kinds of turbulence that you've experienced and that you've guided clients through over the years.
• 10:18
  Liz Reilly: Is there anything that surprises you in terms of either the experience that people have had of navigating through those times or the tips that they might offer?
• 10:36
  Joanna Motion: Lots, and you will have some too, Liz, but one that does come to mind is when what looks like a problem can actually be turned around into being a solution.
• 10:49
  Joanna Motion: Something that looks like a weakness can be made a strength.
• 10:52
  Joanna Motion: And the instance that flashed into my mind there is to do with Glyndebourne Opera, and 2003 Arts Council of England issued their funding rules for that year, and they had it in in a big way for opera, the great art form of opera.
• 11:15
  Joanna Motion: And for Glyndebourne, they've lost 50% of their grant, which meant sadly they had to stop touring, which is a blow.
• 11:25
  Joanna Motion: You've got this wonderful summer festival, which is about exceptional excellence.
• 11:32
  Joanna Motion: What do you do in in the other piece?
• 11:36
  Joanna Motion: And it's in the three years since Glyndebourne really got clear what the autumn is for and what that season is for.
• 11:45
  Joanna Motion: If you can't do the touring, what do we do here?
• 11:47
  Joanna Motion: And it's about, they've articulated it as it's about discovery, it's about discovering how opera works, it's discovering new talent, it's about discovering the fun of participation in it.
• 11:58
  Joanna Motion: So that there is a coherence to that now and a narrative.
• 12:02
  Joanna Motion: And they might not have got there so quickly if there hadn't been the the pressure, yes, yes.
• 12:09
  Liz Reilly: So the way that these kinds of times can actually generate a kind of a focus and a creativity as well, I would say, in terms of a surprise that I've experienced, so I'd say it's that you can have such joy and find such meaning in the work that you're doing in those times.
• 12:28
  Liz Reilly: And the example that comes to mind is the work that I did when I was at the University of Edinburgh alongside colleagues at the University of Glasgow and Into University.
• 12:39
  Liz Reilly: It was a collaborative fundraising project to bring Into University's community centre kind of after-school support model up to Scotland.
• 12:48
  Liz Reilly: So it was collaborating across three institutions, and we had already started to do a lot of that work before the pandemic.
• 12:56
  Liz Reilly: We were just getting ready to actually start going out and talking to people when it hit.
• 13:01
  Liz Reilly: And Kirsty Craig, who was at the University of Glasgow, and then Margaret Clift at Glasgow after her, were both really involved in this project then.
• 13:11
  Liz Reilly: And we all actually found that having moments of thinking, we had events planned next month, events in person where we're gonna talk about the vision here and start to get people excited, and then follow that with asking people if they'd really want to make a significant gift to support it.
• 13:27
  Liz Reilly: We had these events planned, you know.
• 13:29
  Liz Reilly: What do we do?
• 13:30
  Liz Reilly: And there was a moment of thinking, well, maybe we just have to wait.
• 13:34
  Liz Reilly: And to Ali's point, is this the time to ask?
• 13:37
  Liz Reilly: What about the pressures that our potential donors are feeling right now?
• 13:41
  Liz Reilly: Is this a sensitive thing for us to raise right now?
• 13:44
  Liz Reilly: And can we do it?
• 13:45
  Liz Reilly: Can we even logically do it?
• 13:46
  Liz Reilly: And then to actually kind of go back to having conviction that actually what this project is going to do is more important now than ever.
• 13:57
  Liz Reilly: And that there are donors who are looking for ways that they can make a difference right now, and this is this should be in the top of their list.
• 14:04
  Liz Reilly: So that conviction then motivated us to say, well, we're gonna have to figure it out then, we're gonna have to do something different.
• 14:11
  Liz Reilly: And we were able to raise the money and get, I think, the first centre up and running while we were still going through periods where we had to wear masks.
• 14:20
  Liz Reilly: So that all happened in a period of, you know, a lot of flux for all of us and for the donors that we were working with.
• 14:27
  Liz Reilly: But I think probably everyone that was involved in that project still looks back fondly on the fact that it got us all with a it gave us all a sense of purpose and it made us all think, yeah, well, so what?
• 14:40
  Liz Reilly: This is not happening the way that we had envisioned, but it still needs to happen.
• 14:45
  Liz Reilly: And that was joyous.
• 14:47
  Joanna Motion: Joyous is such a good word.
• 14:49
  Joanna Motion: I had a call this last week with a team of colleagues to a university that's got lots of turbulence going on, and we underestimate, I think, how the work that we do is the fun bit, is the is the creative, upbeat, positive bit, and people are struggling with all sorts of difficult stuff.
• 15:09
  Joanna Motion: But then they come and talk about this, and they go away standing a bit taller and feeling a bit lighter.
• 15:16
  Joanna Motion: So Eric Thomas used to talk about this, the Vice- Chancellor of Bristol, that you know, the vice-chancellors have many difficult things to do, but this bit is the is the good news.
• 15:26
  Liz Reilly: Yeah, so we can we can bring that joy in difficult times.
• 15:30
  Liz Reilly: Well, great to talk to you about this.
• 15:33
  Liz Reilly: Thanks very much.
• 15:34
  Joanna Motion: Not at all.
• 15:35
  Joanna Motion: I have to say one more thing, if there's time, which is, I think, a sort of closing text.
• 15:40
  Joanna Motion: There is a wonderful children's book, I don't know if you know it called Moon fleet.
• 15:46
  Joanna Motion: I think it may have been a film as well.
• 15:48
  Joanna Motion: By J.
• 15:49
  Joanna Motion: Meade Falkner set in the end of the 19th century, smuggling, very exciting.
• 15:56
  Joanna Motion: And there is a scene in a pub, in an inn, where there's a backgammon board, and written around the board in Latin is a motto, which I'm going to give you in English, which goes like this, because it's highly relevant to what we do.
• 16:11
  Joanna Motion: It says, "In life as in art, skill will make something of the worst of throws." So you may get really difficult cards, really poor cards, but what you do with them is in your in your agency.
• 16:27
  Joanna Motion: And skill is something that we have among us been growing and people can get better at.
• 16:34
  Joanna Motion: So when there's lots of stormy stuff out there, it puts some power in your own hands.
• 16:41
  Liz Reilly: Absolutely.
• 16:42
  Liz Reilly: That's a great thing to end on.
• 16:44
  Liz Reilly: Thanks very much.
• 16:46
  Joanna Motion: Great pleasure.