charity commission

Keeping track of all the Charity Commission updates can be tricky at the best of times. Add in all the extra Coronavirus updates and it’s even more so. In this article we cover what you need to know from the past few months.

Coronavirus Guidance for the Charity Sector

The Charity Commission has published updated guidance to help with the running of your charity during the pandemic.

Regulator concludes regulatory case into governance at the RSPCA

The Charity Commission has secured significant changes to the way the RSPCA is led and governed, following intensive scrutiny over a number of years.

The Commission was concerned specifically with:

  • The size of the trustee body (council) which consisted of 25 members;
  • The long term of office of council members;
  • The extent to which the trustees had the necessary knowledge, skills and experience given the size and complexity of the charity; and
  • Excessive involvement of council members in day to day issues usually handled by the executive and staff

Barriers to Responsible Investment – “what we learnt from our listening exercise”

In this update the Charity Commission discusses the technical and practical barriers to responsible investments faced by trustees and CEOs.

Wider Updates / Interesting Articles

NCVO Voluntary Sector Impact Barometer Survey

The results of the first Covid-19 Voluntary Sector Impact Barometer have been published, see this article for further information.

Strengthening Charities’ Resilience with Legacies

A new joint report has been published by ILM, Remember a Charity, Legacy Foresight and Smee & Ford which predicts a legacy boom worth up to £40 billion over the next decade and charities are urged to act now to benefit from market growth.

Funding for environmental charities and partners

The Government has announced plans to kick start a green economic recovery and the Green Recovery Challenge Fund will be awarded to environmental charities and partners across England to restore the natural environment and help make process on the UK’s ongoing work to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change. Find out more here.

The Tampon Tax Fund

Charities supporting disadvantaged women and girls through the pandemic will receive £15 million from the Tampon Tax Fund.

Covid Charity Tracker report

The Covid Charity Tracker report by Pro Bono Economics warns of the financial pressures facing the charity sector in 2021 along with the rising demand for services.

National Audit Office investigating Government charity funding

The National Audit Office is investigating Government funding to charities during the Covid-19 pandemic. A report is due to be published in spring 2021, that will consider how the Government distributed its fund of £750 million to the charitable sector and whether it was effective. Find out more here.