Top charity brand of 2026 revealed
Cancer Research UK has secured the top spot in Third Sector’s Charity Brand Index for the ninth consecutive year.
The charity shows no signs of being toppled from its leading position, having doubled its points lead over runner-up Macmillan Cancer Support from 35 to 60.
The gap between second and third places on the index has narrowed considerably, as the British Heart Foundation increased its score by almost 100 points on the previous year, resulting in just a 12-point margin.
Third Sector’s Charity Brand Index ranks the UK’s leading 150 charity brands based on scores across a range of metrics including familiarity, distinctiveness and trust.
The 17th edition of the index, conducted by the market research company Toluna, surveyed a representative sample of 4,050 people between 14 and 23 January this year.
The top four charities remain unchanged from the previous year, with the British Red Cross jumping six spots to fifth place.
For the full story, click here.
Charity accused of making ‘unnecessary redundancies’
Ashgate Hospice reached an agreement with the Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board that will see the charity’s inpatient capacity increased from eight beds to 10.
The agreement follows the charity’s decision to make 19 redundancies in December in a bid to save £2.6m.
But the charity was this week criticised by the Royal College of Nursing following its funding agreement with the ICB.
Jane O’Brian, East Midlands senior regional officer at the Royal College of Nursing, and who has been supporting Ashgate Hospice nurses, said: “Had Ashgate engaged constructively with the RCN and the ICB rather than rushing into what appear to be unnecessary redundancies, our members may not have suffered job losses just before Christmas.
“There is still a lack of clarity and understanding around why this approach was taken.
A spokesperson for Ashgate Hospice said the changes it made last year were “incredibly difficult”.
They said: “The suggestion that redundancies were ‘unnecessary’ does not reflect the financial position, funding uncertainty and information available to the hospice at the time decisions were taken and it is disappointing the RCN does not seem to recognise the national context of funding challenges affecting hospices across the UK.”
For the full story, click here.
Far-right march ‘unknowingly’ raises more than £200,000 for refugee charity
The ‘Tommy Chooses Love’ campaign, run by the refugee and displaced people’s charity Choose Love, encouraged supporters to pledge “as little as 2p” for every metre of the far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally, which took place in London last weekend.
The campaign launched prior to the march taking place, meaning the further the far-right supporters marched, the more money would be raised for refugees.
The rally walked about 2.1km, meaning people who pledged 2p per metre donated £42, unless they had capped their donation at a lower amount.
The campaign was primarily carried out on Instagram, but the charity also put posters up throughout London, including some messages on the route of the march itself.
One of the posters read: “Tommy Robinson is raising money for refugees (and there’s nothing he can do about it).”
For the full story, click here.