Charity

Blood Cancer UK has proposed cutting more than a quarter of its workforce in a bid to deal with the anticipated loss of about 40 per cent of its income.  Gemma Peters, chief executive of the blood cancer charity, said the organisation, which had an income of £15.3m in the year to the end of

The Charity Commission has opened a compliance case into Islamic Relief Worldwide after claims a senior figure at the charity made anti-semitic comments on social media.  The charity said in a statement this week that trustee and former staff member Heshmat Khalifa had stepped down from its board after anti-semitic social media posts made five

The Directory of Social Change has suggested the government has “muzzled” the National Lottery Community Fund over the allocation of emergency coronavirus funding.  In a blog on the DSC website, Jay Kennedy, director of policy and research at the training and publishing charity, said he believed the NLCF had been prevented from giving out basic

More than 200 UK charities have joined a coalition calling for the government to temporarily increase the level of Gift Aid in order to help keep their services running during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. Last month, a group led by the Charities Aid Foundation, the Institute of Fundraising, the Charity Finance Group and the Charity

The Disasters Emergency Committee’s coronavirus appeal has raised more than £15m in just over a week.  The DEC, which is a collaboration of 14 major aid charities that coordinates appeals for humanitarian crises, opened the appeal last week with a focus on people living in refugee camps.  It said today that member charities had begun using

22nd July 2020 – RIVIAM Digital Care has been awarded £48,450 funding by Innovate UK to enhance its new social prescribing platform. RIVIAM transforms care delivery during Covid-19 RIVIAM’s Wellbeing platform is currently used in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) by Virgin Care, BaNES Council and many third sector organisations, including Age UK BaNES,

The Alzheimer’s Society is expecting to have to make up to 300 redundancies because of an estimated £45m loss of income over the next financial year.  The charity said it was expecting to have to cut the jobs, which represent 20 per cent of its workforce, because of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has apologised to a former trustee of a lifeboat charity following a landmark ruling which could have profound consequences for charity regulation in Northern Ireland.  Trevor McKee was removed from the board of Lough Neagh Rescue in 2013, after the CCNI opened a statutory investigation into the charity over

Almost two thirds of charities believe social distancing measures will lead to an overall decrease in events and challenge donations, according to a survey. The Status of UK Fundraising 2020 Report, produced by the software provider Blackbaud in partnership with the Institute of Fundraising, also found that more than half (56 per cent) of respondents

The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust launched its first open applications window earlier this month, offering a total of £10m to help smaller charities survive the coronavirus crisis.  It is the first time in its 25-year history that the charity has run an open call for applications, and grant manager Simon Fourmy says it is

Sue Freeth, chief executive of the veterans mental health charity Combat Stress, has announced she is to step down after five years in the role.  Freeth said in a statement that there was never a perfect time to leave the charity but she felt she must move on. The charity said Freeth would help trustees

The number of serious incidents reported to the Charity Commission grew by almost 50 per cent in the past year to more than 5,700, latest figures show.  The regulator’s annual report, published today, includes a rise of almost 1,000 in the number of safeguarding incidents reported to the regulator over the course of the year, to

Community organisations in England that are facing financial difficulties due to Covid-19 are being invited to apply for a share of £9.5m of funding. Organisations can apply for grants of up to £100,000 from the Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme. The scheme is aimed at organisations delivering community services to people who are at high risk

Cancer Research UK is set to reduce the size of its workforce by almost a quarter as a result of a predicted £300m drop in income over the next three years.  The charity’s three-year strategy, unveiled today, also revealed it would have to reduce its spending on research by £150m over the next four to

Royal patronages provide no discernable benefits to charities that seek to obtain and retain them, according to new research. A report by the charity consultancy Giving Evidence – funded by the Belgian Red Cross – found that 74 per cent of charities with royal patrons did not receive any public engagements over the last year,

The winners of this year’s Third Sector Awards, which recognise the achievements of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, will be announced over a three-day virtual event in October. Despite the coronavirus pandemic continuing to disrupt live events across the UK, Third Sector has committed to celebrating the work of voluntary and not-for-profit organisations across

Charities of all sizes must find ways to collaborate more and potentially consider consolidating, the chief executive of the British Red Cross has said.  In a blog about what the future holds for the charities after the Covid-19 pandemic, Mike Adamson says the voluntary sector must demonstrate to government that it has practical solutions to

This year’s cancelled Prudential RideLondon cycling event has been resurrected as a free virtual event “to help save the UK’s charities”, event organisers have announced.  RideLondon, which has raised £77.5m for charity since it was launched in 2013, was cancelled in May due to coronavirus restrictions, but today organisers announced that a virtual event would take

Reserves held by the UK’s largest charities were already in decline before the coronavirus outbreak hit, new figures show. Analysis of the latest accounts of the top 50 charities by annual income conducted by the accountancy and advisory firm BDO found the organisations held on average two months of reserves going into the pandemic, down

Income at ActionAid stabilised last year after a near 10 per cent fall in 2018, latest figures show.  The charity’s accounts for the year to 31 December 2019, which were filed with Companies House this week, show overall income fell 1 per cent from £49.6m to £49.1m, driven by a reduction in unrestricted donations and

The Disasters Emergency Committee’s coronavirus appeal raised more than £5m during its first day, organisers have announced.  The DEC, which is a collaboration of 14 major aid charities that coordinates appeals for humanitarian crises, opened the appeal on Tuesday with a focus on people living in refugee camps.  The DEC warned that 24 million internally

Staff at the charity that runs historic William Shakespeare sites face possible redundancy amid an expected £8.5m loss of income this year.  A statement from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which looks after heritage sites relating to the author in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, said the charity faced losing 90 per cent of its income in 2020 because

The charity that runs two major concert halls in Birmingham has said that more than half of its staff are at risk of redundancy because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Performances Birmingham, which runs the Symphony Hall and Town Hall venues, said enforced closure caused by the outbreak had caused “huge losses” and it was still

The Health Lottery has increased the amount of its proceeds that go to good causes by five percentage points because of the coronavirus pandemic.  The lottery said it was making the move, which will result in the proportion of its proceeds that go to good causes rising from 20.3 per cent to 25.5 per cent

BBC Children in Need has pledged to match the £10m funding offered by the grime artist Stormzy to tackle racial injustice in the UK.  Like Stormzy, the charity will offer £10m over 10 years towards developing a new funding programme dedicated to supporting young black people to achieve their full potential.  The project will be developed

Charities that work to improve the employment prospects of disadvantaged children and young people are being invited to apply for a share of £6m of funding.  The Inspiring Futures programme is being funded by £3m from both BBC Children in Need and the Youth Futures Foundation, and will offer grants of up to £80,000 over

Two brain tumour charities have said they will merge in a bid to better meet the needs of those diagnosed and living with the condition.  In a statement released today, the Brain Tumour Charity and Meningioma UK said that “there are a multitude of brain tumour charities and the more we come together the more

Islamic Relief raised a record amount through its annual Ramadan appeal this year, despite having to cancel all of its community fundraising events because of the coronavirus pandemic, its director has revealed.  Speaking in an online panel discussion as part of this year’s Institute of Fundraising annual convention, Tufail Hussain said the total raised by

A former senior director at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations is to become the next chief executive of the Honorary Treasurers Forum.  Richard Williams, who spent 13 years at the NCVO until stepping down as its director of enterprise last year, will succeed Denise Fellows in the part-time role next week. Latest headlines Fellows

Fundraisers have been challenged not to use the coronavirus pandemic and the looming recession as an excuse to delay having conversations about equality in the sector.  Speaking at the Institute of Fundraising’s virtual fundraising convention as part of a panel session on diversity and inclusion in the fundraising and charity sector, the fundraising consultant Jaz