Judging entries from across the charity sector is both inspiring and humbling. It offers a rare window into the innovation, leadership and determination that sit behind work often described too simply as “good causes”. In reality, these organisations are delivering impact at a scale that is difficult to fully appreciate unless you see the evidence close up: lives changed, communities strengthened, services protected, confidence rebuilt and opportunities created where they might otherwise not exist.

Yet too often, charity impact is treated as the soft news item at the end of the bulletin, a welcome story after the harder headlines but rarely presented as part of the serious business of how society functions and supports the economy. That framing underplays the role charities play in responding to deep-rooted social challenges, preventing crises, supporting people before systems fail, and creating the conditions for stronger, healthier and more resilient places.

Charities sit within a wider ecosystem of public services, businesses, social housing providers, local authorities and community organisations, all of which have a role in local economies, prosperity and benefit from investment in these local partnerships.

The challenge is not only to celebrate charity; it is to change how society values and views its contribution to the economy. We need to move beyond seeing the third sector as an emotional counterpoint to negative news cycles, and recognise it as a central part of the economic prosperity. Charities are not simply ‘third’ in line when it comes to their contribution to society, in a landscape of local authority budget cuts, wealth inequality and the ongoing cost of living crisis’s, charities unlock innovation, collaboration and investing in people and places in ways that neither the first (government) or second (private) sectors can achieve alone.

The private sector has an important part to play in this shift. Businesses already master the language of investment, return, and shareholder dividends. They must now apply that same rigor to describing dividends to society. By translating community employment, volunteering, and environmental responsibility into clear public returns, we can move toward a system of true-cost accounting—proving that a company’s total value is inseparable from its charitable contributions and impact.

This requires a broader vocabulary. If a shareholder receives a return from their financial investment, what if we talked about a 'citizenholder' receiving a return from social investment?

A ‘citizenholder’ is not a passive recipient of goodwill; they are active members of civil society who benefit from indirect investment. It is the individual, family, community, or local economy whose equity return is measured not in private profit or personal investment portfolios, but in public resilience: improved wellbeing, job creation, greater opportunity, stronger local services, and a deeper sense of belonging.

Imagine if, alongside social value and impact measurement frameworks, every PLC. or Ltd. reported dividends to ‘citizenholders’, or confirmed where none were made, alongside shareholder dividends, in their profit distribution statements. The balance between investment in individual wealth and community wealth would be clear to see, potentially reshaping public expectations of big business, their ESG commitments and influencing government policy.

‘Citizenholder’ value gives us a way to talk about social impact with the same seriousness that is already applied to shareholder value. It asks businesses to be clearer about who benefits from their success, where that benefit lands, and how far it reaches. It also challenges society to recognise that community impact is not a charitable side issue, or footnote to news headlines; it is part of the return we should expect from economic activity.

For charities, this could be transformative. When their work is understood as investment in society rather than simply relief from need, or a mechanism for corporations to off-set corporation tax, the conversation changes. Their impact becomes more visible, their leadership more valued, and their role in shaping the future of communities and business more widely understood. It also creates space for businesses to talk more openly and confidently about corporate commitments that serve both shareholders and ‘citizenholders’.
I’ve had the privilege of judging entries for the Charity Times Awards 2026, which show how much is already being achieved.

They reveal organisations turning limited resources into lasting change, responding to urgent need while also building long-term resilience. Their stories deserve attention not because they are uplifting at the end of a difficult news cycle, but because they show society at work — practical, determined, creative and deeply human.

This perspective is shaped by my own experience as a charity trustee, and by my role as Director of Communities at LHC Procurement Group, a not-for-profit organisation that commits a portion of its surplus to charitable causes.

George Stevens is director of communities at LHC Procurement Group and a Charity Times Awards judge. The winners of the Charity Times Awards 2026 will be announced 23 September in London.

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