Charity

Much of the sector is “still finding it difficult to move beyond tokenistic gestures” when it comes to centring the voices of marginalised groups and the communities it works with, fundraisers have heard.  Jaden Osei-Bonsu, programme manager at the leadership development community interest company the Centre for Knowledge Equity, told delegates at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual

London – October 1st 2021 – The UK Cyber Security Council – the charitable, self-regulatory body for the cyber security education and skills sector – today announced the appointment of four additional trustees, taking the total to eight. The appointments add significant legal, governance and education expertise to the Board of Trustees of the Council,

Charities and community groups are being invited to apply for a share of £3.5m to develop “dream projects”.   The People’s Postcode Lottery opens its annual Dream Fund for applications today, with grants of between £500,000 and £1.25m available over three years.  Organisers said they were looking for applications from projects that sought to provide “innovative

The Charity Commission has warned charities against becoming too polemical as its chief executive defended its regulatory motives and denied its work was being politicised.   Helen Stephenson addressed some of the recent criticisms levelled at the regulator during her speech at its annual public meeting today.  She acknowledged that some of the commission’s recent compliance

Social media and technology company Facebook is being urged to take safeguarding concerns seriously following the launch of its new fundraising software.  Facebook is in the process of rolling out new products throughout the rest of September and October that could increase a charity’s capabilities on the platform’s advert manager.  The company said in a

The anti-trafficking charity No More Traffik is seeking to have a greater impact in the fight against modern slavery by merging with a much larger charity. The Belfast-based charity will merge with Hope for Justice, which it estimates should be completed by the end of the financial year. NMT is primarily an awareness-raising and frontline

Most people agree that “poverty porn” and “white saviour” images in fundraising are unethical but they are also the most likely to make them donate, according to new research.  The revelations were made at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual convention, which is being held online, in a session called “The neuroscience of fundraising and

A post-pandemic ‘feelgood factor’ could result in people being more open to charitable giving because they are feeling more benevolent, fundraisers have been told. Speaking today at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s annual convention, which is being held online, Sue Pedley, head of research at the charity legacy consortium Legacy Foresight, speculated what impact a

The London Marathon will remain a spring event in the long term, its event director has pledged.  Organisers announced last month that the 2022 marathon had been moved to October in order to provide runners and charities certainty about when the event would happen. It is due to return to its usual April slot from 2023. 

Shooting Star Children’s Hospices has appointed Paul Farthing as its chief executive.  Farthing, previously director of income generation and communications at The Children’s Trust, has today succeeded Nigel Harding, who retired earlier this month after three years in the role.  Before joining The Children’s Trust in 2018, Farthing held top fundraising roles at Age UK,

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a Christian charity that provided unsecured loans totalling more than £900,000 to one person.  The regulator said its probe into Citygate Christian Outreach Centre, which runs a church in Beckenham, south London, would also examine the charity’s awarding of payments and other financial benefits to trustees

The British Heart Foundation is being taken to an employment tribunal amid allegations the public were put at risk because of an alleged delay in implementing Covid-19 safety measures at one of its stores. Gary Bruton began working as a warehouse assistant at the BHF store in Brixton, south London, in December 2019 after volunteering

More than 110,000 vacancies in the care sector are leaving it facing the “most acute recruitment and retention crisis” in its history, not-for-profit organisations have warned.  The National Care Forum, which represents not-for-profit care providers, and four major care-providing organisations have warned the situation could leave tens of thousands of older people without access to

Legacy income growth in Scotland has outstripped the rest of Britain over the past five years, new figures show.  A report published by the legacy consortiums Remember a Charity and Legacy Foresight, the Institute of Legacy Management and the legacy information company Smee & Ford, shows that average annual legacy income grew by seven per

An unregistered “corporate charity” received between £5m and £10m in furlough cash in May despite little public evidence the organisation has any staff, it has been claimed. An investigation by the Financial Times newspaper found the arrangements of a group of companies that received as much as £40m in furlough support in a single month

The government is “not going to get anywhere” with its ‘levelling up’ or equality agenda without an overarching strategy, a former minister has warned. Justine Greening, a former minister for women and equalities and who served as the Conservative MP for Putney between 2005 and 2019, made the comments during the House of Commons Women

The proportion of charities with an income of more than £500,000 that have negative or no free reserves has more than tripled during the pandemic, new data shows. The figure emerged in a written submission from the Charity Commission to the House of Lords Special Bill Committee, which is scrutinising the Charities Bill. In the

The think tank NPC has called for the new culture secretary to use the ongoing search for the next chair of the Charity Commission as a chance to reset the regulator’s priorities.  In an open letter to Nadine Dorries, who succeeded Oliver Dowden as culture secretary last week, Dan Corry, chief executive of NPC, says

A failure to establish successful partnerships between charities and private companies could result in corporates deciding to go it alone to meet sustainable development goals, a new report warns. The paper, which has been published by the leadership advisory and search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, says meeting the aims of the United Nations’ sustainable development

The government is inviting charitable foundations to apply for up to £1.7m in match-funding to deliver a scheme that aims to tackle barriers to volunteering. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said the new Volunteering Futures Fund aimed to support high-quality volunteering opportunities for young people and those who experience barriers to volunteering

Charities are being invited to apply for up to £10,000 in match-funding through a new £1.2m pot from the National Emergencies Trust. The charity has today launched its Local Action Fund to support community and voluntary organisations whose finances have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The NET said it would match donations up to

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