The coming storm: A stronger civil society future needs us all to embrace better endings today
Photo by Robert Linder on UnsplashIn 2019 Stewarding Loss set out to support civil society at all levels to dedicate the time, energy, care and resource to endings that it does to beginnings, uninhibited by fear, stigma or prejudice and rooted in best practice. Today we are gathering funders together to witness the testimony of 2 organisations who recently closed with our support, because we believe we’ve identified some immediate, medium and long term actions that are needed. But we can’t build or maintain them on our own. Blog by Louise Armstrong and Iona Lawrence.
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When it comes to endings, the instinct for many of us is to look the other way. That goes for the ends of relationships, jobs, partnerships or collaborations, the loss of loved ones and yes: the ends of beloved charities and non-profit organisations.
There are some good and understandable reasons for this. Organisational closures or mergers are tricky processes which involve complicated logistical, legal and financial considerations. They are also marked by complex emotions for staff, trustees, beneficiaries and wider communities. Anger, despair, relief, shame, guilt, fear and grief are just a few of the countless experiences that come up time and again as people share their experiences of organisational endings.
So if they’re so difficult and painful, why do we need to pay attention to them? Well partly because we need to: endings look to be on the rise.
Data from the Charity Commission showed fewer charities closed in 2020–2021 than in previous years yet early signs from infrastructure organisation NCVO’s membership statistics for 2021–2022 suggests that the number of organisations closing is on the up. It isn’t hard to guess why. The perfect storm of cost of living, rising energy bills, the long tail of covid-related pressures, decreased funding governmental and philanthropic sources, and staff shortages are all hitting at a time of increased need for services and support in communities. In the words of one charity leader recently: ‘running a charity currently feels a bit like being in charge of a pressure cooker’.
Since 2019, the Stewarding Loss project has explored how and what can be done to design better organisational endings: responsibly, intelligently and compassionately. Stewarding Loss believes endings matter because they are part of the natural cycle of growth, change, renewal and innovation within the charity sector. Over 2.5 years our inquiry has involved: 74 interviews with leaders who’ve closed organisations, 42 pro bono coaching conversations with people considering an ending, and paid consultancy with 5 organisations as they’ve undertaken their ending. We are proud of the impact of this work and the reach it’s had. But don’t just take our word for it:
‘Thank you for stepping in — for offering to help, being a compass and a calm voice reminding us that a good ending is possible and to be aimed for. I think that we always knew it was possible from a practical, financial “don’t hit the buffers” perspective, but your holistic approach added so much. People were losing something of value to them, and you helped us mark that by helping us find our story, our rituals and our closure’. — Recipient of 3 months of consulting support from Stewarding Loss in 2021–2022
‘We couldn’t have done this without your Sensing an Ending toolkit. Everytime we felt lost we returned to it and it helped us prioritise. No other resources or tools came close.’ — An organisation who closed in 2022
‘I can’t thank you enough for the hour we spent on the phone. Having a safe space to talk everything through and test ideas helped me see what it is we need to do. I’ll tell anyone who needs to hear it that this sort of support should be available to all charity leaders.’ — An organisation who benefitted from a pro bono coaching conversation in 2021 and later decided not to close.
Over the course of all this work it has become increasingly clear that there is growing need for this work, an increased awareness of how important it is and proven ways of meeting the need. But there is still a very long way to go if we are to get anywhere near our vision for a more cyclical civil society where endings are embraced and harnessed for the good of people, communities and the planet.
Despite our efforts, too much of the work and impact we’ve delivered has needed to be pro bono and therefore limited in reach and scale. Despite repeated experimentation, we have been unable to identify viable models for delivering this work in an adequately funded way and at a scale that meets the need. We have resisted the temptation to set up an organisation in order to take the founding intentions to the next level — doing so would allow us to access more funds and resources for the work. But it was hard to ignore the irony of needing to set up a new organisation to support organisations to close. It felt funny at best, and antithetical at worst.
Therefore we’re sharing this blog today, and gathering funders together this afternoon to witness the testimony of 2 organisations who recently closed with our support, because we believe we’ve identified some immediate, medium and long term actions that are needed. But we can’t build or maintain them on our own.
AN ACTION PLAN FOR BETTER ENDINGS
This plan builds on the learnings and ideas that have shaped our work since 2019. The change that’s needed is systemic and will take time so we’ve broken it down into stages to show you how we believe actions in the near term can build towards a better, fairer future where endings and loss are considered as readily as growth throughout civil society.
A vision for a loss-centred civil society: In the next decade we need a paradigm shift in how endings are considered as part of the lifecycle of organisations across civil society and beyond. Underpinning this shift would be a transformation of mindsets and cultures. Civil society leaders, funders and stakeholders at all levels would have open hearts and open minds and be comfortable actively anticipating and designing endings of all kinds. People and communities would see closures, mergers, CEO transitions, programming ends, and all sorts of endings as just part of the cycle of change. A ‘growth at all costs’ mentality that places survival of an organisation above other considerations would be replaced by a continuous inquiry of loss and endings, as much as opportunities for growth and expansion.
In the next 2–5 years: Concerted and collaborative action and investment is needed to build an ecosystem of support for endings. Think about the investment funds, leadership schemes, accelerator programmes and all the other support that is poured into new organisations. Well we need that for endings. Because without better endings, we aren’t going to get the quality and quantity of new projects, organisations and movements needed to drive change in these uncertain and complex times.
What can be done next week? This work can start next week with investment and collaboration to create the supportive infrastructure needed for endings. This infrastructure would offer the sort of support that we’ve tried and tested as being effective. The interventions we lay out below could stand on their own, or be hosted by an infrastructure group but should not be behind a paywall if they are to reach the organisations who need this support the most.
A directory of skilled closure experts: There are many skills consultants but they can be too hard to find for organisations in need of their support. This should be a one-stop shop for organisations anticipating or designing an ending and looking to find paid support to help them to do it well.
A closure hotline: Think Samaritans but for organisations who are considering their options. This free-at-the-point-of-use line would offer 1-off, 1 hour coaching support to organisations who might be considering a closure. This could be run as a collective of skilled coaches and advisers who would be paid per hour from a central pot.
A library of resources: This free-at-the-point-of-use library would host resources and signpost to further advice for organisations looking to close well. More widely infrastructure organisations could update their resources using the learnings Stewarding Loss has generated last year.
Dedicated farewell funding: All of the above needs funding. And organisations need funding in order to design and deliver good endings. Funders need to dedicate a % of their annual budget to contingency funding to support endings.
What can we all do now? We can all play a part by committing to encouraging and modelling better conversations about endings from today. We’ve heard countless times in the past 3 years that there is often a paralysing fear of raising a possible ending to fellow trustees, your boss or your funder. The paradigm shift needs all of us and all of us need to start having better, more honest conversations about endings! From CEOs, to staff, to trustees, to funders.
If we consider funders specifically: When funders acknowledge the power they have and take proactive steps to encourage ‘courageous’ conversations with grantees, the quality of the relationship improves immeasurably. Having a funder listen with compassion at all stages of the grant making cycle can be the difference between an orderly or disorderly / more traumatic ending. If you’re a funder and you aren’t sure how approachable you are, you could ask former grantees or trusted friends for their thoughts. The same goes for trustees, CEOs and all of us working in or around civil society.
A better, stronger civil society can start today if we start having better conversations and embracing endings as a part of everyday life.
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The work of Stewarding Loss is on-going. Check out the website for more information or get in touch.