Charity

Charitable foundations are often “deeply conservative or complacent” and need to reform the way they work, an event heard today. Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of Oxfam GB, told the Association of Charitable Foundations that its members should take a more radical approach to designing and distributing funds. Identifying what he called his “number one frustration

Global aid charities are “stuck” and cannot plan for the future because of uncertainty around funding, an event has heard. Bond, the umbrella body for international development organisations, issued the warning today during an online event. Mike Wright, director of membership and communication at Bond, which hosted the webinar, said that Bond was meeting with

The homelessness charity St Mungo’s has appointed a former senior civil servant as its new chief executive. Emma Haddad starts at St Mungo’s today, and joins from the Home Office where she was director general for asylum and protection. She has also worked at the Department for Work and Pensions. Haddad replaces Rebecca Sycamore, who

A fraudster who pretended to be several different cancer patients to pocket £7,500 from Macmillan Cancer Support was caught when charity staff recognised her voice, a court heard. Amy Buck, 33, of Evans Street, Burslem, made 25 claims for money that was meant to help cancer patients heat their homes and attend hospital during the

Three charities will share a windfall totalling almost £87,000 from companies that breached waste packaging rules designed to protect the environment. The Marlow-based IT firm Softcat has pledged £35,803.99 to the National Trust, after it failed to comply with the law for more than a decade. Alcoholic drinks company Sazerac UK, which is based in

Hundreds of staff at Shelter will go on strike next month, Unite the Union has announced. More than 500 staff at the housing and homelessness charity plan to strike for two weeks in December, in the latest escalation of a pay dispute. Unite said the charity’s existing offer represented a “huge real-terms pay cut” for

The Charity Commission has issued an official warning to Christ Church College in Oxford after it spent £6.6m on a four-year dispute with its former dean. Christ Church spent the money on legal fees and public relations between 2018 and 2022 after a row between the college and its former boss Martyn Percy spiralled out

The 2022 John Lewis & Partners Christmas advert is reducing viewers to tears – and “starting a national conversation” about children in care, charity leaders believe. For the stripped-back ad, which is called ‘The Beginner’ and has a bare minimum of festive imagery, the retailer partners with Action for Children and Who Cares? Scotland. Despite

Oxfam GB sacked 10 people over safeguarding concerns last year, latest documents show. The charity concluded 38 safeguarding investigations in 2021/22 and upheld or partially upheld complaints in 24 of those cases, according to its annual report for the year to the end of March 2022, which was published yesterday. The accounts say the charity

Accessing funding and managing finances are at the top of the list of concerns experienced by local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, new research shows. Navca’s newest research project asked its 187 members about their financial situation this year compared to the previous year. Respondents indicated financial matters as their top concerns, closely followed

Oxfam GB raised more than £370m last year as it partially recovered from the financial impact of the pandemic. The charity’s accounts for the year to March 2022, published today, show that its income was £373m, up 8 per cent compared with 2020/21. This is still substantially lower than the charity’s record income of £434m

A man has been ordered to repay nearly £2,500 to Macmillan Cancer Support after admitting to defrauding the charity for more than a decade.  Richard Bramley, aged 56, received a suspended jail sentence when he appeared before Boston Magistrates Court on Monday. He pleaded guilty last month to collecting donations for Macmillan as part of

An environmental charity has received a £25,000 payout from a waste firm following the contamination of groundwater at its site. The Environment Agency ordered that a payment be made to Rockingham Forest Trust, a local organisation based in Northamptonshire, after the waste management company Augean South discharged harmful chemicals in groundwater next to its treatment

Unite members at the homelessness charity Shelter have voted to go on strike in a row over pay. The union said that Shelter needed to “put their house in order” as it prepared to announce which days will be affected by industrial action. Unite balloted its 450 members at Shelter last month after describing the

Two equal rights charities face a nervous wait for a tribunal ruling that could herald significant changes to Charity Commission registration rules. The judge has finished hearing arguments in the case brought by the trans youth charity Mermaids against the LGB Alliance. But no date has yet been set for the ruling, which might not

Cats Protection is the charity most likely to receive a legacy gift from one of its supporters, new research shows. The Legacy Potential Premier League Table 2022-23, produced by the research company Fastmap and the consultancy Freestyle Marketing, ranks charities by their potential to generate gifts in wills from existing supporters. Cats Protection replaced last

Stuart Andrew MP has been named as the new minister for civil society. Andrew will be responsible for charities as part of his role at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, according to the government website.  Andrew, the Conservative MP for Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough in Yorkshire, worked as a charity fundraiser before

The Charity Commission has disqualified a former trustee at the charity for professional footballers as part of an ongoing inquiry.  The regulator said Darren Wilson was initially suspended from his role at the Players Foundation but had since been banned. The decision means Wilson cannot work as a trustee or senior manager at any charity for

The charity behind Parkrun recorded its highest-ever income last year. Parkrun Global raised £5.6m in the year ending in January 2022, boosted by the one-off acquisition of the company running its events in Australia. The organisation’s latest accounts, published today by Companies House, show that the deal was worth £1.4m to the charity. As a

A manager at a Scottish cancer charity has been arrested and charged after an investigation into financial irregularities at the organisation. Police Scotland confirmed that 59-year-old Lindsay MacCallum, who worked for Rainbow Valley, was arrested last month. A spokesperson for Rainbow Valley said the charity had supported the police investigation. Rainbow Valley has spent about

Arts Council England is tripling the number of ethnic minority-led organisations it funds in the next three years as part of an overhaul of its grants programme. Big-name beneficiaries including the Royal Opera House will have their funding cut as ACE endeavours to invest more money in the arts outside London. Today ACE announced that

The Vegan Society is to cut 16 jobs after admitting it had been “too ambitious” and was “unable to balance its books for 2023”. The charity made the shock announcement to staff in a Zoom team meeting yesterday. In an internal email seen by Third Sector, Steve Hamon, chief executive of the charity, told staff

A charity shop manager who stole thousands of pounds of charity money after falling victim to an online romance scam has been spared jail. Claire Starkey, 47 and of Strathlorne Close in Tranmere, Merseyside, stole just under £4,000 from one of Wirral Hospice St John’s charity shops between January and March this year, Liverpool Crown

Government, regulators and the media must rethink their approach to philanthropy and encourage more effective charitable giving, a parliamentary group has warned. A paper from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Philanthropy and Social Investment says reform of philanthropy would help make charities more nimble. It says the UK is one of the world’s most generous

The leader of Christian Aid in Scotland is taking a 12-month sabbatical to become the next moderator of the Church of Scotland General Assembly.  Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton, who has led the poverty relief charity since 2016, will take over from the current moderator, the Rev Iain Greenshields, next May.  The post involves acting as an

The government must work with charities “as a matter of urgency” to ensure the sector is not further damaged by the inflation crisis, a committee of MPs has said. The politicians argued that local charities and other civil society bodies faced “an existential threat” as the cost-of-living situation worsened. The recommendations are included in a

Multi-Year Campaign to Launch with Multiple Non-Profit and Consumer Products Partners NEW YORK – Paramount Consumer Products and Nickelodeon today announced the launch of SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change, a brand-new global ocean conservation and sustainability initiative. Through partnerships with several non-profit organizations, SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change aims to help remove and divert five

Eating disorders education hub to be launched‘There is a glaring gap where treatment of eating disorders should be in the UK. I know, as I loved exercise too much, combined it with under-eating, and lost the ability to perform for the last three years and jeopardised my health into the bargain. I wouldn’t have done

Opera Philadelphia, Tequila Rock Revolution, Donn T, and More Top Talent Playing Fundraiser #ForEveryChild – Concert, Dinner, and Silent Auction Tickets on Sale Now Malvern, PA – October 26, 2022: Rajant Corporation, the pioneer of Kinetic Mesh® wireless networks, will host the third annual “World Music Benefit” for UNICEF. The star-studded event raises awareness and

Membership of England’s largest umbrella organisation for the voluntary sector grew by more than 1,000 in 2021/22, its annual accounts have revealed today. But NCVO had to dig into its reserves to “ensure continued service delivery” after posting a larger-than-expected £718,000 deficit. The annual report and financial accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022