Benevolent new findings

Finance | Ian Allsop | 1 May 2005

The Association for Charity Officers (ACO), the umbrella body for benevolent institutions, has just completed the first survey of it's 210 members which reveals they have a total worth in excess of £2 billion.

ACO was established in 1946 to enable staff of charities to meet and foster the spirit of true service in the administration of charitable funds. The survey also looks at many issues facing ACO membership including governance, volunteers, finance and information technology.

The average date of founding of ACO members is 1887 with the age-span of ranging from the 12th century to the present day. The survey says that the concept of benevolence is as relevant today as it was in 1181 when Christ's Hospital in Sherburn was founded, (although the term may not be readily identified by the younger generation and may be regarded by some people as a little oldfashioned).

The findings demonstrate the massive growth of benevolence in the 19th and early 20th centuries with member funds founded in these two centuries worth £1.8 billion.

The majority of ACO members survive on voluntary donations, bequests, grants from charitable trusts, investment income and corporate support, and their own fundraising efforts without the benefit of state support.

The results were collated by Roger Chester, head of finance and administration at LionHeart, the benevolent fund for chartered surveyors, in conjunction with Cass Business School.

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.