Duke of Sussex ‘absolutely committed’ to supporting children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana
Prince Harry is considering establishing a new charity after a dispute that led to him leaving Sentebale, a spokesperson has said.
It comes after the Duke of Sussex was criticised by the Charity Commission for allowing a row with the chair of Sentebale, which he co-founded in 2006, to “play out publicly”.
Continue reading...Watchdog says all parties, including trustees, patrons and chair Sophie Chandauka, should not have had row in public
The Charity Commission has criticised Prince Harry for allowing a row with the chair of his African charity to “play out publicly”, as the watchdog cleared him of racism.
The prince was engaged in a public war of words earlier this year with the chair of the Sentebale charity, Dr Sophie Chandauka, after his resignation as a patron.
Continue reading...Minister points to ‘sexist’ practice of country relying on women to provide services so government did not have to
Labour MP Jess Phillips has said the UK has got “fat” from the free labour of women for decades.
The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls said the country has relied on women providing charity, adding it was a “fundamentally sexist” practice that meant the government was less willing to provide the service itself.
Continue reading...Charity Commission criticised for endorsing transfer of about £5.7m to high school in illegal village of Susya
Two UK charities have transferred millions of pounds to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank with the endorsement of the charities regulator, the Guardian can reveal.
Documents show that the Kasner Charitable Trust (KCT), via a conduit charity, UK Toremet, has donated approximately £5.7m to the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in Susya, in the Israeli-occupied territory.
Continue reading...Agreement between government and voluntary sector aims to reset relations after erosion of trust under Tories
The right to engage in political activity and protest peacefully is to be enshrined in a new agreement between the government and UK charities and campaigners aimed in part at ending years of damaging “culture wars”.
The agreement is intended to reset relations between government and the voluntary sector after years of mutual distrust during which Conservative ministers limited public rights to protest, froze out campaigners, and targeted “woke” charities.
Continue reading...Nestlé is among UK companies taking part in project to ‘design out’ waste by redistributing surplus product
Millions of meals worth of wasted food could be redistributed thanks to an artificial intelligence tool being trialled by companies across the UK, including Nestlé.
The AI tool, which has already generated an 87% reduction in edible food waste at one of the Swiss conglomerate’s factories over its first two-week trial period, is intended to “design out” food waste by providing real-time monitoring, tracking and insights of wasted ingredients and products.
Continue reading...Charity set to reduce its workforce by more than a fifth this year amid mounting financial pressures
Scope expects to cut more than a fifth of its staff this year amid mounting financial pressures, with about a third of those affected to be disabled employees.
The disability charity announced a consultation last week over plans to place 124 of its 326 corporate roles at risk of redundancy, a move likely to result in about 70 job losses in the summer.
Continue reading...Sophie Chandauka claims there is ‘significant correlation’ with drop in funders and prince’s move to the US
Donors abandoned the charity Prince Harry founded in memory of his late mother when he left the UK, the chair of Sentebale has said amid a bitter media row in which she accused the prince of trying to “eject” her through “bullying” and “harassment”.
Sophie Chandauka told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme that there was a “significant correlation” between a drop in funders and the Duke of Sussex’s departure to the US after the controversy caused by his rift with the royal family.
Continue reading...Annual sector review says tax and wage rises and council funding cuts have left services in ‘state of acute precarity’
Charities providing specialist care to thousands of vulnerable adults with learning disabilities and severe autism are having to “evict” residents to avoid insolvency because of tax and wage rises and local authority funding cuts.
Non-profit providers say their work is in a “state of acute precarity” with many preparing to cut services, close doors to new residents and effectively evict tenants because the fees councils pay no longer meet the cost of care.
Continue reading...Deal under which Family Action takes over Relate’s counselling services will save up to 185 jobs, say administrators
Britain’s biggest relationship counselling charity looks likely to be rescued from insolvency under plans for it to be taken over.
Last month, Relate was put into administration after a collapse in its funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts.
Continue reading...Deal under which Family Action takes over Relate’s counselling services will save up to 185 jobs, say administrators
Britain’s biggest relationship counselling charity looks likely to be rescued from insolvency under plans for it to be taken over.
Last month, Relate was put into administration after a collapse in its funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts.
Continue reading...Rev Harry Nigh, who set up Circles in 1994 to support sex offenders, says it is easy for politicians to say ‘lock them up’
Public understanding of paedophiles has not improved over the past 30 years, according to the founder of the pioneering charity Circles, which offers support to some of society’s most reviled offenders.
While the Rev Harry Nigh says child protection must always be paramount, he stresses the importance of breaking the isolation and shame that often leads people who commit child sexual abuse to reoffend, arguing that “anything that drives people underground even further endangers the community itself”.
Continue reading...Naccom report says gaps in state support have led to more than 1,940 refugees having no accommodation
Homelessness among refugees has doubled in the last year to reach record levels as charities hand out tents and sleeping bags to those forced to live on the streets for the first time, according to research.
The No Accommodation Network (Naccom), an umbrella organisation for 140 frontline organisations working with asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants across the UK, has collated the data and shared it with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Groups providing vital services say impact of tax and minimum wage rises will lead to cutbacks
Charities have warned of “life-changing consequences” for a million vulnerable children and adults as a result of cuts to state-funded disability services driven by tax changes and wage rises announced in the budget.
The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), which represents 100 charities in England, said Rachel Reeves’s decision to raise employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) had been “ill thought through” and would put many local charity services at risk.
Continue reading...Care providers, GPs and pharmacists warn increased costs will cause cuts and job losses
Services that support some of England’s most vulnerable people have warned that tax increases in the budget will lead to cuts and closures that could devastate the charity sector.
Although the NHS and councils are protected from the impact of the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) announced in Wednesday’s budget, charities that provide services say the increase means they will face “existential” financial pressures.
Continue reading...Once hailed as a philanthropic marvel, Fashion for Relief ran up hefty expenses and left charity partners angry
Five years ago, a glitzy charity fundraising gala in the British Museum organised by the model Naomi Campbell was widely accepted to be a triumph. It was the toast of London fashion week and a powerful showcase for Campbell’s philanthropic mission to raise money for young people in poverty.
Awash with celebrities (the actors Naomie Harris and Pierce Brosnan, the rapper Skepta and the model Alexa Chung) and wealthy paying guests, it combined a catwalk show with a charity auction of art (drawings by Matisse, Dalí and Tracey Emin, a signed Warhol print), jewellery and luxury watches.
Continue reading...Watchdog report strongly criticises Michael Wynne-Parker, who was middleman for more than £500,000 of donations
A society fixer who acted as a middleman for more than £500,000 of donations to King Charles’s charities from a wealthy Russian banker has been disqualified from running a charity after a highly critical watchdog inquiry report.
The Charity Commission said the conduct of Michael Wynne-Parker, revealed during its investigation into the Mahfouz Foundation charity, showed him to be unfit to be a charity trustee or director and banned him for 12 years.
Continue reading...Charity Commission says lessons have been learned after dispute involving Penelope Keith, Siân Phillips and ABF
The actors Dame Penelope Keith and Dame Siân Phillips have won a hard-fought apology from England’s charity watchdog after it admitted to blunders in its handling of a case involving a £40m actors’ hardship fund.
The pair, who with others were removed from the board of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund (ABF) two years ago in what they argued was an unlawful coup by rival trustees, had accused the Charity Commission of mismanaging its stewardship of the charity.
Continue reading...With the world’s humanitarian system in crisis, many NGOs now recognise that local charities can deliver much more at far less cost
Before civil war engulfed her Ethiopian home region of Tigray in 2020, Tsega Girma was a prosperous trader who sold stationery and other goods. But when hungry children displaced by the conflict started appearing in the streets, she sold everything and used the proceeds to buy them food.
After that money dried up, Tsega appealed to Tigray’s diaspora for donations. At the height of the war, her Emahoy Tsega Girma Charity Foundation provided meals to 24,000 children a day.
Continue reading...Dan Dafydd, who accidentally ordered 80 cases of eggs, aims to raise £20,000 for the RNLI by Easter Sunday
For a small shop owner on a small island as far as mistakes go, Dan Dafydd’s was a pretty big one leaving him with quite a dilemma: how do you get rid of 80 cases of Easter eggs when you meant to order only 80 eggs?
For Dafydd, the owner of Sinclair General Stores on Sanday, one of the Orkney islands (population approximately 500), the 720 eggs were enough to feed everyone almost twice over. A few too many even for those with a sweet tooth.
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