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 »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Here’s some route one, Dorothy Donor fundraising
I recently spent some time in a part of East Anglia where a lot of elderly people live, and through the letterbox popped a piece of cold, unaddressed direct mail from the British Red Cross, a charity I admire a lot and have donated to at times of disaster. I was there at about the… 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 »
Fundraising around the world
When SOS Children’s Villages said it wanted to trial face-to-face fundraising in Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Americas, the idea was dismissed as crazy. Juan Cruz Mones Cazon, development and communications director for the charity in Latin America and the Caribbean, says his colleagues in the region’s vibrant not-for-profit sector told him… 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 »
Ed Miliband – isn’t he our man?
Until recently commentators such as Tim Montgomerie of Conservative Home have been fond of saying that the Tories’ best asset at the next election will be Ed Miliband: geeky, awkward-looking, poor communicator and a bit Old Labour. After yesterday, they might need to change their tune on the first three points at least. Even his… 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 »
Now councils have doorstep fundraising in their sights
Doorstep fundraising seems to be the quieter, less boisterous, older sister of street fundraising. While the so-called ‘chuggers’ who collect direct debit sign-ups in high streets have been getting into trouble with the media and now face fines for breaking fundraising rules, those doing house-to-house collections have been quietly getting on with it in the… 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 »