Charity

The Vegetarian Society has welcomed Richard McIlwain as its chief executive.  McIlwain joins from the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, where he spent 11 years, including the past six as deputy chief executive.  He succeeds Lynne Elliot, who stepped down after eight years earlier this month to take a break before confirming a new role.  Before

Tearfund has been accused of endangering an employee by covertly contacting immigration authorities about him in the midst of political unrest in the African country where he was working. Ben Nicholson, a former employee at the Christian development charity, was dismissed after Tearfund ruled his work permit was no longer valid in the country where

The Association of Medical Research Charities has promoted Nicola Perrin to chief executive. She will succeed Aisling Burnand, who announced in June she would step aside because of ill-health. Burnand decided to leave after seven years following a period of extended sick leave that finished at the end of this month. Perrin, who has been

Baroness Barran, the Minister for Civil Society, has been moved to the Department for Education as part of the government’s latest reshuffle.  Barran, who has been appointed academies minister, had been charities minister for just over two years. Her time at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport was dominated by the coronavirus pandemic

Big Society Capital has launched a strategy that aims to help the social investment market grow by up to £10bn over the next four years. BCS announced its plans as it marks its 10th anniversary with a revised strategy that will focus on scaling capital across four priority investment markets: social and affordable housing, impact

A planned cut to Universal Credit could cause a mass exodus of charity workers in a sector already “exhausted” by a surge in demand for their services, a union has warned. The trade union Community, which said it was one of the largest representatives of UK voluntary sector employees, has warned that the increase in

The youth development charity Tall Ships Youth Trust has appointed Alastair Floyd as its next chief executive. Floyd, who is head of philanthropy and partnerships at Guide Dogs, succeeds Richard Leaman, who stepped down last month after four years in the role. The trust provides sailing training to disadvantaged or disabled young people through its

The chair of The Prince’s Foundation has stepped down following claims the charity accepted a six-figure sum from a wealthy Russian donor in return for a meeting with Prince Charles. According to reports in The Sunday Times newspaper, Prince Charles sent a letter thanking the businessman and banker Dmitry Leus for his £500,000 offer to

The support charity Family Action has won Charity of the Year at the Third Sector Awards. The winners were announced at a lunchtime reception in central London, hosted by the comedian Zoe Lyons. Family Action, which was named Charity of the Year in the over £5m income bracket, impressed judges with its response to the

A change in the law in Northern Ireland means charities will be able to promote and sell lottery tickets online for the first time.  The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland has made an amendment to The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 to allow for the sale of lottery tickets through

The new culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, plans to “hit the ground running” after Oliver Dowden was made Conservative Party chairman in yesterday’s reshuffle. Membership bodies have given a cautious welcome to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s revamped ministerial team as his latest reshuffle continued today. As the Office for Civil Society is part of the Department

Maria Novell, fundraising and commercial director at Guide Dogs, has been appointed to the top fundraising job at Marie Curie.  Novell is the long-term successor to Meredith Niles, who stepped down in June after almost eight years at the charity.  A Marie Curie spokesperson said: “After achieving incredible success and following much reflection, Meredith wanted

Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, has thrown his support behind a new charity that aims to boost the financial literacy of young people, women and disadvantaged communities. The charity is being launched by the Financial Times and will replace the newspaper’s seasonal appeal, which has raised more than £19.5m over the past 15 years. 

An investment in “cheaper TV advertising” during the pandemic helped income at Guide Dogs rise to record levels for the second consecutive year. The charity’s latest accounts for 2020 show income topped £125m for the first time, up from £122m in the previous year. Income from donations and legacies held stable at £108m, despite the

Almost half of charities with a large amount of assets have sold properties or other assets in an attempt to generate income during the pandemic, according to new research. The wealth management business James Hambro & Partners surveyed 100 senior executives of UK charities that have a minimum of £1m in investable assets in June

Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, has been accused of politicising the Charity Commission’s appointment process after he warned that some charities need to stop “hunting for divisions”. In an article published in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper yesterday, Dowden railed against what he described as “a worrying trend in some charities that appear to have been

Islamic Relief Worldwide has reported a record total income for the fourth year in a row, driven by a surge in donations from the charity’s members. Its latest accounts, up to the end of December 2020, show its total income jumped from £131m in 2019 to just under £149m. Its accounts show this was due

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has updated its disciplinary procedures so that it can name perpetrators in future investigations into sexual harassment.  A CIoF spokesman told Third Sector the decision had been made “for transparency”. Last month, the CIoF board published a report summarising the findings of a long-running investigation that upheld four complaints of

The education charity the Institute of Imagination has appointed Martin Allen Morales as its chief executive.  Allen Morales has worked at a range of organisations including the music company EMI, the technology firm Apple and the entertainment giant Disney, where he was executive director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa between 2007 and 2011. 

Total income at the Christian development charity Tearfund has remained stable as donations and legacies topped more than £80m during the pandemic. The charity’s latest accounts, up to 31 March 2021, show its total income fell slightly, to £81.4m from £85m in the previous year. Income from donations and legacies made up the majority of

Donations to charity by text message rose by almost two-thirds last year to a record high of almost £66m, according to new figures.  The latest Annual Market Review for Phone-Paid Services, written by the research firm Analysys Mason and published by the Phone-Paid Services Authority, showss UK charity donations by premium rate SMS rose to

A support charity has been ordered to pay out nearly £50,000 to a former staff member after it failed to recognise her “anxiety state” as a disability. A ruling from Watford Employment Tribunal said Blenheim CDP, which provides support to people on a range of issues, should pay Miss E Okeke £48,476, including £20,000 for

The British Council has declined to comment on government plans to make the charity exempt. The charity is the largest on the Charity Commission’s register by annual income, with an income of almost £1.3bn in the year to the end of March 2020. The council, which receives most of its income from running English language

The charity dedicated to the former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill has denied it is disowning its connection to his legacy after rebranding last month.  The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust changed its name to the Churchill Fellowship last month and launched a new website. The charity operates a programme of overseas grants known as the

Charities are being urged to be proactive to avoid being overwhelmed by new pension costs that could arise as a result of changes in regulation. The Charity Finance Group is warning that the new regulations, which are expected to come into force next year, will significantly change how charities and other employers fund their defined

An administrative error has left council bosses red-faced after an animal sanctuary’s planning application was mistakenly refused and it was told its “proposal is whack”. An investigation is underway after officers for Mid Kent Planning Support team, which handles the online submissions on behalf of Swale Borough Council, accidentally published a dummy refusal decision notice

The British Heart Foundation’s charity shop network lost more than £40m last year as more than 700 shops were closed for up to eight months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The charity’s latest accounts, for the year ending 31 March, show a 40 per cent drop in total annual income, from £151m in

Armed forces charities are set to receive £5m in funding from the government to help those who have served in Afghanistan.  Announcing the funding yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the funding would also support those who had supported the mission and could be affected by recent events in the country.  The last UK troops

Breast Cancer Now has thanked an 83-year-old grandmother after she reached her £100,000 fundraising target for the charity after 24 years.  Eleanor Moffat’s fundraising efforts have included numerous coffee mornings, collection boxes, quiz sheets, car boot sales, dinner parties and sales of her homemade jam, plus a 90-mile walk along the Great Wall of China when she

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has contacted The Prince’s Foundation following allegations that the charity’s chief executive helped secure an honour for a Saudi Arabian businessman. The Sunday Times newspaper yesterday reported that leaked emails showed Michael Fawcett helped “fix” a CBE for Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz after he had donated more