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. 

Trust is of paramount importance to charities. It is a major factor underpinning the donations of time and money by millions of people every year. This time and money is the lifeblood of a charity and to keep people onside, the trust has to be maintained. But how do you do that?

Ever since Lord Hodgson’s review of the Charities Act recommended that charities with an income of over £1 million have an automatic right to pay their trustees, arguments have raged on both sides. Lord Hodgson and his supporters say that the change will help charities attract the best and brightest for the boardroom. Opponents are concerned that payment will further erode the voluntary ethos that the charity sector is based on.

I talked to somebody last week from an overseas development charity which was busy preparing for its 40th anniversary. Not 50th, not 25th, but 40th. This is not unusual. Charities seem to be obsessed with celebrating anniversaries. It doesn’t have to be a particularly significant anniversary, but it does have to be celebrated. For me, charities celebrating anniversaries makes about as much sense as hedgehogs celebrating a new bypass. 

For me, the discussion about TOIL relates to broader questions facing charities about how to balance staff needs with responding to other stakeholders. Unlike profit-making organisations, charities have no 'simple bottom-line' to solve this.

It has become part of the charity vernacular. “’So and so’ is on TOIL (time off in lieu) today. They worked all weekend and so they’re taking Monday off.” For many charities, TOIL is as endemic a part of the working culture as equal opportunities and pay increments. Every employee really ought to be able to take some time off if they have worked hard above and beyond their normal hours. Who could argue with that?

Lord Hodgson's review highlighted the need for fundraising regulation, but what about other parts of the sector?