Lights out for North West landmarks

Some of the region’s best known buildings turned out their lights for one minute at 8.30pm on a Friday evening in support of the campaign by children's charity CANW (Child Action Northwest) to raise awareness of the desperate need for more North West foster families.

The event, which featured landmarks including the dome of Manchester’s Trafford Centre, Goodison Park, the Imperial War Museum at Salford Keys and the Liver Building, was part of 1200 Lights, CANW's campaign to raise awareness of the 1200 extra foster care places needed right across the North West. Other buildings which plunged themselves into darkness included Blackpool Tower, the new Co-op building in Manchester, Everton Football Club and the pavillion at Lancashire County Cricket Club.

Statistics show that more foster carers are needed in the region than in any other part of the country, and almost as many as Yorkshire, Humberside and the North East put together.

CANW, which runs foster care services across the North West working with 8,000 vulnerable children, young adults and their families, hopes that the symbolic switch off will encourage more people to consider fostering and help to bring light into the lives of hundreds of children across the region who are in need of a caring family.

Sue Cotton, CEO of CANW, says: “We wanted to stage an event that really drew attention to this need. We’re used to seeing some of the North West’s best loved buildings shining brightly at night and by making them temporarily ‘disappear’ we wanted people to think about the light and love a supportive family that’s missing from so many children’s lives."

Charity partnership with estate agency

London’s Air Ambulance has entered into a three year charity partnership with Foxtons, the London estate agent. It has become Foxtons first long term official partner and was unanimously chosen by employees following the charity’s current "Your London, Your Helicopter" campaign to acquire and sustain a much needed second helicopter.

In addition to sponsorship commitments, the partnership will be supported by numerous employee fundraising activities, as well as an extensive marketing campaign by Foxtons aimed at increasing public awareness for the charity.

Business leaders bring success to fundraiser

Breast Cancer Now's fundraising dinner for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, A Bigger Bounce, brought together many of the UK’s most successful business leaders to raise £1m.

A Bigger Bounce, which took place at Camden’s Roundhouse and was hosted by radio star Jo Whiley, treated guests to an evening of top class entertainment, with acts including comediennes Roisin Conaty, Shappi Khorsandi, Zoe Lyons and Jessica Hynes and music from Foxes, Rebecca Ferguson and The Commitments.

Guests also took part in the event’s auction, hosted by Christopher Biggins, which saw bids come in for attractive prizes including a seven night stay on Richard Branson’s Necker Island, the Ultimate Hollywood Experience offering the chance to rub shoulders in LA with renowned Game of Thrones director David Nutter, a Party in the Sky where the winner will take over the infamous BT Tower restaurant and host a dinner for 80 guests, a ten day Antarctic cruise and many more.

The event was masterminded by a committee co-chaired by Philppa Brown, CEO of Omnicom Media Group and Carolyn McCall, CEO of easyJet, with members coming from a variety of industries and sectors.

Big result for care home charity

1m was raised when more than 500 supporters of Jewish care home charity Nightingale Hammerson gathered at the City’s Guildhall for its biennial fundraising dinner. Guests, including the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Lord Dyson, heard guest speaker Lord Mendelsohn, who spoke about his personal experience with the care charity. The Minister for Care, the Rt Hon Alastair Burt MP, recorded a special video message, praising Nightingale Hammerson’s pioneering work, caring ethos and model of community involvement.

Chief executive Helen Simmons spoke of the charity's plans for a £35m redevelopment of Hammerson House that will substantially expand its number of residents and the provision of quality care.

Academies should adapt to charity governance

The blurring of education and charity status in some academy schools underlines the ongoing challenge of regulatory compliance, says Andy Malpass, partner at accountancy firm Whittingham Riddell and chair of national accountancy and lawyer association UK 200 Group's charities and education industry group.

The comments follow a study by the National Governors Association (NGA) that says compliance with charity governance can create more red tape than academies experienced under local councils before conversion.

“From auto-enrolment to National Living Wage, organisations across every sector are facing new compliance issues,” says Malpass. “But nowhere is the burden to adhere felt more acutely than an educational institution run to a charity model – and, as NGA suggests, the sheer scope of commitments has caught plenty unawares.

“In the wake of the high profile collapse of Kids Company, there is clearly new context in which academies must plan for the future, from funding streams to trustee tenure.”

“Compliance with charitable governance and thinking like a business are not mutually exclusive and each require a certain rigidity. And yet I wonder whether greater flexibility may better suit academies going forward, especially when the requirements of compliance are bound to shift year on year. Adaptability is as useful as accountability.”

Age and gender affect charity giving

A survey conducted by BACS processing company First Capital Cashflow, which sought to find out what type of charity the UK population is most likely to support, has shown that the biggest proportion of donors (30.6%) support cancer charities. However, when broken down by age it was revealed that while 45% of over-65s chose to donate to cancer charities, less than 30% of 18-34 year olds did likewise.

First Capital Cashflow says this could reflect growing levels of concern as people get older, as more than three quarters of cancer deaths occur in people aged 65 and over. The table below splits down by age the percentage of respondents who would most likely support a cancer charity and places it alongside the percentage of deaths caused by cancer per 100,000 of the population (according to statistics gathered by Cancer Research in 2010-2012).

Thus, says First Cashflow, there seems to be a direct correlation between the number of people who chose to support a cancer charity and the number of deaths it caused in their age group.

IMPACT OF GENDER. It’s not only age that makes a difference. it seems gender also plays a part. Of those surveyed, more males than females chose cancer charities as their preferred choice. As with the generational results, it reflects the mortality trends. According to separate Cancer Research statistics, male mortality from cancer was 26% higher than in females, with this kind of disparity continuing even after lung cancer and gender-specific cancers were removed from analysis.

Here’s how the other charity categories fared in the First Capital Cashflow research:

ANIMALS VERSUS CHILDREN. As can be seen in the table above, females are more likely to donate to an animal welfare charity than a children’s charity. The opposite was true for men. In fact, males aged 25-34 were more likely to donate to a children’s charity than they were to a cancer charity (29.1%).

Women aged 45-54 were the demographic most likely to donate to animal charities (44.3%) with less than double the amount of respondents in this category choosing to donate to cancer and children’s charities (both 19.7%).

Animal charities tend to receive 5% of the UK’s charitable donations, while children’s charities received around 12%. Medical research charities raise 16%. Generally this is reflected in the First Capital Cashflow survey results with children’s charities coming second to cancer charities overall and animal welfare coming third.

REALITY CHECK FOR CERTAIN CHARITY CATEGORIES. Survey respondents were also given the options of foreign aid, green/environmental and natural disaster support, but all three consistently came below cancer, children and animals.

It was males aged 25-34 who were the most supportive of green charities (14%), meanwhile their fathers’ generation were the biggest supporters of foreign aid (15.2%). Says First Capital Cashflow: "Interestingly this was the generation that were young adults at the time of the first Live Aid… coincidence?"

SPECIFIC PREFERENCES. When given the option of specifying other charity preferences, there were suggestions such as: the Air Ambulance Service, ex-military support, mental illness e.g. Alzheimer’s, dementia and disease-specific charities, e.g. cystic fibrosis, kidney research.

Philanthropy grows despite bad charity publicity

298 donations, each worth £1m or more, with a total value of £1.56bn were made to UK charitable causes or "banked" in foundations in 2014, according to the latest Coutts Million Pound Donor Report. The 15% increase in the mean (average) value to £5.3m, suggests an upward trend in large scale philanthropy. Additionally, the number of donations of £1m or more is the highest ever recorded since the report was first produced in 2008.

These are the findings of the 8th edition of the Coutts Million Pound Donors Report, produced in association with the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, which tracks the number, size, scale, and destination of £1m-plus donations made by individuals, foundations and corporations in the UK.

As in previous years, higher education and foundations were the main destinations for million pound donations, together attracting over two thirds of the total value. In 2014, foundations received the largest share of donations - 36%, while higher education institutions received five out of the ten largest donations, each worth at least £26m.

A total of 35 universities were identified as receiving donations of a million pounds or more, with the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge receiving at least £11m and £10m respectively. However, UK philanthropy is not limited to the Oxbridge universities; eight non-Oxbridge universities also received more than one donation, and collected eight of the twelve gifts of £10m or more to this category (University College London received at least two gifts of this type).

London retained its status as the centre of UK philanthropy, producing the vast majority of million pound donations (192 donations from 74 different donors). Donors based in the capital accounted for just over two thirds of the total value, equating to £1.05bn.

Together with those from the South East, this accounted for just under three quarters of the total value of the million pound donations last year.

Thirteen donations came from donors based in the North West, and the same number originated from the North East (comprising 6.5% and 2% respectively of the total value).

International donors also played an important role in UK philanthropy, with the second largest donation of the year, £60m, coming from a donor based in the United Arab Emirates. Donations from UK corporations continued to recover from their decline in 2012 and far exceeded any previous contributions. In 2014 the total value given by corporations increased by almost 8% to nearly 23% of the overall value given in the UK.

Lenka Setkova, director of the Coutts Institute, says: “The 8th annual Coutts Million Pound Donors Report illustrates that major philanthropy continues to grow and thrive in the UK as the total amount given increased by £200m and the number of donations was the highest we have ever recorded. The high proportion of funds given to charitable trusts and foundations indicates that major donors are continuing to organise their giving for the longer term.

"But this report is about much more than data. As illustrated by the inspiring interviews with major philanthropists, it shows that there has never been a more exciting time for philanthropy as donors look to achieve their goals not just through giving grants, but through leveraging other assets including their time, networks or expertise. There is also the factor of how consideration is given to environmental, social, environmental or ethical factors in the investment of endowments.”

Dr Beth Breeze from the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, and co-author of the UK report, says: "In this eighth year of tracking data on million pound donations, it is exciting to find the highest ever total number of seven-figure donations, and to see the total value return to levels last seen before the financial crash.

"It seems clear that donors’ confidence is recovering, and that charities are trusted to make good use of significant sums, despite the recent torrent of negative media headlines about fundraising practices. Much of that debate has failed to appreciate the difference between mass-marketing aimed at ‘high volume, low value donors’, and the very different approach used to build personalised, authentic, and mutually beneficial relationships with those who have the capacity and the inclination to make major donations.

"We should therefore acknowledge and celebrate the role that the fundraising profession has played in encouraging and supporting ‘million pound donors’. We need to encourage - not deter - talented people from considering fundraising as a career. Having well trained and trusted people who are willing to make a compelling ‘ask’ for seven-figure sums, enables more charities and their beneficiaries, to benefit from the major donors."

UK donations since the inception of the Coutts report

Better focus needed on corporate volunteering

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development have produced research into employer-supported volunteering (ESV) which has found a lack of understanding between charities and companies about the costs and benefits involved in ESV, with some companies unwilling to contribute to the costs involved in hosting volunteers.

Similarly, some of the businesses interviewed reported that charities often overlooked the additional benefits of a one-off placement, including the potential of sponsorship or support from the company in the future.

Another barrier revealed by the research was that while many charities benefit from skilled volunteering, such as help writing strategies, they feel that people are less likely to volunteer in their professional capacity than for typically unskilled volunteering tasks such as painting or gardening. The research highlights the significant gaps in employer knowledge about volunteering, and explores assumptions made by each sector that risk undermining the potential of volunteering initiatives.

The research, entitled On the brink of a game-changer?, has been published to explore how better collaboration between business and the voluntary sector is key to achieving successful employer-supported volunteering placements. The Conservative Party’s election manifesto pledged to require large businesses and public bodies to offer employees three days’ paid volunteering leave, which could result in much higher demand for volunteering opportunities.

The findings of the research are supplemented by a new survey of HR professionals by the CIPD, where the results highlight the business case for supporting ESV. That separate CIPD survey found that 81% of those who took part in volunteering reported increased community awareness, 65% had increased communication skills, and 59% reported an increase in confidence.

There was evidence of unmet demand for volunteering opportunities; although 65% of respondents would be more likely to work for an employer which encourages and promotes volunteering, 39% said their employer did not support it.

Justin Davis Smith, director of volunteering at NCVO, says: "Employer-supported volunteering could potentially offer huge benefits for the voluntary sector and businesses alike – however, this research shows that without clear communication around expectations and the resources involved, many of those benefits could be lost. We need to recognise that volunteering isn’t free – there is a cost to the charity in terms of staff time, resources and supervision – yet the right kind of volunteering could outweigh those costs tenfold.

"The Government’s commitment to introducing three days’ volunteering leave offers a game-changing opportunity, but we will need to get the systems and processes in place to make the most of it. Resources will be required to create meaningful opportunities and to ensure that volunteers are properly managed and supported, so that placements are beneficial to everybody involved."

Bad fundraising targeting costly for charities

Research from YouGov on behalf of data communications company REaD Group has highlighted the extent of the challenge faced by the charity sector from bad publicity about fundraising. 42% cent of UK adults are less likely to donate to charities following recent stories around aggressive fundraising, which means that the sector stands to lose nearly half of the £10.6bn it receives from the UK public each year. The impact of this donor deficit on Britain’s charitable resources could be devastating.

Those aged 55 plus are least likely to donate to charities following the recent stories about aggressive fundraising.

Despite arguments that the problem lies with the number of times that charities contact individuals, the research reveals that consumers feel the issue is not with frequency of contact but rather with who charities are targeting too much.

The Fundraising Standards Board has said earlier that it wanted the public to be given more control over the way charities approach people, after reporting that 4 in 10 (42%) of complaints received were related to the frequency of charity communications, while more than a third (35%) were about approaches being made to elderly or vulnerable people.

However REaD Group’s survey found that less than half (47%) of the public felt they are contacted too frequently by charities. This figure stands in contrast to one demographic specifically – those 55 or over – of which the majority (59%) felt the level of contact was too much.

According to REaD, the question is: what can the charity sector learn from this in order to operate more efficiently and responsibly? The firm believes its survey clearly shows that the saturation of one demographic, known in the industry as "Dorothy Donor", being over targeted and becoming rightfully fed up, is at the heart of the problem. Focusing on just one target group is sloppy marketing, regardless of what industry a business operates within.

The firm says: "Surely for every person aged 55 or over who has been over targeted by charities, there must be an alternative, untapped donor, who is happy to be contacted." The research confirms this revealing that 84% of those aged 18-54 had charitable preferences yet only a minority (39%) felt they are contacted too much by charities. Only 33% of this same demographic stated they would be more likely to sign up to a charity if they could choose the frequency at which they are contacted.

According to REaD, "this tells us that frequency is not the issue here and that the charity sector need to focus on a broader demographic in order to keep charities alive".

Jon Cano-Lopez, CEO of REaD Group, comments: “It seems rather naive to target one segment time after time after time. The research shows that Dorothy Donor has simply had enough and is demanding change. However, the good news is that the research also shows that the vast majority of the population are happy to receive requests for donations. Surely the time has come for charities to embrace these other lucrative segments.

"If you only ever target the recent donors or fixed groups such as female over 55, you are creating a self fulfilling model that will eventually reach saturation and by definition ignores the rest of the population.”