Panel asks for views on sector independence

A consultation document has been launched by the panel on the Indpendence of the Voluntary sector with views sought by 21 September 2011.

Prisons minister assesses Peterborough prison social impact bond effectiveness

Prisons minister Crispin Blunt went to see an innovative scheme at Peterborough Prison that aims to stop offenders returning to a life of crime after prison.

The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – one year on

Tough economic times fuelling corruption according to latest index

Transparency International, the international civil society organisation dedicated to fighting corruption around the world has released its 16^th annual Corruptions Perceptions index.

£30m fund launched by Cabinet Office to help local charity support services

The beneficiaries of a new £30 million fund to help transform and modernise local charity support services have been announced on 2 February 2012 by Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society.

Budget boost for charity giving reform

 The government has included a number of measures to increase charitable giving

DWP minister to face questioning on jobseeker’s allowance

 The controversial element of the DWP’s Welfare to Work scheme is being scrutinised more closely by the House of Lords.

Nick Hurd and the art of motorcycle maintenance

What do the names Sam Fitzgerald, Jessie Wright, Michael McCarthy and Ben Kinsella have in common?

Perspectives on giving

The green paper on giving¹ should have become a white paper by 31 March 2011, but the deadline for responses was only three weeks before the White Paper’s publication date – 9 March.

Accusations of Gift Aid manipulation unfounded – but funders need to be vigilant, says Charity Commission

Now that the Charity Commission has published its regulatory case report of on the Politics and Economics Trust (the Charity), there are lessons that funders need to learn about where grant funding goes

How 'good' is Big Society?

The disagreement in Westminster over the execution of David Cameron’s “passion” for Big Society was not reflected in a lively debate on 14 February between two think-tanks: ResPublica (Conservative – ‘Big’ Society) and Progress (Labour – ‘Good’ Society).

A funding gap

The government’s Giving Green Paper was published on 29 December along with eight papers from various leaders and thinkers in the sector.

Charities fight mobility benefit cut

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to end payment of the mobility component of disability living allowance (DLA) for all state funded residents in care homes after 28 days.

Transition Fund pays out to first 18 charities - more where that came from...

The first payments from The Transition Fund, set up as part of the comprehensive spending review 

Big Society or Big Talk? A perspective on the Public Services bill

The Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) bill doesn’t sound the catchiest piece of possible legislation

Culture secretary announces matched funding scheme

Cornerstone funding gathered momentum when culture secretary Jeremy Hunt announced an £80m investment

£117.4m to fund the future, says the Funding Commission

The Funding Commission has completed its report on the future outlook for voluntary sector funding in a document spanning almost 90 pages

Government funding cuts force charities to rethink terms of engagement

The £81bn of cuts announced by the chancellor’s comprehensive spending review (CSR) in a bid to ‘turn around the debt supertanker’ of £43bn a year in debt interest came as little surprise.[i] 

Does the government need to fund it?

“Charities need to talk to the government on its own terms” advise the authors of the Proving your worth to Whitehall, report published in August by New Philanthropy Capital.

Public still in the dark about 'big society'

With the ‘big society’ emerging as a central theme in the coalition government’s approach to public services, new research suggests it’s time they started to tell society exactly what they mean by it.