Closing Plenary at CFG's Annual Conference 2012

1. 25 years, and the future
Andrew Hind

2. 597AD - Canterbury

3. 1,400 years of charity
history
• King’s school, Canterbury 597 AD
• Order of St John 11th century
• Statute of Elizabeth 1601
•Charity Commission established 1853
• The Victorian philanthropists – NSPCC 1884
• Oxfam 1948
• The hospice movement 1967

4. All change in the 1980s
Ethiopia famine 1984

5. All change in the 1980s
A year later, Bob
Geldof harnessed
the emerging
power of the
mass media to
create the world’s
largest ever
charitable appeal

6. All change in the 1980s

7. All change in the 1980s

8. All change in the 1980s
Ernest
Saunders
(right) and
the Guinness
scandal of
1986

9. Adrian Randall 1944-2012

10. The charity world in 1987

11. The charity world in 1987
No Sorp
No consistency in financial reporting
No transparency
No reserves policies
No risk frameworks
No audit committees
No concept of governance
No impact reports/public benefit statements
No career path in the sector

12. What a difference CFG made
• Sorp: 1988, 1995, 2000, 2005
• Members’ helpline 1991 (Pesh Framjee)
• Charity MSc 1992 (Prof. Paul Palmer)
• Charities Act 1993
• First CEO 1994
• 10th anniversary 1997, with HRH Princess Anne
• Charity risk management survey, 2002
• 1,000 members in 2004
• The role of the Charity FD; Managing in a downturn;
Pensions maze; 2008

13. 25-year theme –
Rise of the donor as consumer, or not?
• The great paradox of charity reporting:
The regulator pushed for greater transparency; the
ASB pushed for greater disclosure; the best charities
were committed to more effective reporting –
But, as far as the average charity donor was
concerned, ‘heart still ruled head’.

16. Despite more transparency, inertia
largely prevails – does it matter?
Over the last 25 years:
• Just 15 of the biggest companies have remained in
the FTSE 50 throughout. Only 40% of top 50
companies in 1985 remain in FTSE 350 today.
• By contrast 28 of the top 50 charities in 1985
remain in the top 50, and 90% remain in the Charity
Finance 350 Index

17. Little change among top 50
charities
• National Trust; Nuffield Health; Oxfam; Salvation Army;
Barnardo’s; Save the Children; Scope; RNLI; Action for
Children; NSPCC; British Red Cross – all in top 20 in
1985 and still there today.
• Imperial Cancer Research Fund (9th in 1985) and
Cancer Research Campaign (13th) merged to form
CRUK (now 2nd). Age UK merger.
• A few start ups: CIFF; Gatsby Foundation; Woodard
Corporation; Charity Projects.

18. Future trends?
Pension liabilities – temporary blip or threat
to long-term survival of some of our
biggest brand names?
Public service delivery – improving the
quality of services for users, or nothing
more than for-profit ‘bid candy’, leading to
the emergence of a ‘fourth sector’?

20. Future trends?
• New ‘charitable’ ventures – will social
enterprise, CICs, CIOs, Academies, etc breath new
life into civil society, or blur the boundaries so much
that the public will no longer know what a charity
stands for?
• Governance – will the long-established governance
model be under threat as the new ventures above
push for payment of trustees and executives on the
board?

21. Future trends?
• Mergers – is all the talk borne of a spirit of
true collaboration, or will it prove to be
instinctive Darwinism where only the
biggest and strongest survive?
• Social finance – the solution to all our
funding problems, or the start of
unprecedented gearing in the sector which
will leave charities in hock to commercial
lenders?

22. Future trends? Fred Goodwin

23. Future trends?
Eric Illsley and Lord Taylor

24. Future trends?
James Murdoch

25. Future trends?

26. Or: Fiona Reynolds
The National Trust

27. David Nussbaum, WWF

28. Su Sayer, United Response

29. Nick Young,
British Red Cross

30. Whatever happens in the next 25
years, we must retain public trust in
the distinctive brand of charity
2005 Mean Score: 6.3 2008 Mean Score: 6.6
23%
(replicated in 2010)
22% 22%
2005
18% 20%
2008
19%
11%
10% 8%
6%
5%
3% 3% 3% 5%
1% 4%
1%
2%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Don’t trust Trust them
them at all Source: Ipsos MORI completely

31. Sector behaviour the
public want to see
• Always focused on the charity’s values
• Transparent and accountable
• Independent, non-political
• Brave and innovative
• Collaborative, not competitive
• Providing VFM, and delivering public benefit
• Building public trust and confidence

32. 25 years, and the
future
Andrew Hind