BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2010

This is a monthly bulletin going out to around 10,000 clients, contacts, friends, friends of friend's and so forth, to keep them in touch with what's going on in the world of charities. Tip: if like me you have a low attention span or this came to you by mistake, scroll down to the .And Finally.

Daryl Martin

EXEMPT CHARITY REGISTRATION DELAYED:
There is a whole raft of charities that have hitherto been exempted from Charity Commission registration, and who are now expected to register. The deadline to begin the process has been put back until June 1st. This will soon be here. If you need guidance contact me and I'll be glad to advise. Briefly, if you don't come under the accountability of an existing regulator and your income is above £100,000 you should register with the Charity Commission. The process is simple enough, but there will be some issues to iron out.

ON THE MOVE:
Natalie Thompson, who has been doing such a fantastic job of looking after our clients' HR needs will soon be moving to South London. We will miss her presence locally but she will continue to be available to our clients, and of course will be more accessible to our London based clients.

VULNERABLE ADULTS POLICY:
Arising out of an item in the January bulletin Andy Conroy of Hollinger Court Community Church sent me a copy of their Protection of vulnerable adult's policy. It's a meaty document, well put together. If anyone wants a copy e-mail us. It can easily be adapted to meet your own needs. Thanks Andy.

CREDIT CARD FRAUD:
This is an area the banks seem to be very good at. My John Lewis card was cloned a couple of weeks ago and they were onto it straightaway; all very painless, apart from me forgetting my 'special' word and having to wait a bit for a new card. I wondered if anything else had been cloned so I signed up with Experian. Within a few minutes I had a detailed credit report which contained nothing unexpected. It's worth signing up and checking your own record. If you do it through lovemoney.com you get a free months trial. After that you start paying and I might cancel as it gets a bit expensive after a while. Do be vigilant; you might not lose money, but it can be very time consuming if you do get caught out. In London 1 in 3 people have been defrauded which is astonishing. It's more than 1 in 4 in Southampton which is where I am regularly.

DARYL'S BLOG:
In the last few weeks I have pontificated on various subjects, trying hard not to be Mr Angry of Tunbridge Wells. The note about meetings might be helpful for anyone who has sat through endless meetings which go on seemingly forever with not much getting decided upon. Then there's a warning to everyone who hasn't signed up with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). I am registered, but still get cold calls almost daily! You can now subscribe to my blog. I promise to keep them short and pithy. Please make the occasional comment so I know someone out there reads them.

WHAT WE DO THESE DAYS:
I called into the office today to find Kay in the middle of creating up to date marketing material. Hard to believe we've made such progress in the 15 years since I set up this business. We provide extensive high quality support to charities across the board, with some significant new services coming along in the next few months. The new IT Services could be a real winner; e-mail Tony if you want advance information to help with your own IT planning. Viv is refining her book-keeping service. This is a good time to consider whether it's time to contract out some of your noncore services, leaving you to get on with what you are there for. Contact Viv anytime to ask how she can simplify your life. If you are reviewing your accounting software, she will be glad to hear from you anytime. Kay, not to be left out, is launching a special accounts prep service for charities under the £25,000 turnover threshold; e-mail her for details.

CHARITY COMMISSION UNDER FIRE:
Part of the training I deliver to trustees involves strict warnings about the importance of not falling foul of the CC. They have teeth I tell my clients. I fear from recent experiences that they might just be getting a bit soft. I don't want charities worrying needlessly, but we do need to know that the CC is there to look after the good ones (most of us) and weed out the bad ones (still too many). Their latest bow to political correctness is to remove reports of its investigations from its website after 6 months. What nonsense! 95% of respondents in a poll conducted by Third Sector agree with me. Come on CC, let's get real about this. You do such a good job in so many ways; be firm, you are there to protect the public, no cover ups please. Twelve months, much better.

CHARITY COMMISSION WARNS CHARITIES TO TIGHTEN SECURITY:
A string of direct debit (DD) frauds has led the Charity Commission to advise that every charity should write to its bank to tell it that only named personnel can set up DDs. They should also make sure that their bank statements are reconciled monthly and make sure that all debit entries are genuine. This makes good sense. Every time I set up a payment authority my bank sends me an e-mail to confirm, just to make sure I know about it. If you do get caught out, you should be able to claim money back from the bank, but you might need to show that you have good operating systems. Build this into your procedures and you will be that bit safer. Contact us if you need help on this.

FUNDRAISING - TIP OF THE MONTH:
David Hicks, CE of The Book Trade Charity, did exactly this after they received a £5,000 donation from a grant making trust to help fund a project. He wrote them a letter telling them what had been done with the money and saying how grateful they were. This was so unusual that 6 months later they sent the charity another £5,000 for their general fund. Don't expect it to happen to you, but, do the right thing, and you never know what might happen! I'll try and come up with another tip next month. (If you have a tip to pass on, please send it to me)

BTI:
This is a counselling training organisation that I'm involved with. We have developed a 4 day course for qualified counsellors covering Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). If this is a subject that interests you contact the BTI office for further information. Rosemary Pavey-Snell, the writer of this course, has particular experience and understanding of this subject. She is primarily delivering the training in West Sussex but she is able to deliver it in different locations. Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills courses (the first step in training to become a counsellor) will be starting in Chelmsford and Caterham in March. Please contact the BTI office for further information ( email: info@barnabastraining.com).

PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS:
If your organisation uses radio mikes, they may have to be replaced in 2012 or soon after. Ofcom is planning to clear the 800 MHz band for other use and some equipment may become obsolete. There may be some financial assistance to help you replace equipment bought before 30th June 2009, but you will have to be able to produce evidence. So hold onto those receipts or asset registers. (Thanks to ACAT for this)

RISK MATTERS:
I'm trying hard to avoid turning into an angry old man, so I don't comment on most of what I read these days. But this one I must comment on as someone needlessly lost their life, and it illustrates the straits we have got into over managing risk. A mental health charity was fined £30,000 for failing to protect an employee who was sent to collect money from a paranoid schizophrenic who wasn't taking his medication and drinking regularly (etc etc). Health and Safety Executive is a laughing stock right now because of the silly things that authorities, who should know better, do in its name. I'm quite sure that the H & S people don't really want conker games banned, or Christmas trees, or even doormats removed from front doors. Jesus Christ said that those that 'strain at gnats and swallow camels' are blind guides. How right he was. We get lost in the trivial and send a young lady to visit a paranoid schizophrenic. Let's not lose sight of the big picture please. (Did anyone ever lose their life tripping over a doormat getting out of a burning building?) Time we started to get passionate about what's important. Have you done a proper risk assessment, one that really is your servant, not your master? I'll put a good practise tip into March.

AND FINALLY... (being the main or only thing a lot of people read)

This bit is getting harder each time. Last month's Australian Tourist board funnies which have been around on the internet for some time bowled a lot of people over. I haven't laughed so much in ages, being a typical response. As a change here are 3 true news items that made me smile. Australia is not in a good place right now; it seems to have an ambivalent attitude to its rat population. ITV did its bit to keep the rat population down by having one killed and eaten, but got fined £16,000 in the process. I think they have to promise not to kill any more, but the celebrities will keep on eating testicles and tongues and even worse from animals that presumably have been killed beforehand.

The news from the UK wasn't much better when it was revealed that over 27,000 TVs have been bought for our prisoners in the last 2 years. Apparently the prisoners not on good behaviour are being forced to watch Jeremy Kyle.

I went back to a transcript of a sermon preached in York during the Christmas period, and yes, he really did encourage shoplifting, but only from the big stores. He could have phrased it better, but actually, I've got a bit of time for this preacher, Father Tim Jones. He went into a shop a while ago and started chucking goods that carried the Playboy logo onto the floor, on the grounds that this wasn't good material to promote to children. We need to stir up some passion when we see some of the ugly stuff going on around us.

Oh, and then there's Tesco's, who are getting up to their own silly Health and Safety tricks (Man turned away for carrying his young son on his shoulders). They are now putting up signs saying, 'shoes are required to shop here, bedroom slippers must find somewhere else'.

Lastly, the sign in a music shop window read (really can't resist this one), 'closed for lunch. Bach at one. Offenbach sooner'.

Now, go and do some work.