Greetings!

Volunteering is in the headlines again - it appears the government may not cover the full cost of its national citizen service pilots, and a new Volunteering Bill contains an idea for a 'fit and proper person' certificate. Nick Hurd faced the music yesterday at a roundtable event full of grassroots organisations, while Andrew Hind has called on charities to stop competing with each other and instead to help each other out.

MP warns that government may not foot the total bill for national citizen service

Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow has warned that the government may not meet the total costs of the national citizen service pilots.

What's really happening out there: the minister hears from the grassroots

Minister for civil society Nick Hurd faced a barrage of questions and concerns about how the new government's cuts and plans are impacting the sector, at a roundtable event organised by the Directory of Social Change yesterday.

OCS to spend £1.5m on National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises

The Office for Civil Society is spending £1.5m on the National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises being conducted by Ipsos Mori.

Air ambulance charity defends switch to private doctors

The East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) has hit out at claims that its decision to replace volunteers from medical volunteer organisation Magpas with private doctors amounts to a "privatisation" of the charity.

Hind denounces sector's 'survival of the fittest' mindset

Charities must resist the urge to compete - for funds, donors and contracts - and focus instead on how they can share information and help each other out, former Charity Commission chief Andrew Hind this week.

'Fit and proper person' certificate mooted in new Volunteering Bill

Conservative MP Christopher Chope proposed the introduction of a 'fit and proper person' certificate as part of a new Volunteering Bill he tabled before parliament last week.

How to resign from a board successfully

At some point you may resign from a non-profit board before  your term is up. You might be angry, disappointed, or just  too busy. Don't botch your resignation: do it right, says Jan Masaoka.

Big Brother or Big Society?

Gordon Hunter wonders, whatever happened to charity now that it has been engulfed by the state?

Bonfire of the quangos 'domino effect' may result in sector failures

The haste of the quango cuts has David Davison worried about the impact on organisations big and small as he warns that  pension schemes could provide the final straw to break your organisation's back.

Frontline: Growing pains

 

In the second of Beth Yorath's blogs from Romania, she becomes increasingly aware of a moral quandary associated with children's charities...

They said it...