Charity

The founder and chief executive of a youth futures charity will step down from her role in January after 15 years in post. Amy Leonard launched The Talent Foundry in 2009. The charity works in partnership with schools and industry to develop the skills of young people and connect them with employers and higher education

The chief executive of St John Ambulance will step down at the end of March, the first aid charity has announced today. Martin Houghton-Brown, who joined the charity in January 2018, is understood to be taking up a yet-to-be announced leadership position at another charity. St John Ambulance praised Houghton-Brown for his “extraordinary leadership” and

Stonewall has defended itself after Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, accused it of “overreaching” and offering legal advice that differs from the Equality Act.  At an international conservative summit organised by right-wing umbrella body the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, Badenoch said institutions that should be neutral have now been overtaken by leftist “activist groups”, naming

A £2m round of grant funding has opened to charities led by Black and racially minoritised communities, as part of a £10m investment in making funding streams accessible to these communities. The children and youth funding round, launched by the grant-maker The Phoenix Way in partnership with the Youth Endowment Fund, is offering project funding

A charity that supports local families with young children has announced its closure after failing to secure sufficient funding to continue operations. Home-Start West Dorset, which has been operating in Dorchester for 15 years, said the closure came after it failed to gain major long-term funding and was unsuccessful in securing alternative grants. It added

The homelessness charity Centrepoint has warned supporters that their data might have been stolen in a major cyber attack. The charity told supporters that their data was potentially part of a data breach last month after a sub-contractor of the survey company About Loyalty was hacked. About Loyalty works with many of the UK’s biggest

Cats Protection has rebranded to “build the charity’s reputation as experts in all things cat”. The charity helps 157,000 cats and kittens each year through a network of 210 volunteer-run branches and 34 centres. As part of the rebrand, which cost about £50,000, the charity said it conducted research among external audiences, as well as

Nearly three-quarters of charities steer clear of political campaigning, new research has found. Latest figures from the Third Sector Trends study, published today by Durham University, found that 73 per cent of charities agreed or strongly agreed that they “steer clear of political issues”. The research is based on responses from about 6,000 voluntary sector

A former charities spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats has been appointed as chief executive of the older people’s charity Re-engage.  Jenny Willott, who was the MP for Cardiff Central between 2005 and 2015, held the voluntary sector brief for her party between 2009 and 2010.  Before entering parliament, Willott worked for Barnardo’s, Unicef UK; she

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has launched an internal “youth revolution”, which will include sending young people to attend the charity’s board meetings. The charity said it was “transforming” the way it worked with young people, in a document shared with volunteers. As part of its efforts to engage further with young

An estimated $100tn (£82.3tn) wealth transfer will “reshape philanthropic giving” across the globe, new research concludes. A report from the US bank Citi, called Philanthropy and the Global Economy, says a wealth transfer from the “silent and baby boomer generations” is resulting in new philanthropic values becoming priorities for donors. The move will result in

A firefighter and former Royal Marine Commando has set a new world endurance record while climbing Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon), the highest mountain in Wales, for charity. Greg Wilson summited the peak nine times in 48 hours to raise funds for the Firefighters Charity and the Royal Marines Charity.  He travelled 81 miles and a

The youth charity Reclaim has launched an emergency fundraiser to keep its doors open, warning of the toll a “relentless” political and financial climate has taken on its work. The Manchester-based charity, which aims to empower working-class young people across the UK, said that if it fails to meet its £20,000 target by 12 November,

Charities working to support the UK’s most deprived communities can apply for a share of a new £4m Cost-of-Living Fund from Social Investment Business and Access – The Foundation for Social Investment. The investment specialists have announced a blended fund that will accompany loans from SIB’s Recovery Loan Fund, which the investor established in 2022

A Scottish sleep charity has announced a rebrand that will allow its “service to transcend regional boundaries”. Sleep Scotland, operated by the not-for-profit Capella, is officially changing its name to Sleep Action. The charity said it decided to make the change after finding that its name had “inadvertently limited” its ability to reach “those who

Less than 6 per cent of UK foundation giving between 2021 and 2022 went towards work to tackle injustice, a report published today has revealed. The research from the grant-maker the Civic Power Fund analysed more than £950m-worth of grants made between 2021 and 2022 by 60 different funders that are active in social justice

The charity Tender has rebranded in an attempt to better represent its values and make itself more accessible to younger audiences. The charity, which offers arts-based performance programmes to prevent domestic abuse and encourage healthy relationships, said the rebrand aims to better embody its present-day work. The rebrand was carried out by design agency Osch

There is a growing divide between large and small charities’ ability to cope with the cost-of-living crisis as small organisations struggle to recruit volunteers, new research suggests. The fourth VCSE Sector Barometer, a quarterly survey of more than 500 registered charities conducted by Pro Bono Economics and Nottingham Trent University’s National VCSE Data and Insights

The government has announced a £200,000 fund to support women veterans who have experienced sexual trauma in the military by providing dedicated training and guidance for frontline staff across healthcare services, military and civilian charities. The fund was established in response to  recommendations in three independent reports from Anglia Ruskin University, the veterans’ mental health

Expenditure at a leading children’s charity increased by £10.1m last year, its annual accounts reveal. Action for Children’s total expenditure reached £149.4m in the year ending 31 March 2023, with investments in supporting children in care receiving the biggest boost, from up from £27.7m in 2022 to £36.9m in 2023. The charity’s income rose to

The former chief executive of a now-defunct Scottish healthcare charity has pled not guilty to a charge of fraud, seven months after the organisation closed due to “a number of significant challenges”.  Nathan Sparling was charged with embezzlement at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week.  Sparling served as the chief executive of HIV Scotland between 2018

Charities must take inequality into account when developing plans to use artificial intelligence, voluntary sector leaders have warned. In an online panel discussion at the think tank NPC’s annual conference last week, charity experts gave their views on the benefits and pitfalls of using AI to further their charitable cause. Panellists said AI can be

Income at the charity leaders body Acevo rose by nearly 17 per cent over the past year, latest annual accounts show.  The membership body’s accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 show that total income increased to more than £1.2m.  The increase was largely due to a services and projects funding injection of

The Children’s Trust has appointed Mike Thiedke as its next chief executive. Thiedke will join the charity on 13 November after five and a half years in the top job at the youth homelessness charity Depaul UK. He previously worked at Plan International UK, ActionAid and the United Nations. Thiedke will succeed Mike Maddick, who

“Sidelining” the charitable sector would be detrimental to the advancement of public services, the chief executive of the think tank NPC has warned.  Speaking at the NPC Ignites 2023 conference in London today, Dan Corry told delegates that politicians need to take civil society more seriously. “If you want our public services to innovate and

Strike action at Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding has been resolved after workers accepted a pay offer of nearly £3,000 per staff member. More than 60 staff participated in four days of strike action between 31 July and 11 August, after the charity refused to increase pay in line with the National Joint Council’s

The “outstanding” chief executive of the homelessness charity Housing Justice will retire in April. The charity said Kathy Mohan, who has led the organisation since 2017, had helped it support more than 1,000 people who were experiencing homelessness.  She ran the organisation during the Covid-19 pandemic, for which she received an OBE for services to

Third sector organisations must continue engaging with the government despite ministers’ “hostile attitudes”, charity leaders have urged.  In a panel discussion at the think tank NPC’s annual conference in London yesterday, charity experts gave their views on the role of the voluntary sector in politics and policy-making as the country gears up for an anticipated

Voluntary sector experts have warned charities against engaging with polarising “culture wars” as political parties gear up for a general election. At the National Council for Voluntary Organisations’ annual general meeting, which was held online yesterday, a panel of third sector leaders urged charities to continue campaigning efforts and “ignore” culture war rhetoric. The panel

The head of charity chief executives body Acevo is “deeply disappointed and frustrated” that the proportion of ethnic minority leaders in the voluntary sector remains low.  The Acevo Pay and Equalities Survey 2023, published today, shows the proportion of charity leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds remained static at just 7 per cent. Census data from