Sector News

CFDG's specialised news service. Articles are hand picked from national press, voluntary and financial sector media for Charity Finance Directors.

These are external articles and do not represent the views of CFDG.

News stories from Sunday 13rd July to Saturday 26th July :

Charities' holdings drop as stockmarket takes hit (23/07/2008)
The value of charity investments fell by 8.4 per cent in the first six months of this year, according to the latest figures from the WM Company.

Charities prepare a challenge as water utilities drop rebate (23/07/2008)
Charities that own property have criticised water companies for a new method of charging that has increased bills by up to 1,700 per cent.

Interview: Humayon Dar, Islamic economist (23/07/2008)
Humayon Dar, Islamic economist developing Sharia-compliant products

Commission publishes terrorism strategy (23/07/2008)
The Charity Commission will encourage trustees to carry out risk assessments on their organisations to protect them from being used by terrorists, the regulator announced yesterday.

Long-Term unemployed could be forced to help charities (23/07/2008)
Voluntary organisations could benefit from government proposals to force long-term unemployed people to carry out full-time community work.

Anger over lotteries prize limits (23/07/2008)
The Government's move to increase the maximum prize that charity lotteries can offer and the amount they are allowed to raise does not go far enough, according to the Lotteries Council.

Skills department sets tone for ministerial dealings with sector (23/07/2008)
Government departments have been urged to follow the example of the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills by formally outlining how they interact with the third sector.

Navca eschews Compact move (23/07/2008)
Only a third of Navca members think that the Compact should be given statutory force, a poll by the umbrella body has revealed.

Economic downturn slows growth in charity income (23/07/2008)
Charities are already feeling the strain of the credit crunch with overall income showing a mere 1 per cent real-term increase and fundraised income growing at just 1.2 per cent in 2006-07, according to a new report by Cass Business School.

DCMS to consult on charity lottery limits (23/07/2008)
Charities and local community groups that run lotteries are being urged to participate in two consultations, in order to determine both the amount of money that can be raised and the amount that can be given away as the top prize.

Department of Health 'could move towards contracts' (22/07/2008)
The Department of Health has said its new main funding programme for charities could switch from providing only grants to a mixture of grants and contracts.

Social entrepreneurs shrug off credit crunch fears (21/07/2008)
Social entrepreneurs are less concerned about the effects of the credit crunch than first thought, according to a new mini-survey from the Social Enterprise Coalition.

Councils 'should hire more charities' (21/07/2008)
Local authorities need to act on their positive views of the voluntary sector's ability to deliver public services and give more contracts to charities and social enterprises, according to nfpSynergy.

'Volunteer and win British citizenship' (21/07/2008)
Foreign residents applying for British citizenship could speed up their applications by volunteering for charities, the Home Office has said.

DoH announces replacement to Section 64 grants scheme (18/07/2008)
The Department of Health is changing its main grants scheme for the voluntary sector, it announced today.

Your chance to discuss the Compact (17/07/2008)
The future of the Compact comes under the spotlight at a one-day conference in Birmingham on 9 September.

CFDG accounts 'shining example' (16/07/2008)
Online donor advice service Intelligent Giving has hailed the annual report of the Charity Finance Directors' Group as an example of how accounts should be presented - but criticised its interpretation of new rules on public benefit statements.

Tax relief campaign renewed (16/07/2008)
A consortium of sector organisations has welcomed Government interest in its campaign to introduce tax relief on charitable remainder trusts.

Hold fire on accounts threshold, commission urged (16/07/2008)
The Association of Charity Independent Examiners has urged the Charity Commission to postpone plans to raise the income threshold under which charities are allowed to use receipts and payments accounts.

Fines threat over construction tax (16/07/2008)
Charities involved in construction work could be fined thousands of pounds under a special construction tax scheme.

Barriers to level playing field in services 'too big' (16/07/2008)
Local authorities have tended to select the same contractors when commissioning public services because the obstacles to organisations competing on a level playing field are too great, a report has concluded.

New Commission Register will detail charities’ admin costs (16/07/2008)
The next version of the Charity Commission’s online Register of Charities will feature a much greater range of information including the proportion of income charities spend on administration costs.

Free accounting software for registered charities (16/07/2008)
Financial software provider CODA has announced that CODA 2go, the software as a service (SaaS) accounting solution it launched in May through Salesforce’s Force.com platform, is to be made available for free to registered UK charities.

Charity lottery jackpot thresholds could be raised (16/07/2008)
The Government today announced plans to double the proceeds and jackpot thresholds for charity lotteries.

Charities can weather economic storm, says research (15/07/2008)
Charities are robust enough to withstand the effects of the economic downturn, suggests research by nfpSynergy.

Be fair to third sector organisations, commissioners told (15/07/2008)
Public commissioners must work harder to ensure a level playing field exists for third sector organisations when they are contracting out services, a Government report has concluded.

Sector luminaries appointed to advisory board (15/07/2008)
Public relations company Clarion Communications has established an advisory board to facilitate partnerships between companies and not-for-profit organisations.

Charity VAT win (14/07/2008)
Charities involved in non-business activities should be able to use VAT saving schemes when renovating property, according to a new tribunal ruling.

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