Charity

The new charities minister has praised “heroic” charity staff and volunteers for their work during the coronavirus pandemic.  It emerged on Friday that Nigel Huddleston, the MP for Mid Worcestershire and who already has responsibility for sport, tourism, heritage and the Commonwealth Games, had also been given the charities brief.  Launching a new report today

Charity service users could be being prevented from having their say on services that affect them due to arcane tax rules, campaigners have warned.  A coalition of charities, campaigners and individuals have written to Lucy Frazer, the new Financial Secretary to the Treasury, to request changes to tax and benefit rules.  Campaigners have highlighted how

A group of charity leaders and a former chief executive of the Charity Commission have called on the government not to politicise the appointment of the regulator’s next chair.  The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is in the process of selecting a chair for the Charity Commission, with new culture secretary Nadine Dorries

The Charity Commission has no plans to introduce charges for its services or fine charities that persistently file late accounts, its interim chair has said. Ian Karet was speaking today at the Charity Law Association’s 27th annual conference, which was being held online this year. Karet struck a markedly different tone to his predecessor, Baroness

The homelessness charity St Mungo’s has been ordered to pay more than £25,000 to an employee it wrongfully dismissed after he had been attacked by a resident with two knives. An employment tribunal in February ruled that the charity wrongfully dismissed the claimant, named in the papers only as Mr M Finnerty, after deciding he

The Charity Commission has denied claims of bias in its investigative work after a charity accused the regulator of acting as an “extension of police and security services”. The claim was made following the closing of a statutory inquiry into Human Aid UK that found misconduct and/or mismanagement in the charity’s administration. The regulator opened

Faith-based charities are being invited to apply for a new £1m government fund aimed at projects that strengthen engagement between local and national government and faith groups. The Faith New Deal Pilot Fund is aimed at supporting faith-based organisations to use their resources effectively within their community and build trust between local authorities, national government

Nigel Huddleston, the sport and tourism minister, has had the charities brief added to his list of responsibilities. It means the sector returns to the position of not having its own dedicated minister after Baroness Barran was redeployed three weeks ago to the Department for Education as part of the long-running government reshuffle. Barran’s predecessor,

Foundations should stay true to their mission to avoid being dragged into culture wars and getting “beaten up in the media”, according to the chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations. Carol Mack made the remarks during the ACF’s annual conference yesterday in a speech on the themes of community, identity and belonging, the

The British Heart Foundation has said it hopes to raise £3m through next year’s TCS London Marathon after it was named as the event’s charity of the year. The charity said it hoped it would have 1,600 people running in the event next year, which is due to take place in October before it switches

The Probation Service is in talks with several major charities about delivering its community payback scheme, and is seeking more. The Canal and River Trust was this week named as the first charity partner to work with the government as part of a national plan to force criminals to take part in unpaid work schemes.

The LGBTQ+ charity Manchester Pride suffered an 85 per cent drop in income following the cancellation of its flagship event last year. The charity’s accounts for 2020 show its income fell from more than £3.9m in 2019 to £720,000. The charity said this was due in part to funds from its annual Pride Festival, its

A disability charity has been ordered by an employment tribunal to pay thousands of pounds to a nurse it unfairly dismissed. A Cardiff Employment Tribunal ordered Leonard Cheshire to pay Mrs M Peiu slightly more than £3,000 after a claim of “ordinary” unfair dismissal succeeded, newly published documents show.  Three other claims of detriment and

A coalition of more than 20 membership bodies is calling for the government to urgently invest in social infrastructure to “build back better”. In a submission this week to the government’s upcoming Autumn Spending Review, the group of 21 voluntary sector infrastructure bodies sets out a series of recommendations, which include greater investment in communities

Alzheimer’s Research UK raised £33.8m in voluntary donations in the year to 31 March 2021 despite the pandemic, the charity’s annual accounts have revealed. The accounts, published this morning, show the charity’s overall income was £39.2m, down from £40.8m last year, with voluntary income having fallen from £38m last year. But, in a statement, the

A new report has called for more investment in the Charity Commission as part of a plan for “double devolution” that would be underscored by “community covenants”. Michael Gove. the new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, is one of 10 MPs who authored a report setting out a vision for the

A group of individuals working in the violence against women and girls sector has launched a charter to combat racism and white supremacy in their cause area.  The Anti-Racism in VAWG Working Group, which was formed last year, says it hopes the charter, published this weekend, will support those working in the VAWG to take

The number of people working in the UK voluntary sector has grown by 20 per cent over the past decade, new figures show.  The UK Civil Society Almanac 2021, published today by the National Council for Voluntary Organisation, shows that the number of employees working for UK voluntary organisations grew from 792,000 in September 2010

Complaints about online fundraising by larger charities more than trebled last year, new figures from the Fundraising Regulator show. The regulator’s latest annual complaints report, published today, shows that complaints about online fundraising received by 56 of the largest fundraising charities in the UK rose to 5,836 in the year to the end of March,

The animal welfare charity Battersea has appointed Julian Holmes-Taylor as director of income generation and Amy Jankiewicz as director of operations. Holmes-Taylor has been appointed to the new role after spending the past 18 months as interim director of fundraising following the departure of Catherine Miles. Before joining Battersea, Holmes-Taylor was assistant director of income

The number of whistleblowing complaints received by the Charity Commission rose by almost 75 per cent last year, figures from the regulator show. The commission’s annual whistleblowing report shows that it was sent 431 whistleblowing complaints about charities in the year to the end of March 2021, up from 247 in the previous 12 months.

Much of the sector is “still finding it difficult to move beyond tokenistic gestures” when it comes to centring the voices of marginalised groups and the communities it works with, fundraisers have heard.  Jaden Osei-Bonsu, programme manager at the leadership development community interest company the Centre for Knowledge Equity, told delegates at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual

London – October 1st 2021 – The UK Cyber Security Council – the charitable, self-regulatory body for the cyber security education and skills sector – today announced the appointment of four additional trustees, taking the total to eight. The appointments add significant legal, governance and education expertise to the Board of Trustees of the Council,

Charities and community groups are being invited to apply for a share of £3.5m to develop “dream projects”.   The People’s Postcode Lottery opens its annual Dream Fund for applications today, with grants of between £500,000 and £1.25m available over three years.  Organisers said they were looking for applications from projects that sought to provide “innovative

The Charity Commission has warned charities against becoming too polemical as its chief executive defended its regulatory motives and denied its work was being politicised.   Helen Stephenson addressed some of the recent criticisms levelled at the regulator during her speech at its annual public meeting today.  She acknowledged that some of the commission’s recent compliance

Social media and technology company Facebook is being urged to take safeguarding concerns seriously following the launch of its new fundraising software.  Facebook is in the process of rolling out new products throughout the rest of September and October that could increase a charity’s capabilities on the platform’s advert manager.  The company said in a

The anti-trafficking charity No More Traffik is seeking to have a greater impact in the fight against modern slavery by merging with a much larger charity. The Belfast-based charity will merge with Hope for Justice, which it estimates should be completed by the end of the financial year. NMT is primarily an awareness-raising and frontline

Most people agree that “poverty porn” and “white saviour” images in fundraising are unethical but they are also the most likely to make them donate, according to new research.  The revelations were made at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual convention, which is being held online, in a session called “The neuroscience of fundraising and

A post-pandemic ‘feelgood factor’ could result in people being more open to charitable giving because they are feeling more benevolent, fundraisers have been told. Speaking today at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual convention, which is being held online, Sue Pedley, head of research at the charity legacy consortium Legacy Foresight, speculated what impact a