There is “significant duplication” of charities, a senior leader in the sector has said.
The comments from Carol Homden, chief executive of Coram children’s charity, came in response to a question of whether there are too many charities in the UK and if more should consider merging.
Homden said there was “no absolutely right number” of charities but “it is the case that there is significant duplication”.
She said some people set up charities for “very noble reasons”, such as in memory of a loved one, but they may not be well-placed to deal with the administration and other functions necessary to sustain such organisations.
“We should be better, particularly in the charitable part of our spectrum, in actually enabling people to give in ways that they do find nurture and treasure their memories for the lived experience, and find better mechanisms for that,” she told the Bates Wells Spotlight Conference in London yesterday.
Several other charities have become part of the Coram charity group under Homden’s leadership in recent years, although she does not refer to these as mergers.
For any charity that has expressed a wish to “amalgamate” with the Coram group, Homden said her charity asks whether it is “the first, the only, the biggest, or the best, or we don’t do it”.
“Every charity should consider every year in what way it might better pursue its purpose, and if that means that it should enter in some different types of arrangements, then it should consider them,” she said.
When asked whether demergers were also an important thing for charities to consider, Homden said it was “a valid point” but expressed concern about “the language of incubation”.
Addressing some sector organisations that launch a service with the intention of it becoming independent at a later date, she said: “Well, if you’ve incubated it and it’s working, then just grow.”
