Business Charity Awards 2018 open for entries

The deadline for entries is 1 February, and the event takes place in London on 23 May, as part of Third Sector’s Fundraising Week

The Business Charity Awards 2018, which recognise the contribution made by UK businesses to charities and social enterprises, have opened for entries.

The deadline for entries to the awards, which are being produced by Third Sector in partnership with the London Benchmarking Group, is 1 February.

There are 23 categories, including Challenge Event of the Year, CSR Team of the Year and Marketing Initiative of the Year.

Twelve of the awards are devoted to partnerships involving companies from a wide variety of sectors, including automotive and transport, financial services, media and entertainment, and health, beauty and pharmaceuticals.

The Outstanding Employee award will go to an individual in a company who has made an exceptional contribution to charity with the support of his or her employer.

One company from all the winners will be crowned Business of the Year, which was won in 2017 by the financial services firm Investec for its long-standing work with the Bromley by Bow Centre in east London.

The awards will be judged by a panel of experts on corporate social responsibility from businesses and charities, and the winners will be announced at a black-tie dinner at the Marriott Grosvenor Square in London on 23 May.

The awards ceremony is part of Third Sector’s Fundraising Week, which takes place next year between 21 and 25 May and includes a two-day fundraising conference, the Big Questions Live debate and a reception to celebrate the best up-and-coming fundraisers.

For more information on the awards and to enter click here.

Source link

Breaking GDPR rules ‘could put charities out of business’, says data strategist

Ilja de Coster of Amnesty International in Belgium tells the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands that failing to tell donors what information they hold on them could cost charities dear

Charities will face fines that could put them out business if they cannot tell donors what information they are holding about them after the General Data Protection Regulation comes into force, delegates at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands have heard.

Ilja de Coster, fundraising data strategist at Amnesty International in Belgium and director of donor relationship management at the fundraising agency The DonorVoice, warned that charities needed to prepare their systems to deal with the implications of the EU legislation, which is due to be implemented from 25 May next year.

Under the GDPR, people will have the right to approach any organisation and demand to know what data the organisation is holding about them.

De Coster said he recommended that charities should ensure their customer relationship management system has a simple mechanism to allow them to extract all the data on a particular subject into a single report.

“That’s an important thing,” he said. “Every person has the right to access data and, in the whole fine and penalty system, if you do not comply with that I guarantee you will get a high penalty.

“If you will not answer that request from a donor, you are out of business – that’s it. The fee will be the maximum.”

Under the GDPR, the Information Commissioner’s Office will be able to levy fines on organisations for data protection breaches of up to 4 per cent of their turnover or €20m (£18m), whichever is larger.

De Coster also told delegates that charities operating in more than one country needed to be aware that any fines would be calculated on the basis of turnover of the global organisation, not just the turnover of the charity in the country in which the breach happened.

He said the GDPR should be viewed as human rights legislation, because it was designed to protect people’s right to privacy, guaranteed under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and many of the requirements of the GDPR were not new.

“The GDPR is the continuation of existing data protection law in Europe,” he said. “There’s some details stuff and some optimisation stuff based on the evolution of technology, but basically everything you’re not allowed to do in GDPR you are not allowed to do today.

“But what is new is that from now on it’s serious; playtime is over.”

Source link

Social Investment Business appoints new chief executive

Nick Temple, deputy chief executive at Social Enterprise UK, will take up the role in January

Nick Temple has been appointed chief executive of the Social Investment Business, the organisation has announced.

Temple, who is deputy chief executive of the umbrella body Social Enterprise UK, will take up his new role in January.

He will replace Jonathan Jenkins, who left SIB earlier this year to become chief executive at London’s Air Ambulance.

Temple, who has been at SEUK for six years, was previously an independent consultant working with organisations including the British Council and UnLtd. Before that he was director of policy and communications at the School for Social Entrepreneurs. 

SIB has not disclosed what Temple’s salary will be, but Jenkins earned between £100,000 and £109,999 in 2016, according to SIB’s most recent accounts. 

“I am tremendously excited to be joining SIB and cannot wait to get started,” said Temple.

“I am joining at a very important time. We need to make social investment work for more charities and social enterprises and SIB is brilliantly placed to test innovative approaches and explore new partnerships that can help tackle the big challenges we face as a country.”

Hazel Blears, chair of the SIB, said: “Nick’s knowledge and understanding of social enterprise and social investment is second to none and I am absolutely delighted that he will be our next chief executive.

“I am looking forward to working with Nick to take our business from strength to strength as we move into a new phase of development and use more of our own money to test new approaches to social investment that help more organisations improve people’s lives.”

Source link

Private schools ‘will save £522m in business rates tax relief in next five years’

According to the business rates firm CVS, 586 of 1,038 private schools in England and Wales have charitable status and are therefore entitled to 80 per cent mandatory business rates tax relief

Charitable private schools will save £522m on business rates over the next five years because of their charitable status, according to new research.

The figures are based on requests to 132 councils made under the Freedom of Information Act by the business rates firm CVS, which found that 586 out of 1,038 private schools in England and Wales had charitable status and were therefore entitled to the 80 per cent mandatory business rates tax relief.

All charities are entitled to the 80 per cent relief from business rates, with a further 20 per cent available on a discretionary basis.

CVS also analysed government figures on private schools and found that 2,707 properties were classified as private schools.

These schools had a combined rateable value of £386.6m based on the last property assessment in 2010, but this has since risen by 19.6 per cent to £462.5m, CVS said.

CVS estimated that private schools could pay almost £1.2bn in business rates over the next five years if the business rates revaluation were to take place, but their charitable status meant that this figure would fall to £634.3m. 

CVS also released the figures for some well-known private schools that will save substantial sums over the next five years because of the business rates exemption.

For example, Eton College, which was attended by the former Prime Minister David Cameron, will pay £821,040 in business rates over the next five years, but would face a bill of £4.1m over the same period if it were not a registered charity.

Dulwich College in south London, which was attended by the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, will pay £786,752 in business rates over the next five years, compared with a potential tax bill of £3.9m if it did not have charitable status, according to CVS.

Waverley Borough Council in Surrey grants the highest amount of business rate relief to private schools, the research shows, with five London boroughs also making the top 10.

Source link