Most of the recent rhetoric about charities being too political has been about challenges to the Conservative-led government: think of the row about the Oxfam tweet and criticism of charities by ministers including Chris Grayling and Eric Pickles. So it’s ironic that the first instances to come to light in the election campaign concern four… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Gagging to get rid of the gagging act?
I have spent a fair bit of time over the past few weeks speaking to people about the lobbying act, putting together a feature that begins on page 32 of the May edition of Third Sector, out today. A feeling I got from this, and previous experiences, is that a number of people are not… Read more »
The sector hustings – now with added Ukip
As we come within touching distance of parliament’s dissolution, on Tuesday I attended the social leaders debate organised by Acevo and CAF, featuring Rob Wilson, the Conservative Minister for Civil Society; Lisa Nandy, his Labour shadow, Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Nathan Gill, leader of Ukip Wales and… Read more »
A welcome boost for rugby charities
I’ve been to Twickenham Stadium countless times before, but never quite like this. I’d been invited to attend the England versus Scotland rugby match on Saturday because the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby in England, was launching a new charitable venture.
Remembering Terry Pratchett
I first met Terry Pratchett in the early 1970s when we completed the Lyke Wake Walk, a 40-mile route over the North York Moors said to cover paths once used to carry coffins to burial. He was a subeditor on the Bath Evening Chronicle, the former workplace of one of the other three of us,… Read more »
Google Poetics: the charity edition
You might be familiar with Google Poetics – a website and Twitter feed showcasing ‘poems’ created by the autocomplete function in the Google search engine. The premise is this; if you type the word ‘David’ into Google, it’s likely to give you autocomplete suggestions like ‘Cameron’, ‘Beckham’ and so on. Try it with all sorts… Read more »
Charity executive salaries: a century-old concern
In recent weeks, one topic has repeatedly cropped up rather quickly in conversations I’ve had at the various sector events, conferences and launches on which I’ve been unleashed. That topic is the feature Third Sector has put together on executive salaries in our March edition, out this week.
Breaking the ice with royalty
Mention the phrase “ice bucket challenge” and many of us still feel a shiver from remembering just how shockingly cold the experience was. But for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the craze was a game changer. The charity, which received more than £7m of donations in about three weeks last summer while the idea swept… Read more »
A full-on fortnight for the commission
As a professional commission watcher, it’s been a bit of a full-on fortnight what with all that’s been going on with the Charity Commission. Headlines have been the release of the National Audit Office report on the commission and its resulting analysis by the sector, the appearance by Paula Sussex, chief executive of the regulator,… Read more »
Changing media coverage of charities won’t be easy
The idea that negative media coverage doesn’t affect charities’ income seems to be losing credence. Last summer, the head of Oxfam’s market insight team told a Market Research Society event that charities should stop wasting resources defending themselves against critics of charity administration costs and salaries because such critics wouldn’t donate to them anyway; and… Read more »