Charity

A fraudster who conned a football charity out of £200,000 has been jailed for almost three years. Fraser White, 24, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, defrauded the Football Foundation using inside knowledge gained from his roles as director of a football academy and as a ticketing executive at Reading FC, Reading Crown Court heard. From June 2020

Four out of five charity shops say they have seen an increase in shoplifting over the past year, a survey has revealed. Research conducted by the Charity Retail Association found instances of shoplifting from respondents’ shops increased by an average of 31 per cent, which equated to an average of £33,556 lost from the charities

The debt counselling and financial hardship charity Christians Against Poverty has appointed Stewart McCulloch as chief executive. McCulloch will join in January after five years as chief executive of the Christian giving charity Stewardship. He succeeds Paula Stringer, who stepped down as chief executive of CAP in July to join the BBC after five years

The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into a charity founded by the comedian Russell Brand. Brand is the chair of the Stay Free Foundation, which supports people recovering from addiction. His wife, Laura Gallacher, is a trustee. Last weekend Brand was accused by four women of sexual assault after a joint investigation

Who is he?  In 13 years, Lindsay Boswell has propelled the food charity FareShare from a busy but unknown support service to an essential network of 34 regional centres, food hubs and food exchanges. In 2010 FareShare was receiving only a tiny fraction of available surplus food, while the need was growing rapidly. Since then,

Pregnant Then Screwed and the Royal Osteoporosis Society were the big winners at this year’s Third Sector Awards.  Pregnant Then Screwed, which tackles maternity discrimination and supports pregnant women and mothers, won Small Charity of the Year, the Small Charity, Big Achiever award and Communications Campaign of the Year.  The charity won the latter award

A Christian children’s charity has announced its next chief executive. Fola Komolafe will join World Vision UK in October after eight years as partner and global lead for international development at the professional services firm Mazars. Komolafe previously served as the chief executive of Indisys Business Solutions, where she provided strategic direction and philanthropy advice

The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into Girlguiding, following concerns about the charity’s decision to sell its activity centres and end the operations of British Girlguiding Overseas. The regulator said it was “engaging with the trustees” to assess the concerns, after the charity’s decisions came under fire from Conservative MPs during a

Tributes have been paid to the prominent fundraiser Mandi Hine-Conway, who has died at the age of 39. Hine-Conway, who was a community manager at the training and support organisation Fundraising Everywhere, died on 9 September after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s West Midlands Committee,

Conservative MPs have criticised Girlguiding’s decisions to sell its activity centres and end its overseas operations, labelling them as “utterly bizarre”. Caroline Dinenage, MP for Gosport, said the decisions were “incredibly concerning” as she opened a Westminster Hall debate on the issue yesterday [19 September]. “These utterly bizarre decisions come after no real warning and

The anti-racism campaign group #CharitySoWhite has apologised to people of colour after admitting it perpetuated a culture of “white supremacy”. The group published a 2,000-word blog post today explaining why it has been largely inactive for the past year. The post says a “culture of hierarchy, hazing, and mistrust within the group” made the work

Total spending at the National Trust went up by £142m to £722.3m as the charity took a planned dip into its reserves to support its conservation work, new figures show.  The charity’s annual accounts, for the year to the end of February 2023, show the National Trust increased its spending on conservation projects by more

Trustees must be aware of the risks associated with their charity’s use of social media, the Charity Commission has warned. In guidance on the use of social media by charities, published today, the regulator reiterates that charities can use social media to engage in campaigning and political activity, provided it is within charitable law, and

The Charity Commission has opened a compliance case into the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds after the charity called the Prime Minister a “liar” in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The charity found itself in hot water last month after its post calling Rishi Sunak and ministers Michael Gove and Therese Coffey

Diabetes UK has promoted Colette Marshall to chief executive. Marshall, who has been director of services, volunteering and local impact at the charity since 2013, will succeed Chris Askew, who announced in March that he would be taking up the top job at the Royal College of General Practitioners after eight years leading Diabetes UK.

The fundraising think tank Rogare is examining the ethical and regulatory questions relating to “disintermediated giving”. Disintermediation happens when traditional charities are cut out of the process of giving by the funds going straight to the affected individuals, such as through crowdfunding platforms. Rogare says there are many different ways that charities can be cut

Nearly 70 per cent of high earners and business owners have no plans to pass on their wealth to charities, new research reveals. This research, which was commissioned by investment management company Rathbones, surveyed a sample of 1,035 high-net-worth individuals, defined as people with more than £250,000 in investable assets, and business owners. When asked

Brain Tumour Research has appointed Dan Knowles as its next chief executive. Knowles, who has spent the past seven years as chief executive of Oxfordshire Mind, succeeds Sue Farrington Smith, who co-founded Brain Tumour Research in 2009. Farrington Smith, who will join the charity’s board, announced in April that she would be retiring after undergoing

The total value of social investments rose by £1.5bn last year, latest figures show. Data from the social investment wholesaler Big Society Capital, published yesterday, shows the value of outstanding social investment in the UK was just under £9.4bn at the end of 2022.  BSC said investment in social and affordable housing made up £5.1bn

Partnerships between corporations and charities have “stepped up” in response to the cost-of-living crisis, a new report reveals. Data from the consultancy C&E Advisory’s Corporate-NGO Partnerships Barometer 2023 shows that an overwhelming majority of corporates (90 per cent) and nearly all non-profits (97 per cent) report that cost-of-living considerations feature strongly or moderately in their

A requirement for “ministerial involvement” to secure funding with the UK Aid Match scheme has a negative impact on charity appeals, new research reveals. A report from Martin Scott, a senior lecturer at the University of East Anglia, also says that the involvement of ministers in funding announcements can “lead to funds being redirected away

Younger people give almost three times as much as their older counterparts through in-memory donations, new research shows. Analysis by the legacy consortium Legacy Foresight shows people aged between 18 and 44 give on average almost three times as much through in-memory donations as people in the 65- to 75-year-old bracket.  A report on the

Longfield Community Hospice has appointed Clare Davis as its next chief executive.  Davis, who will join in November from the same position at the health and wellbeing charity Pets as Therapy, succeeds Simon Bernstein, who is retiring after four years in the role.  Before joining Pets as Therapy, Davis was director of the consultancy The

The Disasters Emergency Committee’s total income fell from £274.3m to £215.7m in the year to the end of March, its annual accounts reveal. The fall is partly as a result of an anticipated fall in donations to the Ukraine humanitarian appeal, which was launched in March 2022 and fell by nearly 70 per cent to

The government has said it has no plans to scrap Empty Property Relief after experts expressed fears it could be lost to charities. The Treasury and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities have launched a joint consultation aimed at reducing evasion and avoidance of business rates. The consultation asks for views on measures

Lilian Greenwood has been named as the shadow minister for civil society.  The MP for Nottingham South succeeds Barbara Keeley, who had held the charity brief for the Labour Party since March last year.  Keeley remains in Labour’s team under the new shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire, but her brief will cover music and tourism.

The British Heart Foundation’s total income rose by £30m to a record high of more than £380m last year, new figures show.  The charity’s annual accounts, for the year to the end of March, show total income was up by 8 per cent year on year to £381.3m.  Trading income rose by £29m to £229.4m

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a sanitation and healthcare charity that supports people in west Africa. The regulator said today it had begun a probe into Water for Africa because of the charity’s failure to file its accounts and due to concerns about its financial controls. The commission said it had

An internal Church of England investigation has revealed a founder of a Christian charity abused his position and had “inappropriate relationships” with young male interns. Mike Pilavachi, co-founder and former leader of Soul Survivor, exhibited a “systematic pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour”, the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team said. Pilavachi worked as a

A vegan charity’s advert has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority because it caused “unjustified distress”. The advert, created by the campaigning charity Viva!, shows a woman eating raw offal and blood in a parody of popular fruit yoghurt ads.  The advert also included voiceover lines that invited consumers to “be complicit” and “taste