Outgoing Charity Finance editor Andrew Hind raises concerns about threats to civil society's freedom of voice.

It has been a great privilege to edit Charity Finance for the past five years.

But after 48 editions, I am now handing over to Gareth Jones, a highly accomplished financial journalist, and former member of the team here at Civil Society Media, who takes charge next month.

It seems particularly fitting that our cover theme for my last edition examines the growing threat to civil society freedoms, both around the world and here in the UK.

An apparent decline in support for charities from some politicians and emerging signs of a dent in levels of public trust for the sector are two of the big themes which have emerged during my five years at the helm.

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, secretary-general of Civicus, writes that there are serious threats to civic freedoms in at least 96 countries, of which the UK is one. He cites the introduction of the Lobbying Act and the Prime Minister’s intention to repeal the Human Rights Act as evidence of a “renewed period of contestation about the acceptable bounds of civil society”, not just internationally but here at home too.

“All of us who believe in a healthy, independent civil society must roll up our sleeves to win hearts and minds,” he writes. “It is our space, we need to reclaim it.”

Responding to the challenge

So how can we all best respond to this challenge?

There is certainly a role for the new sustainable development goals (SDGs), due to be signed by global leaders at the UN as Charity Finance goes to press.

Myles Wickstead, a former British ambassador, says that the SDGs place an obligation on governments to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development”.

Wickstead urges the British government to set out clearly how it plans to protect civil society space as part of its plans to deliver on its SDG commitments.

But equally, the onus must be on charities themselves to change some of their behaviours if we are to restore levels of political and public trust in the sector, and push back the frontier of resistance to charities which is building up quite a head of steam in some quarters.

The following three areas might be a good place to start:

• Transparency – financial reporting by most charities continues to lag behind leading entities in other sectors. Senior staff pay is just one example, where the excellent recommendations made by NCVO 18 months ago have only been adopted by a handful of charities so far.
• Fundraising – the boards and senior management teams of a number of large charities need to recognise that some of their fundraising practices have got out of step with their charities’ own values and are causing significant public concern.
• Investment – trustees with funds to invest have an important opportunity to use their charity’s assets not just to achieve financial return but also to support the delivery of their charitable objectives. The recent publication from the Association of Charitable Foundations on Intentional investing provides helpful guidance in this area.

Public trust in charities can no longer be taken for granted. How charities respond to these challenges will play an important part in shaping the sector’s future.

You can be sure that Charity Finance will be there to cover how these issues unfold in the months and years to come. I wish Gareth Jones every success as this illustrious magazine’s new editor.