News

I have just been reading a summary of key points in Debra Allcock Tyler’s speech to the Directory of Social Change’s Charity Accountants’ Online Conference.

I have heard Debra speak on numerous occasions: she is always worth listening to because she talks common sense and she doesn’t mince her words. On

I don’t normally run 2 Blogs on the same overall subject in 2 successive months.

But as Trustees’ Week 2025 has just finished, I feel it is worth following last month’s blog on the role of trustees with a look at the overall need for trustees and how we recruit them.

I

Many of Minerva’s clients – past and present – are not only small but are charities run mainly, or exclusively, by volunteers. Very few have the funds to pay for a salaried fundraising professional, and many struggle to pay consultants’ fees for even one or 2 days per month.

In this

Last month we discussed public trust in charities and the findings of Enthuse Intelligence’s Donor Pulse report in May this year.

This is a subject which clearly isn’t going away. Research and comment since the publication of Donor Pulse has progressed from the general to the specific. Apart from the well-known

Does the public at large trust charities? And how does their level of trust in charities compare with their trust in other national groups and institutions?

Enthuse Intelligence’s annual Donor Pulse report was published in May. Its research indicates that 42% of the public have a high trust in charities as

Summertime heralds the charity conference season, and I’ve attended two in the past weeks: the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF)’s National Convention and the Third Sector Conference.

The CIOF National Convention is a regular for me: I can’t remember how many years I have been attending! Sometimes I lead discussion groups

An old chestnut re-appeared in the national press last month: charity CEOs’ remuneration. It is a time-honoured subject which receives a regular airing, usually about once every 5 years!

But it is no trivial subject; and it is arguably more relevant today than in the past.

At a time when charities are

I make no apology for returning this month to the importance of small charities (income under £1 million or under £1.5 million, depending on the methodology you use).

NVCO has just published its paper The Power of Small – the result of a collaboration with NAVCA and an 11-month programme of

Results gained by the Data Partnership as long ago as 2008 via their in-house telephone survey showed a marked preference for donating to Cancer charities (280,000); Children’s charities (262,000); and Animal charities (233,000). By contrast, Homeless charities rated only 15,400 donors and charities supporting Older People 7,000.

Fast forward to this

Spring has arrived – and with it a dose of both good and bad news.

The good news, highlighted by Enthuse’s annual Charity Pulse report, is that over 75% of charity leaders reported that their charities had either maintained or increased their fundraising income in 2024, as compared with 2023.

Only 20%