New research has found that charity sector income in the UK has shrunk for the first time in eight years for the 2020/21 tax year. It is thought that smaller charities have been affected the most due to the impact of the pandemic. The UK Civil Society Almanac 2023 has...
Managing and investing charity funds is a delicate balancing act. Trustees have a responsibility to ensure that funds are invested in a manner that aligns with the charitable purpose of the organisation whilst maximising returns. On 1st August 2023, the Charity...
Whistleblowing plays a vital role in exposing wrongdoing, fostering transparency, and holding organisations accountable. Whistleblowing occurs when individuals within an organization bring to attention unethical or illegal practices, aiming to expose them to the...
In 2021, one in eight charities (12.5%) were victims of a cyber-attack according to a survey of 2,330 charities across England and Wales conducted by IFF Research. The pandemic meant that charities were forced to gravitate towards online fundraising methods to enable...
Recent data has found that one-off charitable donations have dropped due to the cost-of-living crisis. However, perhaps unsurprisingly since the start of the pandemic charities have reported a significant rise in digital donations. One-off charity donations...
Charity employees and trustees often assume that they receive an automatic VAT exemption on all goods and services that they buy/receive. This is not the case and charities should understand the few concessions in the VAT legislation that can reduce their VAT bills....
After a delay due to a technical issue the Charity Commission has now opened its online system for submitting annual returns. The system was originally scheduled to go live towards the end of April. But due to the delay it was not released until 5th of May. What is...
A revised version of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) is set to be updated from 1 January 2024. This is less than two years away. The charities SORP was first introduced in 2015 and updated in 2019 to clarify and reflect amendments and changes to...
From this Autumn rules are changing which should make it easier for charities to access money donated in a fundraising campaign that did not reach or exceed its planned target. The Charities Act 2022 received royal assent in February and a plan has now been...
A recent report has found that the number of small charities merging is on the rise. The annual Good Merger Index published by Eastside Primetimers showed that between 1 May 2020 and 30 April 2021, 77 mergers took place which involved 166 charitable organisations....
According to a recent survey, 34% of British people commented that the pandemic has resulted in them being more generous to charities. In its Generosity and Giving 2021 report, Paypal surveyed 2,000 respondents. The survey found that the pandemic increased people’s...
Figures from the UK Civil Society Almanac 2021 show that the UK voluntary sector workforce has increased by 20% over the past decade. In addition, the report showed that income for the voluntary sector hit record levels in the 2018/19 financial year. The statistics...