Charity

The Charity Commission has closed down a holocaust education charity and disqualified one of its trustees from holding office in a charity for life after he was subject to government sanctions. The regulator opened an inquiry into the World Holocaust Forum Foundation in April last year, after its president and trustee Viatcheslav Kantor, was sanctioned

Younger people are more likely than their older counterparts to donate to charity over Christmas, according to new research. The Winter Donor Pulse report, published today by the fundraising technology provider Enthuse, says 80 per cent of 18-to-24-year-olds say they are planning to donate money or items over the holiday period.  This is compared with just

The National Theatre has announced that Indhu Rubasingham will become its next director and joint chief executive. Rubasingham, who has been artistic director at the Kiln Theatre in north London since 2012, will join the theatre as director designate from the spring.  She will succeed Rufus Norris, who will step down as director and chief

Rates of formal volunteering in Scotland have continued to decline since the Covid-19 pandemic, new government figures have revealed. The Scottish Household Survey, which was carried out through face-to-face interviews with about 10,500 households in Scotland, asked respondents about any volunteering they had participated in over the last 12 months. Just 22 per cent of

Paul Streets is stepping down as chief executive of the Lloyds Bank Foundation after a decade in the role. Streets will leave the grant-maker on 31 May to retire from full-time senior executive work. Appointed as chief executive of the charity in 2013, Streets steered the foundation through both the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living

Strike action at Oxfam GB has been suspended while union members consider an improved pay offer, the union Unite has announced. More than 500 Oxfam staff began strike action on 8 December in a dispute over pay.  It is the first time industrial action has been taken at Oxfam GB, which employs more than 1,800

Charity legacy income rose by 7.6 per cent to £3.9bn over the past year, according to new data. The figures, for the year to the end of June, have been published by the legacy information company Smee & Ford, based on its data and figures from accounts filed with the Charity Commission.  The data, which

A foundation set up by a sanctioned Russian billionaire opened an account with Barclays after JPMorgan Chase & Co cut ties, latest accounts show. The Potanin Foundation was established by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin in 2006 to develop education and culture in Russia by awarding grants to support the programmes of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation,

Dame Esther Rantzen is stepping down as president of Childline due to ill-health, 37 years after she founded the charity. She announced her departure from the charity after her lung cancer progressed to stage four. The journalist and TV presenter served as a trustee for the charity until 2018, when she was appointed president. Rantzen’s

Staff costs at Barnardo’s rose by more than £20m as the charity increased its pay to account for the cost-of-living crisis, latest accounts show. The children’s charity spent £190.5m on staff costs, its most significant area of expenditure, up from £169.4m the year before. According to the accounts, for the financial year to the end

The Big Give Christmas Challenge raised a record £33m in one week, organisers have said.  The annual match-funding event attracted more than 94,000 donations for the 1,077 charities that took part.  This year’s figure is 15 per cent up on last year’s total of £28.6m and takes the amount raised since the event was first

A Christian charity has promoted its chief financial officer to the top job.  Stewardship, which facilitates tax-effective giving and support for Christian charities, said Janie Oliver would succeed Stewart McCulloch as chief executive on 1 January. McCulloch has been the chief executive of the charity since August 2018 and is leaving to join the debt

A group of sector experts will draw up a set of “universal principles” aimed at improving best practice in charity investment.  The Charity Investment Governance Principles project will be hosted by the Charity Finance Group and will feature representatives from the Association of Charitable Foundations, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the Wales Council for

The English National Opera has announced plans to create a new base in Greater Manchester, after Arts Council England told the charity it must move out of London to remain eligible for funding. In July ACE agreed a £24m grant with ENO for the 2024/26 period for the development of an artistic programme, on the

The voluntary sector has made little progress on tackling racism over the past three years despite warm words from many organisations, a new report has found. Warm Words, Cold Comfort: UK Civil Society’s Ongoing Racism Problem, which has been published today by the charity leaders body Acevo and Voice4Change England, is the first piece of

The chief executive of the London Community Foundation has been appointed to the top job at the Nationwide Foundation.  Kate Markey will take up her new role in early 2024 after almost six years at the LCF.  The LCF said Markey had led the organisation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.  She

The British Psychological Society could cut about one-fifth of its workforce, sources close to the charity have told Third Sector. Internal communications circulated among BPS employees last week said the charity was consulting on changes affecting 32 jobs, sources said. The charity’s latest accounts, for 2022, show it employed an average of 127 full-time and

An international poverty relief charity has been issued a warning by the Charity Commission for failing to keep proper minutes and to correctly manage a conflict of interest. Penny Appeal received an official warning from the regulator for failing to keep trustee minutes, not acting in the best interest of the charity and failing to

Charities should read the new Non-Party Campaigner Code to “feel equipped” ahead of the upcoming election period, the chair of the Charity Commission has urged. Orlando Fraser, chair of the Charity Commission, and John Pullinger, chair of the Electoral Commission, have stressed the importance of knowing the new code’s implications for the charitable sector, in

Total spending at Marie Curie grew by more than £20m due to increased investment in charitable activities after NHS funding was reduced, its latest accounts reveal. The charity’s accounts, covering the year to 31 March, show expenditure was £175.9m, up 12 per cent on the previous year, due to higher investment in fundraising, nursing and

The Purpose Awards EMEA recognise campaigns that use creative ideas successfully to further positive causes, and acknowledge the organisations behind them. The awards are open to agencies, brands, public sector bodies, charities and NGOs throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Sarah-Jane Rumford, managing partner and PR director at the communications agency 89up (pictured, below),

Charity regulators have warned people to do their research when giving to charity after more than £2.7m worth of donations was stolen by fraudsters over the past year. The Charity Commission, the Fundraising Regulator and Action Fraud have launched their annual campaign reminding people how to give safely to charities. Data from Action Fraud, the

Income at the body for YMCA charities in England and Wales rose by more than £4m last year after it increased its trading activities, latest annual accounts reveal. YMCA England & Wales, which is registered as the National Council of Young Men’s Christian Associations, recorded income of £21.7m in the year to the end of

Heidi Travis is to step down as chief executive of Sue Ryder next year.  Travis, who has worked for the palliative care charity for 14 years, the past 11 as chief executive, said she would “semi retire” in the spring.  The charity said that under Travis’s leadership, it had “significantly expanded its palliative and end-of-life

A quarter of people will give less to charity this Christmas because of the cost-of-living crisis, according to new research. Polling published by the match-funding organisation the Big Give shows that 25 per cent of the more than 2,200 UK adults polled said they expected to donate less to good causes over the festive period

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has pledged to act when “standards fall short” after allegations of abuse and assault in the charity. The Times newspaper reported last week that staff and volunteers had accused the RNLI of “assault, bullying and misconduct by volunteers”. There are also accusations of “rampant sexism” among the organisation’s ranks, according

The arts charities Culture24 and The Audience Agency have merged after both organisations lost long-term funding contracts from Arts Council England. Culture 24, which promotes the cultural sector online, had a total income of £468,296 for the financial year ending March 2023. The Audience Agency, which provides support services for arts, cultural and heritage organisations,

Real-terms public spending cuts of £19.1bn and an increase in the National Living Wage could force charities to cut services or eat into their reserves, experts have warned. This week’s Autumn Statement included no additional spending for public services, despite charity bodies calling for an uplift to public service contracts involving charities.  The Office for

A dyslexic employee was discriminated against and unfairly dismissed by his charity employer, an employment tribunal has ruled. Robert Debont, the former facilities manager at the charity-run community building Marsh Farm Futures, was dismissed after clashes with members of the organisation’s management and its chief executive, Mohammed Rafi. The tribunal found that Debont experienced disability

The 13,000 staff and volunteers working in Cancer Research UK’s shop division are being offered free wellbeing support through a new partnership with the retail staff welfare charity the Retail Trust. The organisations said staff and volunteers at CRUK shops would be able to access personalised wellbeing support from the trust, including counselling and cognitive