Month: July 2024

The trade union Unite has criticised Oxfam GB’s “woeful” attitude as a petition called for the charity to honour its improved pay agreement after strike action last year.  More than 500 Unite members working at Oxfam voted to walk out for 17 days in December but agreed to return to work after two days. In an

Judi Rhys is stepping down as chief executive of Tenovus Cancer Care after more than five years in the role, the charity has announced. Rhys is expected to leave the Wales-based cancer support charity at the end of the year. The process of recruiting her successor is due to begin next month (August) and she

Police are investigating threatening graffiti against workmen repairing a fire-damaged charity building. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said that in the early hours of Wednesday morning a wall in west Belfast was daubed with threats to shoot workers repairing the Welcome Organisation’s building. The homelessness charity’s building had been heavily damaged by a suspected

A conservation and wildlife charity, responsible for the operation of two UK zoos, has announced plans for redundancies following a “series of crippling challenges” that negatively affected its finances. The Wild Planet Trust, a conservation and wildlife charity that operates Paignton Zoo in Devon and Newquay Zoo in Cornwall, said it would be making an

A wildlife conservation charity will stop running a council-owned visitor centre because it can no longer operate its facilities profitably, the charity said. Staffordshire Wildlife Trust announced it will leave Westport Lake Visitor Centre in September. The centre, which the charity has leased from Stoke-on-Trent City Council since 2009, is located alongside the Trent and

The average growth of legacy income for arts charities is twice as much as the growth of the top 1,000 charities overall, new research has found. The Art of Legacies, published by Remember A Charity last week, says data from the legacy fundraising consortium Legacy Foresight shows 34 arts, culture and heritage charities were in

A landmark tribunal case could result in whistleblowing protections being extended to cover charity trustees, lawyers have said.  Nigel MacLennan, former trustee and president-elect of the British Psychological Society, was expelled from the charity in 2021 amid “persistent bullying” allegations, which he strongly denied.  MacLennan claimed at an employment tribunal that he should have been

Dominic Reid will step down as chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation after next year’s games, saying he has “delivered the 10-year vision” he set out.  Reid has been chief executive of the charity since it was founded in 2014. The charity facilitates and supports the Invictus Games, an international multisport event  first held

ActionAid UK has seen its income fall by more than 10 per cent after a spike in funds raised due to the war in Ukraine. The charity’s latest accounts, for 2023, show the charity had an income of £53.3m, down from £59.6m in the previous year but higher than the £49.6m recorded in 2021.  The

Comic Relief is the charity that people identify as seeing the most in the news, according to new data. Third Sector’s Charity Brand Index 2024 shows that the proportion of people who agreed they see Comic Relief “in the news a lot” was 69 per cent, three percentage points higher than BBC Children in Need

Charities that hold official meetings online should draw up a policies covering how people can participate and what to do if technical problems strike, new guidance from the Charity Commission suggests.  The regulator has today published updated guidance on charities holding meetings, also known as CC48, which takes into account the fact increasing numbers of

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a Muslim charity that failed to comply with the regulator’s instructions. The regulator said its inquiry into Newbury Park Masjid, which runs a mosque in Ilford, north-east London, would look into the extent to which the charity’s trustees have and are complying with their legal duties

A charity that transports blood, medical equipment and samples to NHS establishments made unauthorised payments to its trustees, the Charity Commission has found. The regulator published its statutory inquiry report into Devon Freewheelers today (19 July), which found the charity had made unauthorised payments to two trustees, including its chief executive. The inquiry was opened

A 45-year-old man has been arrested in Falkirk, Scotland, after a “relentless” cyber attack on the systems of a health charity based in Runcorn, Cheshire, police have said. Cheshire Police told Third Sector that it was unable to disclose the charity’s name, but said that it was a Runcorn-based health-related charity that provides support for

A cancer support charity has carried out a “bold” rebrand in a bid to raise awareness of its work.  Trekstock, which provides wellbeing support for people diagnosed with cancer in their 20s and 30s, has timed the brand refresh to tie in with its fifteenth anniversary this year.  A statement from the charity about the

A major local authority has been questioned by the Charity Commission for, in effect, “acting in breach” of charity law in relation to its management of a park. Sheffield City Council is the sole trustee of Graves Park, open space of the same name in the city which has been designated as charitable land.  In

Charities have welcomed the government’s introduction of a new community right to buy as a “major opportunity”, following the King’s Speech today. Two weeks after Labour’s landslide election win, King Charles laid out the government’s parliamentary agenda, which includes new legislation that will establish a new framework for English devolution and move power away from

Oxfam has announced plans to open up to 10 new UK superstores in the next five years, as it prepares to launch its second large outlet. The charity is scouting for potential locations for its next superstores, which it hopes will create up to 150 jobs and 1,000 volunteering opportunities, and said that it hoped

The Asda Foundation has opened a £1m grant programme for community groups seeking funds for repairs and renovations.  The foundation’s Investing in Spaces and Places programme is offering grants of between £10,000 and £25,000 to help transform local community spaces run by locally-led organisations.  The grant programme is open to community-led organisations that support people

The Science Museum Group’s contract with the Norwegian energy company Equinor has ended, with the charity encouraging the company to “raise the bar” in its efforts to reduce its carbon emissions in alignment with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Equinor has sponsored the museum’s interactive Wonderlab: The Equinor Gallery since 2016 but a spokesperson for

Getting on Board has appointed the former chief executive of FoodCycle as its new head.  Mary McGrath takes up the reins at the charity, which supports people from underrepresented backgrounds to become trustees, from Penny Wilson, who announced in April that she would be leaving after seven years in the job.  Wilson, who has written

Police are looking into allegations of fraud made against the League Against Cruel Sports, Third Sector has learned.  Surrey Police confirmed it was investigating fraud claims after Andy Knott, the charity’s former chief executive, alleged the charity’s fundraising had been misleading.  Third Sector reported last week that Knott, who left the charity in March after

Mermaids has launched a fundraising appeal because it says the Charity Commission’s inquiry into the transgender youth support charity is “significantly hamstringing” its services and deterring corporate partners. The charity’s crowdfunder has been running since 8 July and has already raised more than £15,000 of its £20,000 target. A statutory inquiry into the governance and

Charities are being invited to take part in a ballot for running places at next year’s TCS London Marathon.  London Marathon Events is offering 500 charities the chance to secure a running place in the event, which will be held on 27 April.  It is the first time organisers have been able to run the