Given the learning curve about volunteering she was forced to climb, retail guru Mary Portas should have been breathless by the end of her recent BBC TV series “Mary, Queen of Charity Shops”.
Challenged to transform the fortunes of Save the Children's shop in Orpington, she began in her so-called no-nonsense style – translation: self-righteous and patronising – but by the end, Portas achieved enough humility, or had it thrust upon her, to visit one unhappy volunteer at home to ask her to come back.
Even seen through the distorting lens of three hours of television, with its low-IQ preference for stereotypes, conflict and shallow simplicity, this six-month experiment had much to offer volunteers and those who manage them, especially how not to treat those who give time for free.
It is unsurprising that spending no money on a shop for 20 years left it looking dowdy and may have lowered the enthusiasm of customers and volunteers.
Similarly, an area manager stretched across a number of shops, no paid staff and long-term volunteers operating without much support hardly guarantees innovation or leadership, passion or profits. And Portas was rightly outraged that to find items worth selling, the volunteers had to sift through filthy and worthless rubbish.
But the confrontational approach was not needed, with Portas diatribes about “my” charity shop: "If some of you think, 'I don't quite like it', I don't care. This is the future." Or her blunt notice: "Staff Meeting. Monday, 10am. All staff to attend." Powerless against Portas, one rebel added "Please!?".
In this culture clash, resistance was useless, and the 130,000 or so UK shop volunteers who raise millions each year have since had to wade through media coverage taking its cue from Portas and her show to deride the Orpington women as anything from “delightfully stubborn old dears” to a “rag-tag” of “cardi-wearing”, “dissident” “biddies” who are “set in their ways”.
Luckily these volunteers were just old women with no rights to violate. Just think how such media coverage might translate if the volunteers were from ethnic or religious groups, or what employment tribunals would make of a boss who, as Portas did in one interview, called them a “grey army” of “old dears”.
Challenged merely to raise sales from £900 a week to £2,000, the Portas genius credited with transforming Harvey Nichols started slowly and generated little that was actually new. Sending volunteers out to ask for better donations failed.
Plenty of others, including Oxfam Originals, have successfully used charity show makeovers and introduced paid managers. Did letting fashion students flog their creations in the shop make much money? Unclear. Her big idea – D-Day, “donate, don't dump” – echoes other charities' efforts to improve shop donations by making business links. And it only came alive when charity volunteers were let loose to “make the ask”.
Meanwhile, where has such an expert been lately? She seems to think recycling is a recent fad, and not noticed that the fashionable have long plundered thrift stores. And does she really think volunteers believe all-pull-together exhortations when she excluded them from important decisions, like the shop refit?
Fixated on pushy Portas, the show skipped over much relevant to the state of charity shops, from eBay and Freecycle to whether the D-Day events could have securedmore for charity if asking for payroll giving and not goods, or their role enriching volunteers' lives and in the survival strategies of the poor.
Having missed much, some content was unwelcome. Since Portas was no doubt paid a respectable fee, it is a irritating to see her show mentioning the magazine where her partner works as fashion director, and featuring the London shopping centre that employs MP's marketing firm.
Both the Association of Charity Shops and Save the Children have praised Portas and the volunteers for the results they achieved together.
Full of customers paying higher prices for a better quality of donated goods, the shop's sales have met and surpassed the target set, and the ideas generated are being rolled out into other shops, while the Association is promoting the D-Day concept.
Association Head of Policy and Public Affairs David Moir chose his words carefully: “On the whole, I felt the series will help the sector. We can't, of course, legislate for Mary Portas' robust approach, or for the editorial decisions of the production team. ultimately, the vital contributions of volunteers to the success of the Orpington shop came through.
“I certainly feel that the way the volunteer teams sold D-day: donate, don't dump to hard-nosed multi-nationals … showed precisely why they are so valued by charity shops.Their clear enthusiasm, commitment and drive were simply amazing to watch. And, I think they gave as good as they got, sometimes more!”
At Save, Head of Retail Jayne Cartwright admitted five Orpington volunteers left out of 36, saying “but when you make changes you do end up losing some people”.
She added: “Mary is a big personality but she took our volunteers on a journey and now they are seeing the reward; every time they open the shop there are more customers bringing in better stock. The volunteers are delighted and elated. Now they can see the results, there are no concerns or regrets.
“Mary has made the difference and she has shown love and cared about the volunteers. Mary worked so hard. In the beginning she had to get used to working with volunteers but that’s normal. Mary has said she has never worked with people like the volunteers at Orpington ... with so many people who don’t put themselves first.”
I am told that Portas says retail used to be businesses “talking, telling and taking” in a one-way street of communication, but today it is all about “sharing, giving, co-creating and collaborating”. Pity so much caring and sharing in Orpington seems to have got cut in the TV editing.
The views expressed in Volunteering magazine are not necessarily the views of Volunteering England as the magazine maintains editorial freedom.
