​Susan Smith argues charities are too polite: it's now time to cause offense

Margaret Aspinall’s emotional confession that she had to accept just £1200 for the death of her son because she needed it to fight for justice was a striking moment in her testimony at the Gathering last week.

It is possible that it took the Hillsborough families 28 years to achieve justice partly because they were out-resourced by the establishment that they were fighting. They were up against the people with the power and the money and they had neither.

Aspinall’s point was echoed by Liam Stevenson, who was speaking on behalf of Scotland’s own Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign. He said he hadn’t realised at the start that a campaign would need money.

In the end though the Hillsborough families fought on despite the odds and TIE is making waves where other better resourced campaigners have failed.

So, what can charities learn from these campaigners?

Well, what was striking in both was their single-minded certainty. You shouldn’t have to fight for truth, Aspinall said. She’s right but at one point only she and the other families knew what the truth was.

Campaigning isn’t pretty. Aspinall also spoke of Margaret Thatcher and the time she accused Aspinall of being a very angry woman, as if that somehow negated the truth that her young, gentle 18-year-old son had died branded a thug and a criminal.

Friends of the Earth’s Andrew Pendleton, who also joined the panel, admitted that one of the things it gets right as an organisation is accepting it will have to clean up after passionate campaigners who leave a pile of disruption in their wake.

The campaigns that stick out in our memories are shocking, they push boundaries, they force people out of their comfort zone, they are angry and they offend.

Scottish charities aren’t great at offending. Perhaps the close-knit political environment makes it hard for them to do so, especially if they have services to deliver in need of public funding. Perhaps they are run by too many reasonable, well-educated people. Perhaps these people think hearts and minds are won by fair and balanced comment.

If you buy into the latter, look around right now. Are fair and reasonable arguments winning? Are people buying balance?

What is reassuring about the Hillsborough families’ 28-year (and ongoing) battle is that truth did win out in the end. The odds were against them both financially and politically and they were angry. But, despite and because of these factors, they were supported by thousands of other people moved by their story and by the desire to back the under-dog against the mighty establishment.

So, what can Scottish charities learn from these passionate campaigners? Perhaps it is that charities are not best placed to lead the really important fights. Other people with right on their side, passion in their bellies and no fear of offending can and will fight better (and maybe dirtier) than charities.

But the clear message was that these people also need support, sometimes financial and sometimes practical, and if they’re fighting for your cause and you know that they have truth on their side, then maybe it’s your job to give them that.