Daniel Valentine, chair of the Lovey Foundation (UK) details a week in his life - a busy one as he fulfils a long-time ask from its CEO in Ghana for a motorbike to travel between schools and meeting beneficiaries.


Monday

Great start to the week. It’s 10am and I’m on the train back from Southampton from a two-week Mediterranean cruise and a long-awaited email pops into the inbox from the Mark Benevolent Fund (MBF), a masonic charitable foundation. Lovey’s first ever application for grant funding has been successful.

I tell our MBF contact that I can be in London at 4pm for a photo opportunity. I go home, suit up and travel to London. Darren from MBF has prepared a lovely poster for the photo. The money is in our account by lunchtime. Now to transfer it to a motorcycle dealer in Accra… this could be fun.

I tell our Ghana CEO, Thomas, the good news. He has been asking for a motorbike for “almost 11 years”, as trustees are reminded regularly. I tell him I only became Chair in March 2023 but it makes no difference to him; he has a long memory.

Start the planning of my first official visit to Ghana as Chair. Goals are to meet people, inspect the processes, take good quality photos of key people and locations, to assess the depth of leadership and the extent of stakeholder support, and to get some video for social media. September seems the best time to go, so I can participate in the elaborate ceremonies which take place when our new intake of Lovey Scholars are presented to their sponsor schools.

That evening, a sales call with a potential donor. I have answers for all of their many questions so the meeting goes well, but 80 minutes of pitching is exhausting. We have come a long way since March, because back then I couldn’t have answered any of their questions.
Later that evening a call from Thomas, has the payment been made to the dealer yet? I tell him this could take sometime, and that we cannot rush an international payment. We discuss a new banner for the charity. I tell Thomas that this will be much cheaper to purchase locally than in the UK (like most things). I send him a design and he will go to the printers tomorrow. I also ask him to produce an image for a Christmas card ASAP for us to circulate to our donors and supporters.

Tuesday

Call from Thomas. Has the payment been arranged for the motor bike yet? He is keen and I know he is also under pressure from his own team. We talk about the production of school uniforms for the next school year. Material has risen in price. If we increase the order volume, can they hold last year’s price? Thomas will speak to the manufacturers and try to negotiate a better deal. I ask Thomas to arrange the insurance for the bike in advance so that he is covered for the journey home.

Spent much of the day handling the payment process, which is basically Victorian in character. The dealer needed an official company stamp on their form. We don’t have a stamp, so I have to liaise with a printer in Ghana to produce a rubber stamp for us, which we are only going to use once!

Our Ghana team email over a lovely image for our Christmas card. A handwritten banner with lots of smiling children all around. I never tire of these images.

Call from Thomas. He is at the printers. Can I speak to the printer about the banner design? I give the specifications as clearly as possible over a rather poor line.

I make a presentation at a local Rotary Club in the evening. They are phenomenally welcoming and remarkably generous. It’s a reminder how powerful our story is, when laid out with photos and stories of individuals. I must get a return visit in the diary for next year.

Wednesday

The dealer emails to confirm that payment has been received and the bike is ready for collection. Thomas travels down to Accra from Bawku by coach (with the rubber stamp), a journey of nearly 800km. The journey takes him about 15 hours.

I do some analysis of our costs and projected income. We are hoping for three new donors this year, which will mean we can increase the number of children we support into schools by about 40%. Can our local teams handle the extra capacity? This is the big question. They are very enthusiastic and ambitious but I ask to see evidence of a plan. There is a clearly a cultural gulf on this matter. They still do not understand our need for documentation, forecasts and audit trails. It will take time to bridge this divide. We cannot afford to overorder and risk some of our supplies being wasted; I have made some fairly exacting promises to our donors. There is little overlap between the expectations of our corporate donors and our local teams; as a consequence I have become an expert at diplomacy and translation.

Prepared my first annual report and sent it out to trustees and members. There are lots of plans and stories I would have liked to share but had to keep it quite brief this year as the 14 day deadline for circulation of papers is tomorrow.

Thursday

Thomas arrives at the Yamaha dealer, completes the paperwork and collects the motorbike. He sends me about twenty photos of him posing with the bike in the dealership, and starts the long journey back to Bawku. He stops en-route and I get another twenty pictures. He is a very happy man.

In the morning I research UK gift aid rules, international shipping costs, agricultural technology and Ghanaian educational practices. Then a ring around of the gentlemen’s clubs of London to get costings for our summer drinks reception. The sheer variety of things I have to look into for this role in unprecedented in my experience.

Spend some time trying to piece together records taken in Ghana of all the children we have helped over the years. I’m not sure we will ever get the numbers nailed down. Improved record keeping is a priority for 2024 for both our sake and to demonstrate our growth to donors.

Friday

Thomas rides to a local school to show the children the new bike. I WhatsApp him and ask him to hand produce a new sign thanking the donors of the bike. Thomas and the children produce a colourful “Thank You” sign, and he sends me some delightful photos, one of which I post on social media. The donors are very happy. I get another twenty photos when Thomas gets home. Later on I get the first of many lengthy and formal thank you emails from Thomas: “May Almighty God richly bless you and all your team, including your supporters especially MBF”.

Working with the Ghana team is quite demanding from a communication perspective, because their messages are often unclear and need repeated clarifications, but it’s also very rewarding work, because they are so dedicated and every penny we send them is well spent.

Follow us on Twitter: @loveyfoundation

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