In this blog, Joe Saxton identifies how COVID-19 is likely to impact charities and suggests ways the sector can cope with the challenges ahead.

This guest blog from Vanessa Holmes, Head of Fundraising at Milton Keynes Hospital Charity, explores the challenges and benefits of fundraising for a hospital charity

Drawing from research working with healthcare professionals, here are five things they think about the third sector - and insight into what this means for charities.

Concerns about individual physical health are a greater worry for people than their financial security. 

Healthcare professionals are important gatekeepers in linking patients with the relevant charities for their needs. Our past research has shown that 69% of the public agree that they would be more likely to go to a charity for information about a health condition if a nurse, GP, or consultant recommended it[1]. This emphasises the essential role that healthcare professionals play in getting people to access key information and services from charities.

But what are healthcare professionals looking for when they refer to charities?

Discover what we learned about how to campaign effectively at the recent #talkNHS event. We've rounded up 3 of the best ideas we heard on how you can successfully tailor campaigning efforts.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are a great idea in theory - but the reality is that they are often cash-strapped and struggling under their workload. So how can charities help? 

Theresa May recently announced new mental health pledges for schools and employers, with a focus on ensuring mental health is not secondary to physical health. However, her statement that "it is always wrong for people to assume that the only answer to these issues is about funding" is distinctly unnerving. This week's blog examines whether there is really anything more effective than funding to improve the UK's mental health outlook.

The time has come again to reflect on the last 12 months and thank our clients and partners for inspiring us to keep researching topical issues in the sector with 12 free reports.

The landscape of the NHS has seen major changes over the past five years. The commissioning of services has been radically altered with the creation of local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which have unprecedented power to set their own priorities and greater control over their budgets than the Primary Care Trusts that preceded them. Now, with the devolution of the entire health budget to Greater Manchester from this year and other devolution pilot areas planned from 2017, it seems likely that even more spending power is likely to rest at the local level in future.