Charities urged to give evidence to new Lords committee on citizenship

The Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee is an ad-hoc committee that will run for one session of parliament only

Voluntary sector organisations have been invited to submit evidence to a new House of Lords select committee that will examine citizenship and civic engagement.

The Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee was announced last month as an ad-hoc committee for the next parliament, and will consider how best to promote best practice and support civic engagement across the country.

Ad-hoc committees are set up to look at a specific subject outside the remit of the permanent House of Lords committees, and they generally run for one session of parliament.

The Conservative peer Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, who carried out the government-commissioned review of the Charities Act 2006, will chair the new committee.

Other members include the Labour former Home Secretary David Blunkett, Baroness Pitkeathley, the Labour peer who chaired the recent House of Lords Select Committee on Charities, and Baroness Barker, the Liberal Democrat House of Lords spokesperson on the voluntary sector.

The committee will release a report on its findings before the end of March 2018 and has issued a call for evidence, for which the deadline is 8 September.

Last year’s House of Lords Select Committee on Charities released a wide-ranging report in March featuring more than 100 points and recommendations to address issues with the charity sector.

The government is expected to respond to that report in the autumn.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has called on charities, especially smaller community organisations, to engage with the new civic engagement committee and provide evidence before the deadline passes.

Chris Walker, senior public affairs analyst at the NCVO, said: “This is a very important opportunity for charities to demonstrate how our sector is leading the way in civic engagement. Charities are often the vehicles with which people engage with society. We are keen for as many organisations as possible, no matter how small, to submit examples of the sort of work they do to foster this.

“Given the subject, the committee wants to encourage those who wouldn’t normally speak out. If you have a good case study that you can contribute, but haven’t provided written evidence to a committee before, it might be worth contacting the committee staff and talking to them about how you can provide what they need.”

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Give charities a clear voice in policy-making, CAF urges the government

In a paper published today, the Charities Aid Foundation says the sector is key to delivering social cohesion

The government should commission charities to improve community cohesion and give them a clear voice in policy-making, according to the Charities Aid Foundation.

In a paper published before the Queen’s Speech this morning, called Strong and Stable For the Many Not the Few, CAF makes a raft of suggestions including a bigger role for charities in their local communities.

“What has become clear is that action needs to be taken to unite people, to strengthen communities and to make sure that everyone feels they have a stake in society,” the paper says.

“Charities are core to delivering this, using their unique expertise and influence to heal divisions and strengthen society.

“National trends remain important, but much of this essential work has to be done on the ground at grass-roots level – the kind of level where charities are already operating.”

It also calls on the government to repeal or exempt charities from the lobbying act, or at least implement in full the recommendations made by the Conservative peer Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts in his review of the act.

Hodgson said the scope of the act should be reduced to include only activity intended to influence how people vote.

The CAF paper says the government should “enshrine the principle of charity advocacy in statutory law”.

Other suggestions include amending the Companies Act 2006 to improve transparency around corporate giving and requiring each government department to promote payroll giving to its employees.

It also calls for more government support for volunteering and says charities should be given a bigger role in shaping devolution deals.

Sir John Low, chief executive of CAF, called for charities to be given a big role in decisions made during this parliament.

“Government and politicians come and go, but charities are the constant glue that binds communities together,” he said.

“During this time of seismic change, charities are needed now more than ever to bring the country back together and help secure Britain’s place in the world.

“This Brexit parliament must use the unique expertise of charities to help rebuild communities, tackle social injustice and give a voice to those who may otherwise lack one.”

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Big Give запускает Рождественский вызов

. Будет доступно больше средств для участия, говорит благотворительность, поскольку праздничный сезон намечается (всего 199 дней)

В этом году Big Give Christmas Challenge может стать самым большим, но после того, как благотворительная акция объявила, что будет доступно больше финансирования от чемпионов кампании.

Основанный предпринимателем и филантропом сэром Алек Ридом, Рождественский вызов помогает благотворительным организациям, зарегистрированным в Великобритании, привлекать средства по их причинам, предлагая сторонникам участвующих благотворительных организаций возможность увеличить свои пожертвования на theBigGive .org.uk когда кампания выходит в эфир на #GivingTuesday (28 ноября этого года).

Теперь, на своем 10-м году, Big Give собрал более 78 миллионов фунтов стерлингов с момента его запуска в 2008 году.

Чемпионы, которые предоставляют часть финансирования двойным онлайн-пожертвованиям, ранее включали кабинет кабинета министров, Хелен Хамлин Траст, Фонд Рида, Детский фонд и Фонд Гарфилда Уэстона. В этом году новые чемпионы включают Фонд Coles-Medlock, The Four Acre Trust и Субботний фонд больницы. Они будут предоставлять финансирование вместе с Фондом Рида, Детским Доверием, Эфиопией и журналом Кандисом .

Алекс Дей, директор Big Give, сказал: «Мы знаем, что кампания имеет невероятное влияние на благотворительные организации: 98 процентов благотворительных организаций в прошлом году рекомендовали кампанию другим организациям по уважительной причине.

«Мы очень рады, что можем сыграть определенную роль в оказании помощи благотворительным организациям в поиске новаторских способов сбора средств по их причинам».

Приложения первого этапа открыты до 7 июля, и благотворительные организации могут узнать больше здесь .

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EasyJet founder promises to give half his fortune to charity

Monaco resident Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou says he will donate £1bn to his own philanthropic foundation

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of the budget airline easyJet, has pledged to give £1bn of his fortune to charity.

Haji-Ioannou has signed up to the Giving Pledge, a campaign started by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates and the investor Warren Buffet to persuade wealthy individuals to give away large portions of their wealth to charitable causes.

Haji-Ioannou has promised to donate half of his fortune to his own philanthropic foundation, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which supports scholarships, environmental causes, entrepreneurships and poverty relief in Greece and Cyprus.

The charity operates in the UK, Greece, Cyprus and Monaco, where he lives.

In a statement on the Giving Pledge website, Haji-Ioannou said: “I think all wealthy people have a debt to repay because it is thanks to their customers who bought their goods and/or services that they acquired their fortune.

“It took me another 10 years of both ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ philanthropy to conclude that by giving more than half of one’s fortune to charity, one can balance the needs of family and friends against other good causes.”

He said he felt that signing up to the Giving Pledge publicly would help to achieve two objectives.

“First, it will keep my foundation and its future trustees disciplined to do good for many generations to come,” he said.

“And second, in the more immediate future I hope that publicising it might inspire others, perhaps those closer to my part of the world, to make the same pledge.”

Haji-Ioannou said that a personal call from Gates helped to persuade him to sign up to the campaign.

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