Category Archives: charity

Get on with it – the message we are hearing from Navca members

The chair of the national membership body for the local voluntary sector says he has heard four key messages from listening to members Six months ago, I had the privilege to be directly elected chair of Navca, an honour I am determined to repay. Our members are the core of the movement for local social… Read More...

John Tizard: Let’s radically strengthen the Social Value Act – let’s change culture, not just the rules

The Government is currently consulting on the future and potential strengthening of social value legislation and regulation. John Tizard This is to be welcomed. When a public body spends public money, whether through directly managed services, campaigns to influence public or business behaviour or procuring services and goods, it should always seek to maximise public… Read More...

Compassion is not enough – we must act on our words and thoughts

It is all very well being compassionate and passionate, but social action and hard decisions are needed to create lasting change Compassion is a great motivator for social activists and those active in the voluntary and community sector, and almost everyone I meet in the sector demonstrates such, in as much as they display their… Read More...

Brexit Matters – and it should matter to the sector

With the biggest challenge for the country since the Second World War swirling around us, why is the sector so silent? Brexit is the most important and fundamental political challenge for this cou ntry since 1945, so where are the voices of charities and the voluntary and community sector? To be silent is a mistake,… Read More...

Charities and VCSs should treat staff well

The appeal court ruling on sleep-in carers might have satisfied Mencap and other organisations, but the case underlines that government should fund social care properly Last week’s Appeal Court decision upholding an appeal from Mencap on staff payments for sleep-in duties in residential care is deeply disturbing. It raises fundamental questions about employment practices, staff… Read More...

A dozen tenets that national VCS infrastructure bodies might consider

The board of Navca is holding a strategic awayday this week. I’m the honorary adviser to the board and a former vice-chair, so this has made me think about how national infrastructure bodies can best maximise their value. A membership body, Navca is the national representative organisation for local infrastructure bodies such as councils for… Read More...

Charities have a role in public services, but not as surrogate businesses

An urgent review of this model of public service delivery is needed, argue David Walker and John Tizard. The landscape of the UK and in particular England’s public services has changed dramatically over the past few decades. It has been changed by the growth in outsourcing to the business sector and, to a lesser extent,… Read More...

Charities and councils being at loggerheads won’t help local people

Across the country, relationships between the councils and charities seem strained or even, in places, broken beyond repair. Some commentators attribute this depressing picture to the impact of austerity, as well as the spread of neoliberal politics and a fixation with competitive tendering. Sadly, there are indeed many instances of misunderstanding and a breakdown in trust between… Read More...

How to appoint a chair or chief executive

In the second of our articles for Trustees Week, our guest columnist says when appointing a chair or a chief executive, charity trustees must be bold, imaginative and true to their mission John TIzard Some of the most important and critical decisions for any charity trustee board are the appointments of chief executive and chair.… Read More...

Paradise Papers – Action Required From Public Sector Procurement And Charities

The recent disclosure and publication of the Paradise Papers, like the Panama Papers before them and many other revelations about tax avoidance and murky tax practices by governments, corporates and individuals should sound a wake-up call to both charities and those in the public sector engaged in procurement. I have long argued, as have many… Read More...