The full report explaining the decision by the ASA this week not to uphold five complaints from television viewers about an advert by Care International shines some light on behind-the-scenes to-ing and fro-ing that goes on over scheduling restrictions applied to charity advertising. The watchdog’s report explains how advertising clearance company Clearcast initially approved the… Read more »
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Cameron pushed his big society, but his charity audience was not convinced
Yesterday I watched David Cameron give a speech about his big society agenda at a meeting hosted by think tank the Centre for Social Justice. Previous announcements by the Conservatives about the idea have been relatively well-received by much of the national press, so I was interested to see how an audience that consisted… Read more »
Is David Cameron about to shelve the ‘big society’?
Headless chickens come to mind as we watch Labour and Conservatives running around in search of the best way to neutralise the Clegg effect. It’s brought the election alive in a slightly disturbing way – might we actually end up with something daring, like scrapping Trident or joining the Euro? Of special interest to the… Read more »
What happened to the big splash on the Compact?
2010 was supposed to be the year of the big push for the Compact. “Next year is an important time to make a big splash,” said Richard Corden, chief executive of the Commission for the Compact, when the cross-sector fair play agreement was refreshed in December. At the time, the Compact was still reeling from… Read more »
Let the charity tribunal deal with disgruntled volunteers
Hardly a week seems to go by at Third Sector without us being contacted by some disgruntled volunteer or trustee. The story always runs along similar lines: the volunteers feel they have been badly treated by their charities but have been unable to find any redress other than going to the media. Invariably they have… Read more »
The Charity Commission’s guidance on political campaigning is proving a weak deterrent
The pre-election warning to charities by the Charity Commission chief executive Andrew Hind, telling them “not to engage in any party political activity or leave the charity open to the perception that they might be”, looks like one of those police clampdowns on cyclists riding on pavements: more request than threat. It was always going… Read more »
If you are offered a defined benefit pension, grab it
What would you say if I told you that there are thousands of charity employees out there who could boost by 20 per cent the amount given to them by their employer, without changing job or incurring any risk at all, but are choosing not to? You might doubt it, but it’s true. They’re the… Read more »
London Marathon needs a human face
Many Third Sector readers will be familiar with the terrain covered by the Dispatches programme on the London Marathon at the weekend: the intense feelings of unfairness among some charities about the Gold Bond system of allocating places for runners; the deep reluctance of the marathon’s leaders to talk openly about its organisation and finances;… Read more »
David Cameron’s National Citizen Service is likely to interest only middle class and motivated teens
Volunteering was at the top of the political agenda for a brief moment yesterday, when David Cameron used his first major press conference since the beginning of the general election campaign to announce his party’s plans for a National Citizen Service scheme. Under his system, 16-year-olds would be encouraged to spend the summer after they leave… Read more »
Because It’s Good is rather good for charities looking for digital media tips
Should charities tackle malicious groups created by Facebook users? How do online mentors keep professional boundaries in place? And are elaborate email templates worth the effort? Such digital media quandaries are tackled in a series of articles on Because It’s Good, a newish community blog that functions as an online salon for charity digital media… Read more »