# Do you know which harbour you are heading for?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/09/24/do-you-know-which-harbour-you-are-heading/
- Published: 2012-09-24T13:52:04+01:00
- Author: Simon George

**As Seneca wrote, if you don’t know which harbour you are heading for, no wind 
is the right wind. He probably didn’t have fundraising in mind, but his quotation
is strangely relevant to charity business planning today. **

I have just been advising a charity that has lost much of its statutory funding.
We are looking at funding diversification of course, but a key question for the 
trustees is whether to reconfigure their services to be eligible for alternative
state funding (which, like the wind, has changed direction and for this charity 
could be risky) or whether to stick resolutely to the course established by the 
charity’s founders, which could mean they slowly sink. The problem is, they don’t
know.

This is an interesting challenge to any pilot trying to steer a ship through rough
waters and into calmer seas. Not only where to head for, but how to decide, especially
if the ship is also leaking.

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In charity terms, changing direction might be seen as mission drift – being blown
off course by the “wrong wind”. Or is this just a prudent helmsman, seeking the 
best wind to take the ship forwards? Should they just keep bailing and hope to be
rescued?

Certainly, it is not tenable to do nothing, as the risks are too great. Allowing
the ship to drift and eventually sink is definitely mission failure. On the other
hand, it takes courage to seize the helm and chart a new course, especially if the
waters are unknown and there may be rocks (as well as possibly sharks).

There are certainly no easy answers, but one thing is certain here – leadership 
is key. The trustees will be debating their options. Whichever way they decide to
go, they will need to make a clear decision, then having chosen the harbour they
are heading for, steer the charity resolutely on that course.

Does your charity know which harbour it is heading for and how it will get there?

_Main image: [“Portretbuste van Seneca, Cornelis Galle (I), 1586 – 1650”](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-P-OB-6738)
by Cornelis Galle (I) is marked with [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/CC0/1.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=rich)_

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Simon George is a Director of Wootton George Consulting and a Fellow of the Institute
of Fundraising. He has worked in fundraising since 1987 and works with a wide range
of charities with special interests in fundraising strategy, trusts and legacies.
www.wgconsulting.co.uk si***@*************co.uk Tel 01785 663600.