Charities need to do more to secure long-tem future

While charities are exploring various strategies to continue their activities, “very few are doing enough” to ensure they are still around in years to come, according to a report on risk and financial controls in charities.
The 10th annual risk report, Managing risk: Operating in the new world, by the Charity Finance Directors’ Group and accountancy form PKF, analyses information from 288 charities about how they are responding to social, policy and financial changes.
The report highlights a “fundamental imbalance” between supply and demand in the sector, with charities seeing increased demand for their services but being unable to invest enough to meet that demand.
One of the report’s authors said: “There is little sign of the situation improving in the foreseeable future, which means that many charities are faced with a business model that no longer works in the longer-term".
Key findings from the survey include:
• Only 7 per cent said they understood the aims of the Big Society and the approach to delivering them, though 50 per cent said they understood the aims but not how they are to be delivered;
• Less than half of charities say their trustees usually provide strong leadership;
• Three in five say their income has fallen as a result of changes in public policy;
• Three in five charities have already outsourced some activities or entered into other partnerships with other organisations. One in five charities did not know whether working with others externally was delivering the intended benefits or not;
• One-third of charities still do not have a risk policy, up slightly from last year.

[from: Civil Society e-News 2.11.11]