No matter what interaction I have with SSE students, about evaluation, online stuff, replication, publications etc., only one thing seems to stand out for some of them: that I used to work at the Natural Death Centre. This did not, as one friend ‘jokingly’ introduced me at a party once, involve me "putting people down", but giving independent funeral advice to the public, particularly around ecologically-friendly funerals. It’s a wonderful, tiny organisation that deserves much more support; and it was a great experience working there.
I mention that because last week was the farewell / celebration drinks of a long-term volunteer at NDC, Billy. Farewell and celebration because, after over 5 years as a volunteer, he’s got a job at a funeral directors in Kilburn. Over the years, along with many others, Billy kept us going, sane, amused, caffeinated and, most of all, able to do what we did (as well as doing the majority of the crossword). What was great about the evening was also seeing three other volunteers who we’d taken on at the NDC: Jo, who is now a marketing executive at RNID; Paul, who works for HTEN in Hackney; and Mike, who now runs the NDC. All now fully employed in the third sector, along with Steph, my former colleague, who is now involved with an initiative called Bags Of Change (like a loyalty card crossed with a bag for life: check it out).
As I went home, it occurred to me anew that my old organisation embodied one argument we’ve been making about social enterprise/entrepreneurship: that it’s as much about the change that comes about through and within organisations as the change that is delivered by them to beneficiaries. Which is why scaling up social impact is not just about bigger organisations. The NDC, largely funded by sales of its own in-house publications, has helped thousands of people with independent advice and practical help over the years. But its impact has also been through its organisational values and culture: as Billy put it more eruditely than I could, "an empathy and understanding towards people" that extended inwards as well as outwards. And his journey (volunteer, publishing graduate, Helena Kennedy Foundation mentor, funeral assistant) is just one example of that.
We got a lot of things wrong at NDC (‘we’ meaning ‘I’) and learned a lot in the process, but one thing I do think we got right, and for which I claim no credit at all, is instilling a culture of support, of certain values, and of understanding, that remains to this day. Being sincere, genuine and authentic in the way you operate can bring benefits that are sometimes not instantly obvious; but sometimes, as at Billy’s drinks on Friday, they become all too apparent.
