The Prince Update- October 16th 2020
Our writer Richard Prince shares his regular horizon scan of the sector news, flagging up developments, new funding and opportunities in the social sector for portfolio careerists and others to be aware of.
EP analysis of COVID-19 & charity mergers in Third Sector
Eastside Primetimers analysis of the implications of COVID-19 for charity mergers has been featured by charity magazine Third Sector.
“Charity mergers across the sector rose by nearly a third during the first three months after lockdown, figures indicate. The social sector consultancy Eastside Primetimers has analysed Charity Commission data between March and June and compared it with the same period last year. It found there were 114 mergers during the three-month period this year, compared with 89 during the same timescale in 2019. The consultancy said the figures should be treated with some caution because the regulator’s data typically included some legal housekeeping around micro-charities and the late registrations of previous deals. Significantly, though, some mergers announced over the summer have explicitly cited the pandemic as a contributing factor…..”
Access Foundation CEO Seb Elsworth: Financing the recovery from Covid-19
From Third Sector. “Investment itself will only be part of the support that charities and social enterprises need as part of a longer-term partnerships with investors. Over the last couple of months, the Access team has been working closely with the Barrow Cadbury Trust, our partners in delivering the Connect Fund, on a call for ideas to help shape the second phase of our new blended finance programmes.
The challenge for a social investment initiative is whether repayable finance can be the right tool to support a new organisation before it has an established revenue stream. In terms of new social investment products, there was a clear consensus that more patient and flexible investments are needed, including longer term loans, and more equity-like finance. The call for ideas has been hugely helpful in designing the next steps for our programme, and we intend to work closely with a cohort of social investment providers and other partners in a co-design to build on these themes over the coming months.”
https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/seb-elsworth-financing-recovery-covid-19/finance/article/1697219
Comment: we will have to wait and see what emerges and whether it matches up to the needs of organisations whose cash flow has been savaged
Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund update
Arts and cultural organisations are benefitting from a share of £257 million as part of a vital financial boost from the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has announced. Organisations that applied for grants under £1 million in the first round of the Culture Recovery Fund were informed of their awards by Arts Council England which is distributing funding on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 1,385 theatres, galleries, performance groups, arts organisations, museums and local venues are being helped to survive the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
The allocation is the biggest tranche of funding distributed to date from the Culture Recovery Fund, bringing the total amount of grant funding awarded so far to more than £360 million. Further funding for organisations is due to be announced in the coming days and weeks.
Heritage organisations across the country are also set to receive a lifesaving financial boost from the government thanks to the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help them through the coronavirus pandemic. 445 organisations will share £103 million to help restart vital repair and maintenance work on cherished heritage sites, to keep venues open and to save jobs and livelihoods.
NPC guide - Effective leadership and decision-making in a crisis
Charity boards have played a major role in helping their organisations respond and adapt to the Covid-19 crisis. The type and pace of decision making by trustees has had to change—and many of those decisions haven’t been easy. As we enter the recovery phase of this crisis and prepare for the future, charity boards and leadership teams will want to make decisions that allow them to seize opportunities, manage risks and embrace change. NPC have partnered with decision-science consultancy Leapwise, who work mainly with senior public and private sector leaders to support strategic decision-making and build more effective governance and decision-making approaches across organisations.
Lord Gus O’Donnell to lead project on the future of civil society
Lord Gus O’Donnell will lead 17 commissioners in an “ambitious” research programme to identify ways to expand the role of charities and social enterprises. The Law Family Commission has been convened by the think tank Pro Bono Economics (PBE) with funding from the Law Family Charitable Foundation. It will formally launch in December and run for two years, seeking to identify what changes are needed so that civil society organisations can play a bigger role in society. O’Donnell, a former cabinet secretary, will be joined on the commission by experts from the private, public and social sectors, as well as former politicians, philanthropists, charity leaders and community groups.
Baroness Stowell’s Charity Commission speech – what went wrong?
Andrew Purkis offers an analysis of the Charity Commission chair's recent speech:
The Charity Commission’s online annual public meeting was a splendid opportunity for the Commission to reach out to an unusual number of attendees, but the chair’s keynote speech garnered indignant reactions on social media and beyond. What went wrong?
She is right that charities have a higher degree of accountability than non-charitable organisations to the public since they benefit from the cachet and financial advantages of charitable status. It is also true that people need to believe the motives of charity leaders are truly what they say they are. But her main lesson from the pandemic was that public support for charities cannot be taken for granted. Covid-19 has not changed the main challenge the sector faces, she says. Really? Charities have suddenly lost much of their income for entirely external reasons, and have had to make heart-breaking cuts and change their entire modus operandi. That is certainly “the main challenge” they are facing.
Baroness Stowell repeats the habit, now unfortunately entrenched in many Commission documents since her arrival as chair, of equating charities with “charity”. The Commission’s mission is now worded as enabling “charity” to thrive, whereas Parliament has tasked them to enable charities to thrive. The shadow minister for Civil Society, Rachael Maskell MP, has already proposed a review of the Charity Commission, going back to basics. Many Parliamentarians have a lot more personal experience of charities of different shapes and sizes than Baroness Stowell has ever had. The sooner they review the Commission from the perspective of the basics laid down clearly by Parliament itself, the better.
Comment: the Commission is becoming part of the problem rather than helping the sector with a solution
The winners of this year’s awards were announced online over two days for the first time because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Refugee and Migrant Centre: Black Country and Birmingham has been named Charity of the Year. Other winners included Emma Ratzer of Access Community Trust, who took home the Charity Chief Executive award, and Tim Fell of Stamma, who was named Charity Chair of the Year. For the full list of winners see: of the Year.