Funding

Funding is possibly the biggest collective headache facing the voluntary sector – figuring out where they are going to find their next round of funding from occupies a disproportionate amount of charities’ time.

So much so that in early 2009 the NCVO established a Funding Commission to explore how to transform the funding environment for the sector, to make it more sustainable and resilient.  After initial investigations the Commission decided to focus on three themes: capitalisation, stimulating giving, and local action. It is expected to publish recommendations at the end of 2009.

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Funding Commission report delayed as remit widened

Funding Commission report delayed as remit widened 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 25 Jan 2010
Topics: Funding

The Funding Commission, set up by the NCVO a year ago to examine ways of transforming the funding climate for civil society organisations, is not expecting to publish its final report for several more months.

Acevo wins bid for investigation into NHS anti-competitiveness

Acevo wins bid for investigation into NHS anti-competitiveness 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 5 Jan 2010

Acevo and the NHS Partners Network have successfully lobbied for an inquiry into a Primary Care Trust’s decision to only accept tenders for running its community services from NHS organisations.

"Resilient" charities have maintained income levels, says survey 0

Finance | Gareth Jones | 8 Dec 2009
Topics: Funding | Recession

Half of UK charities say their income has not changed in the past year, while a further 30 per cent have experienced a drop of less than 10 per cent , according a new survey by accountants Baker Tilly.

GamCare under threat from Gambling Strategy Board proposals

GamCare under threat from Gambling Strategy Board proposals 1

Finance | Tania Mason | 1 Dec 2009

GamCare, the advice and counselling charity for problem gamblers, is worried that it will be sidelined and have its funding slashed under new proposals from the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board.

Funding the core

Funding the core 1

Finance | 30 Nov 2009

Core funding improves outcomes as well as relationships with funders, argues Jessica Sklair.

Easy answers to Bad Funding

Easy answers to Bad Funding 1

Finance | Nick Wilkie | 21 Nov 2009

Bad Funding has become part of civil society's DNA. But it doesn't have to be like that, says Nick Wilkie

"We are too focused on our own navel and our own moral purity" 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 17 Nov 2009

If you missed US fundraiser and author Dan Pallotta expound his revolutionary ideas about the future of charities at Charity Finance Live last month, you can now catch him here in a short film by Civil Society’s very own video jockey, Alex Goddard.

Scottish MPs rap Lloyds Banking Group for halting charitable funding

Scottish MPs rap Lloyds Banking Group for halting charitable funding 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 21 Oct 2009

A coalition of Scottish MPs has called on Lloyds Banking Group to reconsider its decision to halt funding for the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland. Last week, the Foundation announced that it had closed its doors to new grant applications “for the foreseeable future” after failing to reach an agreement on future funding with its main benefactor the Lloyds Banking Group

Scottish MPs rap Lloyds Banking Group for halting charitable funding

Scottish MPs rap Lloyds Banking Group for halting charitable funding 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 20 Oct 2009
Topics: Banking | Funding

A coalition of Scottish MPs has called on Lloyds Banking Group to reconsider its decision to halt funding for the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland. Last week, the Foundation announced that it had closed its doors to new grant applications “for the foreseeable future” after failing to reach an agreement on future funding with its main benefactor the Lloyds Banking Group.

NAVCA slams ACF for negative semantics on grants

NAVCA slams ACF for negative semantics on grants 0

Finance | 7 Oct 2009

NAVCA has accused the Adventure Capital Fund of discrediting grants by urging organisations to move away from ‘grant dependence’ in its recent guidance on the £70m Communitybuilders Fund. In a 500-word report, Kevin Curley, chief executive of NAVCA, has complained that ACF’s language and thinking is damaging to the interests of the local voluntary and community sector.

Futurebuilders returned £6.6m to Treasury in 2008/9

Futurebuilders returned £6.6m to Treasury in 2008/9 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 7 Oct 2009
Topics: Funding

Some £6.6m of government funding earmarked to be distributed by the Futurebuilders Fund had to be returned to the Treasury at the end of March because Futurebuilders was unable to spend it in time. According to the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts just published, a total of £13.8m in capital grants was sent back to the Treasury – 31 per cent of the total budget. The rest was derived mainly from an underspend in the Grassroots Grants endowment match challenge programme and to a lesser extent, the Community Assets Fund.

Pools of the trade

Pools of the trade 0

Finance | Gareth Jones | 24 Sep 2009

With CIFs on their way to the FSA, Gareth Jones asks where this leaves specialist pooled funds for charities. This year our pooled funds focus comes at a transitional moment, with the future of the two charity specific forms, Common Investment Funds (CIFs) and Common Deposit Funds (CDFs), currently up for consultation.

Charity benevolent fund to open next month

Charity benevolent fund to open next month 0

Finance | 24 Sep 2009
Topics: Funding

A benevolent fund for charity employees is to launch officially in November, six years after it was initially proposed and registered as a charity. The Charity Employees Benevolent Fund (CEBF) is dedicated to helping vulnerable charity employees, part and present, and their dependents. It is already supporting a couple with three disabled children, a family affected by a degenerative condition, and a pensioner who has lost her connection with the outside world.

Flowers which bloom and fade

Flowers which bloom and fade 0

Finance | Colin Nee | 24 Sep 2009
Topics: Funding

Colin Nee argues innovation isn’t enough. Now that political debate about public spending has moved from the synthetic argument about whether savings will be made to how, there is space and an urgent need to focus on how to shape the post-recession economy. Innovation could be key to driving future growth but only if investment is there to propagate good ideas and scale them up.

Charities minister announces £5m for social enterprises

Charities minister announces £5m for social enterprises 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 16 Sep 2009
Topics: Funding

Angela Smith, charities minister, has pledged £5m to support social investment to close “the missing link between social enterprise and finance”. Smith (pictured) announced the funding at yesterday's Social Investment Conference, organised by Social Finance, where she told delegates that she really wanted a Social Investment Wholesale Bank to happen.

OTS u-turn sees partner assessments disclosed – and generally positive

OTS u-turn sees partner assessments disclosed – and generally positive 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 14 Sep 2009

The Office of the Third has changed its mind and agreed to publish the assessment reports for its 11 most highly-funded strategic partners, as requested by Charity News Alert under the Freedom of Information Act. Initially the OTS refused to disclose the reports, saying the public benefit in keeping them secret outweighed the public benefit in making them available. But after Charity News Alert requested an internal review of this decision, it agreed last week to provide copies. No reason was given as to the change of heart.

Church goes it alone with £1.3m loan

Church goes it alone with £1.3m loan 0

Finance | Gareth Jones | 24 Aug 2009
Topics: Funding

The Church of Pentecost has borrowed £1.3m from RBS to establish a regional office as it parts company with its parent charity Elim Pentecostal Church and branches out on its own for the first time. The funding has allowed the Church to buy a converted warehouse in Peckham, south London to use as its new office, as well as buying seven other worship halls, residencies and commercial properties that until now it has managed under the Elim banner.

Oxford Uni nets £100m from printing division

Oxford Uni nets £100m from printing division 0

Finance | Gareth Jones | 24 Aug 2009
Topics: Funding | Recession

The dividend paid by Oxford University Press to its parent charity, Oxford University, has almost doubled this year to £100m. In a clear sign that the recession has not affected the printing arm at all, it is to pass over £100.7m on the back of profits up 6 per cent this year to £88.7m.

Care group secures £20m for expansion from Barclays

Care group secures £20m for expansion from Barclays 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 24 Aug 2009
Topics: Funding | Property

Care home operator MHA has borrowed £20m from Barclays Commercial Bank to refurbish three care homes that it bought last year and build three new properties. MHA, which comprises Methodist Homes, MHA Auchlochan and a housing association, already operates 70 care homes providing a mix of nursing, residential and dementia care, along with independent living properties and support services for more than 12,500 elderly people.

Rowntree Foundation hands portfolio to Jupiter

Rowntree Foundation hands portfolio to Jupiter 0

Finance | 24 Aug 2009
Topics: Funding

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has appointed Jupiter Asset Management to handle its £40m multi-asset equity portfolio. The portfolio will have a core investment in UK equities and will be managed by Ben Whitmore, manger odf the Jupiter UK Special Situations unit trust alongside several institutional funds.

Rape crisis funding welcomed but government still letting women down

Rape crisis funding welcomed but government still letting women down 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 5 Aug 2009
Topics: Funding

London Mayor Boris Johnson’s announcement this week that provision of rape crisis counselling in London would be doubled over the next three years has been tempered by United Nations warnings that the UK government’s commitment to women’s rights is still sorely lacking. Because the UK government has missed previous compulsory targets on ending discrimination against women, set by the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), it was supposed to report on its latest progress to the CEDAW Committee last month.

Ruralnet UK shuts its doors

Ruralnet UK shuts its doors 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 4 Aug 2009
Topics: Funding

Ruralnet UK, the rural regeneration charity founded by Simon Berry nearly eight years ago, has closed down after failing to attract sufficient funding to keep operating. For the last two years the charity has had to dip into its reserves to stay afloat, and been unable to find enough money to build them up again. It took steps to shrink its operations earlier this year but those moves have not proved to be enough and at the end of July it ceased trading altogether.

NCVO European group to look at European Compact

NCVO European group to look at European Compact 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 22 Jul 2009
Topics: Funding

NCVO has secured funding from the European Commission for its new European umbrella organisation European Network of National Associations (ENNA). ENNA, which is spearheaded by NCVO, represents civil society umbrella organisations from Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, N Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland and Slovenia.

LibDem charities spokeswoman warns on Tory lottery proposals

LibDem charities spokeswoman warns on Tory lottery proposals 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 21 Jul 2009

Jenny Willott, charities spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats, has warned that the Conservative Party’s pledge to replace the Big Lottery Fund with an independent Voluntary Action Lottery Fund will reduce the money going to charitable work. Speaking exclusively to Charity News Alert, Willott said the Conservatives' plan to stop 20 per cent of lottery funding going to statutory organisations such as local authorities, and instead pledge all the money to the sector, sounded good but actually “covered up a state of hand which meant less money went to the sector”.

Futurebuilders and Capacitybuilders slammed by Public Accounts report

Futurebuilders and Capacitybuilders slammed by Public Accounts report 0

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 17 Jul 2009
Topics: Funding

Futurebuilders and the ChangeUp programme have failed to follow basic good practice in programme and project management, Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts has said. Announcing the release of a damning report of both bodies, Leigh (pictured) insisted the fact the initiatives were experimental was no excuse.

Granting wishes: grantmakers plans for the short and long term

Granting wishes: grantmakers plans for the short and long term 0

Finance | David Emerson | 9 Jul 2009

In April, the Association of Charitable Foundations conducted a survey of its members to explore the prospects for grantmaking in the short and longer-term. The results paint a broadly positive picture for charities seeking funding, says David Emerson The recession has hit the stock market hard, and as trusts and foundations have much of their assets in equities, anyone might expect them to have been badly affected.

Funding Commission work to focus on three areas

Funding Commission work to focus on three areas 0

Finance | Tania Mason | 1 Jul 2009
Topics: Funding

The Funding Commission has decided to focus its work investigating how to transform the funding environment for the sector, on three themes-capitalisation, stimulating giving, and local action. The Commission has recently finished a 12-week consultation with civil society organisations and experts, at which a number of issues were raised: local funding, funding practice, public service delivery, capacity-building, social investment, giving, and volunteering.

Low interest rates hurt service delivery

Low interest rates hurt service delivery 0

Finance | 1 Jul 2009

A CAF Bank survey of 280 charities has revealed that 42 per cent are struggling to deliver services because of the low interest rates.

Falling pound costs Christian Aid £15m

Falling pound costs Christian Aid £15m 0

Finance | 29 May 2009

The collapse in the value of the pound on international money markets has cost Christian Aid around £15m, or 25 per cent of the value of its money, according to its director Daleep Mukarji.

Recession tonic

Recession tonic 0

Finance | 28 May 2009

Mike Greensmith advocates getting a clear picture of the detail – and asking all the right questions – to steer you through a recession

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