Charity

ActionAid UK increased its income to its highest level in three years in 2020 despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show. The charity’s latest accounts show that its income rose to £50.3m last year, up from £49.1m in 2019. The increase in income combined with a reduction in spending meant the charity,

The Charity Commission has issued official warnings to two charities that have repeatedly failed to file their annual documents on time.  In an update about its ongoing class inquiry into charities that have been late filing their annual returns for two or more of the past five years, the regulator said that between April 2020

In this episode of the Third Sector Podcast, features and analysis writer Rebecca Cooney and editor Emily Burt discuss whether the pandemic has prompted a leadership exodus from the charity sector.  Rebecca wrote about this issue for the most recent edition of Third Sector (full article here), exploring whether charity chief executives are stepping down from

Rhodri Davies is to leave the Charities Aid Foundation to take up a new role at the Pears Foundation.  Davies, who is head of policy at CAF, has worked at the organisation since September 2010, when he joined as a policy manager. He previously worked at the think tank Policy Exchange and the recruitment firm

The healthcare charity MSI Reproductive Choices has defended awarding almost £1.6m in contracts to a company whose president is also one of its trustees. Philip Harvey, who has been a trustee of the charity since 1992, is also the president of DKT International, a company he founded in 1989.  The company describes itself as a

The Alzheimer’s Society will be The Football Association’s official charity partner for the next two years.  The charity said the partnership would aim to use the sport’s reach to increase support and generate significant funds and awareness of dementia. A spokesperson for the charity said the FA’s previous partnership, which was with the mental health

An auditor’s report found “major failings” at a town council after it was revealed to have awarded £50,000 worth of contracts to a charity run by two current councillors. Auditing Solutions carried out an internal review of Porthcawl Town Council’s finances for 2020/21.  They found the council, in south Wales, did not formally tender contracts

The National Lottery Community Fund has said that two missing unencrypted disks were the cause of the data breach that it warned charities about last month.  The grant-maker had said that more than six years’ worth of contact and bank details had potentially been exposed to fraud. It said the breach involved data provided to

The annual moustache-growing event by the men’s health campaign Movember was the highest-earning charity mass-participation fundraising event in 2020, according to new figures. Data produced by the events company Massive shows that Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life was knocked off the top spot for the first time as the coronavirus pandemic restrictions forced the

Javed Khan will continue to receive his full salary from Barnardo’s as he helps manage the transition to a new chief executive, the charity has confirmed. Khan announced last week that he had stepped down as chief executive for family reasons after seven years in the role. Lynn Perry, the charity’s corporate director of children’s

Volunteering levels hit a recent high during the Covid-19 pandemic but the proportion of people who gave to charity fell to a new low, a major government study shows. The latest Community Life Survey, an annual exercise that polls more than 10,000 people in England about a range of subjects relating to community activity, shows

The aid sector has not done enough to acknowledge its historical links to colonialism and needs to work to repair its relationship with the people it serves, according to the academic Khadijah Diskin. Speaking at the BAME Fundraising Virtual Conference 2021 yesterday afternoon, Diskin, who is a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University, said that

Dhivya O’Connor, interim chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, is to take up the top role at the education charity United World Schools. O’Connor joined the CIoF in May as interim successor to Peter Lewis. The membership body announced earlier this week that Katie Docherty would become its permanent chief executive from October.

Almost two million volunteers supported by the National Lottery Community Fund have contributed £4bn to the UK economy over the past three years, according to new research. A new report, Power in Purpose, published yesterday by the grant-maker, sets out the extent of the social and economic impact volunteers make to communities. Researchers found that

Scotland’s largest independent grant-making trust unfairly dismissed its former chief executive because he opposed gay marriage, an employment tribunal has ruled. The tribunal heard that Kenneth Ferguson was sacked by the Robertson Trust after Stirling Free Church, of which Ferguson is an elder, signed an agreement to hire premises owned by the charity. The tribunal

Javed Khan, chief executive of Barnardo’s, has stepped down after seven years in the role. Khan said in an announcement on the charity’s website earlier this week that he had decided to leave the charity after “reflecting in some depth on what is best for me and my family”. He said he would continue to

In this episode of the Third Sector Podcast, features and analysis writer Rebecca Cooney and editor Emily Burt discuss where the sector is on the road to recovery.  Clearly the pandemic is not over and there’s every chance another lockdown or at least more restrictions could be in the UK’s future. But, as the world tentatively begins

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has reported a 2,000 per cent increase in donations in just 24 hours after a video of its volunteers rescuing migrants in the English Channel went viral. The search and rescue charity released the video across its social media channels on Tuesday. It quickly clocked up more than 150,000 engagements

Police are examining a claim of misconduct in public office made by a charity against the Charity Commission.  The whistleblowing charity Compassion in Care submitted evidence to the Metropolitan Police at the end of last week after obtaining information about the regulator’s investigation into the charity through a subject access request.  In an email to police, seen

Charities should carefully consider the language they use when communicating with potential service users to avoid putting them off, according to new research. A paper from the Association of Charitable Organisations says research it conducted with members found that “complicated and archaic language” commonly used in the voluntary sector can create barriers for people approaching

The chief executive of Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans is stepping down from the top job after four years. Mark O’Donnell will stay in his post overseeing the sight-loss charities until October, when he will take on a “challenging new consultancy role”, a spokesperson said. The charities said O’Donnell and his executive team had

The number of people volunteering in charity shops has fallen by an estimated 45,000 during the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show. The Charity Retail Association said the number of charity shop volunteers, which was 233,000 in 2019, had since fallen by an estimated 20 per cent. The membership body said charity shops had experienced a

This article is from the latest edition of Third Sector, which was published on 16 July.   Each move, announcement or even apology from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising in relation to its handling of sexual misconduct allegations over the past four months has led to expressions of anger, frustration and disappointment – largely from the

A volunteer crew member at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was abused by two members of the public over the weekend, the charity has said. On Friday evening, the charity’s Tower Lifeboat station, under Waterloo Bridge on the north side of the River Thames, reported crew members being abused as they reported for duty. In

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has appointed Katie Docherty as its next chief executive.  The umbrella body said Docherty (pictured), who has spent the past five years as chief executive of Scouts Scotland, would be its first Scottish-based leader.  Docherty, who lives in Fife, will succeed Peter Lewis, who announced in March that he would

A domestic abuse charity has been told to pay more than £26,000 to a former director it unfairly dismissed.  A ruling from Nottingham Employment Tribunal said Nottinghamshire Independent Domestic Abuse Services should pay £26,387 to Sue Ready, the charity’s former director of service delivery and development.  A remedy hearing on 2 July met to decide

Unicef UK reported a record total income last year despite a turbulent period for the charity. The charity’s accounts for 2020 show total income increased to £109.4m, up from £101.4m in the previous year. According to the charity register it last recorded a total income of more than £102m in 2016. Income from donations and legacies

At least two more speakers have pulled out of speaking engagements at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual convention in the wake of criticism about its handling of sexual harassment complaints. Jon Cornejo, a consultant at JMB Consulting and organiser at the anti-racism campaign group CharitySoWhite, and the fundraiser Ruby Bayley have both withdrawn from

A group of residents is taking the Charity Commission to the charity tribunal over its support for a local authority’s decision to turn a charitable venue into a luxury hotel. The Ealing Council in west London entered into an agreement with a developer in July 2016 to sell off the town hall on a 250-year

New election legislation could deter more charities and issue-based campaigners from engaging in advocacy work in the run-up to an election, organisations have been warned.  Provisions in the Election Bill, which began its passage through the House of Commons earlier this month, include a requirement for more organisations to register with the Electoral Commission when