Julia Cleverdon, Barbara Stocking and Hilary Blume have all been made Dames in the Queen's birthday honours list. Cleverdon, vice president of Business in the Community (BITC), was awarded the DCVO for her leadership of BITC, where she was chief executive for 16 years until March 2008.

The doom and gloom surrounding the economy has had little effect on fundraising by Absolute Return for Kids (Ark), which collected over £25m at its annual fundraising ball last week.

The National Trust and Barnardo's are among five charities that are to research new ways to persuade supporters to leave legacies. In partnership with The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Save the Children, World Vision and the agency, TDA, they are to explore the effectiveness of the different types of message used in legacy marketing materials.

CRM and fundraising software provider Fisk Brett has been bought by membership experts Advanced Solutions International (ASI), creating the UK's largest technology provider to the not-for-profit sector.