The Charity Commission are looking for responses from the public; charities, their trustees, and representative bodies; policymakers and funders on their approach to the Annual Return (AR) and a set of proposed new questions.
 
For our subscribers who are not yet familiar with the AR, it’s a “data collection tool”, an online form which charities with yearly incomes of £10,000 or more must complete within 10 months of the end of their financial reporting period.
The questions cover a range of topics including financial information such as income and spending; sources of income including contracts from central government or local authorities; staff salary bands and benefits plus more, thus enabling the Commission to evaluate year-on-year trends.
 
Why the change?
In order to obtain additional data which will enable them to regulate charities more effectively whilst helping them to deliver greater impact for the sector and for the public.
 
It has been widely known that public trust in charities has decreased over recent years due to highly publicised scandals such as the mismanagement of Kids Company (though founder Camila Batmanghelidjh has since been exonerated of all allegations) and questionable fundraising practices and because of this lack of trust, the Commission are proposing to publish more of the information gathered by this new data collection process in the hope that it will promote transparency and therefore have a positive effect on increasing public trust and confidence in charities, whilst also enhance accountability of charities to donors, beneficiaries, and the public.

You can have your say by following this link https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ar23_consultation/
 
We’ve had a busy month celebrating and supporting!
 
Some of our team, along with friends and family, took part in the London Pride parade, marking 50 years of Pride in London, and marched in unity and support with all LGBTQIA+ people around the world.

 
Some of our team also ran in the Asics London 10k to raise money and awareness for Disability Rights UK, a charity that works to create a society where everyone with lived experience of disability or health conditions can participate equally as full citizens.
 
There’s still time to show your support over on our JustGiving page

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/diversifying