Posts By: David Ainsworth

The thorny question of lobbying by charities

Should a charity be allowed to use charitable donations (and charitable tax reliefs) to try and change people’s minds? And should an organisation that dedicates itself mostly to campaigning be allowed to call itself a charity? These are the questions that came up recently in a Parliamentary select committee that dealt partly but not entirely… Read more »

Getting to know the Brethren

Last week, I met up with two members of the Plymouth Brethren, who came to talk to me about their religion. They are currently involved in a struggle with the Charity Commission to prove that their charities and meeting halls provide a public benefit, and were keen to show their usefulness to the community at… Read more »

Are young trustees really such a good idea?

Trustee Week gets under way today, and there have been plenty of calls that we should sign up more young people as trustees. As a former young trustee, I’m not convinced this is the best idea. In my teenage years and early twenties I was a board member at my student union, and remained involved… Read more »

Ethical investment is more than beating one bastard while funding three others

As part of ethical investment week, now drawing to a close,  the Charity Finance Group published a survey of its members that found that  just over half had any sort of ethical investment policy, and that of those who did, most only used “negative screening”, where they avoid companies which have activities that go against… Read more »

The Small Charitable Donations Bill should be index-linked

I wonder if it’s time for the charity sector to change tack with its lobbying on the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme. The GASDS, and the Small Charitable Donations Bill that will bring it into existence, have been criticised because of the bureaucracy involved, particularly the need for a good Gift Aid record before you… Read more »

Social finance and winning contracts fit well together

This week, a Third Sector feature looks at how charities are creating new intermediaries to win government contracts – organisations focused on gaining business and becoming big, allowing local charities to win business while remaining relatively small, close to their beneficiaries, and focused on delivery. One of the key issues highlighted was the need to… Read more »

Workfare presents a difficult PR question for the sector

The charity sector doesn’t seem to have much to say about the government’s new “workfare” scheme, announced last week, that will see 6,000 unemployed 18 to 24-year-olds required to work unpaid for 30 hours a week. However, like it or not, it is the sector’s problem. The terms “voluntary organisation” and “charity” were being bandied… Read more »

Did the Futurebuilders fund do any good?

The Social Investment Business revealed some interesting figures about Futurebuilders last week – chiefly, that it has £28m of unspent repayments sitting in its bank accounts, some of which has been there for at least five years. Another revelation was that only another £85m or so is outstanding. For a fund originally billed as having… Read more »

Charity regulation is all over the place

Earlier this month, a National Audit Office report for the Public Administration Select Committee laid out the scope of the charity sector in the UK. It revealed, basically, that charity regulation is all over the place. There are almost 350,000 charities in the UK, with a total income of more than £120bn. Less than half… Read more »

Withdrawing Gift Aid for late filing of accounts makes no sense

Lord Hodgson’s proposal that it should be easier for charities to pay trustees has drawn the most ire from the sector, but his proposal that Gift Aid be withdrawn from charities that file their accounts late is perhaps the one that seems to make the least practical sense. First of all, Gift Aid is of… Read more »