Charity

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

An additional £4m is being pumped into a fund aimed at creating thousands of new volunteering, social action and community activities for young people. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced today that it would invest a further £2m into #iwill fund, which would be match-funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. Since

A charity that supports people affected by a spinal cord injury harassed an employee because of her disability, an employment tribunal has ruled. Two other complaints brought against the Back Up Trust related to reasonable adjustments and indirect discrimination partially succeeded after the charity failed to keep course evaluation documents confidential.  Two additional complaints of

In this episode of the Third Sector Podcast, features and analysis writer Rebecca Cooney and news editor Andy Ricketts chat about what the  Community Life Survey revealed about how volunteering changed during the pandemic. The Community Life Survey is an annual government exercise that polls more than 10,000 people in England about a range of

Charity retailers lost out on an estimated £366m during the third lockdown earlier this year, new figures indicate.  Data from the Charity Retail Association’s quarterly market analysis for January to March shows the average charity shop lost out on £33,150 because of the closure of non-essential stores.  When that figure is multiplied by the 11,041

Charities are being invited to apply for up to £300,000 in funding for schemes that use the arts and comedy to challenge mental health stigma. The grant-maker Comic Relief and snack manufacturer Walkers have launched a new fund worth up to £1.7m that will award up to 12 charities grants of between £100,000 to £300,000.

Standardised accounting and greater transparency in the reporting of international charity finances could be brought in within five years if new proposals are finalised.  Membership bodies have welcomed the announcement after the first non-profit organisation international financial reporting guidance was drawn up last year by a collective of accounting experts. Their aim was to simplify

The fundraising campaign to buy the Royal National Lifeboat Institution a new life-saving hovercraft called The Flying Farage has hit its £100,000 target.  But the fundraiser’s organiser, Simon Harris, has said it may not be practical to name any vessel after the right-wing political figure and GB News presenter Nigel Farage after all. The GoFundMe page

Direct business support to the vast majority of social sector organisations works out at less than £500 per business per year, latest research shows.  A report from the think tank Pro Bono Economics calculates that businesses in England contribute support worth about £2.4bn a year to, which PBE said was just 0.06 per cent of

The government has pledged to examine the value for money provided by spending £2m on consultants to assist with assessing bids made by charities for emergency funds.  A report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee in June criticised the government for failing to provide “a clear rationale for spending up to £2m of

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has announced it has begun a formal independent governance review to assess whether its current structures are “fit for purpose”. In a statement published on the membership body’s website on Friday, Priya Singh, chair of the umbrella body, said the review would examine the organisation’s governance structures, processes, relationships

The Disasters Emergency Committee’s income more than tripled last year after more than £30m was given to its coronavirus appeal. The charity’s latest accounts, for the year to the end of March, show that it had an income of £33.1m compared with £9.9m in 2019/20. The DEC’s income tends to fluctuate considerably year on year,

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the refugee charity Care4Calais because of serious concerns about its governance. The regulator said it opened the inquiry into the volunteer-run charity in August last year because of issues including a lack of clarity about who had been validly appointed as a trustee and how decisions

Wanda Wyporska, chief executive of The Equality Trust for the past five years, has been appointed to the top job at the family history charity the Society of Genealogists. Wyporska, who is a trustee of the charity leaders body Acevo, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the youth charity Redthread, is also a historian and a

The Fundraising Regulator has recorded a “significant increase” in complaints about fundraising over the past few months and is trying to understand why, its head of policy has said.  Speaking at a webinar held jointly with the Chartered Institute of Fundraising  about safe fundraising following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, Charlotte Urwin said it was not yet