Charity

More than 20 jobs are at risk after a mental health charity announced it needs to raise £200,000 by the end of the year to remain open. Sea Sanctuary, which is based in Cornwall, warned that its closure could be “catastrophic” for its beneficiaries. The charity said in a statement that it had been hit

‘Frazzled’ charity leaders are worrying about recruitment and retention as well as exhaustion, according to new research. A new report published by the research charity IVAR identified three main concerns that charity leaders in the UK share. They are continued social and political volatility, difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff and exhaustion across the sector

Greenpeace has taken the rare step of revealing the number of supporters who have cancelled their regular contributions in the past month, as part of a fundraising campaign to prospective donors. In an email seen by Third Sector, Deborah McLean, the organisation’s fundraising director, says that “sadly, 2,352 people have had to cancel their regular

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has officially stepped down from a charity he founded and its chief executive has also left after concerns were raised over his salary. Hunt founded the healthcare charity Patient Safety Watch in 2019 and served as one of its trustees until November, when he left the organisation after

The Charity Commission has appointed an interim manager to investigate a religious charity embroiled in controversy over a social media post that appeared to praise the Taliban. Dar ul Uloom Islamia Rizwia (Bralawai) has been the subject of a statutory inquiry by the regulator since November 2021. The inquiry is looking into the trustees’ potential

A judge today deferred his decision in Kids Company’s case against the Charity Commission after being told its founder Camila Batmangelidjh’s reputation had been “tainted” by the regulator. Mr Justice Charles Bourne is considering whether to allow a judicial review into an inquiry report by the commission which examined Kids Company’s sudden collapse in 2015.

A peer who was a charity chief executive has put the spotlight on funders – urging them to “dig deep” to help organisations navigate through the cost-of-living crisis. Baroness Young of Old Scone issued an “admonition to funders”, calling for greater financial support for charities in the coming months. In a speech at the NPC

The charity Samaritans today said “our only agenda is reducing suicide” after a row broke out on social media over its tweet about trans and non-binary suicide rates. The Charity Commission said it was investigating a complaint made against the voluntary organisation in connection with a Twitter post that said “trans people have higher rates

A judge will decide this week whether to allow a judicial review into the way the Charity Commission handled its report into Kids Company. Kids Company closed abruptly in 2015 after a series of media reports alleging financial mismanagement and safeguarding failures. In February this year, the commission published a long-awaited inquiry report into the

More than 30 staff lost their jobs at the transport charity HCT Group collapsed at the end of the summer, a new report reveals. HCT’s work included running transport services for children with special educational needs and operating red buses for Transport for London before it went into administration in September. The charity recorded an

Friends of the Earth has become one of the first third sector organisations to move to a four-day week. Employees will work five hours fewer each week and receive the same pay, the organisation said, in a move it hoped would make staff “more energised and focused”. Adrian Cruden, head of people at Friends of

A religious group has been accused by the Charity Commission of a catalogue of accounting failings and conflicts of interest, including one that it called a “criminal offence”. Beth Yosef Foundation was removed from the register of charities in June at the end of a six-year statutory inquiry that included a host of missed deadlines

The racist abuse faced by a charity boss at Buckingham Palace is further evidence that black people are made to feel they “do not belong” in the voluntary sector, a campaigner has said. Ngozi Fulani, chief executive of the domestic violence charity Sistah Space, was questioned about “which part of Africa” she was from when

A UK charity has filed a serious incident report with the Charity Commission after one of its backers went bankrupt last month. The Charity Commission told CNBC that Effective Ventures Foundation filed the report related to “the collapse of FTX”, a US cryptocurrency exchange whose philanthropic arm, FTX Foundation, had funded the UK charity in

A gang of smugglers used a dissolved religious charity as a front to help them traffic 400kg of cannabis into the UK in fruit and vegetable cans, a court heard. The three men used Birmingham-based Vision Christian Ministries as a delivery address in 2017 for the consignments from Jamaica that were valued at £2m if

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into governance and management at the transgender rights charity Mermaids. The regulator said it was looking into “newly identified issues” found after it started a compliance case into the charity in September.  A statutory inquiry allows the commission to use all its available legal powers. Mermaids said

St Andrew’s healthcare spent £1m on redundancy payments as staff numbers fell by 10 per cent last year, its latest accounts show. The organisation, one of the country’s largest charities, also saw income fall by 8 per cent. A critical inspection by care regulators contributed to the drop in income, according to St Andrew’s’ latest

People would prefer local charities and social enterprises to tackle issues in their communities rather than national bodies, polling has found. Data from research by Big Society Capital shows that about six in 10 people back local groups to address problems such as homelessness and poor transport links, rising to two-thirds of adults under 34.

The government recovered nearly £900,000 last year from the liquidation of Kids Company’s assets, seven years after the charity was wound up. The figure is revealed in the 2021/22 accounts for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which were published today. Kids Company, which received £46m in public funding over 20 years, closed

A treasurer who caused “torment” by stealing more than £100,000 of donations meant for Cancer Research UK has been jailed for 40 months. Ian Smith pocketed money that was raised over several years by Clacton’s Relay for Life volunteers, through activities including sponsored car washes and auctions. Smith, 54, of London Road, Clacton, had previously

UK, Reading. November 29, 2022 – IGEL, provider of the managed endpoint operating system for secure access to any digital workspace, today announced that it is major technology partner supporting the annual Crisis for Christmas campaign to help the homeless – the 12th year it has helped the charity. Since 1967, Crisis has supported the

The richest people in the country do not donate enough to good causes and are “not covering themselves with glory”, the chair of the Charity Commission said today. Orlando Fraser told an event that levels of philanthropy by the wealthiest 1 per cent of people “verges on shameful” when compared with the generosity of poorer

The British Council has refused to re-employ a £70,000-a-year senior manager accused of sexual misconduct. The organisation was ordered to re-engage Paul Sellers, the former head of the British Council in Italy, after an employment tribunal found that he had been unfairly dismissed.  But a British Council spokesperson told Third Sector it had appealed the

The Charity Commission has closed a two-year inquiry into Muslim Aid after trustees completed work to improve governance and financial controls. But the regulator criticised the charity for missing earlier deadlines to make those changes, arguing that it could have avoided suspected fraud and serious reputational damage if it had acted sooner. The inquiry report

The Purpose Awards EMEA – the awards scheme from PRWeek, Campaign and Third Sector – is accepting entries for 2023. The awards recognise campaigns that use creative ideas successfully to further positive causes, and acknowledge the organisations behind them. The awards are open to agencies, brands, public sector bodies, charities and NGOs throughout EMEA. With the

A controversial millionaire has overhauled the finances of his charity amid scrutiny from the regulator. Businessman Doug Barrowman last year converted nearly £1.5m in unsecured loans to his foundation into donations. Barrowman, who made his money in corporate finance, established the Barrowman Foundation in 2017 and sits on its board. He made the loans over

The RSPB is planning to spend £1.5m on a reboot and “reimagining” of its brand, along with a new campaign. The conservation charity has partnered with the creative brand consultancy ASHA & Co to redesign its brand identity and messaging, and with the creative group Lovers for a new brand reappraisal campaign.  Work on the

The Charity Commission says it is “actively considering” concerns raised about the conduct of climate-sceptic lobbying group the Global Warming Policy Foundation. A cross-party group of MPs wrote to the regulator last month alleging that the GWPF had breached lobbying and financial rules. Third Sector understands that the charity has also filed a serious incident

The Institute of Economic Affairs has hit back at “infantile” Extinction Rebellion-linked activists who poured fake oil over the front of its London headquarters. The controversial think tank claimed XR’s opposition to its lobbying to deregulate planning had “contributed to making the UK’s low-carbon transition slower and more expensive”. During the demonstration on Monday a

Pressure from a skin cancer charity and patients has led supermarket Waitrose & Partners to edit its Christmas TV advert, which showed two farmers comparing their sun tans. The festive ad shows producers growing and harvesting food for Christmas, including a scene in which the farmers compare their tanned arms from working outside. The retailer