Small Charities: Small in Size, Mighty in Impact

Working with women supervisors in kenyan tea.

When people think about charities making a difference, they often picture large international organisations with household names and substantial budgets. Yet the reality is that across the world, and in the UK, the charity sector is powered by small organisations.

According to sector data, around 95–96% of UK charities are classified as small charities, generally meaning organisations with an annual income below £1 million.

While individually modest in size, collectively they support millions of people, strengthen communities and drive social change across the country and around the world.

Women Working Worldwide (WWW) is proud to be one of them.

For almost 40 years, we have been working to improve the lives of women workers in global supply chains. Long before phrases such as worker voice, participatory research and meaningful stakeholder engagement became part of development and business language, they were simply the way we worked.

We recognised early on that lasting change happens when the people most affected by decisions are involved in making them. Rather than speaking for women workers, we have worked alongside them, ensuring their experiences, priorities and solutions shape research, advocacy and action.

Over nearly four decades, we have partnered with local community organisations, trade unions, NGOs and responsible businesses across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Together, we have helped showcase good practice and improve conditions in industries as diverse as flowers, garments, tea and minerals.

Health and safety - checking out the 'Butterfly' a lighter tea harvesting machine designed for women.'

Our impact demonstrates what small charities can achieve when they combine expertise, commitment and strong partnerships. Through our work we have:

• Supported more than 5,000 women workers to move from temporary to permanent contracts.

• Helped secure salary increases of between 12% and 25% in more than 30 workplaces.

• Worked with NGOs, Unions and Companies to introduce a gender sensitive national grievance policy template.

• Improved health and safety conditions and access to protective equipment for hundreds of workers.

• Trained 93 trainers who went on to share knowledge across 60 flower farms in Kenya, reaching almost 150,000 workers.

These achievements are significant not only because of the numbers involved, but because of what they represent: greater dignity, fairness, security and voice for women whose work underpins global industries. When women workers are empowered, they lift up whole families, communities and industries.

We were also talking about the links between workers' rights, environmental sustainability and biodiversity long before these issues became fashionable. The wellbeing of workers and the wellbeing of the planet have never been separate concerns. Sustainable supply chains, healthy workers and a stable Earth depend on both.

Small charities are often able to see connections and respond to emerging challenges long before larger institutions. They are close enough to communities to listen, agile enough to innovate, and committed enough to stay the course.

An endorsement from one of our long-standing partners captures this perfectly. Oxfam Novib described WWW as an organisation that "continues to punch above its weight".

As charities across the UK face growing financial pressures, it is important to recognise the value of organisations that may be small in size but large in impact. Their impact cannot be measured solely by income or staff numbers. It is measured in lives improved, voices amplified and injustices challenged.

Or, to borrow—and perhaps misquote—Shakespeare:

Though we may be small, we be mighty.

For nearly 40 years, Women Working Worldwide has sought to prove exactly that. And with the support of our partners, funders and communities, we will continue to do so.