Charity

Charities rarely generate the type of evidence major donors look for when deciding to support a particular organisation, according to new research. A paper by Caroline Greenhalgh and Professor Paul Montgomery from the Third Sector Research Centre at the University of Birmingham says few philanthropists practise evidence-based philanthropy and some say there is insufficient evidence on

Up to 145 roles are at risk of redundancy as the charity that looks after the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace looks to tackle an expected £100m fall in income this year.  Historic Royal Palaces, which looks after five sites in and around London as well as Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, said

Grants of up to £5m are available to environmental charities and partnerships that include at least one environmental charity for projects in England aimed at restoring nature and tackling climate change. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is distributing the £40m fund in partnership with Natural England and the Environment Agency, on behalf of the Department

Almost 80 per cent of charities are failing to fully comply with reporting requirements introduced in the wake of the fundraising controversies of 2015.  A report today from the Fundraising Regulator says only 21 per cent of the charities it surveyed provided all the required information in their annual reports on different aspects of their

Policy departments among mainstream charities are among the least diverse areas of the voluntary sector, according to the head of policy at the charity leaders body Acevo. In a blog post for the equality campaign group #CharitySoWhite, Kristiana Wrixon said that in her experience, “policy departments in ‘mainstream’ charities are one of the whitest, middle-class,

A group of major charity umbrella bodies have called for major reform to the VAT system because of the “significant burden” it places on UK voluntary sector organisations.  In a written submission to the House of Commons Treasury Committee for its inquiry into “tax after coronavirus”, the four umbrella bodies say that charities are unable

The Royal Albert Hall has launched an emergency fundraising campaign to try to plug a £20m shortfall in its finances caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  The charity said it had lost £18m in income since the venue was forced to close in March because of the outbreak, and was ineligible to apply for a grant

A charity that was unable to account for almost £150,000 of spending has been wound up by the regulator. A Charity Commission inquiry report into Believe in Magic, which was registered in 2012 with objects of relieving the needs of children and young people suffering from serious illnesses, says the regulator began looking into the

Charities should think carefully about how they support loss-making trading subsidiaries during the Covid-19 pandemic, an expert has warned. Some charities have trading subsidiaries set up to run a commercial activity, such as a retail operation, and any profits are covenanted back to the charity under corporate Gift Aid rules.  But the pandemic has meant

Comic Relief has appointed the chief executive of the disability charity Humanity & Inclusion to its senior leadership team.  Comic Relief said Aleema Shivji would join as executive director of impact and investment in January.  Shivji has spent 15 years at Humanity & Inclusion, which works with disabled and vulnerable people affected by conflicts, disasters

A former charity clerk has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for defrauding a Norfolk charity of £120,000 over several years. Emma Greeno, 44 and of Westfield, Norfolk, was sentenced last week at Norwich Crown Court after previously admitting fraud by abuse of position. The court heard that Greeno worked as a clerk for the

More than three-quarters of charities think funders have been very responsive during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research.  Data from the research consultancy nfpSynergy found that 76 per cent of the more than 350 charities surveyed said they believed funders had been responsive to the outbreak.  Almost two-thirds of charities said they thought that

Charities and social enterprises are being encouraged to apply for a share of £15m of mostly loan finance that is available to help them weather the coronavirus pandemic.  The Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund, which is being run by the Social Investment Business, was launched in April to provide emergency loans to affected social enterprises and

More funding across the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector is needed if it is to help meet increased demand for social prescribing, according to a new report. The scheme works by referring NHS patients to local voluntary and community services, to improve their quality of life, health and wellbeing and reduce the likelihood that

Across the UK, cases of Covid-19 are once again ticking up – and in an effort to delay a second national lockdown, the government is imposing regional variations to social distancing rules. With some regional leaders branding local lockdowns a “recipe for chaos,” charities have been finding ways to work in partnership, with limited funding, to

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has been given a £200,000 grant to provide employment support for charities.  The funding, from the National Lottery Community Fund, is designed to help the umbrella body deal with a huge increase in demand for human resources support caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  The SCVO said queries about employment

A charity that aims to improve diversity among not-for-profit boards has called on the sector to “pull its finger out” as it launches its latest bursary offering. Getting on Board exists to help people from all walks of life become trustees.  It does this by working with charities to try to change their attitudes towards

The Royal Free Charity has appointed the former head of the autism charity Autistica as its new chief executive.  The charity, which raises funds for projects and facilities to support patients and staff at three north London hospitals, said Jon Spiers had taken up the role from today.  Spiers spent five years in the top

People will still be willing to give in a recession, but charities will have to change how they ask in order to retain donors, fundraisers have heard.  Speaking during a webinar entitled Planning for the Future in a Crisis, Daniel Fluskey, head of policy and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, said that

Five Citizens Advice bureaux in Glasgow face closure with the loss of 66 jobs because they are set to miss out on funding from the local council, Citizens Advice Scotland has warned. Members of Glasgow City Council are due to vote today on funding proposals that would result in the Bridgeton, Castlemilk, Easterhouse, Parkhead and

The Charity Finance Group has started its first fundraising campaign in a bid to reduce an income shortfall of “as much as £500,000” resulting from the impact of Covid-19.  The membership body employs 21 people and had an income of £1.8m last year, according to the Charity Commission. In a statement, the CFG said it was

The chief executive of the National Emergencies Trust has stepped down as its first appeal begins to wind down.  John Herriman, who joined the organisation as interim head in February last year, before being given the position full-time in September, wants to return to a more conventional charity role after taking a break with his young

Two sector membership bodies are calling for the removal of state aid restrictions on the retail grant scheme for charity retailers to help secure the future of UK charity shops.  The call by the Charity Tax Group and the Charity Retail Association follows an announcement by the government that £1.3bn of funding for the Covid-19

The cancer charity Clic Sargent faces making about another 39 people redundant to deal with a £9m funding shortfall this year because of the coronavirus outbreak.  The charity, which employs 424 staff, had to make 38 roles redundant in July because of the effects of the pandemic and today said it needed to make further cutbacks. 

The learning disability charity Mencap faces losing more than £30,000 after a worker in one of its shops mistakenly deposited more than £90,000 into the bank account of a woman who had asked for a refund.  The woman, Comfort Konadu, 52, of Openshaw, Manchester, has been handed a suspended prison sentence for trying to keep the

The British Red Cross, the charity partnership formed by the merger of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, and the The Bread and Butter Thing, which supports people on low incomes, are among the organisations to be shortlisted for Charity of the Year in this year’s Third Sector Awards.  The awards, which recognise the

The Charity Commission has published a new version of its online register of charities.  The regulator said it wanted to “widen the public’s window” on where charity money goes and the efficient use of resources by charities. The updated site, which has gone live today, offers a wider range of information than the previous version,

The Cheshire Centre for Independent Living has changed its name to Disability Positive.  The charity, which supports more than 10,000 people with disabilities and long-term health conditions in Cheshire and north-west England, said the new name would help it to “reconnect with its values and shine a positive light on disability”.  It began the process

The market research company Ipsos MORI is to lead an evaluation of £200m of emergency support to help charities through the coronavirus pandemic.  The exercise will involve surveys of grant holders that have received funds from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, which was opened to applications on 22 May by the National Lottery Community Fund. 

The third sector think tank Pro Bono Economics is launching a commission to assess civic society’s role in Britain’s recovery from the coronavirus. The Law Family Commission on Civil Society was announced over the weekend by Lord Gus O’Donnell, chair of Pro Bono Economics and a former head of the UK Civil Service, and Andy Haldane,