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Recruiting new Trustees is a challenge which faces all small charities from time to time.

Every charity knows that it should demonstrate diversity amongst its Board members, and recruit Trustees with the skill sets it needs. As with many things, these are easier said than done.

For a start, few small charities are trampled to death in […]

Many years ago I was running a fundraising campaign for a school in the Midlands. The Chairman of Governors was the Vice Chancellor of a neighbouring university.

He told me one day that he had done a Masters degree at one of the American universities. Every year since, the university concerned had invited him to a […]

Restricted or Unrestricted? Is it reasonable for both grant makers and grant receivers to expect or insist on one or the other?

Grant makers understandably decide on what type of charitable activity they are going to support, and whether they expect their grant to be spent on a specific item or project, agreed in advance (restricted); […]

Just as we are coming out of the coronavirus crisis and we thought life for charities might become a bit easier, the report on Chief Executives’ salaries hit the headlines.

This is not a new subject. I wrote a letter to Third Sector in April 2015, criticising excessive pay packets for charity Chief Executives and other […]

At last there is more than just light at the end of the tunnel: a return to near-normality after more than a year of coronavirus restrictions seems to be a genuine possibility.

However, a recent survey indicated that 40% of charities expect fewer donations next year, following the decision of around 1.6 million donors to cancel […]

As we start the long haul out of lockdown, it’s worth pausing to consider the effect of coronavirus on charity fundraising in the UK – as well as the effect of that other game changer, BREXIT.

A recent survey carried out by NCVO, Nottingham Trent University and Sheffield Hallam University considered the projected changes in income […]

We have seen an increasing need for digital skills in the Third Sector in recent years. This need has increased dramatically in the last 12 months, thanks to the coronavirus crisis.

Arguably the basis for digital fundraising, and the one which has been around for the longest time, is the website. But many small charities’ websites […]

Preoccupied with the continuing coronavirus doom-and-gloom and the added challenge of low temperatures, snow and rain, you may have missed a sad occurrence at the beginning of this month: NCVO is ending its widely used and appreciated Funding Central service.

This has been a vital lifeline for small charities and their advisers for many years and […]

I make no apologies for returning to the theme of Small Charities (i.e. those with an annual income of less than £1 million).

This is not only because we at Minerva work almost exclusively with Small Charities, but also because Small Charities represent 96% of the UK’s 166,000 charities. Their voices and their needs deserve to […]

The decision of Baroness Stowell to stand down as Chairman of the Charity Commission in February 2021 has predictably generated a lot of media comment.

Her appointment in 2018 provoked much controversy, partly because of her political connections with the Conservative Party and partly because she had no previous experience in the charity sector.

However, having a […]