As with many organisations around the world, we had big plans for 2020. We were getting ready to unveil our plan for the next five years. But the reduction in our income due to Covid-19 is forcing us to make cuts that mean we will be doing so more slowly and with a smaller team, for the foreseeable future at least.
As with many organisations around the world, we had big plans for 2020. We were getting ready to unveil our plan for the next five years. This was going to increase the scale and speed of our programme development in Kenya and beyond as well as building on our innovative fundraising products here in the UK.
We will still be looking to do all of this. But the reduction in our income due to Covid-19 is forcing us to make cuts that mean we will be doing so more slowly and with a smaller team, for the foreseeable future at least. We are going to hugely miss all of the team that are having to leave us. If any one of them had chosen to leave the organisation we would have been devastated, so to say goodbye to so many at once is going to be extremely hard, though they are not leaving us until the end of August, so at least it is not too sudden.
Each of them has played a huge role in constantly pushing the charity forwards through a mixture of innovation, experimentation and true dedication. They have helped to both create and then share the collaborative culture that is so key to Child.org. And their work has generated new income streams for us and directly improved the lives of disadvantaged children and mothers in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Ellie has been a key force in the creation of Child.org itself – as both a team and a brand – running our community and communications for the last five years as well as overseeing the creative development of many of our new fundraising products.
- Faith has managed the delivery of our pioneering Baby Box program in Kenya as well as implementing much of the research to give us the insights we need on the ground.
- Amy has driven our Spectacular events team forward, expanded the quiz offering, instigated the number one UK experiences on AirBnB and created an entire new stage for us at the Vault Festival.
- Lucy has supported on many of the programmes in Kenya, most recently helping to set up the pregnant women’s groups in Meru, then helping to pivot these from real world meet-ups to SMS
- Rosie has only been with us for six months, but has contributed hugely in that time with her energy and communication skills and we are sorry not to be able to give her the opportunity to show us what else she could do.
They all deserve more credit than we can do justice to here, and we will need a separate canvas to thank Thomas for everything that he has done for the organisation. He has been the force driving the charity’s evolution over the last six years, and indeed was responsible for the creation of the Child.org identity itself. His innovation, passion and commitment have been a marvel to behold and we will be taking this opportunity to look back on the many things Thomas and the team have accomplished in this new era of the charity.
Thankfully we are not actually losing Thomas but inviting him to join us on the Board, from where he can continue to shape and inspire and help drive the organisation forwards. For despite all of these departures we still have an enviably strong team both in the UK and in Kenya, albeit one reduced in number and capacity for now.
In particular Marti has been with us for nearly twelve years and has been integral to many big changes for the organisation in that time. Most notably she has set up and led our office in Nairobi, which has allowed us to deliver more varied, more efficient and more controllable activities on the ground. She has also overseen our programming for the last eight years, so it is a natural step for her to move to overseeing the organisation as a whole and we look forward to seeing where her own energy and brilliance can take us next.
So in short, we have a lot to be grateful for: a brilliant team with a lot of energy and the drive to keep delivering and building on our plans here and in Kenya. But we need your support to keep doing so more than ever, in particular when we hit the second Team Mum campaign in the autumn.
On a very personal level, from all of us, we want to thank you in advance for your continuing support, as well as for everything that you have done yourselves to help us already. It has been our pleasure and privilege to watch the charity grow and whilst nobody knows what the future holds in store, without all of you too, we are nothing.
Thank you
Ben, Dan, Eve & Beccy