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Charities perform well in Best Small Companies poll

Finance | Celina Ribeiro | 3 Mar 2009

A charity has topped a poll of the top small companies for employees for the second year in a row.

Debt counselling charity Christians Against Poverty is ranked first in The Times' 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list for the second year running. Nearly all of the organisation’s staff (96 per cent) said that they felt proud to work for the charity.

Staff at Christians Against Poverty also showed exceptionally high levels of satisfaction with management in the organisation, with 98 per cent of staff rating chief executive Matt Barlow as running the charity according to sound moral principles. More than nine out of ten also expressed confidence in senior management as a whole, and characterised the leadership as inspiring.

Barlow, who oversaw significant expansion of the charity which only began operation in 1996, said the charity appreciated the recognition.

“To win this award last year was a fantastic achievement, but to win two years in a row is simply breathtaking. Our staff are on the frontline of dealing with society’s biggest problem so creating a fantastic working environment is the least we can do to support them as they change lives,” he said.

“The results we got from the anonymous questionnaires have given us much to celebrate but most of all we’re proud that a Christian charity, offering churches the chance to reach out to their communities with God’s love, has come out tops.”

Six charities in top 100

Five other charities also scored in the top 100 UK small companies to work for, with new entrant Julia’s House hospice coming in at number 14. Staff at the Dorset children’s hospice, which comprises 98 per cent women, said they were excited about the future of the charity, which opened in 2006.

Julia’s House chief executive Martin Edwards said: “We take great care to ensure that our charity’s staff are well supported, informed, trained and managed, so that they enjoy their work and want to stay with us. This award shows we do this better than the vast majority of employers.”

Social inclusion charity P3 was seventh and Loreburn Housing Association came in at number 83.

St Giles’ Trust scored 36th place while Unicef UK scraped in to the top 100 at number 98. 2009 was a debut year on the list for both charities.

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Who's Who: Celina Ribeiro