Since its foundation in 1986 as a company in the private sector, BT has contributed over ?150 million to community causes. This is the largest programme of any company in the United Kingdom and has allowed BT to offer consistent and generous support to a broad range of organisations. Some of them told BT that its support was instrumental in changing the whole way their particular cause or issue is addressed. That prompted BT to ask how a company can achieve more through its community programme than short-term ‘sticking plaster’ help to immediate problems – vital though that is – and instead seek fundamental solutions at a strategic level.
Across a wide range of chosen topics(1), the study draws lessons to inspire better practice and help companies act as catalysts for social change. The schemes offer a range of experiences across different social issues, not necessarily the largest or best known of projects supported by BT. Taken together, common lessons emerge which offer pointers to successful partnerships between companies and community organisations, partnerships which achieve results, not just fund projects.
In summary, they demonstrate that five key elements are necessary if a company desires to achieve an impact on a whole social issue:
1. A clear view by the company of the end objective of its community programme.
2. A community partner with a vision of what could be and the professional capability to bring this vision to reality.
3. A prudent initial assessment by the company of the project concept in outline.
4. Then a willingness to have faith and take risks with significant sums of money, leaving flexibility to allow the project to develop.
5. Consistency of support over time, with simple systems periodically to monitor achievement of the ultimate objectives, without constraining the ability to adapt the means of delivery.
The key to success with these projects lay in the combination of clarity of initial vision with real flexibility of implementation. At first sight, this may appear at variance with prevailing wisdom in the management of CCI programmes. The recent trend has been for companies – including BT – to focus their programmes on a few tight objectives and set very clear performance standards; the concern is that otherwise they might risk diluting their resources and become ineffective.
These case studies provide a different emphasis, but they are not calling on us to abandon common business sense. Setting tight objectives and performance criteria, awarding funds competitively, and then measuring outputs is a perfectly correct and probably essential part of a programme that seeks specific achievements in a short period of time with limited resources.
However, where the intention is to achieve impact over a longer period on a whole issue, a different emphasis is called for: clarity of ends is vital, with the objective defined in terms of a broad vision, but flexibility of means – how that is to be achieved – must not be compromised.
In the relationships demonstrated by these case studies, the company and the community beneficiary are partners, with the company sharing in the creative process and the charity bringing more than just a service delivery capability. Together they share a common vision and work side-by-side on ways to realise it, as they travel along the initially uncharted road to ultimate success.
The case studies and analysis were researched and written by Michael Tuffrey who edits Community Affairs Briefing.
Copes of ‘Companies as Catalysts for Change: case studies of BT Community Partnerships’ are available from BT on 0171 356 6678
1. The topics analysed are unemployment (MARI Northern Ireland), child abuse (ChildLine), sporting opportunities for people with disability (British Paralympic Association), social exclusion from the information revolution (Manchester City Council), excellence in amateur music-making (National Federation of Music Societies), and under-performance in schools (Prince’s Trust study support centres).
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