Charity

Membership bodies have called for charities to be subject to the highest permitted allowances under the regime that will replace EU state aid rules.  In the Queen’s Speech this week, the government set out its policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session, including a Subsidy Control Bill. The main benefits of the

The shortlist for the Purpose Awards EMEA 2021 from Third Sector, PRWeek and Campaign has been announced today.  The awards recognise campaigns that use creative ideas successfully to further positive causes and acknowledge the organisations behind them. They are open to agencies, brands, public sector bodies, charities and NGOs throughout Europe, the Middle East and

World Vision UK received the largest single donation in its history last year as its total income rose for the first time since 2016. The Christian charity, which supports vulnerable children in developing countries, received a £1.3m donation from a single donor, accounts for the year to the end of September show. The charity said

The Charity Commission has been urged to update proposed responsible investment guidance to avoid the suggestion that charities must choose between investing ethically or maximising their financial returns. In its response to the Charity Commission’s ongoing consultation about its guidance on responsible investment, the Association of Charitable Foundations says charities should be expected to make

Legislation aimed to unlock almost £900m in funds for good causes has been introduced to parliament.  Baroness Barran, the minister for civil society, introduced the Dormant Assets Bill in the House of Lords on Wednesday evening.  The measure was among the raft of new pieces of legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday, which

A whistleblowing charity has accused the Charity Commission of “politically motivated” bias after complaining about how an investigation into its governance was handled.  Compassion in Care was set up in 2003 to help expose wrongdoing in the care industry.  Its aims include “relieving the emotional distress of those suffering abuse in care homes” and “educating those

Charities are being invited to help deliver a £30m grant programme to support young people.  The government’s Youth Investment Fund Capital seeks to address an increasingly limited supply of youth centres and spaces for young people to go.  The proposed outcomes include improved health and wellbeing, equipping young people with skills for work and life,

The learning disability charity Mencap has appointed Khaleel Desai as its new executive director of governance.  Desai, who has spent the past three years as head of governance and company secretary at Islamic Relief Worldwide, will take up the new role on 24 May.  Before joining IRW, Desai held roles at Save the Children International

The government has been urged to work with the voluntary sector as it looks to introduce legislation aimed at making it easier for charities to win public sector contracts.  The government announced in the Queen’s Speech yesterday that it intended to publish a new Procurement Bill that would simplify public sector procurement and make it

Structural racism embedded in the international aid system that benefits organisations in the global north has left some in the global south trying to “play” an unequal system, according to a new report. Published by international aid charity Peace Direct, Time to Decolonise Aid: Insights and Lessons from a Global Consultation assesses the colonial legacy

The government has announced it will introduce a new Charities Bill that will bring into force long-awaited reforms designed to reduce the amount of bureaucracy faced by charities. Speaking in Parliament today, the Queen set out the government’s policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session, including the bill. The government will also

The Scouts and Girlguiding have been awarded a more than £2m grant for a joint project to streamline their processes for the recruitment of volunteers. The Pears Foundation has given the funding to the two charities, which said they would use it to work together on a project that would digitally transform how they engaged

Islamic Relief Worldwide has appointed Waseem Ahmad as its new chief executive.  Ahmad is director of IRW’s international programmes division, managing the design and delivery of the charity’s global humanitarian and development work.  He succeeds Naser Haghamed, who stepped down at the end of January for health reasons.  Acting chief executive Tufail Hussain will return to

Tributes have been paid to Simone Joyaux, a US fundraiser and founding chair of the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, who has died at the age of 72. Fundraisers on both sides of the Atlantic paid tribute to Joyaux, describing her as a “campaigning fundraiser extraordinaire” and “one of the greatest figures in fundraising”. She died

Fourteen charities are in breach of the fundraising code because they have failed to access requests to stop communication made through the Fundraising Preference Service, the regulator has found. The Fundraising Regulator said today that although more than 2,200 charities had set themselves up on the FPS charity portal, a small group of organisations was

The British Psychological Society has expelled its president-elect amid “persistent bullying” allegations, which he described as “baseless and without merit”. Nigel MacLennan was due to become the president of the BPS later this year at the charity’s annual general meeting, after a period as president-elect. The BPS is the charity that acts as the representative

A group of major social investment organisations are calling on the government to halve the minimum limit for issuing retail charity bonds to £5m. The Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs are consulting on potential changes to the regulations on the taxation ofsecuritisation companies, which are used by organisations looking to raise funds in capital

A support charity unfairly dismissed a former staff member after it failed to recognise an “anxiety state” as a disability, an employment tribunal has ruled. Tribunal documents published this week show that Blenheim CDP, which provides support to people on a range of issues, unfairly dismissed offender recovery worker Miss E Okeke after she struggled

Two charities are going to the High Court to seek clarification of the law relating to responsible investments. An update on the Charity Commission’s website, published yesterday, said the two unidentified charities had been granted permission to bring the case in the middle of last month. It says: “The two charities seek clarification of the

Bond, the membership body for development charities, has lost nearly £1m in funding as government cuts to official development assistance begin to bite across the aid sector. The government announced last November that the UK’s overseas aid budget would be cut from 0.7 per cent of gross national income to 0.5 per cent, slicing more

Charitable donations made by waiving a refund or loan repayment can be considered a donation under Gift Aid rules, HM Revenue & Customs has said. Updated guidance, which is applicable retrospectively, was published by the government yesterday after discussions with the Charity Tax Group. The new policy says: “Donations made via the waiving of a

The Children’s Society unfairly dismissed an employee after it did not do enough to help find him a new role within the charity during a redundancy process, an employment tribunal has ruled. Tribunal documents published this week show that the charity unfairly dismissed Richard Brown after it did not provide “adequate support” to him when

A major UK retailer has raised more than £40m for Cancer Research UK as part of a 17-year partnership.  TK Maxx announced yesterday that it had reached the milestone with the UK’s biggest cancer research and awareness charity.  In a statement, the retailer said the money raised would help ensure more children and young people survived

The founder of a children’s cancer charity has been jailed for 20 months after being convicted of defrauding the organisation of more than £200,000. Colin Nesbitt, 60, of Bingley, West Yorkshire, and founder and former director of the now-defunct charity Little Heroes Cancer Trust, stole £87,000 from the charity and transferred a further £181,000 into

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has appointed Dhivya O’Connor as interim chief executive.  O’Connor, a former chief executive of Children with Cancer UK, will join the CIoF next week for a two-week handover with Peter Lewis before he steps down.  Lewis announced in March that he would step down after almost 10 years leading the

Almost three-quarters of young volunteers have credited the experience with improving their job prospects, research shows.   A new study by the Royal Voluntary Service, conducted in partnership with the University of Kent, set out to explore the potential of volunteering to improve people’s life chances. The report, called Social Mobility: Unleashing the Power of Volunteering, found

The board of St John Ambulance  has allocated an additional half a million pounds to improve the culture of the charity, following multiple allegations of bullying earlier this year.  Martin Houghton-Brown, the charity’s chief executive, said the work remained a “high priority” for the charity and would be supported by external partners. Multiple current and

The Times newspaper has agreed to pay £50,000 plus legal costs to a Muslim charity it falsely accused of colluding with people smugglers.  A High Court statement yesterday said The Times had agreed to make the payment to the humanitarian charity the Al-Khair Foundation after an article about Somali migrants trying to reach Europe was

A man who joined Refugee Action in an entry-level position 19 years ago has been appointed its next chief executive.  Tim Naor Hilton, who has been the charity’s interim chief executive since the departure of Stephen Hale earlier this year, joined Refugee Action as a frontline development worker in Manchester in 2002.  He subsequently became

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has filed a serious incident report with the Charity Commission after sexual harassment allegations were made against the award-winning actor Noel Clarke.  Twenty women spoke to The Guardian newspaper to outline allegations against Clarke, who strongly rejected the claims and said he intended to defend himself against