Labour asks for ideas on giving

Fundraising | Gemma Ware | 1 Dec 2007

The Labour Party has asked acevo, CAF and Nick Aldridge, chief executive of the eBay charity MissionFish, to draw up a paper on giving to feed in to its next manifesto.

Aldridge, former director of strategy and communications at acevo, said the former charities minister Fiona Mactaggart, who is working with former home secretary David Blunkett on developing a mini-manifesto for the party on the voluntary sector, had asked him to work with CAF and acevo to present their ideas on charitable giving.

"There may well be an opportunity in the next manifesto over how giving is transformed," said Aldridge.

Aldridge said his recommendations would look closely at the tax system. He said there may be an opportunity to make an argument for more US-style planned giving vehicles such as covenants, or the long-debated lifetime legacies, where donors would get tax breaks in their lifetime if they pledge an irrevocable gift to charity after they die.

"One of the difficulties has been that it's always seen as a Treasury issue and really we need to get to a place where the Cabinet Office ministers are there to champion charity issues," he said.

With speculation mounting on the possibility of an autumn general election, Blunkett held meetings with sector representatives during Labour's conference in Brighton last week.

At a dinner hosted by acevo, Blunkett discussed issues surrounding contracting, commissioning and public service delivery with a select group of chief executives and representatives from NSPCC, NCH, Counsel and Care, CAF, Adventure Capital Fund and Mind.

"What we all agreed was that we were building on a foundation that's already been set," said Stephen Bubb, chief executive of acevo. But he said it was recognised there were still real problems around contracting and commissioning that needed to be addressed, highlighted by recent concerns over the Department of Work and Pension's Welfare to Work programme.

The group of charities also discussed social enterprise and how communities could access investment.

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