Charity

Islamic Relief Worldwide  has reported another record year as its income topped £130m for the first time.  Income in 2019 rose 2.3 per cent to £131m, up from £128m in the previous year, latest accounts show. The majority of its income came from voluntary donations, with income from IRW’s partners rising nearly £14m to £86.1m.

A quarter of staff at the Institute of Fundraising are at risk of redundancy as the membership body restructures to manage the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.  The IoF said 13 of its 53 staff were at risk of losing their jobs as part of a consultation that will run until the end of October.  Peter

More than 40 per cent of staff at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations are at risk of redundancy because of a restructure caused by Covid-19. The umbrella body said today that 48 of its 107 staff were at risk as the umbrella body looked to reduce its headcount in a bid to tackle an estimated

Sophie Walker, chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, will step down before the end of the month after just over a year in the role, the charity has announced.  Walker said in a statement that she was leaving to take up an offer she could not refuse: chief strategy officer at the feminist law

The Charity Commission has issued an official warning to a charity that was linked to the disappearance of clothing banks owned by other voluntary sector organisations.  The regulator said in 2018 that it had serious concerns about the management of the charity Helping Our Future and its relationship with third parties, including commercial fundraising companies. 

Almost 1,400 arts and cultural organisations will receive a share of £257m in emergency grants from the government to help them weather the coronavirus crisis. The funding will go to 1,385 theatres, galleries, performance groups, arts organisations, museums and local venues as part of the government’s £1.6bn Culture Recovery Fund. It is hoped the money

Action on Hearing Loss plans to revert to its original name, the RNID, after research showed the old brand was more recognised and trusted, despite not having been used since 2011. A new logo and branding for the hearing loss charity will be unveiled when the name change comes into effect on 2 November, the

The sight loss charity Royal Blind has changed its name to Sight Scotland.  The 227-year-old organisation, which is based in Edinburgh, said its sister charity Scottish War Blinded had also changed its name, to Sight Scotland Veterans.  The charities said the name changes coincided with it embarking on new plans to reach significantly more people

The chair of the Charity Commission has been accused of attacking “lefty lawyers” in a “patronising” keynote address at the Charity Law Association conference. Baroness Stowell was speaking as part of the Charity Law Association’s 26th annual event today. In a week when the legal profession has been under attack from the government, charity lawyers

Almost 1,300 people will be made redundant at the National Trust as it looks to make savings of £100m because of the coronavirus pandemic.  The charity said today it would be making 514 compulsory and 782 voluntary redundancies from its 10,000-strong workforce. In July, the charity originally proposed making almost 1,200 compulsory redundancies but said

Hundreds of voluntary and community sector figures have been recognised in a bumper Queen’s Birthday Honours list.  The honours, which were put back from the usual June publication date to allow for people who had done exceptional work during the coronavirus pandemic to be added to the list, include a knighthood for Geoff Mulgan, who

Unicef UK has pledged to publish a third-party review into the resignations of its executive director and chair amid a bullying row.  The charity said in a statement on its website that with the global Unicef organisation it had commissioned the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius UK to lead an independent review of the

Cuts to official development assistance combined with Covid-19, Brexit, and a UK-wide recession could lead to the closure of many international development charities over the next two years, new research suggests.  A poll of 93 organisations by the international development network Bond found that 48 per cent of NGOs were at risk of ceasing operations

The Refugee and Migrant Centre: Black Country and Birmingham has been named Charity of the Year at the Third Sector Awards.  The awards, which recognise the achievements of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, were announced online over two days for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.  The Refugee and Migrant Centre, which

The chair of the Charity Commission will again not be taking any questions after she delivers a keynote speech – this time, at the Charity Law Association Annual Conference. It comes just days after Baroness Stowell was criticised for being unavailable for questions after her talk at the regulator’s annual public meeting last week.  The

The 2.6 Challenge and the #ClapForOurCarers campaign were among the winners on the first day of this year’s Third Sector Awards. The winners of the awards, which recognise the achievements of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises, are being announced online over two days for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic.  The 2.6 Challenge,

There is no point making recommendations to the current UK government on how to reform the international aid sector when it is going backwards on human rights and accountability, MPs have been told. An activist giving evidence to the House of Commons International Development Committee said a strategy involving “anti-racism, decolonising and removing patriarchy” from

The chief executive of ActionAid UK is leaving to take up the same position at the international NGO Stir Education.  Girish Menon, who has been head of ActionAid UK since 2015, will join Stir Education in January.  He will succeed Sharath Jeevan, who is stepping down to start a new venture after nine years in

The software provider at the centre of a ransomware attack that affected dozens of charities earlier in the summer has admitted that some financial information might have been stolen. Blackbaud is one of the biggest providers of fundraising, financial management and supporter management software to the UK charity sector. It is not clear how many

Simon Blake, the chief executive of the community interest company Mental Health First Aid England, is set to sue the actor-turned-aspiring politician Laurence Fox for defamation after Fox called Blake “a paedophile” on Twitter.  Blake, who is also chair of the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall, told Third Sector Fox had “seriously defamed” him and confirmed he had

Charity mergers across the sector rose by nearly a third during the first three months after lockdown, figures indicate.  The social sector consultancy Eastside Primetimers has analysed Charity Commission data between March and June and compared it with the same period last year.  It found there were 114 mergers during the three-month period this year,

The number of whistleblowing reports received by the Charity Commission increased by one-third last year, figures from the regulator show.  The commission’s annual whistleblowing report, published yesterday, shows the regulator received 247 complaints in the year to the end of March, up from 185 in the previous 12 months.  The figure is almost two-and-a-half times

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations is set to appoint Priya Singh as its next chair. Singh, who spent more than 20 years at the membership body the Medical Protection Society, is due to take up the role at the umbrella body’s annual general meeting next month, subject to member approval. The NCVO said Singh

The Directory of Social Change has launched a scathing attack on the Charity Commission after the regulator’s annual public meeting yesterday. In a blog post Jay Kennedy, director of policy and research at the training and publishing charity, said the commission was uninterested in examining its own performance and wanted to put its failings back onto

The Charity Commission expects the government to extend the deadline for thousands of excepted charities to register because the volume of applications is likely to be several times the number it typically handles in a year.  The exception for church charities with annual incomes of £100,000 or less is due to come to an end

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has pledged to be less “London-centric” and will “focus on banging the drum” for charities and volunteering.  In a blog post, Karl Wilding, the charity’s chief executive, said the umbrella body had spent the past year gathering views from members to come up with a new strategic direction.  He

Charities are being invited to apply for grants of up to £1m for schemes that will help communities recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.  The People’s Postcode Lottery is offering £3m in funding to charities for “high-impact and original projects” that would help communities in Britain recover from problems that had been highlighted

Comic Relief has appointed Fatima Ribeiro as its next director of fundraising and creative.  Ribeiro, who is head of marketing and creative at Islamic Relief UK, is due to take up her new role next week.  She has spent the past five years at Islamic Relief in a range of roles, including leading the charity’s

The Charity Commission has come under fire after it emerged its chair would not be available for questions at its annual public meeting. The question and answer session at regulator’s the online event tomorrow (Thursday 1 October) is only for its chief executive, Helen Stephenson, and other directors to “answer questions on operational issues”. But

Easily cleaned, semi-rugged devices to benefit several families: Panasonic donated 100 refurbished laptops and handhelds to charities in the UK, France and Germany. CARDIFF, UK. 30th September 2020 – Panasonic has today announced partnerships with three major charities in Europe to provide refurbished laptops and tablets to socially disadvantaged families. The programme is focused on