Charity is a business

The national network of Age Concern enterprises last year generated almost £17m in profit. And that profit went straight into charitable work as charities trade to serve their beneficiaries better.

When I led a directorate at Help the Aged we depended on the trading activities of the charity to enable us to do good deeds: raising awareness about the way older people are treated, lobbying ministers and their advisers, doing research into why and how our bodies age, campaigning for change and better quality of life in later life.

All of these things leaned heavily on our network of 350 shops across the country, trading as proper businesses, but always with the cause in our hearts to combat poverty, reduce isolation, challenge neglect and defeat ageism.

At Age Concern Oxfordshire we have our own small network of shops raising money to be used for older people in our county providing employment and volunteering opportunities, helping the environment by recycling household goods and often acting as information points for our wider services.

But, perhaps most importantly, we are operating in a businesslike way. There is nothing sinister about this. We have a moral and legal duty to use the funds we secure in the most efficient way possible.

And this means having strategy, business planning, tight management of costs, sound marketing, entrepreneurial flair and, where appropriate, competitive practices.

However, like many charities, we are currently facing an uncertain future regarding income streams.

We are in the middle of the worst recession for decades which has seen the interest we receive on our reserves reduced to a derisory amount.

As the crunch continues to bite we will see a reduction in donations and it is very likely that some trust fund grants will start to dry up as they distribute their own dwindling investment income.

We also face the sometimes exciting but certainly daunting changes in social and healthcare funding and delivery.

I am passionate about achieving a world where people growing older have access to comfort, support and opportunity wherever and however they live.

I care very much about the 14,000 pensioners in Oxfordshire living in poverty; about the cases of undignified and shabby care we are still hearing about here, and about the sheer loneliness of so many isolated in our rural villages, for whom growing older is about loss, not gain.

But at Age Concern Oxfordshire we have recognised that to turn that care into better lives we have to be lean and efficient.

We are also keen to promote the cause of the older population to businesses.

Older people have money and want to spend it and from that point of view companies are missing a trick.

The over-65s spend more than £90bn a year, while the over-50s of the country are sitting on 85 per cent of the net personal wealth of the UK, at something nearing £600bn.

The housing equity of the pension population was last year estimated at nearly £1 trillion. So wake up, businesses. You may be looking in the wrong places.

We want to help connect businesses with older people. In October we are launching the Age Concern Business Directory, a user-friendly website full of reliable and trustworthy businesses.

Covering the county of Oxfordshire, the directory allows users to post reviews on member companies, adding to the community feel of the initiative (www.acbdoxon.co.uk).

And I am also setting up a consumer panel, putting businesses together alongside older people to foster the conversation about what works for older consumers, where the gaps are, what they will buy.

There are lots of ways charities such as Age Concern Oxfordshire are acting as businesses — ‘social enterprises’ to use the jargon.

And, like any other business, we know we have to get out there and hustle. Nicely.

o Contact: Age Concern Oxfordshire, 01235 849400.

Web: www.ageconcernoxon.org.uk