Last month I read an article in the Guardian – an interview with artist and writer, Jenny Odell – about time. In it, she discussed her latest book, which explored the different forms of time, or how time can be viewed through different lenses and at different scales. 

Specifically in this case, the interview surrounded our relationship to “clock time” – the kind of time that rules our daily lives and is concerned with productivity, money and economic growth. This is compared to (for example) tidal time, time as represented by the circadian rhythms, geological time, seasonal time, lifespans and health spans.

This notion of “clock time” certainly struck a chord. I believe it would be fair to say that much of our lives are governed by short-termism. The news cycle is shorter than ever, stories go viral one day and are gone the next. As a society it seems we’re forever on the lookout for the next thing. In our personal lives it’s all about consuming media, entertainment, content, whether it’s a new film release, or latest album from your favourite artist; what can be experienced in the now or immediate future. In our working lives, it’s KPIs, goals and targets; what can be achieved in any given period of time.

So, while the conversation in the article was centred around the issues with “clock time”, it got me thinking about how the concept of time is applied to the charity’s work.

Now, more than ever

In the charity sector – especially when it comes to fundraising – short-termism is so often still the case. In a wider context, charity appeals typically seek to fundraise for an activity happening soon, or are launched in response to an unfolding emergency. 

And for us as an organisation, when creating a case for support, the focus regularly tends to be on the next activity we’re due to deliver. Are we extending our reach to a new country, or new community? Or have we just delivered an activity? What’s the immediate impact? 

It’s an easy trap to fall into. Admittedly, I do get excited when we deliver an activity in a country new to us for the first time, like our ground-breaking project of firsts in Ethiopia or piloting the Distance Learning Programme in Jordan. But while this is a short-term boost, great to talk about, and oftentimes easier to fundraise for, it’s not really how we work as an organisation. 

In it for the long haul

To give a good example, as many of you may have seen last year the Distance Learning Programme in Romania received local accreditation. We justifiably made a big deal of this. While it may not have had the same immediacy of adding a new country onto our ‘Where we work’ map overview, this was an achievement that came as a result of more than seven years’ combined effort between us and our network of contributors and Partners. It meant the course was more sustainable and had greater local value, both of which will have a positive impact for years to come. This kind of timeframe embodies our approach.

That’s not to say our activities don’t make a difference straight away. We only pursue activities where we are confident they can have a meaningful impact, and as our theory of change model outlines, all of our activities have immediate outcomes that we record and evaluate. But ultimately, every activity we deliver is an investment in our long-term vision: to see music embedded into care. In the first instance, we seek to inspire caregivers to explore the use of music.

And for those who are ready to take the next step, we provide introductory training in a range of ways, all of which are followed by sustainability activities. We work with and train our Partners, then we support, encourage and champion their work with music. It’s one of the key reasons behind our international Partners using music for an average of seven years following our training, and why some of our Partners have gone on to share their skills with others, taken an active role in the delivery of our training or gone on to train as music therapists themselves.

Funding the future

The question is, how does this long-term approach translate to fundraising? The unfortunate truth is sometimes it doesn’t, at least when we’re talking about fundraising from trusts and foundations, where grant periods are often limited to just one or two years. It’s an understandable situation, though. As charities themselves, trusts and foundations need to be able to report on the impact of their funding activities. 

This is where you – our incredible supporters – play such a crucial role. Being able to count on a reliable annual income from people who commit to giving regularly enables us to plan ahead with real confidence. We’re able to step outside of a short-term funding mentality and invest in programmes and activities that create lasting legacies of change. 

Thanks to our reimagined approach to communications with our Key Notes newsletter, almost every day we’re welcoming new supporters to our community, who we hope will contribute to our efforts in the years to come. And with the addition of legacy giving to the different ways people can give to the charity, we’re enabling people to make a meaningful pledge to support our work promoting the role of music in care.

As each year passes, we become more established, financially robust and able to plan further ahead into the future. We’ve been doing this for more than 25 years, but still have so much more to achieve.

With our ability to more accurately project long-term timeframes for our activities to embed music into care, comes a renewed need for likeminded support. Music has immense potential to strengthen care in the UK and around the world. So, whether it’s today, tomorrow or six months from now, we need everyone willing to invest in that potential to consider how they could step up their support – not for now, but for the future. Our vision is our ultimate long-term goal, and with your help, we’ll keep going until it becomes a reality.