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Issue 25, 2014

BELFAST SAYS NO TO RACISM

COVERAGE INSIDE FROM PAGE FOUR TO PAGE EIGHT

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VIEW, issue 25, 2014

Rise in racism

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Sight loss help

CONTENTS

Page 8 Eva Grosman, cofounder of Unite Against Hate campaign, talks about the rise of racism in Northern Ireland

Page 2

Page 13 The RNIB has launched a new counselling service for older people suffering from sight loss

Talk on assets

Time to dance

Page 10 An upcoming conference in Belfast is to look at the use of public assets by the community/voluntary sector

Pages 14-15 Harry Reid finds out how dancers from DU Dance, left, in Belfast are bringing rhythm into the community

Digital training

A touch of art

Page 12 VIEW cofounder Una Murphy, above, tells why it is important to use media professionals to get your message across

PHoToLinE Photographer Kevin cooper has more than 25 years experience in Press and Pr photography. Kevin works to a wide range of clients in community and voluntary sector organisations as well as the trade union movement.

For quoTaTions conTacT Kevin cooper E: photoline@supanet.com T: 028 90777299 M: 07712044751

Page 17 US artist Boris Bally, above, will be in Derry in August to show local people how they can turn scap into works of art

Editorial

VIEW, the online publication for the community/voluntary sector in Northern Ireland.

T

he alarming statistic that three racist attacks are being reported every day in Northern Ireland should be a cause of deep concern to all those who reject racial prejudice.

Last year, there was a total of 750 racist incidents and 470 hate crimes reported to the PSNI – an increase when compared to the 2011/12 period, as documented by the 2013 Northern Ireland Peace and Monitoring Report.

In a recent assessment of racial violence in Northern Ireland from the Institute of Race Relations, it was noted that the vast majority of the racist attacks which have become headline news have taken place in the middle of

VIEW editor Brian Pelan the night at the homes of foreign nationals, usually from Africa or Eastern Europe.

In a recent attack in east Belfast, the words ‘Locals Only’ were daubed on the homes of Polish families.

The mentality of ‘ourselves alone’ has to be

opposed if we want to live in a multi-cultural society. The days of ‘white-only’ faces in Northern Ireland should be consigned to the distant past.

The weekend protests in Belfast, which were organised at short notice, have to be welcomed.

Thousands of people, including representatives of civic society, attended the event at Belfast City Hall.

VIEW covered this event to show our support to antiracism mobilisations. We will also cover next week’s march in Belfast (on Saturday, June 7) organised by Amnesty International, the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities.

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Mayes Ownallah, left, with Aya Haja and Aya Muhammed who all recently took part in a Barnardo’s NI Language is Fun! programme run in partnership with the University of Ulster Linguistics Department with student volunteers to help children from ethnic minority backgrounds with their English skills. For more information visit: barnardos.org.uk/northernireland

Derry mayor Martin Reilly, left, at the launch of the 2014 Waterside Half Marathon, which takes place in the city on September 14

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Thousands attend anti-racism

Thousands attened rally outside Belfast City on Saturday, May 31, to voice their opposition to racism

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m rally in Belfast

Pole in Belfast @poleinbelfast Thirty-two-year old Paul from Warsaw in Poland who has lived in Belfast since 2010 has set up a Twitter account in response to the recent upsurge in racist attacks.

Image: Brian Pelan

“I became appalled at how ethic minorities living here were being treated. In response to people asking me, I decided to call for a march in Belfast on my Twitter account as a way of voicing my opposition to racist attacks.

“I will be supporting next week's march in Belfast (Saturday, June 7) which has been organised by Amnesty International, the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities.

“The demonization of a whole group by Pastor James McConnell as “evil” was horrible. I also believe that if any politician in Britain had made the remarks made by the First Minister Peter Robinson, who issued a statement in support of Pastor McConnell, they would have had to resign.

“I read Mr Robinson's subsequent 'apology' and didn't see anything in it that constituted a real apology.

“I feel threatened living here; I have friends who feel threatened. I'm sure that many Muslim people feel threatened because of the recent remarks about their religion.

“I also felt very upset at seeing how distressed Alliance MLA Anna Lo became when she talked to the Press about the rise of racism here.”

VIEW, issue 25, 2014

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VIEW, issue 25, 2014

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A number of organisations, including Amnesty International and WARN (West Against Racism Network) joined anti-racism protests in Belfast last Saturday, May 31 Images: Brian Pelan

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Comment Eva Grosman, co-founder of Unite against Hate campaign and CEO of the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building, says it’s time to take personal responsibility on how we communicate with others

‘

Conversations must be well-informed and free from aggression, bigotry and hatred

T

he last few months have witnessed an increase in the number of hate crimes and hate incidents in Northern Ireland, but in recent days bigotry has raised its head with particular viciousness.

All across Europe there is a rising tide of racism, prejudice and xenophobia.

Europe is slowly awaking after the economic crisis with a big hangover.

Globalisation, ever changing social and family structures, value systems, youth unemployment, the drastically increasing gap between the rich and the poor – everything is shifting and not everyone can keep up.

There is a sense of confusion, uncertainty and fear.

And, it's not a coincidence that when we talk about bigotry, we often talk in terms of fear. Fear that blinds us. Fear that produces fundamentalism and manipulates the most vulnerable in our society. Fear that tells us that our differences are too much to overcome.

So, is the problem of prejudice and

’

Racist graffiti which was daubed on the homes of Polish people living in east belfast in a recent hate crime attack hate crime exclusive to Northern Ireland?

Certainly not. What’s exclusive is the legacy of the Troubles – the legacy of the past, which crystallises into the reality of the present.

It seems that every issue here turns so easily into ugly political arguments.

Victims and communities affected are quickly forgotten in the nasty exchanges, point scoring, tit-for-tat politics and hyped up media programmes like the Nolan Show.

Emotions are running high, myths and stereotypes are constantly re-endorsed, communities are polarised further, not to mention the damage to the reputation of Northern Ireland and the harm to the well being of its citizens.

People are disheartened and disillusioned by the lack of leadership.

Time after time we witness the “playground politics” in action, far removed from the Northern Ireland Executive Programme for Government goal of a “shared and better future for all, built upon the values of equality and fairness and the

ethics of inclusion and good relations”.

It will take time for our politics to mature. Therefore, where do we start?

How can we galvanise change? Perhaps, we can all start by taking personal responsibility: focusing on the way we communicate – especially when faced with issues we feel very strongly about.

A Sufi saying comes to mind here: “Before you speak ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, it is true, does it improve upon the silence?”

There are many difficult conversations that need to take place – conversations about immigration, individual and communal identities, dealing with the past and the way forward.

Those conversations must be well informed and free from aggression, bigotry and hatred.

So before we speak, can we dare to see the world through the eyes of another?

Can we dare to respect the difference? Can we dare to honour the dignity of the other?

Practical advice and a sensitive personal approach. We pride ourselves on our unrivalled commitment to clients’ needs.

Edwards & Co. solicitors advises charities and the voluntary sector in Northern Ireland on a wide range of legal issues including charity creation, charitable status and constitutional matters, trading and commercial arrangements, employment law, finance, fundraising and property law, as well as dealing with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

Our team offers a full range of legal services including mediation, wills,criminal law, clinical negligence and personal injury claims, as well as family/matrimonial work.

Contact Jenny and Teresa: Edwards & Co. Solicitors, 28 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA. Tel: (028) 9032 1863 Email: info@edwardsandcompany.co.uk Web: edwardsandcompany.co.uk

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Looking at assets transfer to community/voluntary sector

By Una Murphy

A

CONFERENCE to consider how communities and voluntary organisation in Northern Ireland could use public assets is set to take place in Belfast.

Community Asset Transfer will be considered at the ‘The NI Conversation 14: Making Local Work’ conference and

participants’ opinions could help shape government policy.

The Northern Ireland Executive has approved the transfer of surplus public sector assets to community and voluntary sector organisations.

Debates at the conference, organised by Development Trusts NI, will centre on what the policy means for community and

voluntary sector organisations; which bodies will finance community enterprise, fund local services, community planning and dealing with dereliction and regeneration.

It takes place at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, on June 18 and 19.

• For more information, send an email to info@dtni.org.uk

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Share your digital story with BBC NEARLY a quarter of adults in Northern Ireland lack the basic online skills needed to send and receive email, use a search engine, browse the internet and complete online forms.

The finding in the IPSOS MORI BBC Digital Capabilities Update has sparked a major campaign to help people in Northern Ireland improve their computer skills.

The BBC is the key media partner in Go On UK, is a cross-sector charity established by Baroness Lane Fox to make the UK the world’s most digitally skilled nation.

BBC Journalist Letitia Fitzpatrick is currently looking for interesting, inspiring and newsworthy stories, showing how different life can be when digital opportunities are embraced.

“Our aim is to reach audiences across all of our output and platforms with quirky and challenging stories”, she said.

Email: Letitia.fitzpatrick01@bbc.co.uk

Co-operative call

Above: Two of the many step dancers at the festival in Derry and left, singer Seamus Begley

Stepping out in Derry H

ot on the heels of the Pan Celtic Festival, Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin recently hosted in Derry their third annual Irish and Scottish step dancing festival The festival comprised a variety of workshops, masterclasses and evening concerts with old-style step dancing

taking centre stage.

Amongst the visitors to the festival were Kerry singer and box player Seamus Begley, and original Chieftains member Michael Tubridy, as well as Scottish step-dancing troupe Dannsa and Oireachtas dance champion Gerard Devane.

THE DEADLINE for the ‘Community Shares: Get Ready!” support programme run by Co-operative Alternatives is looming.

It is designed for communities, organisations and campaigners interested in launching a community shares offer among their supporters.

Community shares provide long term risk capital and can leverage other funding.

The shares are not speculative and are based on the “one member, one vote” principle.

“Community Owned: Community Shared” workshops will take place from September to March to show how community shares can be used to benefit community projects Download an application from http://www.coopalternatives.coop/community-shares and return it to tiziana@coopalternatives.coop by June 16, 2014.

Trafficking move A HUMAN Trafficking and Exploitation Action Plan for 2014-15 is to be published soon, Justice Minister David Ford has said.

The Minister said his department has also been working to strengthen human trafficking legislation. and been “working constructively” on amendments to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill.

The bill is expected to be debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly in September.

Mr Ford said the Criminal Justice Act 2013 had brought Northern Ireland’s criminal law into line with the EU Directive on human trafficking. The first annual human trafficking action plan was published in May last year.

VIEW, issue 25, 2014

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VIEWdigital co-founder Una Murphy at 21st birthday event for VIEW

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Image: Kevin Cooper

Use the professionals to get your story across . . .

V

IEWdigital Community Interest Company at CRI (Cromac Regeneration Initiative) in Belfast provides media training and consultancy to help improve the way community and voluntary sector organisations tell their stories.

From digital publishing, broadcast and print media communications, video production and social media we will work with you to design a tailored package to meet you and your organisation’s needs.

We ensure our media training gives your organisation’s staff and volunteers the skills and confidence to face the media and

get your message heard.

We also show your staff and volunteers how to use inexpensive media tools to make your own media content and reach a wide audience.

VIEWdigital’s training associates are professional practitioners from the media and communications industry and have an understanding of the challenges faced by the community and voluntary sector.

A range of learning techniques including seminars, hands on workshops and one-to-one consultancy help to develop participants’ skills and motivate them to put learning into action.

We evaluate our media training to ensure your organisation’s objectives and proposed outcomes are met.

VIEWdigital offers media training in digital publishing; ezine and magazine production and delivery; Broadcast media – getting your story across on TV and radio; video production for the web and communications strategy, including social media, press releases and pitching to journalists.

For more information contact: Una Murphy at www.viewdigital.org or email: unamurphy@viewdigital.org – mobile: 07761486585

VIEW, issue 25, 2014

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New service launched for older people with sight loss

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Opportunity to win Orwell Prize THE Orwell Prize for Exposing Britian’s Social Evils has been launched to support and encourage original, insightful and impactful reporting on social issues in the UK. The new prize is a collaboration between Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and The Orwell Prize, the UK’s most prestigious prize for political writing.

Claire Ainsley, JRF Director of Communications and External Affairs, said: “Journalism has always played a role in uncovering inconvenient truths.

“And today, with poverty predicted to rise to one in four families by 2020 there has never been a more important time for journalists to unearth the very real problems facing our country.

The prize will be open to journalists for work produced in 2014. More information is at available at http://theorwellprize.co.uk/ in September.

Digital conference

RNIB NI Regional Manager, David Barnes, centre, at the launch of the new sight loss project

A

new counselling service for older people recently diagnosed or living with sight loss was launched recently by the Royal National Institute of Blind People in Northern Ireland (RNIB NI) at the Lakeland Forum, Enniskillen.

The project has been funded by a grant of £499,509 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Out: Connecting Older People programme which supports older people affected by issues such as bereavement, disability or long term illness or who live in residential care or sheltered housing.

Looking Forward aims to provide practical and emotional support to blind or partially sighted people (aged 60 plus) at greatest risk of isolation or exclusion.

The programme is free to access and will offer a programme of a minimum of six face to face

counselling sessions and ongoing peer support to help a person come to terms with losing their vision.

Speaking at the launch of the project RNIB NI Regional Manager, David Barnes, said: “This is an exciting and much needed new service which will help prevent a lot of the isolation, loneliness and depression which often comes as a result of deteriorating sight.”

Joanne McDowell, the Big Lottery Fund’s NI Director, said: “We are already seeing the really positive impact that the Connecting Older People programme is having on the lives of our most vulnerable older people in Northern Ireland.

“The programme is supporting a range of projects that are transforming the lives of older people in our communities who are at risk of isolation.”

SATELLITES and social affairs – the link is closer than you think, according to MarieLaure Germain from the Paris-based European Space Agency, Eurisy.

“When the Haiyan typhoon hit the Philippines last year maps produced by a Dutch gaming platform Cerberus were used to support relief efforts.

“The start-up company had developed a game which involved players identifying geographic features on satellite images, she said.

Ms Germain added that satellite technologies were useful tools in the development of education and e-learning projects.

She has helped to organise a ‘Digital Society and Satellite applications’ conference at the Ulster Museum, Belfast, on June 12 which will feature business involved in digital content and services that change the way knowledge is shared and experienced.

Find out more about the conference at www.eurisy.org/event-belfast2014/about

Help for homeless A BELFAST-based charity has staged an overnight sleep-out to raise funds and awareness about homelessness.

100 Help the Homeless held the event outside Belfast City Hall on Sunday, June 1.

The charity was formed in early 2014 by four people who had worked collectively within the homeless sector for about 10 years.

One of the organisers, Kyle Heffernan said: “We wanted to raise awareness and to advocate on behalf of the homeless. We want to set up an advocacy for the guys who 'slip through the cracks’.”

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Putting the rhythm into community Mags Byrne, Artistic Director of DU Dance, tells Harry Reid how the dance company she leads has both its feet firmly planted in community action

Some of the dancers, above and right, who take part in a range of community events in Northern Ireland

M

ags Byrne pulses industrial quantities of energy and passion as she talks about her heartfelt conviction that dance can truly be life-changing for anyone.

When we meet to discuss the many facets of activity that combine to give DU Dance it’s unique personality, Mags is buzzing from some welcome news.

She’d just heard that Merge Cru, one of the youth dance groups from across Northern Ireland, that she and her team are involved in supporting and mentoring, has been selected to perform at the Commonwealth Youth Dance Festival taking place in Glasgow in July.

“It’s fantastic. The young people in Merge will get the chance to be one of 36 youth dance groups from across the world taking part in the festival. They’ll be

Passionate: Mags Byrne performing alongside contemporaries from countries as diverse as Namibia, India, Malta and New Zealand, so as well as the

confidence boost in being selected for such a showcase, they’ll be able to learn from and share with peers participating in the stunning line-up of this international celebration of youth dance.”

Yet as Mags goes on to explain, this development, while an exciting one, represents only one end of a broad spectrum of DU Dance’s activities and the aspirations these rest on.

“Essentially our mission is to assist people from any and all backgrounds to embrace contemporary dance - in whatever form – from ballroom to hip hop – and take their involvement with it as far as they want to.

“For many, this will mean being introduced to choreographed dance for the first time. For some, this will involve participation in one short six-week

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community-based project; others will take things further by taking part in one of our longer programmes, while a small minority will seek to pursue dance as a career. Our commitment is the same to all no matter how long their engagement with us.

“DU Dance is fundamentally about the potential of dance to act as a transformative vehicle for both communities and the individuals within them. We exist to engage with all sorts of people in all sorts of communities, both geographically-based communities and communities of interest’.

A brief look at just a selection of examples from the range of projects and programmes DU Dance is involved in demonstrates not only how eclectic the activity they are engaged in is, but reveals the underlying unity all of it shares in terms of the company’s underlying

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philosophy. “Highlighting specific examples of our work shows our focus on young people but also demonstrates other characteristics of the people who we are involved with,” says Mags.

“For instance we run a project in Dungannon called Sutemos, which means twilight in Lithuanian. This involves people from Eastern Europe recently arrived to work in Northern Ireland. Then there is Alternative Energies in Ballymoney which is an intergenerational project showing age is no barrier to creative movement.

“Everyone can be involved in a DU Dance project because the medium of expression is the body and everybody has one. We harness fundamental movements like turning, jumping, running, stretching and through a process of bringing people together, gaining their trust and exploring what these fundamental movements can

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become and turn these into choreographed performances’.

“All of this involves DU Dance working with community-based partner organisations to facilitate processes of unlocking and releasing. We work with people to unlock their potential and release the repressed feelings that everyone carries which makes it an emotional experience for those involved.

“Many young people, young men in particular, start off being self conscious and resistant to the possibilities of dance.

While many experience phases of doubt about what they’ve gotten themselves into, the performance in their community is almost always hugely affirming.”

• DU Dance is located at 35 Donegall Street, Belfast. Email: info@dudanceni.com

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US Consul General Gregory Burton with resident Bertha Lyttle at the launch of the mural at Palmerston Residential Home in east Belfast

Bringing colour into lives of people living with dementia

By Una Murphy

A

MURAL which will bring colour to the lives of people living with dementia has been unveiled in Belfast.

Palmerston Residential Home commissioned the ‘Day and Night’ mural from American professor Chuck Hoffman and his students helped to design and paint the mural.

Professor Hoffman from the University of Kansas said he was looking forward to gauging the response from the residents.

He said: “It is well

documented that art and colour can have a dramatic impact on an individual’s mood – the different emotional reaction that they prompt.

“Art and creativity still reach a person even when cognitive skills have diminished.

“The task was the perfect challenge for my students. To research dementia, to consider findings around how the brain still processes stimuli and then to create a piece of art which had reference points, that the majority of residents could relate too.”

Geraldine Gilpin, chief

executive of Abbeyfield and Wesley Housing Association which owns and manages Palmerston Residential Home said: “Chuck Hoffman has a long standing relationship with Belfast, having visited the city numerous times and worked on various community projects.

“This project evolved out of a discussion that started in May last year between Sally Campton, Abbeyfield and Wesley’s Volunteer and Activities coordinator, and Chuck who was in Belfast completing another mural project in east Belfast.”

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Artist to work his magic on local scrap

U

Artist Boris Bally in his workshop in Rhode Island, USA

S artist and self-professed urban alchemist Boris Bally will be taking up residence in Derry throughout the month of August, working with local artists to transform discarded street signs into some pieces of urban art.

Bally will be leading a project titled Reclaim the Streets, engaging with artists and craft makers of all levels, from colleges to community organizations, as part of Derry City Council’s CultureCraft legacy programme.

Mr Bally has created a genre of work known as Humanufactured, which merges art, design and craft to create functional and funky pieces of urban furniture, as well as a wide range of smaller bespoke pieces, from coasters to jewellery.

By using discarded road signs, usually dumped as scrap metal, Bally manages to recreate and recycle, while incorporating the eyecatching graphics of the signage as part of his subject matter.

He said he was looking forward to sharing his expertise with local artists.

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Comment Nora Smith, chief executive of Chief Officers Third Sector (CO3) in Northern Ireland, argues that there is a lack of understanding about what is involved in running a modern day charity

R

ecently, the issue of Third Sector chief executives’ pay came under the media spotlight. The ‘revelations’ over some chief executives’ salaries have led to negative responses from political and media commentators, indeed some were of the opinion that charities should be run by volunteers.

Whilst there are some excellent organisations which are run exclusively by volunteers who do great work, as a generalisation this viewpoint displays a degree of ignorance as to how modern day charities work and what they are there to achieve.

The media interest in chief executive pay has raised uncomfortable questions for those of us who work within the sector.

However, the uncomfortable questions are not linked to pay scales and salaries. This information is already within the public domain, but there is a lack of understanding amongst the public about the wider questions of what is a modern day charity and an understanding of the complexities involved in running such an organisation.

The landscape of the Third Sector has changed significantly. It is a important part of the local economy and a major driver of economic growth. It is a leading employer, employing just under 30,000 people in Northern Ireland, more than either local government or the agricultural sector. The estimated total turnover accruing from the Third Sector is £1.2bn The total Gross Value Added (GVA) is £572m, equivalent to around three percent of the total GVA of the region’s business sector. In fact it has a higher GVA than our agricultural sector which sits at £433 million.

The Third Sector in Northern Ireland is large, diverse and includes a wide range of organisations from small community and faith-based charities to highly successful social enterprises with annual turnovers of multiple millions of pounds. Many top management consultants have concluded that running a charity is more difficult than managing a public sector or private organisation.

Unlike other sectors charities have a commitment to improving their ‘triple bottom line’ that is maximising social outcomes, reducing negative environmental impact and maintaining financial sustainability.

Accountability and transparency are very important to charities which need public support, public money and public confidence.

The landscape of the Third Sector has changed significantly. It is a important part of the local economy and a major driver of economic growth

That is why we have argued for three decades for regulation through an independent Charity Commission to support us in our pursuit of transparency and accountability.

This transparency and accountability also applies to remuneration levels.

The question of what level of pay is ‘justified’ is one which each and every charity trustee board has to decide for themselves.

It is important to note that chief officer remuneration is set independently by trustees, who are normally all volunteers. The question of what level of pay is ‘justified’, is one which each and every charity trustee board has to decide for themselves.

The public perception over the remuneration levels of senior staff is something which all charities will have due regard to. The Institute of Fundraising states

that ‘when making the decision of the salary amount by trustees, they have to remain focussed on delivering who they need to attract to that position to achieve maximum impact on their charitable objectives’.

If the trustees’ experience leads them to decide that this can best be achieved through paying a particular salary then this is a decision which the trustees, after following an appropriate process, need to have confidence in.

The work that charities do in homes and communities across our region is far too important to be side tracked by the ‘salary issue’. We should be proud of the fact that charities are carrying out incredible work on a daily basis.

Those of us, who work in the sector, are driven by a desire to help make a change for the better that is what gets each of us out of bed in the morning.

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Comment Alan Hanna, Strictly Boardroom associate, argues that recent revelations about the pay of chief executives poses a risk to reputation of the sector

T

he charity sector enjoys enormous public trust and is held in great affection.

The sector loses the confidence of the public at its peril.

Charity boards, professional bodies and regulators need to demonstrate high standards of governance, educate the public and protect the reputation of the sector.

The revelations about the pay of Chief Executives of Northern Ireland charities in the press recently pose a risk to the reputation of the sector.

This follows up similar revelations in the Republic of Ireland. Some public reaction has been very hostile to the notion of ‘fat cats’ and there is concern that this reaction will affect the ability of charities to attract funding for their work.

Some months ago the BBC’s Panorama programme raised questions about Comic Relief who were allegedly investing in arms companies and some other campaigning charities allegedly ‘softening’ their campaigns under pressure from corporate funders.

In the recent past public confidence in the press, parliament, banks and business has been rocked –charities are not exempt to this type of scrutiny.

The reaction to the pay of charity chief executives reveals a misunderstanding about what charities are in the UK and Ireland at present.

The public likes charitable activity –the support to individuals in distress, volunteers coming together to selflessly create a community service or a person who while in extremis himself or herself shows a concern for others.

The outstanding example of Stephen Sutton who raised over £3 ½ million for the Teenage Cancer Trust before he succumbed to the disease is the essence of what charity appears to be.

The other version of charity is of a business world where organisations receive high levels of government income and have an industrial approach to

The outstanding example of Stephen Sutton who raised over £3 ½ million for the Teenage Cancer Trust before he succumbed to the disease is the essence of what charity appears to be fundraising.

The public is not so keen on this and often reacts badly to chuggers and telephone fundraisers.

This ‘industrial’ fundraising reflects the reality of multi-million pound organisations who employ professional staff as managers, finance professionals who look after investments and other qualified staff (such as social care staff).

A whole salary structure exists in these organisations many of which employ hundreds of staff some of whom are on salaries at least equivalent to what they would receive if they worked in the state sector.

Many charities in Northern Ireland are providing social care services through contracts with Health and Social Care Trusts.

Similar services are run by the Trusts themselves or contracted out to the private sector.

These big service providing organisations typically have incomes in the millions of pounds; hundreds of staff and are responsible for the safety and

welfare of staff and vulnerable people such as the elderly or disabled. It would be irresponsible if they did not have professional staff receiving appropriate levels of remuneration to lead these charities.

There are added dimensions to this debate, when you consider wider remuneration issues, such as pensions, bonuses, cars, private health and other ‘perks’.

Whether these charities are paying too much to their Chief Executives or if the salary details should be kept hidden are serious questions.

Charity boards will come under increasing scrutiny to explain their actions and so they should.

It is essential that the board of a charity debates these issues, has a separate and transparent process for considering remuneration; and explains its approach to the public and supporters.

• For further details about Strictly Boardroom go to www.strictlyboardroom.com or follow the organisation on Twitter at @StrictlyBoardRm

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The Big Picture Lisa Green, Eimear Campbell, Paula McGlone and Jenny Ebbage, from Edwards and Company solicitors at a recent midnight fund-raising event in Belfast in support of the Northern Ireland Hospice.

If you would like your community/ voluntary organisation to be selected for The Big Picture in the next issue of VIEW, send images, marked ‘Big Picture entry’ to editorial@viewdigital.org

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Chance of a lifetime to take a giant charity leap T

his year Meningitis Research Foundation commemorates its 25th anniversary and as part of this milestone year we are looking for at least 25 people to take part in a special skydive.

This really will be the experience of a lifetime as you freefall from 13,000ft reaching speeds of approximately 120mph before the parachute is deployed and you fly safely to the ground in about seven minutes.

The event will take place in Northern Ireland on September 27 and September 28.

If it’s your first time jumping out of a plane, don’t worry, you won’t be on your own.

After being briefed on the equipment, exiting the aircraft, freefall and landing safely you will be harnessed to an instructor as you take your tandem leap.

What better way to mark our 25th anniversary year? There is a

£40 commitment fee and then we ask you raise £370 in sponsorship which we can help you to raise.

The Foundation relies on your voluntary donations to fund its work in research, awareness and support for people affected by the diseases.

Your participation in this event could help save a life.

• For more information call 02890321283 or email keli@meningitis-ni.org