Wise words from an old time backpacker?

Apologies for the delay this week – I blame it wholeheartedly on the bloke on the next mat to mine in my yoga class who made the shoulder stand look easy and the extension of the shoulder stand (where your legs bend right over your head and torso and your toes touch the ground) even easier. Despite or maybe because of the fact that I couldn’t breathe properly at this point (the combined mass of my chest and stomach being squashed into my face) I didn’t notice that I’d done my back in. I spent yesterday at the osteopaths. 



I should really report on the big thing I was waiting for (in my post a couple of weeks ago) which was some news about a funding proposal Children Unite had submitted. However, it was rather vague news, it wasn’t a no to the bid but it wasn’t a yes either! We need to re-think the project, think bigger and more long-term about it and re-submit. But because the answer wasn’t an outright ‘yes’ I panicked and have been working on a fundraising strategy ever since. In fact I’ve been tinkering with all the plans I’ve made – strategic plan, fundraising plan, 3 month work plan, colour coding them and turning them into tables with tick boxes I can tick off! I’m learning to be patient, that there are no quick wins. 



On a separate note, a friend and I were talking about ‘the best days of our lives', hers was her time at college, mine was the two years I spent travelling and working around the world. What I valued more than anything about my travelling time was the freedom and the challenge of doing new things. The conversation made me wonder if I would look back on my time now – setting up Children Unite - as the best time of my life. It doesn’t feel like it at the moment! But the more I think about it the more similarities I find. I didn’t have a plan when I was travelling – I bought one way tickets and went where the wind took me. I did everything on the cheap, took up every free offer and learned to trust my instincts not my prejudices. Also I was quite miserable a lot of the time (I am English after all), so although I count it as the best time of my life this wasn’t because I was deliriously happy. I think it was because I did some things I thought I’d never have the guts to do, I challenged myself and learned a lot.

So, to bring this back to my current predicament I am left wondering if I am in a similar place now – facing a big adventure, doing everything on the cheap (that hasn’t changed I have to admit)? I do have a plan now, I have lots of plans! But they’re a bit useless at the moment, they change daily so I’ve decided not to tinker with them anymore and not to panic, to embrace the adventure and trust my instincts. So, yes, I think it helps me to think of setting up Children Unite as a big road triip. And as I’m an old time backpacker I hope I can learn from the fact that I’ve been here before and, despite being miserable some of the time, I know that it worked out alright, in fact it worked out brilliantly.

Words of wisdom from an old time backpacker?

Apologies for the delay this week – I blame it wholeheartedly on the bloke on the next mat to mine in my yoga class who made the shoulder stand look easy and the extension of the shoulder stand (where your legs bend right over your head and torso and your toes touch the ground) even easier. Despite or maybe because of the fact that I couldn’t breathe properly at this point (the combined mass of my chest and stomach being squashed into my face) I didn’t notice that I’d done my back in. I spent yesterday at the osteopaths.

I should really report on the big thing I was waiting for (in my post a couple of weeks ago) which was some news about a funding proposal Children Unite had submitted. However, it was rather vague news, it wasn’t a no to the bid but it wasn’t a yes either! We need to re-think the project, think bigger and more long-term about it and re-submit. But because the answer wasn’t an outright ‘yes’ I panicked and have been working on a fundraising strategy ever since. In fact I’ve been tinkering with all the plans I’ve made – strategic plan, fundraising plan, 3 month work plan, colour coding them and turning them into tables with tick boxes I can tick off! I’m learning to be patient, that there are no quick wins.

On a separate note, a friend and I were talking about ‘the best days of our lives', hers was her time at college, mine was the two years I spent travelling and working around the world. What I valued more than anything about my travelling time was the freedom and the challenge of doing new things. The conversation made me wonder if I would look back on my time now – setting up Children Unite - as the best time of my life. It doesn’t feel like it at the moment! But the more I think about it the more similarities I find. I didn’t have a plan when I was travelling – I bought one way tickets and went where the wind took me. I did everything on the cheap, took up every free offer and learned to trust my instincts not my prejudices. Also I was quite miserable a lot of the time (I am English after all), so although I count it as the best time of my life this wasn’t because I was deliriously happy. I think it was because I did some things I thought I’d never have the guts to do, I challenged myself and learned a lot.

So, to bring this back to my current predicament I am left wondering if I am in a similar place now – facing a big adventure, doing everything on the cheap (that hasn’t changed I have to admit)?  I do have a plan now, I have lots of plans! But they’re a bit useless at the moment, they change daily so I’ve decided not to tinker with them anymore and not to panic, to embrace the adventure and trust my instincts. So, yes, I think it helps me to think of setting up Children Unite as a big road triip. And as I’m an old time backpacker I hope I can learn from the fact that I’ve been here before and, despite being miserable some of the time, I know that it worked out alright, in fact it worked out brilliantly.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

I don’t want to write this post today… so I’ve already decided it will be short.  The mini crisis of last week has turned into a whole downer week. There is news of sorts on the big thing I’ve been waiting for – funding of a 3 year project, but it’s complicated and will take a long time to figure out (I won’t bore you with the details). 

To be brief, I feel like I’m wading through mud, thick oozy mud.  In fact, this reminds me of a children’s song where a group of kids go on a bear hunt and have to wade through thick, oozy mud, long wavy grass and scary woods to get to the bear….at each obstacle they say ‘can’t go over it, can’t go under it, oh no, got to go through it’…..squelch, squerch, squelch, squerch (that’s the sound of wading through thick oozy mud by the way - it was my favourite bit).

So, as I’ve committed myself to setting up Children Unite I suppose I will have to enjoy the downer (it’s only a downer after all, nothing catastrophic has happened) and squelch my way through the week ahead.

Tackling Modern Slavery and Domestic Servitude: Priorities of the UN Special Rapporteur on Slavery

I will be attending this event and wanted to extend the invitation to anyone interested in finding out more about domestic servitude.

Thursday 2nd December, 4.30 - 5.30pm

Committee Room 4, House of Lords

Hosted by Baroness Young of Hornsey, in association with Anti-Slavery International, please join us on the UN International Day for the Abolition of Slavery to hear the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Ms Gulnara Shahinian, discuss the challenges faced in eradicating modern slavery and domestic servitude worldwide.

Please RSVP to Louis Reynolds at l.reynolds@antislavery.org or 020 7737 9436

A mantra of small steps

I feel elated, but it’s only over a small thing really.  I think it’s because I’m waiting for a bigger thing and the longer I wait the more I’m becoming superstitious so a bit of good news gives me hope.  I shall explain – briefly.  The big thing is that I’m waiting to find out if a funding bid we have submitted has got through the first stage…and I’ve been waiting for 3 months.  The small thing is more complicated. Children Unite has six fantastic supportive individuals who have agreed to become Trustees – and have taken on this role for the past year.  But all this time, one of these fantastic supportive people has not ‘officially’ been a Trustee (because of a ‘technical’ barrier). This technical hurdle has been successfully straddled and Children Unite now has its full complement of fantastic, supportive Trustees….and I’m elated, I feel like breaking open the champagne!

But I still seem to be in some kind of wider crisis of confidence – it feels as though all the ‘trappings’ of a solid organisation are being built up (website is on it’s way, I’m renting a small office etc.) but we need a good solid piece of work.  We need someone who isn’t necessarily fantastic and supportive to say  “yep, you seem to know what you’re talking about.  I’ll invest in you”.  There is a game show in the UK called ‘Dragon’s Den’ where people who have business ideas present these ideas to a panel of ‘investors’ who decide whether or not to invest their money.  My children love it.  I don’t, because I can too easily put myself in the position of a contestant in the show, waiting to go on, desperately trying to remember why my organisation is worth investing in!

I suppose, when you’re playing the waiting game, it’s a good time to get your house in order.  I should use this time to ensure that Children Unite has solid foundations so that when I face ‘investors’ my numbers make sense and my thinking is straight.  But I guess I’ve realised that my wider crisis of confidence comes from feeling daunted by the scale of the foundation stones I need to lay.  At our recent Trustees meeting we agreed a three year strategic plan, which was a good step but Children Unite still needs a business plan and a fundraising strategy.  We need to articulate our ‘theory of change’ and develop an outcomes framework….all BIG things.   OK - now I don’t feel so elated!!

However, on reading through this post again I'm reminded of a mantra that a colleague once whispered to me when I was feeling overwhelmed ("small steps, small steps") and that I do like to write lists.  If I can break these big things into smaller steps I can create a list of tasks which I can tick off gradually and feel like I’m making headway.  

AND I’ve just realised I can tick one thing off already - Children Unite now has a full complement of (fantastic supportive) Trustees! 

Now to get onto the second item on the list – the champagne!! (only kidding).

Mindnumbingly dull versus overnight sensation?

Setting up Children Unite has, so far, felt more like setting up a business than a charity….but in a good way. From step one, when Jonathan and I realised there was no international organisation that focused solely on the issue of child domestic work, an old friend of ours has been there to guide us through.

Charlie is now a business communications coach for Think Feel Know. He has been coaching us every month for the past year and a half. We had a coaching session with him this week where we looked at Children Unite’s ‘positioning’. Charlie uses a business model that he is adapting to the charity sector; ‘positioning’ is about figuring out, in a nutshell, what Children Unite is and does - Market, Service, Product and Value. Charlie has translated this into Who, How, What and Benefit.

A year and a half ago we found it hard to articulate exactly what Children Unite is and does because we weren’t doing it yet. I realised that a lot of people involved in ‘charitable’ work (including myself) are easily able to talk about ‘why’ we’re involved in this sector but are less articulate on the rest – particularly the ‘benefit’ (added value) of people working with us as opposed to working with another charity. This benefit issue adds an element of competition to the whole game and we don’t really like to think we’re in competition with each other in the charity sector.

This time however, when we went through Children Unite’s positioning we were clear and fast about the who’s and what’s and we had a breakthrough with ‘benefit’. Charlie has helped us to be clear in our communication and our thinking behind this communication. This has taken time and I’m very grateful that we have, what now feels like, a solid foundation to Children Unite.

Although I’m naturally more spontaneous than Jonathan I never wanted to set up Children Unite overnight. Many people have an attitude of ‘just get going, start up anything…just do it!’ But I’m pleased we haven’t done this. This is mainly because of professional pride – I don’t want to be part of an organisation that is not well thought out, or doesn’t really do what it says it does. It is also because I don’t want to let down people who have encouraged us or who are investing their time and energy (and money) in Children Unite.

For the last two days I’ve been looking at the role of Trustee and have written a briefing for our Trustees on their duties and responsibilities. I’ve been putting off this task as I assumed it would be mindnumbingly dull (and some of it was) but strangely enough, I now feel quite empowered that I KNOW what the role of Trustee is. I was rather vague about it before.

So, what do I learn from all this? I guess I can widen this point out to Children Unite as a whole – there will undoubtedly be more mindnumbingly dull tasks ahead. But, if I can put the work in, do them thoroughly, it is much more satisfying and empowering than ‘blagging’ it and letting people down as a result.