At last week’s MRS Conference, Baroness Neuberger mentioned that politicians should take more initiative and leadership and pay less attention to the worst examples of public opinion.

She also talked about how in the past the UK accepted around 70-90k refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1938, when economic conditions were much more dire, and those people served the country extremely well.

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.

Michele Madden reports on the first findings from our online community and wonders whether charities are making the most of raising awareness and donations in December. 

There are over 160,000 charities in the UK¹, 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. When asked, the public name clear favourites such as cancer and animals, but when their donating and volunteering preferences are considered the picture is far from clear.

This week's blog is from P Martin Broad, who has over 30 years experience of working in the wider Community and Voluntary Sector. Martin is a Vice Chair of Bournemouth Council for Voluntary Services, Trustee of Bournemouth 2026, a Development and Community Land Trust, and Chief Executive of the Boscombe Independent Advice Centre.