BULLETIN No. 102: August 2011

This is a monthly bulletin going out to around 10,000 clients, contacts, friends, friends of friends 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

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The 'Survive & Thrive' casebook of charity sustainability, recommends putting technology at the heart of your organisation to 'maximise your resources, raise money, communicate more effectively, and deliver services to end users more efficiently'. However, a recent NCVO survey found that smaller charities (those with under £100,000 income), say they have nobody they can trust to discuss their IT needs with. As the sector enters a time of anticipated rising demands for services, while combatting unprecedented cuts in funding, you need to be sure that any advice you are given is sound and right for you organisation. Tony, our IT director, is always happy to give free impartial advice about IT; give him a call on 01243 555611 and see how you can get more from your IT systems.

BLOGS
Subjects covered recently include Charity Fraud, Social Networking from an HR perspective, and the usual grumble about Data Protection. The fundraising blog is about Legacies. One of my personal blogs contains my definitive 8 word summary of how we can, and should, go forward following the riots. Don't forget my booklet, 'Fundraising Without Fuss'; some common sense thoughts on the subject.

THINKING OF WHISTLEBLOWING?
You might have noticed how gentle I've been lately with the Charity Commission. I was firmly rebuked for being critical a while ago and quickly mended my ways. It couldn't last of course and here I am being my usual acid self again. Alleged serious financial irregularities in a charity receiving considerable government funding (my money and yours!), led an employee to ask the Charity Commission to look into things. They had a very quick look and decided nothing was wrong. The discrepancies amounted to more than £300,000 in 2 items. How long would it take to track down sums of this size, we are talking simple bookkeeping here! Meanwhile, unsurprisingly the complainant got dismissed. What makes me cross is that when someone does pluck up the courage to put their heads above the parapet they get no support from the regulator. When they informed the whistleblower that the allegation didn't meet the criteria for further investigation (what would?), she appealed. The internal appeal panel backed the original findings. Happily a further appeal to yet another panel decided that the findings were 'vulnerable' and they are now investigating. Meantime the charity is shutting down. I imagine there's one panel won't survive the cost cutting exercise.

CHARITY COMMISSION
What they do well is to run a first class website and they put out excellent guidance documents. One of the latest is updated guidance for exempt and excepted charities. Excepted charities include scout and guide groups, armed forces charitable funds and some churches. Excepted charities with annual income under £100,000 won't have to register until 2012 (mostly). I say mostly because I just spent a few minutes looking through the guidance. It's complex and there are some exceptions to the rules, which anyway are to be reviewed. Rather than attempt complicated notes I'm happy to look at any specific situations if you aren't sure where you stand. I mentioned a review; The Charities Act 2006 required a review after 5 years. The review was set up to check what additional bureaucracy has been generated by the act. Already charity lawyers and others are drawing up wish lists, which for the most part are sensible and could well be adopted. I'll keep you posted.

KNOW YOUR SEARCH ENGINES
Search Engines matter because they increasingly determine what information is shown about your organisation and its services. In a recent survey, the majority of organisations polled stated that ranking high in search results is now as much of a necessity as having a traditional marketing program. However, search engine providers (Google, Yahoo etc.) continually change the weighting used to get that all important search result to the top of the list. For example, Yahoo now has a method of judging the standard of the back-links (links into a site) on a website. This now means that simply having a link that is completely unrelated to your website content, will no longer improve your search position. Similarly, since acquiring YouTube, Google has given more weight to sites and pages with a relevant video on them. Contact Tony if this interests you, or if you want to know more about optimising your website for search engines.

BRIBERY ACT 2010
This is now in force. Important that we are all above reproach. This should be addressed in a board meeting to make sure that you have adopted anticorruption policies. An area some charities might struggle in is where a charity operates in a country where bribery and corruption is acceptable, or even seen as normal practise. If you use agents or intermediaries overseas, you should make sure that you carry out robust due diligence and that the people you deal with understand your position.

WHERE DO CHARITIES TURN FOR ADVICE?
Now that the Charity Commission is scaling down its advice service, don't forget that we have a team in place with good experience and understanding to be able to help you. Last month I came across a charity that failed to take advice when they took out a big loan. The loan was not permitted within the governing document and they now have to regularise the position. I'm working with another charity that thought that restricted fund donations can't be gift aided. I understand their thinking (they are worried about the donations being 'conduit giving' which in this case they aren't).

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
As I travel round the country talking to groups of trustees and trying to make life easier for them (a job I enjoy immensely), I often think I'm stating the obvious a lot of the time. Then I hear about some of the strange advice that is so often picked up and I remember what I'm here to do: make charity processes and governance simple and understandable. If you want me to come to you, e-mail me for an outline of my programme. I've mentioned our franchise project in recent bulletins. This is progressing and we have a list of interested parties. If you want to know more drop us a line. Check out our website for a list of the services we offer.

AND FINALLY...

I just discovered an airline with a great safety record and a sense of humour that even excels the Australian Tourist Board humour. Kulula Airlines has a new livery which you'll have to Google to see. (Thanks Chris Wakeling for this one)

Recent on flight announcements include:

Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.

On disembarking ... If you need help disembarking, sorry for you, help yourself. Only kidding folks, one of our greasy engineers will come round to assist you... Please check the overhead stowage, the seat pocket in front of you, as well as your neighbours bag for all your nice goodies. If you decide to leave anything behind, make sure it's shiny and valuable ... no children or in laws should be left behind, we're trying very hard to get rid of our own.

After a bumpy landing ... please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal.

After an even bumpier landing ... please remain seated until Captain Crash and the crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. Once the tyre smoke has cleared and the warning belts are silenced we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.

After a normal flight .. we'd like to thank you for flying with us today, and the next time you get an insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurised metal tube, we hope you'll think of Kulula Airways.

There's much more; check it out if you have any sort of flying phobia.