Charity

Lloyds Bank has apologised and compensated a charity that provides grants to medical students in Zimbabwe after poor communication left it without access to tens of thousands of pounds. The UK-based Doctors of Tomorrow in Zimbabwe funds scholarships for underprivileged medical students in Harare and Bulawayo to pursue their medical studies.  The charity said a

Funds raised by FXhome – creators of free video editing software HitFilm Express – during their summer sale will go toward protecting endangered species, and fighting the exploitation of defenseless animals. London, UK (June 29, 2021) – From now until July 6th, 15% of all proceeds from sales at the fxhome.com store will be pledged

The waterways and wellbeing charity the Canal & River Trust has announced it is taking its face-to-face fundraising programme in-house. In a statement, the charity said it was looking to step up its post-lockdown fundraising activity by advertising an initial 24 roles, which would be recruited over the next few months. The charity was not

The Charity Commission recorded a better than average level of sickness absence last year, new figures show.  A request made by Third Sector using freedom of information legislation found that the total number of days lost to sickness was 2,013 for the 2020 calendar year. According to its latest accounts, the regulator employed 421 staff

The Times and the Mail Online have apologised to The British Academy of Film and Television Arts and its chair after making false allegations about his relationship with the actor and filmmaker Noel Clarke.  The arts charity took legal action for defamation against the two publications following their coverage of allegations of misconduct against the

The medical charity Operation Smile UK has promoted Mairéad O’Callaghan to the top role of executive director. O’Callaghan joined the organisation in 2011 as country manager for Operation Smile Ireland before becoming head of individual and legacy giving for the UK and Ireland in 2017. She succeeds Karen Jaques, who has been appointed to the

Seventy per cent of students plan to volunteer this summer, new research suggests.  The survey, published by the volunteering charity Royal Voluntary Service, showed that almost half (47 per cent) said volunteering over the summer would give them useful and valuable experience. The research, conducted earlier this month by the polling company Censuswide with 1,000 students

Aid charities must do more to tackle exploitation and abuse, the Charity Commission has warned. The warning comes after an analysis of recent serious incident reports submitted to it identified areas of weaknesses and risk around safeguarding, the regulator said.  In an alert to 5,000 charities working outside the UK, the commission urges charities to

The retailer Tesco has been accused of increasing the asking price for a refugee charity’s headquarters by almost £50,000 before deciding not to sell.  The charity Saheliya, which supports black, minority ethnic, asylum seeker and refugee women and girls, originally asked the supermarket for an extension on its 10-year lease on the property at St

The government has been accused of an “arrogant” pattern of behaviour after it changed the way it presents its proposed spending plans on international aid. Sarah Champion, chair of the House of Commons International Development Committee chair and the Labour MP for Rotherham, said the government should show more respect for her committee by providing

MND Scotland has appointed Rachel Maitland as its chief executive. Maitland, who has been head of supply and operations for the Edinburgh-based energy company Flexitricity since 2018, will join the motor neurone disease charity in July. She was also a board member for the non-profit Paws for Progress between 2019 and 2020 and director of

Macmillan Cancer Support has set out a new four-year strategy with measures to tackle the “problem with the diversity of its workforce”.  Lynda Thomas, chief executive of the charity, says in a blog post that the charity’s new strategy will prioritise equity, diversity and inclusion and hold everyone accountable for it.  She says the charity

George Osborne has been named as the next chair of the British Museum. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer, who earlier this year stepped down as editor of the Evening Standard newspaper, is a partner at the investment bank Robey Warshaw and chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. He will join the museum’s board on

The National Autistic Society has apologised and paid a £70,000 settlement to the family of a former service user who accused the charity of neglect.   The family of Martin Hussey, who lived in NAS-provided supported living from 2015 to 2020 in Croydon, south London, said the charity had failed to protect him from physical abuse

The Royal Academy of Arts has apologised to an artist for removing her work from its shop after concluding it “had no right to judge her views” on the charity’s social media channels.  The charity removed from sale work by Jess de Wahls after she was accused of transphobia on social media following comments she

Comic Relief is offering £2m to domestic abuse and sexual violence charities.  The grant-maker said the funding, which has been provided by the government, would be broken down into 25 grants and would be given alongside digital coaching to small specialist organisations to support activities that improve their digital and remote capacity to deliver services.

Ben Sundell has been appointed as the Scout Association’s first head of policy and public affairs, after leaving a similar role at the Teenage Cancer Trust. He starts his new role this week and will report directly to Chloe Kembery, director of communications and marketing. Sundell has been tasked with developing high profile campaigns and

More than £50m was raised for charities by replacement events set up by London Marathon organisers, new figures show. London Marathon Events, which organises the Virgin Money London Marathon each April and other major mass-participation events such as the annual Prudential RideLondon cycling festival, said most of the funds had been raised through virtual events

Islamic Relief Worldwide has apologised after about 30 of its staff and volunteers were pictured breaking Covid-19 rules at its clothes recycling headquarters in Birmingham last month. Dozens of staff and volunteers, including the international aid charity’s chief executive, Waseem Ahmad, had gathered indoors for a post-Eid celebration meal. Ahmad had not long been promoted

The Charity Commission has spent nearly £1.5m on consultants and agency staff since the start of this year, latest figures show. The bulk of this went towards the implementation of a new case management system, the regulator said. Transparency data on the commisson’s spending is released on a monthly basis. The regulator was allocated £27.3m

An administrative error in the accounts of the National Theatre led to a compulsory strike-off notice being issued by Companies House, Third Sector has learned. Companies House records show a notice was issued under a header that stated: “First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off.” The charity said an administrative error automatically triggered the strike-off notice

The Charity Commission has said it will contact trustees at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising over the umbrella body’s handling of investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct. The CIoF has faced criticism for confusing communications and for failing to give advance notice to witnesses and survivors after it published the outcome of a report into its former

The Christian development charity Tearfund signed a non-disclosure agreement with a former employee on the same day it pledged to stop using such agreements and offered to cancel all existing ones, Third Sector has learned. The charity also refused to release the former employee from the new NDA, despite his repeated requests. On 27 April,

More key witnesses in the Tell Jane probe into the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints have expressed concern that their evidence was excluded from the investigation. One witness described the situation as “ridiculous” and said it had created confusion as to what evidence Tell Jane had actually used to draw its conclusions.

The conservation charity WWF-UK has defended running advertisements on the controversial new TV channel GB News after criticism on social media.  A number of people on Twitter questioned whether the channel’s output was compatible with the wildlife conservation organisation’s charitable aims.  Within 48 hours of the channel’s launch on Sunday, a number of advertisers had

Nine out of 10 aid sector staff do not think their organisation is committed to diversity, equality and inclusion, new research indicates  A new report published by the umbrella body Bond asked 150 employees across a number of non-governmental organisations, in the UK and overseas, what enabled and prevented people of colour from getting jobs

More than half of charities do not expect pre-pandemic levels of fundraising events to return before the end of this year, according to new research.  The latest edition of the Covid-19 Charity Tracker by Pro Bono Economics, in partnership with Charity Finance Group and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, is based on a survey of

Claire Rowney, chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, is to step down after a year in the role.  The institute said two other trustees, Ian Wilson and Liz Tait, would also be stepping down this year.  Rowney, who is executive director of fundraising, marketing and communications at Macmillan Cancer Support, said in a statement

Oxfam GB has sacked three members of staff following an investigation into sexual misconduct, bullying and intimidation and other claims in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The charity said allegations that would have resulted in dismissal were upheld against a fourth member of staff whose contract expired before the disciplinary process was complete. Oxfam said

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has admitted that it was “not clear enough” about the “no wrongdoing” outcome of an investigation into its former chief executive’s handling of sexual assault allegations. In an apology to the witnesses and complainants involved in the case, issued yesterday afternoon, the CIoF trustees said the investigation “was unable to find