What We Cannot Do, and Why We Say So

An organisation that claims to do everything is telling you something about itself. Sometimes that it is ambitious. More often that nobody has decided what it is for, and the list grew each time somebody asked for something.

We are registered for three activities and we work inside them. That means we turn requests down regularly, including ones we would like to say yes to. This is a plain account of what we cannot do, and why we say so early.

The three things we are registered to do

Our certificate names three activities. Caring for orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly and persons with disabilities. Advocacy. Networking and community building. That is the whole list, on certificate RSC/3811/CBO/2024, issued by the County Government of Kiambu on 22 February 2024 at Ruiru.

The registration is not a formality we filed and forgot. It carries conditions: annual renewal, a maintained diary, quarterly returns to the county. Those obligations attach to those three activities, and work outside them is covered by nothing. That is the practical reason we do not drift.

There is a simpler reason too. Three activities are as much as an organisation our size can do properly. A fourth would be the same people, thinner.

The officials responsible are named on our about page, and they would have to carry any new commitment. If nobody can name who would actually do a thing, the organisation cannot do it.

The requests we say no to

Emergencies that need money we do not hold. We are asked for help with rent, funerals, sudden crises where money today would change everything. Usually we do not have it. Saying so at once is the only honest answer, because a family waiting on us is a family not asking somebody who can actually help.

Medical bills. Hospital bills here reach figures no organisation of our size can meet, and paying part of one rarely resolves anything. We are not a health financier and should not present ourselves as one.

Legal representation. Advocacy is on our certificate. Legal representation is a different thing. We can speak about an issue, accompany somebody, help them find the right office. We cannot act for anyone in court and will not imply that we can.

School fees at scale. Education support at any real volume needs a funding base, a selection process and a commitment lasting years. Promising fees and failing in the second year does more damage than never promising.

Work outside our area. Ours is a county registration and our work is local. We are asked, kindly, to extend elsewhere. We say no, because we would be arriving somewhere we do not know, where people already work who do know it.

What we do instead

A refusal on its own is not much use to somebody standing in front of you. So the answer we try to give is a no and a direction.

Somebody holds the mandate for almost everything we decline. Chiefs and ward offices, the county social services desk, hospital social workers, bursary schemes, legal aid providers, larger organisations with the remit to match. Pointing accurately at the right door takes a phone call and costs us nothing.

Doing that well is itself part of what we are registered for. Networking and community building is not filler on the certificate. Knowing who does what here, and being trusted enough that a referral is taken seriously at both ends, is real work.

Why saying no early is kinder

A slow no is worse than a fast one. When somebody is waiting on an answer, they stop looking elsewhere. Every week spent being encouraging without being able to deliver is a week they are not spending with somebody who could.

There is a real temptation to leave a door slightly open. It feels warmer and avoids an uncomfortable conversation today. But it moves the discomfort onto the person least able to carry it, and the same answer arrives later anyway, costing more.

So we reply plainly and quickly, without hedging. If the answer is no, we say no, we say why, and we say who might be able to help. If you approach us and we cannot assist, that is what you should expect. Ask us directly and you will get a direct answer.

Why a growing list should make you cautious

Watch what happens to a small organisation's programme list over time. If it keeps growing, ask what was added and what capacity arrived with it. Sometimes the answer is a good one: new funding, new people, a genuine widening of the remit. Often the list grew because listing something is free.

None of that means bad faith. It is far more often enthusiasm, or an unwillingness to turn anybody away, or a template that arrived with the headings written. But the effect is the same. You cannot tell what the organisation does, and after a while neither can the organisation.

The question worth putting to any of us is short. What are you registered to do, and does the work you describe fit inside it? A brief answer is not a small one.

Our list is three activities long, and we will keep it that way until we can honestly do more. A narrow remit, worked properly, is not something we apologise for. It is what we are offering.