We took part in an online debate on giving for the Guardian recently and among the many interesting points raised, someone argued that the day of standing on street corners collecting for charities had passed. He proposed, quite well, that charities should focus on other methods. True, street collections have their drawbacks, not least that the vast majority of people undoubtedly walk straight past without dipping into their pockets. But even among the myriad of donation methods these days, I just can't agree that street collections have anything less than a crucial role to play.

It’s time the sector stopped huffing and puffing and bit the bullet. The public has no easy way of knowing whether a charity is spending enough of its income on its mission, nor whether that money is doing a good job. 

We had a sector meeting with some of our Charity Awareness Monitor clients last week and some of the discussion was about how some donors are getting more sceptical about international development being a deserving cause. The recession at home and debatable spending priorities like nuclear and space programmes have prompted many questions about who we should be helping and why. It’s a good question and one that, being Indian, I have admittedly mixed feelings on. 

The Football League has announced a new fundraising partnership with Prostate Cancer UK, which will see the 72 clubs taking part in various fundraising activities throughout the season.

In the midst of all our research and analysis to benefit the charity sector, we here at nfpSynergy have been keenly following the Olympics action – a bit of morning judo, lunchtime dressage, boxing, kayaking, swimming – we can’t seem to get enough of it. So all the controversy about empty Olympic venue seats and corporate sponsors got us thinking a bit more about funding for sports and physical fitness initiatives in this country and how to involve the public to a greater degree.