In the news last week...08 January

Our Researcher Mairéad Bailie surmises the biggest headlines from last week.

Commission makes changes to annual return

The Charity Commission has backed away from proposals that would compel charities to reveal the salary details of their chief executives, but will go ahead with plans to ask charities to disclose their sources of overseas funding. Bond, NCVO and the Directory of Social Change have all been critical of the Commission’s decision to ask charities to reveal their overseas funding sources in their annual return, because of the burden it places on charities and the message it sends to other countries.

Government accused of withholding £2.5 billion from charities

The Dormant Assets Commission has identified some £2 bn of unclaimed cash that could be freed up and distributed to good causes. The commission said the “huge sum has the potential to further transform the charity sector, helping to improve communities and change lives”. Read the full story here.

£330 million from dormant accounts won’t secure charities future

A further £330 million from Dormant Bank Accounts will be available in coming years to support social causes – Jay Kennedy states ‘that what most of the sector needs is not high finance but grant support.’ A relatively simple, sustainable way to deliver this, which NCVO and many others are firmly behind, is to endow the network of Community Foundations and potentially other local funders with the capital from these other dormant assets. – Read the full article here.

**The need to free up the cash for charities is likely to increase post-Brexit as some £250m a year of EU funding goes to the UK voluntary sector. Charities are facing funding cuts while demand for their services are rising. “Lottery revenues are declining too, which also threatens the pipeline of future grant support,” Jay Kennedy said. “That’s why we need a Big Lottery refund now.” –  Join us in our campaign to get £425 million refunded to the Big Lottery Fund here.