Charity Times http://www.charitytimes.com/ct The Charity Commission has published a report on its inquiry into the charity Sivayogam finding against its chair and having connections with terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The charity runs two Hindu temples in London which provide religious facilities to the local Hindu, and in particular Tamil, communities. In addition, the Charity collects donations and sends these to educational or welfare organisations in Sri Lanka. The Commission opened a statutory inquiry after a number of concerns were raised with the regulator about the application of the Charity’s funds in Sri Lanka and the Charity’s governance arrangements. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Commission_Sivayogam_LTTE .php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Commission_Sivayogam_LTTE .php Autistica, the UK’s largest autism medical research charity, has announced the appointment of Christine Swabey as its new chief executive with effect from October 1. Swabey will succeed Hilary Gilfoy, who has held the post for five years, and is reducing her workload for health reasons. Christine Swabey has enjoyed a highly successful career in both the private and public sectors. After leaving university she held director-level roles in the financial sector before taking on a portfolio of non-executive posts in the public sector. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Autistica_new_CEO.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Autistica_new_CEO.php In order to improve the accessibility and relevance of its best practice guidance, The Institute of Fundraising has launched checklists for each of its Codes of Practice. Each Code now has a checklist at the front that pulls out pertinent issues from the code in a series of questions, making information easier to find and providing a structure for going through the information. The checklists were developed in consultation with members of the Codes working parties, who are fundraising practitioners with specialist knowledge in each of the areas. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/IOF__codes_of_practice.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/IOF__codes_of_practice.php The Charity Commission has decided that it will not give consent to the charity Catholic Care to amend its charitable objects to restrict its adoption services to heterosexual prospective parents only. The regulator of charities in England and Wales has considered the evidence and the relevant law and concluded that it would not be justified in the circumstances for the charity to discriminate in this way. The Commission’s decision follows a High Court judgment in March 2010 to allow an appeal by the charity against a decision of the Charity Tribunal made in June 2009, which had upheld the Commission’s decision not to agree to a change of the charity’s objects. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Catholic_Care.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Catholic_Care.php The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) is today allocating up to �£11.25 million in Lottery good cause money for a landmark social investment initiative - the Social Impact Bond (SIB). The funding from BIG will be used by the social investment organisation Social Finance to pilot the first ever SIB and also develop SIBs as a tool for preventing social problems across the UK. The SIB model has been developed by Social Finance and presents a new way to tackle social problems and lessen their impact on society and ultimately the public purse. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/BIG_Social_Impact_Bond.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/BIG_Social_Impact_Bond.php Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts will lead a new cutting red-tape taskforce to flush out burdens on the voluntary sector Nick Hurd, minister for Civil Society, and Mark Prisk, minister for Business and Enterprise have announced. The Government says it is committed to making it easier to run charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises. Reducing bureaucratic burdens will free-up time and resources for these organisations to make a difference in their communities and help mobilise the Big Society. Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd, said: "This is a tough time for small civil society organisations and we want to make life easier for them. So I have asked for specific ideas on how we can thin the thicket of bureaucracy and regulation that too often gets in the way. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/red_tape_taskforce.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/red_tape_taskforce.php The Charity Commission has today published a report of the regulator’s assessment of concerns raised about the contribution of the charity Tomorrow’s People Trust to a general election manifesto, calling the charity's independence into question. The charity is ‘an independent employment charity which works nationally with the long-term unemployed, helping people overcome personal barriers so that they can move into long-term, sustainable jobs’. The charity’s contribution to the manifesto of a political party issued at the time of the General Election raised concerns that the charity may have or may have been seen as endorsing the political party. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Commission_Tomorrows_People_Trust.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Commission_Tomorrows_People_Trust.php The holy month of Ramadhan is a time when many community organisations and Mosques benefit from the generosity of Muslim people. Many charities are also raising desperately-needed funds to help the people affected by floods in Pakistan at this time. The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of Charities in England and Wales, is encouraging people who want to give to charity to check if the charity is registered with the Charity Commission. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Charity_Commission_Ramadhan.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Charity_Commission_Ramadhan.php Support charity CAN is collaborating with the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) on a research project to support the development of a Financial Services Authority-regulated global social stock exchange that will allow investors to trade exclusively in companies with social and environmental goals. The exchange, when it becomes operational, will be designed for companies, both large and small, that specialise in providing goods and services explicitly for a social purpose who need to raise significant amounts of capital for growth and expansion. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/CAN_Social_Stock_Exchange.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/CAN_Social_Stock_Exchange.php Clinks has announced the appointment of Dame Anne Owers as its new chair. She will take up the post in January 2011. Dame Anne Owers is prominent across the Criminal Justice System of England & Wales for her role as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2001-2010) and as a committed human rights campaigner. Clinks is a charity which supports, promotes and represents the Voluntary and Community Sector working with offenders in England and Wales and has an income of �£910,000. It aims to ensure the sector and all those with whom it works, are informed and engaged in order to transform the lives of offenders and their communities. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/clinks_new_chair.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/clinks_new_chair.php The Big Lottery Fund is today expanding its response to growing pressure on community advice caused by the economic crunch. New grants from BIG’s Reaching Communities funding stream sees 33 awards totalling close to �£8 million targeted on support for communities and people most in need. Sanjay Dighe, chair of the Big Lottery Fund England said: “BIG continues to see the impact of the economic recession with many more applications for advice projects. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/BIG_community_advice.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/BIG_community_advice.php The UK’s largest children’s charity Barnardo’s reveals in new data that children are being damaged due to unprecedented delay in the courts in England and Wales. A five year long pattern of deterioration has led to family courts taking up to 65 weeks to rule if it is safe for children to stay with their parents. Vulnerable children are waiting on average more than a year (57 weeks) in unstable family homes or emergency foster placements before a county court decides if they will be taken into care. In the family proceedings (magistrates) court the average time is 45 weeks – more than 10 months. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/children_court_delays_Barnardos.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/children_court_delays_Barnardos.php New figures suggest that one in three operating charities have no funding in reserve. And the median reserve level for those in receipt of state funding is only one month’s worth of expenditure. The assets and reserves figures published today by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) suggest that drastic cuts could threaten the survival of many organisations providing vital services. The research also showed wide variation in reserve levels for different types of voluntary organisation. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/NCVO_reserves.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/NCVO_reserves.php A new Compact implementation service offering impartial, independent and expert advice has been launched by the Commission for the Compact.The Compact Implementation Consultancy Service (CICS) is a pilot project running until March 2011. The service is currently open to all local authorities, public bodies and voluntary sector organisations in the West Midlands that are using the Compact partnership working agreement at a local level. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Compact_implementation_service.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Compact_implementation_service.php Dividend yields across Europe have plunged since the beginning of 2009, according to data published today by S&P Indices. Between February 2009 and June 2010 the dividend yield on the S&P Europe 350 has fallen by 53%, while dividend cover, the measure of companies' ability to pay dividends from current earnings, has increased by only 14.9% over the same period. Within individual markets, Belgium saw the greatest fall in dividend yield, with a decrease of 81.6% and a massive increase in dividend cover from a lowly 0.62 to over 4 times. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/S&P_Dividend_yields_fall.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/S&P_Dividend_yields_fall.php The abolition of forced retirement is not only a ‘huge victory' for workers at risk of being forced out of their jobs because of their age, but is also a ‘landmark' for the UK society at large, as older workers, the UK economy, public finances and employers will all benefit from this change, said Age UK. The charity hailed the announcement that the Government is consulting on scrapping the Default Retirement Age (DRA) from October 2011 as a huge victory for hundreds of thousands of employees who are at risk of being forced to retire at or after reaching 65 for no other reasons but their age. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Age_UK_retirement.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Age_UK_retirement.php National charity Advance will be the only new Third Sector organisation to be awarded contracts in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Work Choice programme when contracts are confirmed this week. The charity which was named as a preferred bidder, has welcomed the opportunity to bring its expertise to help people with disabilities into work in Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country. The new multi million pound Work Choice programme replaces existing employment programmes for disabled people who are furthest away from the labour market and is expected to go live in October.“We are proud of our unique service-user powered employment service that is already working for hundreds of people in Leicestershire, and in the South,” said Advance employment director Simon Beasley. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Advance_DWP_contract.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Advance_DWP_contract.php The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities, has published its annual Customer Service report. The report shows as a result of more robust complaint handling procedures and general improvements in service delivery, a lower proportion of complaints were upheld. There was a reduction of 11% in the proportion of complaints upheld compared to 2008-9. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Complaints_Charity_ Commission.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Complaints_Charity_ Commission.php Concern Worldwide, the international humanitarian agency, which has been working in Pakistan since 2001, has launched an emergency �£4m appeal to deal with the consequences of the largest floods that have hit Pakistan since 1929. The appeal is seeking emergency funding for desperately needed food, clean water and shelter. Over 12 inches of rain has fallen in 36 hours causing huge flooding in northwest Pakistan. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Concern_Worldwide_Flood_Appeal.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Concern_Worldwide_Flood_Appeal.php Charity boards need to provide strong leadership and support to help charities survive the economic downturn and public sector cuts. A new report by charity consultancy and think tank, New Philanthropy Capital, highlights the importance of an effective board and calls on government to encourage more people to become trustees as part of the ‘Big Society’. The report, Trusteeship 2010, looks at governance in the voluntary sector and finds that recruitment, training and evaluation of boards are under-resourced and need to be given a higher priority by charities, funders and government. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Trustee_boards.php .php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Trustee_boards.php .php The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced confirmed funding for four projects in Scotland, Wales and England. Sir Walter Scott’s home, ‘Abbotsford’, in the Borders; Newbridge Memorial Hall in Caerphilly; a Tudor dwelling house known as ‘The Walronds’ in Devon; and the 18th-century Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. Initial support has also been awarded for projects in Staffordshire, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Suffolk and Worcestershire. Carole Souter, chief executive of HLF, said: “The range of places that the Heritage Lottery Fund supports is tremendously varied – from the grandeur of Abbotsford in the Borders to the historic gem of The Walronds in the South West. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Heritage_Lottery_Fund_funding_projects.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Heritage_Lottery_Fund_funding_projects.php Following Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech setting out his vision for the Big Society, a new report outlines how social investment can help make charities, community groups and social enterprises meet the financial challenge of taking on this larger role in delivering local services. Understanding Social Investment is a collection of articles by a range of experts in the sector, which outlines how demand for finance is growing as civil society organisations look to increase their businesses and become more financially sustainable. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/social_investment_in_Big_Society.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/social_investment_in_Big_Society.php Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, and Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd, have today written an open letter to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors asking them to contribute their ideas to help reduce the deficit. They are being asked to share ideas about how they can help reduce the deficit directly with the Office for Civil Society. Tackling the deficit and restoring confidence in the economy is a high priority. Significant savings have been made across all areas of Government, but the deficit reduction plan is not just about cuts. It is also about finding better ways of doing things. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/lettet_to_the_sector.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/lettet_to_the_sector.php The Charity Commission is seeking views on the Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) it has conducted into the potential impact of its aim to have all of its services online by 2012. A consultation document is published today on the charity regulator’s website. The Commission has been developing its online services and the number of charities taking advantage of these is growing. Last year there was a 24% increase in take-up of our online services from the previous year, with over 75% of annual return or update submissions by charities made online. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/commission_online_strategy.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/commission_online_strategy.php The Charity Commission is taking action to help charities to be alert to scams or fraudulent activity which could affect the charitable sector. The Commission has been working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) to identify relevant warnings on issues which could affect charities, and to offer advice. These include: Spoof websites - where fraudsters set up websites that mimic well established charities; ‘Boiler room’ fraud – where criminals target investors, persuading them to use their savings to purchase bogus stocks and shares... http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Charity_Commission_ scams.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Charity_Commission_ scams.php Justin Davis Smith, chief executive of Volunteering England, welcomed the joint announcement of LOCOG’s programme to attract nearly 70,000 volunteers to help run the Games, and the Mayor of London’s call for 8,000 volunteer London Ambassadors. Davis Smith said: “It is a great day for the volunteering movement that the passion we share is the main focus of today’s celebrations for the two years to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. “The 2012 Games provide a once-in-a life-time opportunity for thousands of people to get involved in this huge global event. http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Volunteering_England_games.php http://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Volunteering_England_games.php