Stone King hosts roundtable discussion with leading charity sector CEOs

Stone King was delighted to host and participate in a roundtable discussion with Charity Finance magazine, along with the CEOs of leading charity umbrella bodies, including the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), as well as the CEOs of the New Economics Foundation, Royal Voluntary Service and the Fundraising Regulator.

Representing Stone King were joint Heads of the firm’s Charity Sector Stephen Ravenscroft (pictured far right) and Rosamund McCarthy Etherington (back left). The photograph shows: Catherine Johnstone (back middle right), Chief Executive at the Royal Voluntary Service; Danny Sriskandarajah (back middle left), Chief Executive at the New Economics Foundation; Gerald Oppenheim (front left), Chief Executive at the Fundraising Regulator; Jane Ide (back right), CEO at Acevo; Sarah Vibert (front right), CEO at NCVO; and Ian Allsop (far left), Contributing Editor for Charity Finance.

The roundtable, chaired by Ian, took place in our London office and focused on improving the tough environment that charities face in the light of an upcoming general election. Catherine of the Royal Voluntary Service summed up the current state of the sector: “The only way we can enable charities to fulfil their complementary role to the state is to fix the state. At times of crisis, the sector steps up to fill the gap in state services, and the prolonged nature and series of crisis means the sector has leaned in and now cannot reset until the state regains some equilibrium.”

As one would expect with such a collection of expert and dedicated voluntary sector leaders in the room, the topics covered were wide ranging, including the cost of living crisis, the collapse of local authority funding, culture wars, procurement and fundraising. On the latter subject, Gerald of the Fundraising Regulator said “We are aware that there are now more organisations fundraising who aren’t charities, and so aren’t subject to the same rules, either from charity law or in the Fundraising Code. One of my challenges is the disproportionate amount of time these non-charities take up.”

Also discussed were the right of charities to speak out. Jane of ACEVO used metaphorical garden boundaries to illustrate the (necessary) constraints placed on organisations’ speech and actions: “We have every right to use every last inch of our garden. But what happens when there is a nervousness about the consequences of speaking out is a risk that your neighbour will move the hedge, which restricts the size of the garden.” In relation to “anti-embarrassment clauses”, Stephen said “It feels like the relationship with government is broken. The sense from government is of seeing it as a service-driven relationship without recognising the added benefits charities bring, so they end up doing the basics and don’t feel they can speak out. It feels very short-sighted.”

Mergers and collaborations were also touched upon. Danny of the New Economics Foundation acknowledged the apparent lack of mergers and commented that “Often, when a board and leadership get interested in the idea of serious integration, it’s too late and a failing charity needs to be taken over by another. I would argue we should be looking for deduplication and specialisation before crisis strikes.”

Among the solutions posed was the possibility of a renewed Compact, as first established during the first Blair government. Sarah of NCVO was part of the team that worked on that original Compact, and said of the prospect of a renewed one: “There is room for a framework that sets out these respective roles but it can’t be from the angle of charities providing public services, but about why charity services are special and the knowledge that charities can bring. We need a much more sophisticated conversation.” On this, Rosamund said “Some of those ideas may come back. But the problem with the Compact and regulating charities’ relationship with the state, is that all of the collaboration and cooperation is on one side. Therefore, charities are expected to deliver more and more as local authorities struggle. Although, there was merit in its emphasis on charities being a critical friend of government.” 

Stone King would like to thank Ian and Charity Finance for covering this important dialogue, as well as Catherine, Danny, Gerald, Jane, Sarah, Rosamund and Stephen for their valuable input.

Read the article in full.

Read the article online.