Charity

One of the survivors in the Chartered Institute of Fundraising sexual harassment case yesterday described the investigation report as “gaslighting”, saying she has lost her “final shreds of faith” in the CIoF. In a statement, the fundraising consultant Beth Upton said that significant elements of her evidence had been overlooked in the investigation, despite her formal

Charities have been offered the chance to apply for free SIM cards with 20GB of data, texts and calls for six months, through an initiative launched by the mobile phone network Vodafone in an attempt to tackle digital exclusion. Any charity that would benefit from free connectivity can apply for six months of free connectivity

Two married former trustees at an animal rescue charity used a £200,000 donation to pay off part of a loan they obtained to buy a detached house and up to 40 acres of land, a Charity Commission inquiry has found. The regulator opened an investigation into The Retreat Animal Rescue after placing it into a

Charities with HSBC accounts face a host of new charges from November after the bank announced it will charge a £60 a year fee just to keep the accounts open. The bank has also introduced charges for branch transactions including a 0.4 per cent fee to pay in and withdraw cash, a charge of £4

Up to 26 people will be made redundant at the charity fundraising website Virgin Money Giving when it closes its doors following its final sponsorship of the London Marathon later this year. Virgin Money announced the closure today after carrying out a strategic review of the fundraising platform in light of the end of its

The investigation into sexual misconduct at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising has upheld four allegations of sexual harassment against a CIoF Fellow. The investigation, conducted by the consultancy Tell Jane, was launched in March this year to look into the complaints against the Fellow and allegations that the CIoF had been made aware of his

Unicef UK has appointed Jon Sparkes as its executive director. He will join the children’s charity from his current role as chief executive of the national charity for homeless people, Crisis UK. Steve Waugh, Unicef UK’s chief financial officer, will continue as interim executive director until Sparkes takes up his new role early next. Crisis UK

Adult safeguarding concerns more than doubled at Save the Children International while child safeguarding concerns dropped by nearly a third, according to the charity’s latest accounts.  The adult cases covered a wide range of incidents, from disrespectful comments in the workplace to bullying behaviour by line managers and misuse of power and abuse involving community

The platform, developed in conjunction with software developer Amdaris, has helped 93% of therapy users find a therapist who match their needs, putting power in people’s hands Paranimo’s partnership with Amdaris secures Innovate UK funding and COVID-19 Business Response grant to help scale the platform to UK charities Bristol, UK; 24th August 2021: Mental health

The government is facing a High Court battle over the allocation of its £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, amid claims it is funnelling money to constituencies for its own political benefit.  Judges have agreed to hear a case brought by campaign group the Good Law Project, which means the government will have to defend the criteria

The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into a children’s charity after two trustees were found to be using it to further their own business.  A number of allegations were reported against Miss Dorothy.com and the Dot Com Children’s Foundation in several publications over the weekend, including The Times newspaper.  The children’s charity

Grants of up to £50,000 are available for charities in London aiming to tackle unemployment among blind and partially sighted people. The Vision Foundation’s 2021 fund is inviting applications that will help to tackle barriers that prevent visually impaired people from getting into work. These may include negative perceptions among employers or the public, delivering

The Charity Commission has confirmed it did not identify any issues of concern regarding the actions of an ME charity, after investigating a complaint that the organisation endorsed a clinical trial described as a “scandal”. Action for ME supports people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The debilitating condition, which can

The bishop of a charity-run church has appeared in court charged with fraud and unfair trading offences after being accused of promoting fake coronavirus protection kits. Climate Wiseman, who has been involved with The Kingdom Church GB charity in south London since 2002, appeared at Lavender Hill Magistrates’ Court on Monday. Wiseman indicated not guilty

A senior policy advisor to the Scottish government has been appointed chief executive of the youth charity Winning Scotland. Zahra Hedges will replace Morag Arnot, who has served as executive director at the children and young people’s charity since 2013. Hedges worked in leadership and management roles across the public, private and third sectors for

A woman in her twenties has been arrested and questioned under caution as part of an investigation into allegations that more than £32,000 raised for a youth charity via a crowdfunding page has been stolen, police have confirmed. The crowdfunder was set up by a local Black Lives Matter group ahead of a demonstration in

The founder of an animal rescue charity based in Kabul, Afghanistan, has confirmed the organisation has raised more than £200,000 after setting up an emergency fundraiser to evacuate staff and animals.  Kabul-based organisation Nowzad launched an emergency fundraising appeal titled “Operation Ark” earlier this week, in an effort to raise the funds so the charity

On Tuesday, the organisers of the world-famous London Marathon announced that the race planned for April 2022 would once again be pushed back to October. The marathon, founded in 1981, has traditionally taken place in April, but as a result of the pandemic the 2020 event was moved to October before being made into an

The government has called on charities to give their views on the Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed between the UK and the European Union.  The more than 1,200-page agreement, which covers every aspect of the UK’s future relationship with the EU, was published at the start of this year.  The consultation document states: “The

Corporate gift provides dollar-for-dollar matching to donations received in the 2021 TGF Art Challenge to Celebrate Vision London, UK – August 19, 2021 – As part of its twentieth anniversary celebration and its “year of giving back,” Endace is supporting The Glaucoma Foundation’s Art Challenge to Celebrate Vision with a corporate donation of US$20,000. Endace

Charities and investment advisers held mixed views on the Charity Commission’s draft responsible investment guidance update, according to a summary of consultation responses.  The regulator ran a six week public consultation in April and May this year.  It was designed to address feedback, obtained in an earlier listening exercise, that the commission’s investment guidance did

A wellbeing charity has been ordered to pay out more than £57,000 in owed redundancy and unauthorised deductions from wages payments to a dozen former staff members. East London Employment Tribunal documents show that the Laindon Community Association paid out for 12 separate claims made against the charity for unauthorised deductions from wages in respect

The 2022 London Marathon will be held on 2 October next year, event organisers have announced.  This will be the third year in a row that the marathon will take place in the autumn rather than its traditional spring slot, following disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  The last full race was held in April

Charities are being asked for their views on how employers use personal data as part of a consultation on a planned update to the Information Commissioner’s guidance.  The Information Commissioner’s Office is calling on charities, as well as businesses and unions, to help the regulator support employers to use artificial intelligence and other new technologies without affecting people’s

The UK government is being urged to increase support for civil society in Afghanistan as one animal charity fears its 71 staff “are not safe” since the Taliban took control of the country. Paul Farthing, the founder of animal rescue charity Nowzad, which is registered in both the UK and United States, has called on the government

More than 30 staff at the Royal Parks charity began two weeks of strike action yesterday over pay, conditions and the sacking of one of their colleagues. The staff, who are employed by the contractor Just Ask to providing toilet and building cleaning services at the eight parks maintained by the charity, are calling for their

The BBC has refused to comment on reports it plans to donate £1.5m to a charity chosen by the royal family. Reports emerged in a number of newspapers over the weekend, including The Times, that the donation is part of an attempt to make amends for Martin Bashir’s Panorama interview with Princess Diana in 1995.

The Charity Commission has declined to comment on whether it is considering any regulatory action against the Institute of Economic Affairs following a decision by the media regulator. Ofcom this week cleared the LBC radio presenter James O’Brien of any wrongdoing after he claimed on air two years ago that the charitable think tank was

The water and sanitation charity WaterAid has appointed Jennie York as its next director of fundraising and communications.  York, who previously spent almost five years at the charity, latterly as leader of the direct marketing team, joins from Barnardo’s, where she has been director of fundraising for the past three years.  Before joining Barnardo’s, York

An employee at an asylum charity has accepted an undisclosed out-of-court settlement after she said she was told her allegations of racism within the charity were part of a “personal agenda”. Ishah Jawaid joined Assist Sheffield as a client support manager in February 2019. The charity supports people who have been unsuccessful in their applications