There are over 160,000 charities in the UK, benefiting a wide range of causes from hospices to international development. We explore facts and figures to try and determine which of these causes appeal most to the general public, but find that the outcome depends on the criteria used.
Are we doing a good job? This is the single most important question a charity, or any other organisation, can ask itself.
Our new report gives an overview of how charities delivered their mission, changed society and assessed their effectiveness over the last few decades. We hope it will help you to think of issues such as:
Our new report Past Imperfect, developed over the last 18 months examines data from the fields of Cancer, heart disease, disability, poverty, and the environment to try and see what changes, for better or worse have taken place over the last few decades. This blog is an edited version of our conclusions, as much as anything to encourage people to read the whole report!
Leading charity Law firm Stone King have been spearheading a debate as to what trustees should be considering when assessing how to fundraise.
There are proposals for a new Regulator in the light of inappropriate fund raising tactics, but before that is formally set up, charities are already having to balance their fiduciary duties against pressures to amend their practices.
At nfpSynergy we have been very interested in the effect of the new fundraising regulation on charities.
Our research shows it is likely to be popular with the public, but every conversation we have had with charities shows a deep level of concern about the impact of the Fundraising Preference Service.
One aspect of the new regulation about which there has been little discussion is the legal dimension. Our understanding is that trustees have to make decisions that are first and foremost good for the charity they are trustees of: their fiduciary duty.
We would like to thank our clients and partners for inspiring us to keep researching the topical issues in the sector. As part of our Social Investment programme we regularly produce Free Reports and feed our finding back to the sector so any charity regardless its size or sector can find something useful. Here are the 12 popular reports this year.
As it's the season of goodwill, we're giving away The 12 Insights of Christmas. They look at some of the key issues facing the charity sector and include research, interviews and advice from charities and from us. Unwrap our 12 free reports just in time for Christmas.
After 25 years of working, Joe Saxton looks back at his career and shares some advice on survival in work and people management. There are some top tips, entertaining anecdotes and interesting analogies in a piece that is as useful to people starting out in their career as it is to those who have seen it all.
A charity board will usually monitor finances. But measuring just finances is a bit like measuring just the heart rate of an athlete; it’s important, but it’s just one of a range of ways of knowing whether an athlete is healthy. A great heart rate in an athlete certainly doesn’t tell if they will win any races.
So in charities, what else should trustees (or senior managers) measure apart from money? And how should they measure the money stuff? Here are some ideas about things that every charity can measure based on my experience on different boards. I have yet to see an organisation that measures all of these areas perfectly.