I'm a big fan of nfpSynergy. They provide the strongest opinion pieces in our sector.

Adrian Sargeant - Robert F. Hartsook Professor of Fundraising, Indiana University

When I first came across Oxfam’s ‘Food for All’ campaign, it did what any campaign should do upon first acquaintance; it captured my attention. This is quite something considering we are constantly bombarded by advertisements for films, dating websites, nose sprays and box springs in or on trains, tubes, buses, taxis and cycle rickshaws as well as TV and the Internet. Somewhere among all of these are charity appeals. I usually can’t see the wood (good cause) for the trees (consumerism galore). 

The most recent data from our Charity Awareness Monitor (CAM) has yielded some interesting results on public perceptions of charity staff pay. While the majority think that Chief Executives are paid (80%) and volunteer tin collectors are not (69%), there's a fair bit of uncertainty about whether or not salaries are drawn in other roles, such as trustees and on-street fundraisers.

After the Paralympics, Scope conducted a poll among 400 disabled people and the people caring for them. It showed 72% of them thought the Games had a positive effect on attitudes  towards disabled people. Lord Coe was hoping that ‘we would never look at disability in the same way again.’ But have the London Paralympic Games really helped to change attitudes among the public and are they now more knowledgeable about disability?

Over the last decade a slow motion drama has unfolded between fundraisers and the public from whom they want to fundraise. As fundraisers have had to raise ever more amounts to fund the work of their organisations, they have blocked their ears to the voices of donors who have tried to tell them that they don’t like the techniques they now deploy.

We have told ourselves that a mild irritation is a small price to pay for raising the money that changes lives. We have kidded ourselves that the end justifies the means. 

1. A Hidden Gem - Resilience report from the Clore Social Leadership Programme

Is it just too big? Are we all, from the individual, to the corporation, to the country, simply unwilling to let go of the luxury, comfort and choice that we have enjoyed for so long?

Working with our Charity Parliamentary Monitor, I’ve been struck by just how much harder it has become for charities to get through to MPs since the 2010 general election. With issues surrounding the economy dominating the agenda and a deluge of legislation and policies, not to mention the internal battles among the coalition parties, many charities are struggling to be heard. But how did this happen? And what can charities do about it?