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SoFA gripe
Posted by Gareth Jones - Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
I may well be late on this one, but a new practice appears to be creeping into annual accounts slowly yet perceptibly. A minority of charities have begun using terminology in the SoFA which relates directly to their aims.
A nice story part 5 - The Treasurer's big IDEA
Posted by Donald Yule - Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Gentle Reader you will remember that I have told you about all those Nice People with their Nice Idea which became a Jolly Super charity and that this was, of course, all a long time ago before any of us had heard of Robert Peston.
I don't believe it!
Posted by Julie Pybus - Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
I couldn't believe it. A story about tax-effective giving was on TV this morning. At about five to eight, BBC Breakfast News – obviously desperately seeking another angle on the credit crunch – ran a brief report that covered gift aid, payroll giving and charity shops.
A nice story part 4 - At the Trustees' Meeting
Posted by Donald Yule - Monday, November 10th, 2008
Gentle Reader, you will remember that long ago, before we knew there were banks in Iceland, in the world of all those Nice People who owned a Nice Idea and had a Jolly Super Charity, things had gone wrong and something had to be done.
Swimming in a new pool
Posted by Roger Chester - Monday, November 10th, 2008
As well as grappling with IT, LionHeart has recently taken the step of moving from having a segregated investment portfolio to a pooled fund approach.
A conundrum
Posted by Roger Chester - Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
I have been struggling lately with one of these. How can FDs use accounting software to prepare accounts? By this I do not mean transaction processing but actually producing the report documents at the end of an accounting period.
A nice story part 3 - Some financial concerns
Posted by Donald Yule - Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
The story so far. Long ago when the postman called twice, a group of Nice People had a Nice Idea and formed a charity to do Good Things. And Good Things were indeed done and lots of jolly super people gave them money and did all sorts of Volunteering Things and, Jack Straight, the Nice Person Who Looked Distinguished, enjoyed being important as the Chairman and Eric Busy, the Man Who Worked as an Accountant and who had volunteered to be Treasurer, found time to do the accounts and was happy that he had even more to worry about.
Spam politics
Posted by Ian Allsop - Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Well, not long now. Indeed by the time you probably read this, after the months of intense campaigning and media attention, the British people will finally have had the chance to decide who should take up that most powerful of positions – President of the US. Except, hang on, we won't.
Partnerships in practice
Posted by Julie Pybus - Thursday, October 30th, 2008
I've just returned from the Community Transport Association's annual event in Manchester. There were lots of interesting things going on – not least the biggest exhibition of accessible minibuses you're ever likely to come across, October snow and a ‘hook a duck' competition.
Leading frenzy
Posted by Tania Mason - Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
As Charity News Alert went out today, the results of last week's Quick Poll – 'Who is the leader of the voluntary sector?' showed NCVO chief executive Stuart Etherington with a clear lead over his acevo counterpart Stephen Bubb.
A nice story part 2 - The charity grows
Posted by Donald Yule - Monday, October 27th, 2008
Just to remind you where we are. Long ago, in between trams disappearing and then re-appearing, a group of Nice People had a Nice Idea. So they formed a committee to raise funds to carry out the Good Things that the Nice Idea was about. Then they heard about a Good Idea for the Nice Idea and they became a Registered Charity and all the Nice People felt a rich warm glow of satisfaction. The happiest of the lot was Mrs Niceperson who became the Secretary and did lots and lots of work and, instead of just being another Mummy, now felt wanted and important.
Asset returns and the crunch - part 3
Posted by Biman Mittra - Monday, October 27th, 2008
One area I am more confident about over the medium-term (even if things are likely to get worse in the short-term) is real estate, where funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and investors, will need to go back to basics and generate returns from managing properties in their portfolio more efficiently. There are some interesting investment opportunities appearing in the US, UK and parts of Asia and more will appear over the next few months.
No longer fat cats
Posted by Vibeka Mair - Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Cats Protection faces losing £11.2m following the Icelandic bank crash, making it one of the biggest charity victims of Iceland's financial turmoil. And instead of garnering sympathy for its horrible situation, the public are just throwing more salt in the wound.
Send climate offenders to Coventry
Posted by Tania Mason - Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
I may be showing my age here, but I grew up on a steady diet of Enid Blyton books – Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers. In those days, the baddies were all quite traditional – burglars, thieves, smugglers. Today's world is rather different, the baddies are often more complicated. They wear suits and appear very important, and live extremely comfortable lives on their massive incomes. They're bankers, politicians, businesspeople.
Asset returns and the crunch - part 2
Posted by Biman Mittra - Monday, October 20th, 2008
The first thing to recognise is that what was until recently largely a financial crisis is now morphing into a global slowdown and, in some countries, even into recession. The financial write downs of banks estimated to be some $500bn to date have on some estimates, a further $500bn to go, in order to remove the toxic mortgage backed assets still sitting on bank balance sheets.
A nice story part 1 - Setting up the charity
Posted by Donald Yule - Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Once upon a time a group of Nice People had a Nice Idea. So they formed a committee to raise funds to carry out the nice things that the Nice Idea was about.
Asset returns and the crunch - part 1
Posted by Biman Mittra - Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
The other day I had dinner with some friends, all of whom have or had a connection to the City. The discussion inevitably turned to the state of the financial markets, something which no matter how hard you try, cannot be avoided these days. You know things are in a bad way when TV news and even tabloid headlines lead with yet another banking failure or nationalisation or the intricacies of the freeze in interbank lending.
Cable's world view
Posted by Ian Allsop - Monday, October 13th, 2008
It's probably fair to say that feathers were ruffled last time I wrote about CFDG's annual fundraising dinner. But Wednesday night's 20th anniversary event was by far the best I have been to. Yes, better than the 10th anniversary dinner where Princess Anne did what she neo-regally does.
It's time to talk to your colleagues
Posted by Julie Pybus - Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
Big news this morning about the UK's financial situation with the announcement that Alistair Darling has put together a rescue package for the banks and reduced interest rates. But every morning over the past few weeks has had big news of some sort.
It really is chips with everything in our house...
Posted by Roger Chester - Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
...even Ben (the dog) has a laptop. And he knows how to use it.