It was difficult to miss the launch yesterday of Grandmentors. The 3-year pilot project aims to match what the press release from CSV calls “troubled teenagers” from deprived parts of London with grandparent-style volunteer mentors. Grandmentors cropped up on the Today programme, in the Daily Telegraph – ‘granny knows best’ – and in The Times… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Can Gift Aid reform break out of this Sisyphean state?
When I was at school, an enthusiastic teacher decided to educate us in the Greek myths. One was the story of Sisyphus, who irritated Zeus, the king of the gods, and was condemned in return to push a rock up a hill for all eternity. Once the rock got to the top, it would always… Read more »
Small charities and staff pension schemes do not mix
Small charities and staff pension schemes do not seem to go well together. Too often, when combined, they lead to disaster, particularly for the trustees. A good example of this is Hirwaun YMCA, a small charity which, many years ago, hired two people without realising it was opening itself up to a large future pensions… Read more »
Baroness Smith of Pitsea?
There was the usual fighting talk when Angela Smith lost her seat at South Basildon and East Thurrock at the election: the seat’s only on loan to you Tories, we’ll be back, and so on. It may well be that Labour will regain this marginal constituency when the pendulum swings again, but it won’t be… Read more »
The time is right for charities to shock again
The headline finding for the voluntary sector in the latest annual report of the Advertising Standards Authority is that the number of complaints about non-commercial organisations more than doubled last year. The figure had already increased by 150 per cent in 2008, from its 2007 level. But this year’s list of the top 10 most-complained-about… Read more »
The strange cross-party allure of Citizens UK
In recent months one of the lesser known charities in the nation has exerted a remarkable influence over politicians across the partisan divide. During the election campaign, aside from the BBC, ITV and Sky, only one organisation could persuade the three party leaders to come together and debate with each other – the civic activism… Read more »
Civil society sounds grandiose, but what is it?
So off we go with the name game once more. A couple of years ago the Conservatives said the Office of the Third Sector would be renamed the Office of Civil Society to denote the increased importance they wanted to give it. Then they said there had been a rethink and money was too tight… Read more »
Will charities be complicit in the public-sector jobs cull?
Could a little-noticed strike brewing in Southampton signify problems to come for the big society programme of the new government? Earlier this week librarians were balloted on industrial action over the city council’s plan to replace six full-time staff with volunteers. The council says the move will save £137,000. The issue goes right to the… Read more »
Nick Hurd claimed to be serious at his first meet-and-greet, but mutterings were audible
Earlier this week I went to the first meet-and-greet by Nick Hurd with the sector since his appointment as the new charities minister. It wasn’t exactly at the coalface: it was a small gathering of around 50 senior charity staff at a smart central London hotel. But it was a good debut for Hurd. He charmed… Read more »
Volunteer or else! How a nudge could turn into coercion
Is the concept of volunteering as time freely given to the community being subtly undermined? A couple of recent developments suggest that, while no one is being coerced exactly into volunteering, it could soon become an expectation which influences whether individuals get housing or progress in their career. The carrot of material self-interest is certainly… Read more »