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.

Unpaid internships have been a source of controversy for several years. A quick Google search will bring up many an article, including the Guardian and the NUS. Not quite so prevalent are articles on internships in the charity sector. And the sector goes suspiciously quiet when the thorny subject comes up.

Joe’s blog about TOIL has provoked much comment, not least in the nfpSynergy office. Mirroring the comments on our site, opinion is divided. And all of this happening while Joe is sunning himself in the Caribbean…

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.

There is no doubt that thousands of people have volunteered at the Olympics and helped make the games a success. Their breadth of roles and range of backgrounds is humbling.

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.