Charity

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is spearheading a new campaign calling for voluntary sector organisations to consider divesting from companies in the fossil fuel industry.  The NCVO said today it was issuing a “rallying cry for our sector to take collective action on one of the biggest challenges we face”. The membership body said

The government is today being urged to withdraw a near-£40,000 grant to a UK charity, amid fears it has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. An open letter, signed by 29 organisations that support people from Hong Kong who have sought refuge in the UK, accuses the leadership of Wai Lin Society of having

The Captain Tom Foundation – set up by the family of the late fundraiser – has said it is “to close all payment channels” while a statutory inquiry is carried out. The charity has released a statement on the homepage of its website, dated July 2023, providing an update on its activities and future plans.

A charity and think tank has called for philanthropy to be “turned inside-out” to make grant-giving more inclusive and transparent. New Philanthropy Capital has released guidance outlining its approach to “open philanthropy”. The guide, published today, is based on an 18-month experiment by the organisation, which saw it distributing more than £570,000 of grants to

Complaints against Save the Children UK soared by 78 per cent in a year, thanks largely to the fallout from its rejection of a £750,000 donation. According to its annual report and accounts, published today, the charity’s income rose by £54m – from £240.4m in 2021 to £294.4m in 2022. Donations for families caught up

The RNLI today urged its employees and volunteers to “call out” inappropriate behaviour after a staff survey contained allegations of sexism and bigotry. The rescue charity published a statement to apologise after The Times and the BBC published reports based on the internal surveys from 2021 and 2022. It said it strove to become a

Police have been contacted after a charity shop’s Pride display was vandalised twice, including with a homophobic message. Staff at the British Heart Foundation shop in Enfield are “shocked and saddened” by the double attack, but have praised the community for its support. Volunteers, who had put up a Pride flag and the word ‘Pride’

Stephanie Draper, chief executive of the NGO umbrella body Bond, is to step down in the autumn.  Draper, who has led the charity since 2019, is leaving to take up another charity role, which is expected to be announced next week. In a statement, Bond said Draper had steered the sector through a “critical period”,

A former Comic Relief chief operating officer, investment banker and business turnaround expert has been named as the interim chief executive of a hospital charity. Alex Botha has been recruited to lead St George’s Hospital Charity with immediate effect. Botha replaces Amerjit Chohan, who left this month after five years in the post, saying he

The UK’s biggest grant-making organisation is looking into relocating its office, museum and library as it seeks to hit net zero. The charitable foundation announced yesterday (28 June) that its current buildings presented “significant decarbonisation challenges”. It said it had commissioned a “detailed survey” to look at how to make its current buildings in Euston,

One of the UK’s largest charities has named a new executive director to oversee the crucial areas of communications and external affairs. Sal Copley takes up the role at the British Red Cross in September, leaving her current position as external affairs director of Sustrans, a walking, wheeling and cycling charity.  She has also previously

Bowel Cancer UK, Guide Dogs, the RNID and the Prison Radio Association are among the charities to have been shortlisted in this year’s Third Sector Awards. The awards, which recognise the achievements of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, feature 33 categories covering sector excellence, partnerships and talent. Sector leaders shortlisted for the hotly contested

Barclays Bank has agreed to pay £21,500 to a Christian charity, having closed its account over its controversial ministry of helping people to “leave their LGBT attractions and life choices”. Barclays agreed the payment to Core Issues Trust ahead of a looming court case, where the charity sought to challenge the axing of its account.

The Brain Tumour Charity has announced its new chief executive, who will lead the organisation from next month. Michele Afif, who will start on 17 July, was the chief executive at Rays of Sunshine, a charity supporting seriously ill children, until late last year.  She said: “It’s my great privilege to take up the CEO

The regulator is taking a close look at an armed forces charity after an auditor flagged up a failure to provide records for £151,000 in donations and £89,000 of expenditure. The Charity Commission announced a compliance case into Forgotten Veterans UK, which has filed its accounts for the year to November 2021 279 days late.

A charity described as the “glue” of the UK’s cancer research community has shocked people with the sudden announcement that it is to close after 22 years. Medical professionals and cancer campaigners described the decision by the National Cancer Research Institute as a “massive blow” to advances in research and treatment. The decision was announced

Hundreds of workers from homelessness charity St Mungo’s have today walked out for the first day of indefinite strike action as a lengthy pay wrangle continues. The new action follows a month-long strike that ended yesterday (Monday). It was announced by trade union Unite, which represents 800 workers at the charity. The walkout comes after

The Charity Commission has defended its decision to not compel charities to report on the diversity of their trustees and said it is exploring the best method to record and report such data. In 2017, a report commissioned by the regulatory body, called Taken on Trust, urged the commission to report the diversity of board

A £40m charity that looks after children and young people with complex needs was right to sack a member of staff who refused to have Covid vaccines or to take tests, a tribunal ruled. Mr D Blair accused Kibble Education and Care Centre in Scotland of unfair dismissal from the place where he had worked

The government is today being urged to draw up a philanthropy and charitable giving strategy after new research revealed four in five voluntary organisations are battling rising demand for their services. The work by Charities Aid Foundation also found that only about two in five charities (38 per cent) are confident they can meet that

A UK-based charity today reports a £50m annual rise in income – continuing remarkable recent growth that has seen it double in size in a decade. Islamic Relief Worldwide’s annual report and accounts for 2022 show it made £234m – up from £183m in 2021, £149m in 2020 and £130.3m in 2019. The growth, which

A man has admitted carrying out a “grotesque” burglary at the headquarters of a charity that cares for children with disabilities. The burglary happened at Peterborough children’s charity Little Miracles, at The Spinney in Hartwell Way, in the early hours of 13 March. At the time, the charity described the incident as “devastating”. Today Louise

The Charity Commission came out fighting today as it declared “we will be beholden to no one” when it comes to applying the law. And it promised to dial down the jargon and “implement a new writing style” to help everybody understand its decisions and the reasoning behind them. Publishing its 2023/24 business plan, the

A letter signed by 1,000 charities has today been delivered to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, demanding a meeting and warning that a “national asset” could be lost without more support. One charity chief executive described running their organisation as “relentlessly pushing boulders up a mountain”. The letter, which urges Sunak to meet with the Small

The £158m-a-year conservation charity the RSPB has named its new director for England. Michael Copleston has landed the role after 20 years at the organisation, during which he has worked from the tip of Cornwall to the Hebridean Islands. Copleston will lead the RSPB England team of more than 750 staff and 8,000 volunteers across

There are three things that will always remind me of March 2020: Zoom quizzes, banana bread and digital service delivery.  That same month charities had to pivot rapidly, shifting many of their services online as the Covid-19 pandemic struck.  Three years on, few of us want to do a Zoom quiz or eat more banana

The cyclist who died during the British Heart Foundation’s London to Brighton Bike Ride was taking part in the event for the 24th time, his family said. David Cooper, 69, said on his JustGiving page that BHF research probably saved his life when he had major heart surgery in 1998. He had ridden in the

A community charity expects donations to soar and brand awareness to grow “tenfold” after it was chosen to adorn the shirts of a famous football club. A pioneering deal has seen six businesses put forward money to sponsor Rotherham United’s shirts – but to agree to receive no publicity, with a charity taking the cherished

A £13m charity will get almost one quarter of what it normally makes from fundraising in a year, thanks to football legend Graeme Souness’s English Channel swim. The 70-year-old, who completed the gruelling 21-mile swim in just over 12 hours, has raised more than £1.1m so far for DEBRA UK. In the year ending 31

A weeklong celebration of small charities is happening under a cloud, with thousands of organisations “on the brink” of going under, it is claimed today. During Small Charity Week, which began today and is celebrated on the latest Third Sector Podcast episode, voluntary groups come together to mark the difference they make. But, according to