Reader feedback

Finance | 27 Aug 2008

One story that prompted feedback over the summer was that the next version of the Charity Commission’s online register of charities will feature the proportion of income charities spend on administration costs (New Commission Register will detail charities’ admin costs) . Penelope Blackwell thought it would be so much more useful if we talked about governance and not admin costs. “Governance is an obligation imposed on all charities/companies to behave in compliance with the law and according to best practice. If the public realised that this expenditure was good for the way charities go about their business, the whole boring admin issue could be put to rest. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not about how many staff there are in reception, or doing something other than delivering on charity aims.”

Paula McNulty, director of the Shelter for Abused Women and Children, added: “Running volunteer programmes can seem like a huge, disproportionate administrative cost. The guidelines should take this into consideration and offer some clarification of types of admin.”

Almost two-thirds of local authorities have chosen to prioritise third sector commitments over the next three years under a new system where top-tier local authority areas will be measured on their performance against 198 new national indicators (NIs), two of which focus on the third sector. Third sector minister Phil Hope called the news (Third sector made priority by local authorities) “a defining moment” but it failed to impress Philip Hartley, head of corporate services at the Hollybank Trust. “Yet more fine words but the reality is very different. With local authority social service budgets limited to a 1 per cent increase over the next three years under the government’s comprehensive spending review, this invariably means that third sector organisations, that rely on such funds, are having to manage on cuts in real terms of between 2 and 4 per cent year after year. This can only result in reductions in the quality of the services provided or ultimately withdrawal of services.”

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