Introduction There is a lot of talk about paying trustees. This blog is a thought experiment about what would happen if the Charity Commission (for England and Wales), or any of the other charity regulators in the UK, removed the restrictions on paying trustees. In other words, it's as easy to pay a trustee as a member of staff. What would happen, and what would the issues be? Here are some knotty questions if there were a free market in paying trustees 1. Who would be attr

Introduction This is the tenth in the Heyheyjoe briefing series, looking at external social, economic, and demographic changes and their impact on charities and non-profit organisations. This one focuses on immigration and how changing migration levels and the politics of migration affect charities and non-profits. Migration into the UK has two sides to it: the pull or recruitment of people into the UK, and the push of people who wish to leave their home country. The chan

I have always struggled to work out how to harness and use the talents of all the members of a board of trustees. It’s particularly a problem if all the trustees wait to be asked about what they can do to help. It's also hard for a trustee to know what it is they should do. So this blog looks at how a trustee can take the initiative to be of the greatest use to the board and the organisation. Respond and engage in good time. Nothing takes up a Chair’s time like having to fo

There is a lot of talk about how important impact is for a non-profit organisation. And of course it is. However, the reality is that for many charities, it’s impossible to know for certain what the impact of a course of action is. This isn’t just because impact is hard to measure: it can be impossible or not an organisation’s top priority. But the issue is that if you only do something if you know what kind of impact you will have, then some of the sector’s most powerful org

Introduction Many boards have a Code of Conduct which sets out how their members should behave. That is a very useful and important set of guidelines. But less frequently set out is what the organisation’s commitment should be to its board members. Put together, they could become a kind of mutual promise. Here are some ideas about what behaviours and commitments an organisation should make. The foundations of good practice Reimbursement for costs & expenses The first and mo

Charities do amazing work. They reduce poverty, they cure cancer, they save the environment, and a host of other amazing things. But is this both their greatest strength and greatest weakness? The problem is not whether the quality of their work is good, but the quantity, the scale of it. In other words, no matter how good any individual charity they aren’t big enough to make a difference. If you want any proof of the diminutive impact of charities, then the fact that we a

I put a post on LinkedIn in February asking who or what the organisations were that helped social entrepreneurs. I got a fantastic range of responses, so I thought I would collate them into a single post. Here they are. I have put them roughly in the order they came through in the comments, though more regional ventures are at the end. Apologies if I have missed any organisations. School for Social Entrepreneurs The School for Social Entrepreneurs is one of the powerhouses

Introduction This is a trustee recruitment information pack for the Calypso Browning Trust. We are a small grant-maker that gives away approximately £30k a year to animal welfare and homelessness causes. We have two trustees, Joe Saxton and Vicky Browning, who have both been trustees for a decent length of time, and it's time to plan for succession. This recruitment information is designed to attract a new influx of trustees and initiate the process of Vicky and Joe stepping

Introduction The sad reality of today’s world for UK charities and non-profit organisations is that funding is in short supply. Government funding is decreasing, grant-makers are under increased pressure, and public fundraising has been hit by a range of setbacks. So when an organisation doesn’t have the money, it needs to do the work it wants to do. What are the options? I think there are eight ways to respond, including two that look at increased funding. But the sad realit

For as long as I can remember, charities have worried about what to call our sector. Over the years, I have seen all sorts of variants. Here are some and their flaws: · Charity sector – but misses out non-profits that aren’t charities · Third Sector – why have we relegated ourselves to third · Social Sector – doesn’t really include large chunks of charities · Civil Society – hard to add a ‘sector’ to that, without getting tongue-tied · Voluntary S

Introduction This is the ninth in the Heyheyjoe briefing series, looking at external social, economic, and demographic changes and their impact on charities and non-profit organisations. This one focuses on leisure time and leisure expenditure and how those changes impact charities. The rise in leisure time The rise in leisure time is driven by a number of factors. The decrease in work time – in 1970, we did an average of 30 hours a week, while it was 23 hours a week in 201

Introduction This is the eighth in the Heyheyjoe briefing series, looking at external social, economic, and demographic changes and their impact on charities and non-profit organisations. This one focuses on how it is personalities and celebrities that increasingly dominate our thinking socially and politically. Some ways in which celebrities rise, and institutions fall Celebrities dominate social media, particularly Instagram The top ten accounts on Instagram have an astonis

Introduction This is the seventh in the Heyheyjoe briefing series, looking at external social, economic, and demographic changes and their impact on charities and non-profit organisations. This one focuses on the rise of consumer choice and its implications for charities. Some ways in which we have more choice in our lives 1. Rise in the number of supermarket products The average supermarket in 1975 carried approximately 9000 products (references available on request). By 2

Introduction It's easy to measure the success of a company – profit, turnover, share price – to name but 3 ways. It is much harder to...

If charities and non-profits are to succeed, to thrive, in today’s challenging world, then we need our key stakeholders to see us in the...

Introduction This is the sixth in the Heyheyjoe briefing series, looking at external social, economic, and demographic changes and their impact on charities and non-profit organisations. This one focuses on changing patterns of religious observance and their impact on charities. The number of Christians is falling in the UK. The most accurate way to measure the habits and demographics of the UK population is through census data. Chart 1 below shows changes in religious compos

Introduction We now have a covenant in place between the sector and the government for our relationship with them. Anybody who thinks...

I am not a fan of the new sector Covenant with the government. I have been trying to work out why it makes me so queasy. I think there...