Trustee News

In today’s newsletter: Six million fewer of us supported charities last year compared to a decade ago, but reversing the declining culture of giving is not a hopeless cause Good morning. Britain donated an estimated £14bn to charity last year, but that seemingly large headline figure masks both a dip in donations and a deeper shift in giving. A new report from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) finds that 55% of the UK population gave to charity last year, down from 69% a decade ago – leaving around six million fewer donors supporting charities. For years, the sector has relied on a shrinking group of committed supporters giving more. But with donations falling for the first time in five years, researchers warn that Britain’s culture of giving is becoming “increasingly fragile”. Middle East | Ministers are drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait of Hormuz amid concerns in Whitehall that complying with Donald Trump’s demand to send ships could escalate the crisis. Oscars | Paul Thomas Anderson’s counter-culture caper One Battle After Another has won the Oscars war, taking home six awards after a hotly contested season. US politics | Republican lawmakers are pushing back against suggestions from the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, that he might remove the licenses from media he – and Donald Trump – deem to be delivering fake news about the war in Iran. Business | Oil company shares have hit all-time highs due to the crisis caused by the war in the Middle East. The combined market value of the six stock market-listed western “super majors” has soared by more than $130bn in the two weeks since the start of the war. Abortion | Vulnerable women in England are still being arrested and facing police investigations over suspected illegal pregnancy terminations, despite parliament backing changes to the law to decriminalise abortion. Continue reading…

Charities Aid Foundation says giving no longer a ‘deeply embedded cultural norm’ amid rising cost of living Britain is rapidly losing the charity habit, with public donations to good causes plummeting by more than £1.4bn last year and millions of people saying they can no longer afford – or do not want – to give, according to an analysis. The Charities Aid Foundation (Caf) said in its annual report that, while the British remained generous at heart, society was witnessing a big transformation in attitudes towards charitable giving. Just half of people gave to charity in 2025, down from 61% a decade earlier. Continue reading…

Minister announces action plan to boost social cohesion that will also give regulator powers to shut down charities The UK government will expand powers to tackle extremism by setting up a new whistleblowing route for university staff and giving the Charity Commission powers to shut down charities, as part of a new action plan to strengthen social cohesion. The plan, announced by the housing, communities and local government secretary, Steve Reed, will invest a further £5m in the Common Ground Resilience Fund, which was launched to support organisations and authorities tackling divisions in communities. Continue reading…

My friend and former colleague Ian Arnot, who has died of cancer aged 45, was an LGBTQ+ activist, charity leader and fellow of the Chartered Institute of PR (CIPR). He was also a longstanding non-executive director in the charitable sector in Edinburgh, and served as BT’s head of corporate communications from 2020 to 2025. Ian became well known in media and political circles in Scotland and London during his 24-year career with BT Group. He was appointed a chartered fellow of CIPR in 2023, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the institute and the profession, and was elected vice-chair of CIPR Scotland in 2025. He was about to start a new role with the IHG hotel group at the time of his terminal diagnosis, which he bore with typical resilience, courage and hope. Continue reading…

Regulator rules Universal Church of the Kingdom of God did not protect vulnerable donors, including woman who says she gave life savings “Sometimes you’re seeing God as a genie, where if I give him all this money, He will bring me what I want,” Sarah says. The 27-year-old spent years in the grip of “prosperity gospel”, whose followers believe cash donations to evangelical churches unlock divine blessings of health and wealth. So did Jennifer*, 29, who says she handed over her life savings. Name has been changed Continue reading…