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

Additional resources will be needed to sustain blended finance options across the sector once the main funding provided by Access – The Foundation for Social Investment – runs out next year, according to a new report.  A review of Access, commissioned by the Oversight Trust, the charity’s parent organisation, found it has had a positive impact

The Royal Opera House charity set aside nearly £6m in termination and redundancy payments last year as it made 218 staff redundant as a result of the government’s Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. According to the charity’s accounts for the year to 30 August 2020, the cost was part of a four-point recovery plan that included a

The social business Catch22 was forced to close two college sites as a result of the pandemic, latest figures show.  According to the group’s latest accounts, for the year to 31 August 2020, trustees looked at several areas they considered were not financially viable, or were no longer core to the group’s charitable aims.  Catch22

One of the complainants who alleged the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s former chief executive failed to act on a disclosure of sexual misconduct has questioned why her testimony was not included in an independent investigation. Beth Upton, a fundraising consultant, said she believed the scope of the investigation into the actions of Peter Lewis had

The chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Community Fundraising Special Interest Group has resigned over the membership body’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations. Sarah Goddard announced her resignation yesterday on Twitter, saying the relationship between the CIoF and many fundraisers was “broken beyond repair” and accusing the body of making the survivors of sexual

The Charity Commission ordered a charity to dispose of a plot of land worth millions after it found the organisation was unable to service debts on more than £7m in mortgage and loan repayments. The regulator said in a new report that it opened a compliance case into the poverty and education charity Nanaksar Thath

Maintenance staff at the homelessness charity St Mungo’s have entered the eighth week of indefinite strike action in what has become a protracted dispute. Employees in the charity’s property services department have been picketing St Mungo’s London head office since 22 April after voting to take part in the industrial action earlier that month. The

Two fellows of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising have said they will stay in place to ensure that there is “someone who unconditionally believes women” who have complained of sexual misconduct. In a joint interview with Third Sector, Ruth Davison and Lucy Caldicott said they believed there was a risk that an investigation into the

Sandra Horley, the former chief executive of the domestic violence charity Refuge, and Sara Llewellin, chief executive of the grant-maker the Barrow Cadbury Trust, have been made dames in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.  Horley retired last year after 37 years at Refuge while Llewellin, who has led Barrow Cadbury since 2009, previously held senior roles at

Union members at the debt support charity StepChange have been staging a public protest after warnings that up to 170 jobs could be at risk. Unite organised the socially-distanced protest outside the charity’s Leeds office yesterday after it warned that the potential job cuts were “counterproductive”. The union, which has 100 members at StepChange, said

The director of the Office for Civil Society has been appointed interim chief executive of the National Lottery Community Fund. David Knott joined the grant-maker on a 12-month secondment as a senior adviser in October. John Rose had been interim chief executive of the fund since Dawn Austwick stepped down at the end of the

The chief executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities has resigned from her role because of illness. The membership body said Aisling Burnand had decided to step down after seven years following a period of extended sick leave and would leave her post when this ended in September. Hilary Reynolds has been acting as