Charity

Jeremy Hughes has stepped down early as chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society after newspaper reports alleged that he displayed bullying behaviour towards staff. Hughes was due to leave the society in April to become chief executive of Samaritans but the suicide-prevention charity said last week that it could not proceed with the appointment in

Complaints to the Fundraising Regulator fell by a third last year, according to the watchdog’s Annual Complaints Report, published today. The regulator received 737 complaints directly in the year to the end of August, down by 33 per cent on the previous year. The report, which also collates the number of complaints made to 58

Competitive behaviours between service-providing charities can lead to poorer outcomes for the people they serve, the interim findings of a research project indicate. The Rebalancing the Relationship project, which is being conducted by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the charity leaders body Acevo and the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, is looking

The Charity Commission spent almost £300,000 on travel, flights and hotel expenses in the past six months, plus almost £400,000 on consultancy payments, research by Third Sector has found. Every month the regulator publishes details of everything on which it spends more than £25,000. Analysis by Third Sector of the figures between August and January

Charities and social enterprises are being urged to apply for grants of up to £350,000 to help take over historic buildings on high streets across England.  The Architectural Heritage Fund is looking for town centre projects reusing an historic building to receive funding as part of round two of its transformational grants project, which closes at

ATLANTA (February 25, 2020) – Nearly 40 percent of the world’s girls and women – 1.4 billion – live in countries failing on gender equality.* And according to a 2019 poll by Verizon Media Brands, many American women (68 percent) want to play a role in reducing gender bias around the world. Following a successful 2019

Action for Children has appointed Melanie Armstrong as its interim chief executive after the sudden departure of Julie Bentley.  Bentley announced her departure earlier this month for personal reasons, having only been in the post since August 2018. Armstrong has previous experience of working for Action for Children, having left the charity in December after a

A domestic abuse charity has become the first to release a campaign using the new “hidden replies” option on Twitter. Solace Women’s Aid said Twitter had confirmed it was the first charity and organisation globally to use the feature, which enables users to hide replies to their tweets, for a creative campaign. The campaign, which

Washington, D.C. (February 25, 2020) – The Global Emergency Response Coalition announced today the launch of an emergency appeal to help Syrians currently experiencing life or death conditions. The lives of nearly 1 million people have been uprooted in Northwest Syria over the last three months, an escalation of a nearly decade-long conflict. Syrians urgently

The trade union Unison has criticised the cost of the recent rebrand by the drug and alcohol charity Addaction, amid a strike over pay at one of the charity’s services in Wigan. The charity spent £140,000 to rebrand as We Are With You, which came into effect this week. The union claimed yesterday that the

Entries have opened for this year’s Third Sector Awards, which recognise the exceptional achievements of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. There are 26 categories this year, including Charity of the Year, Breakthrough of the Year and the Big Impact Award, which will go to a project that has had a substantial impact on national

New York (February 26, 2020) – Nearly nine years of conflict have brought about sweeping and protracted changes in the lives of Syrian people. Syrians are adapting to a ‘new normal’ as it relates to new livelihood strategies, new ways of accessing education, and new gender roles. Syrian women, both inside Syria and who are refugees

Samaritans has abandoned the appointment of Jeremy Hughes as its next chief executive after newspaper reports alleged that he displayed bullying behaviour during his time at the Alzheimer’s Society. The suicide-prevention charity issued a short statement today saying that it “cannot proceed with the appointment” of Hughes, who was due to take up the role

The learning disability charity United Response unfairly dismissed a former care worker after it failed to make adjustments to take into account his recent autism diagnosis, an employment tribunal has ruled. After a hearing that concluded in January, Leeds Employment Tribunal has ruled that United Response unfairly dismissed Dave Gregson after the charity did not

Charities should “lead the way in taking public expectations seriously” if they are to continue to attract public support, the Charity Commission has said. A report about the complaints received by the regulator about charities says they should be “distinct from other organisations in their attitude and behaviour, in their motivations and methods”. The report

The comedian Peter Kay has announced a series of comeback gigs that will raise money for Cancer Research UK. Kay, who has not performed since 2017, is bringing back Dance for Life later this year, a show in which participants attend a dance-a-thon from which all the profit is donated to the cancer charity. Participants

The National Trust has said it expects to cut its use of plastic by 12.5 tonnes a year because it will switch its membership cards to recyclable paper versions. The conservation charity said the five million membership cards it sends out each year would be replaced by alternatives made from super-strength, durable paper. The paper

The proportion of people aged over 50 considering whether to leave a legacy to charity has soared by 10 per cent in just 12 months, according to a report published today.  The report, Legacy Fundraising: The Only Constant is Change, which is based on online surveys of 15,000 over-50s, reveals that 45 per cent said

The voluntary sector will play a key role in the Scottish government’s attempts to measure the nation’s progress more by health and wellbeing than by wealth alone, according to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Speaking at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations‘ two-day Gathering event in Glasgow, which ended yesterday, Sturgeon said the sector’s voice would

Third Sector has launched a new set of digital awards that recognise the transformational role digital plays in the charity and voluntary sector. The Third Sector Digital Awards cover 19 categories, including Best Website, Digital Agency of the Year, Digital Champion of the Year and Online Donation Platform of the Year. Latest headlines The awards

Sports Relief will for the first time allow the public to raise money through gaming. The Game Raising campaign, which launched yesterday, will feature participants creating and playing games that can be viewed on the live-streaming channels Twitch, Facebook Live, YouTube and Mixer.  Comic Relief, the parent charity, says it is the first time gaming

A London Youth Corps citizenship and volunteering programme could be made universal for all teenagers in the capital in plans drawn up by the independent mayoral candidate Rory Stewart. The former Conservative MP, who is running in May’s mayoral election, said the London Youth Corps would aim to initially double the number of teenagers taking

The Charity Retail Association has launched a new safeguarding scheme for charity shops that will allow them to display licences showing customers they conform to a minimum set of requirements. The CRA, which is a membership organisation for UK charity shops, developed the Charity Retail Safeguarding Scheme in conjunction with the children’s charity Barnardo’s. Charities

Reading, UK. February 20, 2020 – IGEL, provider of the next-gen edge OS for cloud workspaces, today announced that Anthony Nolan, the pioneering blood cancer charity, has implemented UD3 desktops to support an organizational-wide implementation of Windows 10 and provide rich multimedia capability for over 300 employees. This will boost collaboration and teamwork by enabling

The government is planning a major expansion of the dormant assets scheme with the hope of raising millions of pounds for good causes. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport today launched a consultation about expanding the scheme to include insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities. Dormant assets are defined as those

ATLANTA (February 19, 2020) - The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today unveiled CARE’s PowerUp program as one of the highest-scoring proposals, designated as the Top 100, in its 100&Change competition for a single $100 million grant to help solve one of the world’s most critical social challenges. Progress toward gender equality remains painfully slow.

Charities are set to receive £500m more in legacy income over the next five years than was previously estimated. Legacy Foresight, which provides insights into the UK legacy market, updated its five-year market forecast yesterday to include the latest economic data and revised death predictions, which are the two main drivers of legacy income. The

CHICAGO (Feb. 20, 2020) – CARE and Mars Wrigley are building on the success and learnings of their Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) initiative, building women’s social and economic empowerment in cocoa-growing communities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Through an additional US$10 million investment from Mars, CARE will expand the VSLA program beyond the

Two Oxfam aid workers were today killed in an attack at 2pm local time in Daraa Governorate in southern Syria, between Nawa and Al-Yadudah, the charity has said in a statement. Wissam Hazim, an Oxfam Southern Hub staff safety officer, and Adel Al-Halabi, a driver, were both killed when their vehicle was attacked by an

The Vegan Society has published a free guide for employers about how they can support vegans in the workplace after a tribunal confirmed it was a philosophy or belief that should be protected in law. Last month, an employment tribunal confirmed that veganism is a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010 as part of