Getting To Know Your Industry: Not-For-Profit

In our monthly series of industry blogs, we look at the global changes and trends affecting the UK Not-For-Profit industry, as well as pressing issues on a national scale.

Christmas, Brexit and calls for improved diversity continue to be major focuses in October.

Here we explore several of the big stories so far, this October.

• In line with Charity Finance Week’s Accounts and Accountability theme, Charity Finance unveils a new annual report template
  This Charity Finance Week, business advisor Kate Sayer teamed up with Charity Finance to ‘reimagine’ the annual report, suggesting charities focus more on the impact they are making. According to Sayer, annual reports are important for communicating with stakeholders and should therefore focus on the difference charities make and how they fulfil their charitable objectives – with finances as a way of enabling those objectives to be met.
• Charitable trusts and foundations need to take action to improve diversity
  In its ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The Pillars of Stronger Foundations Practice’ report, the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) has said that charities need to take action to improve diversity or risk “undermining the social good that we all seek to do”. The report includes practical suggestions for foundations to improve. This follows research from the ACF that revealed the sector is disproportionately dominated by white men.
• The NCVO has published a suite of safeguarding resources for charities
  The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has released a suite of safeguarding resources for charities to benefit from, urging that safeguarding should be a core value for every voluntary organisation. The resources outline simple steps charities can take to ensure they prevent beneficiaries, staff and others from suffering harm, harassment, bullying, abuse and neglect.
• Charities and other organisations could be at risk of a labour ‘supply shock’ following Brexit and in the run-up to Christmas
  The CIPD has reported that 56% of employers do not have enough information to effectively manage the recruitment of non-UK workers after Brexit. Many employers are currently struggling to fill permanent roles, and expect the pressure to worsen as Christmas approaches. While most businesses have been focused on retaining the EU nationals they already employ, they have neglected to focus on planning their future recruitment.
• Queen Mary University in London launches pioneering degree course in ‘social change’
  A degree course in ‘social change’ has attracted six times more candidates per place than Oxford University, with more young people than ever leaning towards activist careers. As part of the study-apprenticeship programme, course participants are partnered with major charities, including WaterAid and Alzheimer’s Society, in an aim to forge the new generation of charity leaders. Positively, with increasing focus on diversity in the third sector, 80% of students on the course are from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.