Charity

The government should lose its powers to appoint Charity Commission board members, a sector leader has said. Sir Stephen Bubb, former boss of Acevo, the body which represents charity chief executives, was speaking after a major Conservative donor was named on the commission’s board.  Rory Brooks, a financier and philanthropist, is one of three new

Three senior figures with a passion for the charity sector have been appointed to the board of trustees at the Charity Commission. The men, who specialise in growth capital provision, banking and charity leadership, will serve for three years from 27 March 2023. They are: Rory Brooks CBE Brooks spent 13 years in banking in

Dozens of civil society figures have protested against the Charity Commission’s decision to impose interim managers at the Islamic Centre of England. The regulator appointed managers to take over the charity last month as part of an ongoing statutory inquiry, saying the trustees had failed to comply with their legal duties. In their open letter to

The overwhelming majority of small charities have been hit with higher costs during the cost-of-living crisis – and say they are braced for things to get even worse. Three quarters of small charities and community groups said everyday costs had gone up in the last 12 months and more than half faced higher energy bills,

Senior figures from Girlguiding UK are meeting with campaigners to try and head off a growing row over plans to close the charity’s activity centres. The charity says that it cannot afford to refurbish the five centres and announced two weeks ago that shutting them would “help financially secure the organisation”. But thousands of volunteers

Funders should aim to maintain higher levels of unrestricted grants post-Covid-19, researchers say. Experts from Durham University said charities and grant-makers trusted one another despite fears that a small number of organisations may have “gamed” the system during the pandemic. Data published in the paper, released today, show that the proportion of charities receiving some

A Scottish gay rights charity has quit Twitter saying it had been the victim of “targeted attacks” on the social media site. LGBT Youth Scotland said it decided to stop using the social media platform this month after noticing an increase in “extreme views” expressed there. The charity had about 33,000 followers on Twitter when

The Charity Commission is deciding whether to intervene after an internal review found that the Methodist Church was “not seen as a safe place” by some female members. The Methodist Church, a charity that oversees the church’s work across the country, admitted that its work with victims of sexism “needs to improve”. Methodist leaders commissioned

The chair of trustees at a military charity has been accused of causing “acrimony” during an ongoing racism storm surrounding a former senior figure at the organisation. Tony Bolton, who also leads the executive committee of the Western Front Association, faces criticism over his handling of the allegations against another committee member, according to reports

Campaigners have welcomed a sign of “shifting power” after a UK-based aid charity set up a trustee board in Africa. Ripple Effect, formerly known as Send a Cow, said that the creation of its Africa Board was part of a commitment to correct an “imbalance” in its work, so that more decisions were made by

King Charles has been urged to intervene after The Prince’s Trust said it would pay compensation of £2,000 each to survivors of childhood sexual abuse, according to reports. The settlement includes hundreds of working-class British children who were removed from their families and taken to “farm schools” in Australia, Canada and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) by

A controversial religious charity has shut its doors, saying it is concerned for the safety of worshippers. The Islamic Centre of England said it had suspended all its programmes “after receiving the concerns of the community and for their safety”, according to a sign posted on its gates this week. The sign, photographed by the

The Vagina Museum will be moving into a new home after securing enough funding to stay open. The charity says that it has raised the £85,000 it needed to avoid being forced to close. The museum launched an emergency fundraiser two weeks ago saying that it required a “substantial cash injection” in order to stabilise

Giving by the country’s biggest charitable foundations rose by 13 per cent in the first year of the pandemic. The value of grants made by the 300 richest foundations grew from £3.27bn to £3.7bn in 2020/21, research shows. This is a far bigger year-on-year increase than the five-year average of about 6 per cent. The

A number of staff at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising may lose their jobs as it starts consulting on restructure plans. The CIOF said that it was proposing changes to the way it worked after finishing a review of its services and products. The charity, which represents thousands of individual fundraisers and hundreds more organisations,

A project has been announced today by NCVO, offering over-50s a paid internship and a route into charity sector employment. The organisation is supporting and hosting Charity Interns, which has been set up to explore new opportunities for people aged over 50 who have not previously worked in the sector. It will begin in late

Hundreds of staff at two large charities are now required to attend their offices just twice a month under post-Covid-19 reforms, it was revealed today. Friends of the Earth and Leukaemia UK have both significantly cut back the amount of time employees are mandated to work in the office. Leukaemia UK said it tried to

Charities and other good causes received a record sum of just over £1.8bn from National Lottery ticket sales in 2022-23, it has been revealed today. Overall sales of almost £8.2bn are the second highest since the lottery’s 1994 launch – beaten only by 2012-13, which included the London Olympics. The news comes as Camelot prepares

A cancer charity is being investigated by the regulator over “serious” concerns about financial controls and “unauthorised trustee benefit”, it has been revealed today. The Charity Commission has launched a statutory inquiry into Melanoma UK – Incorporating Factor 50, eight months after it began to engage with the organisation. The charity was set up in

The Women’s Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust is set to become a subsidiary of The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, following a unanimous vote. The charities announced on Monday that the WRNSBT would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RNRMC as part of its strategy to reduce running costs.  The WRNSBT said the decision

A major charity has apologised after one of its children’s homes was shut down by regulators. Action for Children said it was “deeply sorry” and admitted that services at the home had “not met our usual high standards”. Ofsted suspended services at the home after an inspection in March found it was “inadequate”. The charity

The number of complaints made against adverts published by non-commercial organisations fell by more than 40 per cent last year, latest figures show. The annual report from the Advertising Standards Authority, the UK advertising industry’s self-regulatory body, shows the number of complaints lodged about ads by non-commercial organisations was 2,654 in 2022, down from 4,545

World Vision UK’s government funding almost halved last year, according to the charity’s latest accounts. It received £4.6m from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2021/22, down from £8.2m in the preceding 12 months. World Vision UK’s FCDO funding has dropped by about three-quarters since 2019/20, when it was worth £16.7m. The charity previously

Lack of engagement from trustees and a fear of leaks contributed to the £6.6m scandal that engulfed Christ Church College in Oxford, an independent review has found. The review found that some academics on Christ Church’s governing board, who automatically also become trustees of the charity, lacked “the appropriate basic skills” required for the role.

Rising income from student fees drove a 9 per cent increase in funds at the Girls’ Day School Trust last year. GDST, which runs a network of 23 independent schools and two academy schools, describes itself as “the global leader in girls’ education” in its latest accounts. The charity’s income was £286m in 2021/22, up

The Vagina Museum has accused Twitter of censoring its attempts to raise money the charity needs to stay open. It criticised the social media platform after Twitter attached sensitivity warnings to messages about the museum’s work. It comes in the same week that the museum warned it will have to close in June unless it

Girlguiding plans to sell its five activity centres in an attempt to save millions of pounds. The charity said the move would help secure its financial future and admitted that the centres had been losing money for “some years”. Girlguiding said it would cost more than £20m to restore the sites, adding: “We cannot afford

Work to dissolve the Small Charities Coalition has been suspended after Companies House received an objection. This may mean that a creditor has produced evidence that the SCC still owes them money, according to government guidance, although Third Sector has not been able to confirm details with the charity.  Information about the SCC’s assets when

The regulator has moved swiftly to rule out action against a charity accused of carrying out an “obscene” fundraising campaign. The Charity Commission received “several complaints” when UP – The Adult Cerebral Palsy Movement posted cards containing 42p to the 822 members of the House of Lords, at a total cost of £345.24. UP sent

Ten jobs are at risk after the Vagina Museum announced it will close within weeks unless it raises enough money to secure a new venue. The charity, which has been without a permanent home since January, said it needs a “substantial cash injection” to avoid shutting next month. The museum has found potential new premises