6 million people skive in the snow
Howard Lake | 3 February 2009 | Blogs
So read at least three red-top headlines this morning after yesterday’s weather ground public transport and road networks alike to a halt. Working from home much of the time meant that I couldn’t use the same excuse, unfortunately. However, I’m not sure that those in the charity sector are quite as ready to take a free day as the tabloids suggest.
During the course of yesterday and today, I must have made 20 phone calls to various organisations in the sector at least 75% of which were charities in the south east of England. In every instance, I spoke to someone in the team I needed to work with. When I congratulated them on making the journey successfully, most people I spoke to merely chuckled and responded; "well the money’s not going to generate itself", or something along those lines. I’m not sure if this was an exasperated, sub-conscious thought escaping, but I didn’t hear the accompanying sigh if so. Therefore, I choose to believe that these people were at their posts because they felt they should be.
Nothing ‘lefty’ or soft about that in my view. I think the belief that a career in the charity sector (fundraising or elsewhere at the sharp end) is easier than in the commercial world is misguided. The saddest looking but most committed figure I came across yesterday was the most junior member of a busy marketing and fundraising team who struggled across London for a couple of hours to get to work, using a mixture of buses and tubes where she could. The office was closed early in order that people could get home safely but, due to the continuous snowfall, by this time the public transport system had simply given up. Therefore, she walked four miles in the snow to get home!
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The most impressive part for me is that she carried a bag of work four miles home, just in case the same thing happened and she couldn’t get in today. That’s commitment to the fundraising cause and I hope her manager shouts her at least a donut or three in appreciation.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.