The charity sector needs to stop apologising and have far more confidence in speaking out, the chair of the Charity Finance Group told his organisation's annual conference this morning.

Ian Theodoreson said charities faced a hostile environment but needed to have more confidence in themselves.

"We can either hide our head under the blanket and hope the storm will pass,” he said, “or we can stop apologising for past mistakes and instead, as CFG is doing, argue the case for stronger financial leadership and better governance".

He also told charity finance professionals to "stop focusing on so called gagging clauses and using those as an excuse". He added: "We should have far more confidence in speaking out about what we know from our practical experiences".

He said that it has not been a good year for the sector, with it facing a difficult economic issues as well as "a series of bizarre media exposes, coupled with some rather spectacular own goals from the sector itself."

He said these own goals included the collapse of Kids Company, as well as the "fall out from the Olive Cooke saga".

"Frankly I can't remember a tougher time to be in the sector,” he said. "But we shouldn't wait for government, politicians or the media to decide the future of the sector. Finance professionals must play a role in is. We are the ones who have the opportunities and responsibilities to shape our future."

Theodoreson, who is also finance director of the Church Commissioners, told delegates that "no government should want to silence the charity voice", and that we "need to hold firm on our right to speak up for our beneficiaries".

Big Society

He also said one problem the sector faces is that the government has not set out its vision for what type of charity sector this country needs, meaning charities and commentators are left in the dark.

He said the Big Society at least "provided a context for charities to operate in. Whereas today we are left with piecemeal legislation which seems more geared to promoting pet projects by ministers, rather than supporting a coherent vision for the sector."