Welcome to the ‘House of Charity’
I found myself in London with a couple of hours to spare the other week.
So I went for a bit of a wander around Soho. It’s odd, isn’t it, the things you see when you’re not walking quickly through? I strongly recommend being a tourist in your own city once in a while. But that’s for another blog.
Anyway, on the South side of Soho Square I noticed a beautiful, understated Georgian building. If you’re nearby, go there.
Look up. What do you see? The tiling between the first and second floors reads “HOUSE OF CHARITY”.
Beautiful, isn’t it? It turns out that the building is the home of House of St Barnabas, which changed its name from ‘House of Charity’ 60-odd years ago, and the charity has been helping the homeless since the middle of the 19th century. Sadly, the charity announced it was to close its doors in 2023.
But why am I writing about this building in particular? Well, there’s something really interesting at ground level.
Look down. What do you see? There, attached to the railings, is a black pipe.
But it’s no ordinary pipe. No, It’s actually a donation chute, leading to the basement. It’s been used in this way for over a century, I believe, and is still working now (or at least I hope it is, or my donation is still stuck in there!).
And I wanted to draw your attention to it because of what it can still teach us about the way we run our charities today.
Be clear that you welcome donations
Are you as clear as the ‘House of Charity’? So many charities are not, in my view. I once came across one where an employee said she had refused a donation after speaking at a conference “because we’re not that kind of organisation”. This staggers me. However we get the rest of our income, let’s make it obvious that we welcome the support of people who want to be a part of what we do.
Make it easy to donate
Donating to the House of Charity a hundred years ago couldn’t have been easier. And it’s secure. Do we make it easy enough? On our websites, how many times do visitors have to click to get to the donation pages? And once there, is it as easy as possible to do so? We don’t want people moving along to the next house in frustration.
Be proud of your place in your community
Most importantly, the grand “Charity House” tiling and the donation chute tell me something else. This is an organisation that is proud of who it is, of what it does, and of its place in the community. Can we all say the same? And if we are, do we demonstrate it as clearly as this? How many charities remain almost hidden in our midst? If we’re running a community fundraising event, let’s put the banner out.
Let’s be prouder, and less apologetic. We make our community a better place.
Let’s show that we know it, and that we’re delighted if our neighbours and passers-by want to be a part of it.
This post was first published in 2015, and updated in 2023.
I shall go and take a look when next up there.