Aggregated External News

Project Angel Food has released new details regarding its upcoming Angel Awards this Saturday, August 10th in Hollywood.

Guests at this year’s gathering will be treated to a special appearance by the organization’s founder, Marianne Williamson, as she presents award-winning actress Jane Lynch with the appropriately named Marianne Williamson Founder Award. The evening’s other honoree, celebrity chef and Food Network star, Giada De Laurentiis, will receive the organization’s inaugural Iconic Chef Award from actress Bryce Dallas Howard. Howard knows firsthand just how extraordinary De Laurentiis is in the kitchen as one of De Laurentiis’ first jobs after cooking school was working as the Howard family’s personal chef.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10597-angel-awards-to-honor-jane-lynch-this-weekend

Non-profit organization Face Forward will once again place the spotlight on the important global issue of domestic and gang violence at its much-anticipated fourth annual charity gala.

The “A Gatsby Affair” themed gala is to be held on September 28th, 2013 at the luxurious Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows in Santa Monica, California.

Honorary Committee members for the 2013 gala are Tom Arnold & Bonnie Somerville (they both co-hosted in 2012), Charlotte Ross, Jennifer Coolidge, Virgil Hill, Vanessa Marcil, Dennis Smith, Katie Cleary-Stern, Theo James, Kevin Alejandro, Shaun Toub and Dr. Jenn Berman.

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10596-face-forward-gala-to-be-a-gatsby-affair

Cedric the Entertainer is pleased to announce the launch of The Inaugural Cedric “The Entertainer” Celebrity Golf Classic on Monday August 12 at the world class Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo.

This charity fundraiser will benefit The Kyles Family Foundation, The Brotherhood Crusade of Los Angeles and The Boys and Girls Club of Camarillo in their support to providing invaluable services and programs aiding youth and their families.

Guests include: Cedric “The Entertainer”, Don Cheadle, Anthony Anderson, Barry Bonds, Rick Fox, Dondre Whitfield, Dr. J, George Lopez, Jerry Rice, Salli Richardson, Willie Gault, Chris Spencer, Cobi Jones, Eric Dickerson, Jim Hill, Marcus Johnson, Ronnie Lott, Royce Clayton, and many more!

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10595-cedric-the-entertainer-to-host-celebrity-charity-golf

Senior figures in the voluntary sector respond to news that 30 charity chief executives are paid more than £100,000

Today the Telegraph reported that at Britain's 14 leading foreign aid charities, the number of executives paid more than £100,000 has risen from 19 to 30.

William Shawcross, the chairman of the Charity Commission, said that "in these difficult times, when many charities are experiencing shortfalls, trustees should consider whether very high salaries are really appropriate, and fair to both the donors and the taxpayers who fund charities.

"Disproportionate salaries risk bringing organisations and the wider charitable world into disrepute."

Priti Patel, a Conservative MP who helped compile the figures, said "Hard-pressed taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent. [...] This money should be focused on delivering frontline services rather than lining the pockets of unaccountable charity executives."

We asked senior figures in the the charity sector for their responses to the news and comments, as well as for their views on the issue of charity chief executive pay more broadly. Here's what they said:

Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive, Acevo

"This is an disgraceful distraction by Mr Shawcross. Of all the issues facing charities why does he pick on something that is simply not a problem. Third sector chief executive's earn on average £58,000. That is less than Mr Shawcross earns as chair of the [Charity] Commission.

"Charities shouldn't be ashamed of paying people what they are worth. It's essential that the sector attracts skilled and experienced professionals, not keen amateurs. If we compare professional levels of pay in the private and public sectors, our chief executives earn much less. Shawcross should be defending the sector not undermining it. What donors and beneficiaries want is high quality services from efficient and effective charities.

"A strong sector needs strong leaders. We must pay to get them. Not excessive salaries, but professional ones. I suggest Mr Shawcross gets to grip with the inefficiencies of his Commission before criticising good charity leaders."

Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive, NCVO

"Charity trustees should set remuneration using a clear process, taking into account the demands of the job and comparable salaries, and they should be transparent about senior pay. The Charity Commission should confine itself to ensuring such a process has been followed."

Joe Saxton, founder nfpSynergy

"What a mess and how ill-prepared the charity sector is to defend the salaries it pays. I happily give by direct debit to over 10 charities that pay their chief executives more than £100k a year. Paying the chief executive of a charity like Oxfam, which raises £200 or £300 million, just £100k or even £150k is an absolute bargain.

"However, the public don't see it that way. Our research shows again and again that high chief executive salaries are a litmus test of charity waste and excess for many members of the public. Research we are releasing very shortly shows that three-quarters of the public see the chief executive as an admin cost. The reality is that there is a huge gulf between how charities operate in the 21st century and the public understanding of, let alone empathy for, how charities work.

"The task is to bridge that gulf. The sector needs to explain better why it does what it does. It needs to marshal its arguments to show that the £100k chief executive is a bargain, not a fat cat.

"It needs to explain that investing in fundraising is the only way to grow a charity to do more great work. It needs to stop people seeing admin as a shameful waste, but as the management oil that keeps the wheels turning. We have so much work to do to bridge the gulf and, at the moment, the sector finds it easier to dodge the issue than tackle it head on."

Dan Corry, chief executive, NPC

"Remuneration in the voluntary sector and particularly the issue of chief executive pay has always been controversial. Some people probably believe that chief executives of charities should not be paid at all, and The Daily Telegraph's story certainly has a flavour of this.

"However the key question here is whether or not each charity chief executive is worth it. We need to ask whether they help deliver for beneficiaries, the people their organisation exists to support. Do they drive their charity to improve its effectiveness and impact? Are they are good figurehead, do they manage stakeholders well, are they engaging for fundraisers? Some chief executives are probably worth their money—others may well not be.

"Every charity is unique and in each case it is the responsibility of the board of trustees to set chief executive pay. The process needs to be transparent, and they need to consider all of the questions above. It is quite possible that some charities have become a bit soft and that pay at the top has kept climbing even where performance has not justified this. But major charities are complex and difficult organisations to run with a set of skill requirements often more demanding than in other sectors.

"Of course pay is important and we need to keep an eye on it- but recent issues such as the Cup Trust tax avoidance scandal are a far greater threat to the charity sector's reputation."

Oxfam spokesperson

"As an organisation committed to ending poverty and inequality, Oxfam is very aware that we must not allow senior pay to escalate by more than necessary to recruit and retain staff of the quality we need.

"In the financial year 2012/13, Oxfam's chief executive was paid £119,560, which is in the lower quartile of what other large charities paid for their chief executives. We believe this is fair reward for a job that involves long hours, large amounts of time away from family, and overseeing a £360 million organisation that runs everything from a 700-branch national shop network to major emergency responses and long term development work. Our chief executive is also responsible for more than 5,000 staff and tens of thousands of volunteers.

"We pay our chief executive less than other charities of similar size and scope – and considerably less than someone could expect to earn running an organisation of this size and complexity in the private sector. Our market research showed that, in the same year, the median pay of other large charity chief executives was £135,700.

"In the UK, Oxfam aims to pay around the median level for UK charities. Charity pay is significantly below private/public sector pay – typically less than 80 per cent for senior managers and under 70 per cent for board members in organisations of similar size. This suggests our chief executive could expect to earn at least £75,000 more for a comparable job in the private sector.

"Our chief executive's pay has increased in recent years because our remuneration committee judged that it was becoming uncompetitive with the rewards on offer at other similar organisations of comparable size.

"For every £1 donated to Oxfam, 84p goes directly to emergency, development and campaigning work. Just 9p is spent on running costs."

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Abby Young-Powell
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Charities need to start acting more like charities and less like retailers if they're going to help transform the high street

There are always winners in a downturn and charity shops have had a good recession. There are now over 10,000 charity shops on our high streets and, according to the Local Data Company, that's more than double the number of shoe shops. In the last six months alone they've increased by more than 10%. What we are seeing, claim the Charity Retail Association, is "a national love affair" with charity shops. If that's the case, there are certainly signs that this is cooling and a long honeymoon period could be coming to an end.

After bumper profits previously, the last year saw Oxfam's income fall by £17.6million. Net income for the charity's shops fell by almost 10%. A drop in donations is just one challenge facing charity shops. The bigger problem on the horizon is the impact of the government's business rates retention scheme.

While charity shops have long enjoyed 80% mandatory relief on business rates, often topped up to 100% by local authorities, this generous tax relief is now being reined in. Councils are refusing to grant discretionary rate relief – because it cuts into their budgets – and we're also seeing court cases challenging whether charities should be entitled to 80% rate relief in the first place. If charities cannot prove they are using premises "wholly or mainly" for charitable use then local authorities will be able to claim back millions in business rates.

Against this tougher backdrop, there is only one thing charities can do and that is innovate. An recent article in Third Sector magazine argued that charities need to behave more like retailers and challenge high street brands. They don't – because that is a battle they won't win. They need to act like charities and demonstrate the real innovation in the third sector, rather than just copying a high street retail model.

The role of the third sector on the high street is dominated by charity shops, but there are plenty of good examples of innovation that needs to be scaled up to benefit a much wider population. From intergenerational networks, credit unions and the work of the charity 3Space to turn empty buildings into vibrant entrepreneurial hubs to social enterprises like Jamie Oliver's 15, which employs disadvantaged young people, and the civic hacking movement in the US that finds technical solutions to public problems, there is no shortage of vision.

These examples are few and far between, but there is nothing stopping charities adopting this approach to compliment their work on the high street. Instead of just expanding the charity shop model imagine the difference on the high street if charities shifted their emphasis to civic hacking in libraries under threat of closure, ran recruitment agencies for hard to reach people or low-cost community childcare for people who worked locally?

The structural changes that have caused so much havoc on the high street in recent years are not going to stop, and as the transformation of the high street continues it'll be experiences and innovative services that become the new premium currency. Charities are ideally positioned to benefit from this. Beyond the charity shop model there are plenty of other high street fundraising options. Let's see youth charities like the YMCA running indoor skate and bmx parks, charities like Age UK launching more lunch clubs, befriending services and pensioners cafes and the British Heart Foundation running community gyms.

None of this is wishful thinking. After all, social enterprise is a growing sector. In the last 12 months 38% of social enterprises in the UK have seen an increase in their turnover compared to 29% of SMEs. It has potential alright, but it's yet to really taken off on the high street.

One of the things holding back the high street is a sense that too many players operating there are trapped in a retail orthodoxy and cannot imagine doing anything different. In that respect, charities share similarities with chain stores, rolling out the same model everywhere and often lacking a real local connection to the community they operate in.

Chain stores stand accused of creating clone towns, and charity shops are not exactly blameless here either. High streets will continue to see business taken away by online shopping and an out of town mega mall culture, and their future lies in a model that's more community focused rather than driven by the ringing tills of commerce. People will need more reason to go there and charities will have to respond to the needs of the local geographic community rather than just their community of need.

A shift from raising funds to go back to central office to combining this with a local servicedelivery model, which delivers tangible benefits in the surrounding community, is a necessary evolution that will bring long-term benefits.

Charities have a proud tradition of innovation because of their links to the grassroots. If they're going to remain a strong fixture on the high street, like I hope they will, they need to return to this.

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Rafael Nadal, Ana Ivanovic, Stefan Edberg, Martina Navratilova and Daniela Hantuchova will be joined by leading, current and past, ATP/WTA players along with Sir Richard Branson in the 2nd annual Necker Cup Pro-am on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.

The event is organized by Premier Tennis Travel, a leader in luxury tennis travel and event management.

Sir Richard Branson is excited to host the event again. “Last year’s first ever Necker Cup was a huge success & incredible fun for everyone involved. It’s an honour to have Necker Island host this unique tennis experience again this year and I’m very much looking forward to seeing everybody again and some new faces too.”

More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/10594-rafael-nadal-to-play-tennis-at-richard-bransons-necker-cup

Research shows number of bosses on six-figure salaries at 14 leading charities has risen by nearly 60% in past three years

Leading charities have defended the income of their chief executives after research revealed that the number receiving six-figure salaries at Britain's 14 biggest foreign aid charities has risen by nearly 60%, from 19 to 30, over the past three years.

The number of staff on salaries of more than £60,000 at charities – which form the 50-year-old Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and co-ordinate disaster relief during global emergencies – increased by 16%, to 192, between 2010 and 2012, the Daily Telegraph reported. Eleven of the executives were paid more than the prime minister's salary of £142,500 a year in 2013, while some senior staff at some charities had pay rises despite falling revenues and donations.

William Shawcross, the chairman of the Charity Commission, said trustees of the charities should assess pay to judge if it is appropriate. "It is not for the commission to tell charities how much they should pay their executives. That is a matter for their trustees," he told the newspaper. "However, in these difficult times, when many charities are experiencing shortfalls, trustees should consider whether very high salaries are really appropriate, and fair to both the donors and the taxpayers who fund charities. Disproportionate salaries risk bringing organisations and the wider charitable world into disrepute."

A spokesman for the DEC said the amounts paid to top executives was vital to attracting the best talent, and that they were "broadly in line" with other charities.

"The Disasters Emergency Committee plays no part in setting executive salaries at our member agencies but we believe these salaries are broadly in line with pay at other charities of comparable size," he said.

"To ensure the most effective use of appeal funds, a balance must be struck between minimising overheads and ensuring a robust management system is in place. Good management of emergency responses in the UK allows our member agencies to deliver the planning, monitoring, accountability and transparency that this work requires and that the public rightly demands."

The spokesman said the proportion of DEC appeal funds that can be spent by charities on UK management of their disaster responses is capped at 7%. "Over the past five years the DEC has raised over £193m for its appeals and the cost of raising those funds was less than 4% of that total."

The top earners whose pay increased included Sir Nicholas Young, the chief executive of the British Red Cross, who has received a 12% pay rise to £184,000 since 2010, despite a 1% fall in donations and a 3% fall in revenues.

Justin Forsyth, the chief executive of Save the Children, received £163,000 last year, while Anabel Hoult, its chief operating officer, was paid £168,653. Revenue at the charity has fallen by 3% since 2010, although donations are significantly up. A Save the Children spokesman said the charity paid competitive wages benchmarked against two external salary surveys. "We want to save more children's lives. We can't – and shouldn't – compete with salaries in the private sector, but we need to pay enough to ensure we get the best people to help our work to stop children dying needless deaths."

The salary of Chris Bain, the director of the Catholic aid charity Cafod, increased by 9% between 2010 and 2012, from £80,000 to £87,000. Over the same period donations and revenue rose 16% and 24% respectively. A Cafod spokesman said its director's pay "remains much lower than any of his counterparts in the biggest non-governmental organisations, and has only risen in recent years in line with the increase for other Cafod members of staff".

Richard Miller, the director at ActionAid, saw his pay rise by 8% to nearly £89,000 a year, while revenues and donations fell by 11%. Janet Convery, ActionAid's director of communications, said: "Richard Miller's salary is well below the market rate for a chief executive of a major development charity."

The top paid executive at Christian Aid was Loretta Minghella, a former chief executive of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, who was paid £126,072 this year, up from £119,123 in 2011. A Christian Aid spokesman said the charity had a "strict policy that requires us to set salaries at or below the median of other church-based and/or international development agencies".

He said Minghella "brings substantial experience and skills in managing a large and complex operation to Christian Aid, strengths which are reflected in her salary that is on a level comparable with that of others of like position in the sector".

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Alexandra Topping
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Photos and video allow you to create a more immediate, emotional connection with your supporters than just words alone. In March, we shared Guy Kawasaki’s top ten social media tips for nonprofits , one of which is, “Add Bling: On every post, include a picture or video (that is properly credited to the person who created it). Visuals matter.”

Mary Armstrong-Smith, the community partners director for Prevent Child Abuse Indiana took Guy’s advice and immediately saw a response. She writes:

Earlier this month I posted a quote on PCA Indiana’s Facebook page. It was shared directly from the author’s FB page, and was simply text:

Two likes, 83 views. No shares or comments. Typical for us.

Today I read Guy Kawasaki’s tip on your blog about using graphics or video. I created a graphic using a photo of the author and the same quote. It was posted about 4 hours ago:

42 likes, 27 shares, and over 2,700 views. One of the shares was from a national organization—Healthy Families America. Yow!

Thanks for sharing Guy’s tips. I’ve subscribed to your blog and plan to direct my volunteers there as well.

Mary

Thanks for sharing, Mary! We’re so glad that these tips are working for you and we hope that our other blog readers are experiencing the same great results! We love hearing your success stories; let us know in the comments if you’ve tried other tips we’ve shared on the blog.

New research by the Charities Trust predicts companies will abandon charities that fail to deliver

We are well into a new dawn of super accountability for business, but the charities businesses support will have to face up to the fact that they're next.

Already regulated by, and accountable to, the Charity Commission, the next few years will see heightened levels of scrutiny from business. Charities that can't deliver success, or at least prove progress, will lose their corporate supporters unless they start developing their survival plan now.

We commissioned a new report to look at the future for corporate giving and the findings spotlight change on the horizon.

Companies will increasingly want their charitable causes run like businesses, and, alongside meeting targets and delivering results, they will be expected to have a positive impact on company profits too. Quite simply, businesses are under so much pressure to account for company resources and demonstrate value, all expenditure (time or money) will have to yield tangible benefits. This forecast close to open-ended fundraising for causes will inevitably mean a shift in how charities are assessed by potential supporters.

Those at the sharp end within some of the biggest players in corporate philanthropy want to see their staff learning new skills through community involvement – skills that will contribute to the bottom line. Some will look to community involvement to help them develop new markets on the back of valuable field research gathered during their involvement in cause-related initiatives.

Charities that can evaluate and cope with running their organisations with corporate supporters on the inside will flourish. The report predicts that the goal posts could well be switched for some of today's charity winners and losers.

What seems certain is that the relationship between corporate business and causes is going to get more dynamic – and more demanding. Professionals from the corporate world and within the third sector working more closely and more effectively has got to be good news for those who raise money volunteer or donate too.

The report predicts that, once companies have found causes that 'fit', and align with their business, they will be more likely to stay with them longer as these partnerships become an accepted element of their own commercial objectives. All of this should give us hope that charities' ability to deliver the ultimate result – and achieve their overall goals – will take a healthy step forward.

Attitudes are already changing. Companies are realistic and open about their interest in particular charities. In the past some may have been suspicious if CSR activity was linked to core business, these days they're more likely to be suspicious if it's not.

Charities should prepare themselves for a seismic change in how they go about attracting and retaining support from the corporate world. It may be more difficult for some charities to raise funds through partnerships with businesses, but it will also appeal to companies to support more challenging causes. That has got to be good news for some of the less popular 'Cinderella charities' that have hitherto lost out.

The research, which also asked leaders from some of the most enlightened blue chip companies for their predictions, saw companies going much further with their investment in change for good. It found that they will be more likely to mobilise not just staff, but their own customer base, in the push for results – so there are huge opportunities for charities that can sufficiently align themselves – in terms of reach, influence and seeing the job through.

Further, the report predicts, competitor companies will be more likely to put their differences aside and work together for a shared goal. This could see the global business community taking the lead on change from governments and paving the way for the birth of more 'mega causes' bringing a business focus to delivering charitable gain. Another aspect to the challenges of the next decade will be co-related charities' ability to work together in the same way.

There's no doubt there will be some additional stresses at play for charities, but also opportunities that some may have believed forever closed to them. What is certain is corporate Britain remains committed to giving.

The full report can be found here. It was written after researching emerging trends, a review of community investment to date, one-to-one interview with global thought leaders and a survey of corporate giving professionals and other experts.

Linda Minnis is chief executive of Charities Trust.

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mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

mrjives has added a photo to the pool:

Some days I wish I could call an emergency meeting of all Agitator readers, if for no other reason than to get your immediate reaction to one or another of our insane ideas — or at least Tom’s insane ideas. Until last week I figured that the time, cost and logistics of reaching 5,000 Agitatees would be prohibitive or impossible. Now I know better. Turns out that for little more than $1,500 we could hold an Agitator Telephone Town Meeting. All we need are readers’ phone numbers, and

One of the paradoxes of engaging in social media is that the busier you are doing things that are actually worth blogging or tweeting about, the less time you have to blog and tweet.

These past 4 months I have been immersed in rich data on rich givers – writing up a year of in-depth study of UK philanthropists for a new book Richer Lives: why rich people give, co-authored with the wonderful Theresa Lloyd, which thankfully – after many many late nights of writing and re-writing – was sent off to the printers last week and will be published on the 30th September.

I’ll write more about the findings once I don’t risk spoiling the media embargo, and once I’ve got off my chest all the things I’ve wanted to write about but have been too busy to breathe never mind blog.

The first ‘something worth blogging about’ is a new effort to encourage more open data on philanthropic activity. The Indigo Trust  is helping to promote an important initiative to encourage UK donors to be more transparent in their grant making. As a researcher, I’m obviously all for people sharing the detail of how much they give and to what causes, but there is a much more important agenda at stake here than making the lives of researchers that bit easier. Opacity favours none and causes concern to many – we all know there is a climate of suspicion about philanthropy and philanthropists in the UK, so why not dispel some misconceptions about the shady goings-on of rich givers and cast a light on what they actually do, rather than what the cynics think they do?

In a note of the first meeting to discuss this initiative, Indigo explain the benefits better than I can:

We believe that being transparent in itself is the right thing to do, but the reasons for encouraging openness go far beyond this.  In summary, openness makes grant making better.  We believe that opening up grant data will enable more effective collaboration amongst funders and between civil society and funders, allow for more effective strategic planning which will ensure that money gets to where it’s needed the most, enable grant-makers to assess their impact and demonstrate this to the public and enable analysis of interventions across a whole sector such as health or higher education.

If you want to keep up with developments then check out the Open Philanthropy UK blog  – and if you’re a philanthropist keen to emerge from the shadows and shine a spotlight on your giving decisions, then do get in touch!

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