Andrew Hind writes an open letter to Paula Sussex, as she prepares to take up her new job as chief executive of the Charity Commission.

Dear Paula,

Many congratulations on your appointment as the new chief executive of the Charity Commission. Everyone with the interests of civil society at heart wishes you all the best.

It’s a hugely important job, and one which it is a great privilege to be asked to undertake – as I know from personal experience. When you take up the post later this month I urge you to bear in mind why we have a charity regulator, and what it is there to do.

The Commission’s role is not merely to ‘regulate and interpret the law’ – as it has become so popular for many to contend in the last year or two.

Those seeking to hamstring the Commission with a narrowly-defined remit refer to ‘regulating’ as getting tougher on compliance when charities go off the rails. I’m all for that. We all know how one bad apple can infect the barrel – perhaps more so in the charity sector than any other.

But the job of the Commission should encompass so much more.

For instance, populating the Register of Charities with timely, accessible information about the structure, activities and financial reports of every charity is an essential part of building better market intelligence about the sector. Others can then analyse and interpret the primary data.

This builds public trust and expands donor choice; both key components of a mature and healthy sector.

Critical, too, is the comprehensive range of guidance issued by the Commission which distinguishes between what charities ‘must’ do to follow the law, and what they ‘should’ do to conform to best practice.

A million trustees – the vast majority with no other impartial advice available to them – rely on this key part of the Commission’s activities. It is the single most important initiative undertaken by any organisation, when it comes to building an effective charity sector.

Maintaining a strong and respected policy function must therefore be a key part of your agenda, despite all the pressure to get more resources onto the frontline. For the Commission, policy – as well as casework – is frontline activity.

It has also become commonplace for critics to trot out the line that ‘the Commission is not the sector’s friend’. Why ever not? To see the regulator rooting out wrongdoing and highlighting best practice is surely in the interests of every charity doing its best to raise money and undertake effective charitable activity. Charities and the Commission have a common cause.

Championing the concept of charity

Of course, the Commission must never champion the interests of an individual charity, but it has a critical role to play in championing the concept of charity and to seek always to defend its fundamental principles.

Standing up for the right of charities to campaign in accordance with the law is a good case in point. It was shameful that the Commission’s voice was not heard last year, speaking out against the Lobbying Act.

Finally – and most importantly – the strength and authority of the Commission over 160 years has come from its independence and party-political neutrality. It has been accused of being over-legalistic and inefficient down the years; but, until recently, it has never been accused of being politically partisan. There is no greater threat to the Commission’s reputation.

Governments come and go. But the sector needs the Charity Commission to endure for another 160 years. Please make sure it acts independently, without fear or favour, based only on an unswerving commitment to ensuring that every charity delivers public benefit.

The degree to which the public place their trust in charity over the next few years rests, in no small part, on your shoulders. We all wish you every success.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Hind

Andrew Hind is the editor of Charity Finance.