24/10/11

By Andrew Holt

The Charity Employees Benevolent Fund (CEBF) has established an Advisory Council to guide and promote the adoption and support of the charity by the sector.

CEBF is the charity sector’s own benevolent fund, acting as a safety-net for those individuals in difficulty and underpinning the welfare provision to all charity employees, past and present, in the UK.

Made up of representatives from some of the sector’s major umbrella bodies, the Council will work to embed CEBF in the centre of the sector.

Heading up the Council is Michael Lake (formerly director-general of Help the Aged and of the English Speaking Union), flanked by senior representatives of ACEVO, CFDG, DSC, Action Planning and the Community Foundation Network (CFN).

Sir Stuart Etherington, CEO of NCVO, is president of CEBF; Andrew Hind (formerly CEO of the Charity Commission) and Stephen Lloyd, senior partner of law firm Bates Wells & Braithwaite, are also Council members.

Advisory Council chair, Michael Lake, said: "It is a strange anomaly that the charitable sector has not previously had a fund to support the many low paid employees who work within it and fall on hard times. I am pleased to work with the CEBF Trustees to steer this essential fund to a secure future."

The idea of the Council was first promoted by CEBF trustee, Michael Brophy (formerly CEO of the Charities Aid Foundation).

He commented: "We are looking to the umbrella organisations to encourage their members to support CEBF and to sector leaders to show the way. I’m sure they will! It means annual donations from charities as well as regular donations from charity employees through Payroll Giving. In this way, the Advisory Council will make a difference."

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