A new year and new decade for TSIP: Reflections from our MD

By Genevieve Laurier

Back in November 2019 - before Covid-19, and before the killing of George Floyd –TSIP’s team came together in the basement of Shoreditch Trust to talk about our values and vision for the future. Together, we agreed on five new values that would guide our organisation: diversity, empathy, collaboration, creativity and impact.  

We could not have chosen more appropriate principles for the dramatic year that would follow. These values gave us a framework through which to navigate the extreme challenges of the pandemic and work to confront systemic racism.

These principles also provided new benchmarks for assessing our culture and actions: Were we living our values as fully as we could be? Were they reflected in all aspects of our practice? The answer has often been no. That has been difficult to admit, and difficult to work through. But asking the question has helped us to begin the necessary process of change and evolution.

A year later, TSIP marked its 10th anniversary and my first as its Managing Director. In a year that demanded so much from everyone, there has been little time for reflection. But as the year drew to a close, I took a moment to look back at where we’ve come since that grey November day at Shoreditch Trust, and to think about where next.

One thing is very clear: We all have a lot of work to do. 2020 shone a light on systematic racism and inequalities in all parts of society, including the social sector. As Lankelly Chase recently acknowledged, “many of us are attempting to solve social problems that have been created by systems of inequity while relying on strategies and business models embedded in those very systems.”  

Yes, 2020 is over. But the hard work of addressing these issues is just beginning. Where do we go from here?

1.     We need to look at our impact holistically – we can’t just focus on our specific causes and ignore the wider context.

How we fund matters. How we understand social issues matters. How we invest matters. How we hire matters.

Unless we carry our values through to all aspects of our practice, we are at risk of perpetuating the same inequalities the sector intends to solve. TSIP’s community researcher programme and community-led fund are two attempts at doing things differently. This is just a start. Going forward, we will continue to pilot more inclusive design and decision-making processes and to champion more just evaluation approaches – turning our expertise and track record establishing standards of evidence towards better standards of practice, inspired by the Equitable Evaluation Initiative.

2.     We need to talk more openly about the challenges and compromises of social purpose work. Is it okay to rely on unpaid labour to benefit more vulnerable people? If we are offered funding from a dubious source, should we take it in order to benefit the cause? Should staff be prepared to tolerate poor working conditions in order to do good work? Too often these trade-offs are unacknowledged, or the ‘right’ answers are taken for granted. Too often, decisions are made by a small group of privileged people, with similar perspectives, none of whom will be affected by the outcome. This is part of the reason TSIP is moving towards employee ownership – we want to work through these issues as a whole team, with different outlooks, to help us see the whole picture.

3.     We need to shift power not just process. There are huge gulfs in privilege and resources in the social sector, which replicate, stem from and often reinforce existing inequalities. We won’t realise our vision for a fairer society until this is addressed. We won’t make enough progress towards addressing this unless we are accountable on that journey to those who are disadvantaged by the status quo.

We need changes to governance and ownership not just policies and procedures.

This year, TSIP became a registered BCorp. As part of this, we are updating our Articles so that our Directors are required to consider the impact of our decisions on all our stakeholders – including our communities, our employees and the natural environment. We are recruiting for two more board members to champion social change and to help us become a more impactful and inclusive organisation. This is not the end but rather a start that will help us continue to face the right direction.

I am taking these principles into 2021 as new year’s resolutions for TSIP. I expect many twists, turns and setback along the way. But if you are facing the same direction, I’d love to share the journey.