It’s surely not a coincidence that the Times, a Murdoch paper, has run a negative lead story on the big society a few days after Andy Coulson, former editor of another Murdoch paper, resigned from his job as the government’s communications director. After all, political commentators have noted that Coulson was never big on big… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Uncategorized
Apple needs to get moving on a donation app before the brand gets tarnished
I’ve decided it’s time to add my two cents worth on the ongoing battle to convince Apple to allow people to donate to charity directly through apps on the iPhone. The saga has been rumbling on for a while now and if it’s ever going to have a happy ending it’s going to be critical… Read more »
Chuggers should steer clear of the other salespeople
Grabbing a quick break in a busy day yesterday, I nipped to the less-than-glamorous destination that is Hammersmith Broadway, a small shopping arcade built around the entrance to the tube station. During my roughly 100-metre walk through the centre, I was stopped three times. The first was by a heavily made-up woman trying… Read more »
Hiding your commercial credentials under a bushel
Many in the sector have a sceptical eye, and it wasn’t long before Frank Buckley applied his to the new online shopping app Give As You Live. He is the chief executive of Down Syndrome Education International, and he noticed that it wasn’t easy to find out how Everyclick, which runs the app, is making… Read more »
Hazel Blears risks stepping on Roberta Blackman-Woods’ toes
Hazel Blears is back, and she’s set her sights on the voluntary sector. The fiery readhead (now with a toned-down auburn hairdo) has been keeping a close eye on the government’s big society agenda, which she says it has stolen from Labour. And now she’s trying to improve it. Blears has tabled a private members’… Read more »
Is Quora the next Twitter? And should charities have it in their sights?
Twitter has been alight this past week with talk of the online craze Quora. While the website isn’t new (it was actually founded in 2009), momentum has been growing over the last few months, with opinion seemingly split on the network’s merits. For those who aren’t already familiar with it, Quora claims to be ‘a… Read more »
Can people be nudged into giving more?
Tucked away on page 19 of the government’s green paper on giving are two short sentences that speak volumes. “We know that tax reliefs for charitable giving provide incentives for donors and support to charities more generally”, it says. “We will review the relationship between financial incentives and giving.” End of discussion. Yes, we do… Read more »
Arise Sir Stephen – and honour is satisfied
For a long time it was a moot point whether Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, or Stephen Bubb, head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, would make it first on to the honours list. Etherington had length of service, gravitas, a longer track record and a… Read more »
Talking tough on Hard Talk
It’s the trademark of the BBC news channel’s Hard Talk to give its interviewees a good pummelling. And the gravel-voiced Stephen Sackur didn’t hold back when questioning Sir Stuart Etherington, of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, about the big society at the weekend. Wasn’t Sir Stuart a bit complacent about the cuts that are… Read more »
The commissioning reform green paper contains something that could alarm the sector
While flicking through the Office for Civil Society’s green paper on commissioning reform, I came across something that might alarm the sector. The document is looks at ways to make it easier for civil society organisations to bid for public service delivery contracts. Sounds uncontroversial enough. It even provides an innocuous-sounding definition of civil society:… Read more »