Kevin Carey, chair of the RNIB, didn’t hold back yesterday at the CFDG conference. He gave the sector both barrels, in fact. At close range. He told audiences that the sector was cripplingly undercapitalised, focused on helping too few people, and too often prioritised preserving the organisation instead of helping the beneficiaries. The sector, he… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
It’s time for the sector to get creative about working with companies
Without wanting to sound like a complete cynic, my first reaction when I was told about Vodafone and JustGiving’s new free text donation service for charities was to wonder what the catch was. The service is being offered to every single registered charity in the UK – according to the Charity Commission’s website this morning,… Read more »
Most charities do not use their investment capital as a tool to do good
Recently, there have been several instances of charitable investors using their large portfolios as weapons to promote their beliefs. This week, a group of major investors including CCLA, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, Lankelly Chase and the Sigrid Rausing Trust have written to all of the FTSE 100 asking them to pay the Living Wage… Read more »
Being a ‘royal’ charity might be old-fashioned but is a good way of keeping hold of public trust
There is a fairly obvious link between the three charities that came top in a survey of charities’ reputations that has been published this week: the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Royal British Legion and Royal National Institute for the Blind. It’s not the first time charities with the word “royal” in their title have been… Read more »
Smoke and mirrors on the new Work Programme
Employment minister Chris Grayling issued a triumphant-sounding statement to mark the announcement of the new Work Programme providers. It read: “For the first time, those charities and voluntary sector organisations across the country with the know-how to help people with real difficulties in their communities get back to work are being given the chance to… Read more »
Cold climate and a government charm offensive at Voice11
At the start of Voice11, the biggest event in the social enterprise calendar, the chief executive of the organisers, the Social Enterprise Coalition stood up and said this was completely different from any event that had gone before. He was right, too. It was the first time the event had been held in London, the… Read more »
The 2011 Budget looks like a tale of two sectors
It’s good news to see the charity sector feature more prominently in a budget speech, as well as a raft of new tax reliefs. It looks like a tale of two sectors, however. Those which rely on donations will profit from new tax reliefs estimated to be worth over £500m a year. But those who… Read more »
McLean’s departure is a blow for the IoF
Amanda McLean’s resignation after only four months as chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising is a huge talking point in the sector. It’s the second most read story of the year on Third Sector‘s website, with a dozen comments left by readers and letters still coming in to the magazine. Her departure can hardly… Read more »
Is celebrity involvement in charity campaigns always the right thing?
The #twitrelief campaign by Comic Relief received a surprising amount of criticism on the social networking site Twitter last week. The campaign featured an online auction that enabled members of the public to bid money for a celebrity to ‘follow’ their tweets, as well as for other extras. These extras, some of which were much… Read more »
How can we get society to become more generous?
Earlier this month, lots of varied and purposeful responses to the government’s Giving Green Paper were published. It was funny to see them. I’ve known that meticulous work has been done on them by various sector bodies I have been in regular touch with for a few months now, and it was really interesting to… Read more »