So far, only three of the six places have either delivered or committed to deliver Give a Day.
We have limited information on why people highly committed to Give a Day do not follow through and deliver, despite giving considerable time to the design work.
One explanation is a sense of obligation to the founders Andy Fearon and Miriam Lowe. People joined the movement because they felt a personal commitment to Andy and Miriam but did not have the resources to replicate their work.
Another explanation is a sense of insufficiency, ie. not being able to deliver Give a Day as well as it has been delivered in Carlisle. Indeed, one of the prospective sites was overwhelmed by the success of Give a Day in Kendall to the extent that they lost confidence in their own abilities to do something to the same standard.
Two of the three places not following through are led by individuals already giving huge amounts of support to their communities. These were not people to pass ideas on to others in their towns, again, possibly, out of a need to honour the success of Andy and Miriam.
Some of these themes play out in the feedback from the 12 places receiving the Give a Day box, none of whom had any knowledge about Give a Day Carlisle or its founders.
In addition, one of the 12 places drew attention to the bravery needed to move from the warm feeling of opening the box on the kitchen table with the family to building a network in the community to deliver Give a Day. The heart may be willing, but the head doesn’t always follow.