This month we mark one year since the first lockdown was imposed in the UK to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Whilst the situation was clearly very serious at that point, I don’t think that many people thought we would be in a third national lockdown one year on.
It has been a remarkable year to live through, with varied restrictions placed on us and changes to the way we live and work.
The leaps and bounds that medical science has made in this period, from vaccines to treatments for a new virus, have been impressive. We are not out of the woods yet, but they give us all hope that we can learn to live with the coronavirus, in a similar way to we do with other viruses, in the not-too-distant future.
In this issue, we certainly found a quiet optimism amongst the charities we spoke to. There is a real sense that, whilst not wanting to downplay how hard things has been for the sector, charities will survive, albeit batter and bruised.
A great number of charities have responded brilliantly to the challenges of the pandemic and Civil Society Media will recognise this with the introduction of a new award at this year’s Charity Awards. Entries for the Rathbones Covid-19 Response Award are invited for one month from 1 March.
The Charity Awards themselves will be held virtually this year, and more details can be found here.
In addition, Charity Finance has teamed up with its sister publications, Governance & Leadership and Fundraising magazine, to launch a new virtual conference – the Civil Society Spring Summit.
The title of this new event is Beyond Adversity: Success Strategies for a Post-Covid World, and it takes place on 20 and 21 April. Content will be themed across three specialist streams which align with the magazines. There will be sessions on a range of topics including charity mergers, how boards can support risk-taking, tackling inequality in funding for a fairer future and many more.
On top of this, there will be opportunities to network with your peers and take part in online roundtables to help you to share and learn from the experiences of others. More details on this can be found here.
I hope that many of you will be able to join us at these two virtual events, which promise to be informative and engaging.
Tristan Blythe is editor of Charity Finance
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