Society expects that charities will both ‘do good’ (create positive change) and ‘be good’ (spend wisely, act ethically). While these expectations hold, society continues to place trust in and support them; when these don’t hold, trust is lost and damage results. As such, they are organisations to be valued, nurtured, protected and encouraged by the whole of society; by those who receive the benefit of their activities, by those who work or volunteer in them, and by those who, in the spirit of altruism, seek to provide much-needed funds to generate positive change in society.
Yet, despite their importance to the well-being of a civilised, cohesive and caring society, issues of trust, ethics, legitimacy and competency often emerge as barriers to the growth and development of individual organisations within the sector and, indeed, the sector as a whole. Scandals, fraud, inappropriate governance arrangements, poor regulation, inadequate accountability and transparency, inefficiency, poor management practices, mission drift and the reading across to the sector of highly-questionable business practices, are examples of dangers that have the potential to undermine faith in the sector.
This one-day conference, organised by ICOPA (a research centre at Durham University), will explore a range of issues that increasingly impact on the sector, alongside evidence to evaluate and guide the introduction of new practices and processes. Presentations and roundtable discussions will involve sector regulators and specialists, thought leaders, key charity management and leading academics researching the area, including:
- Debra Allcock Tyler, CEO of the Directory of Social Change.
- Steve Beharall, CEO of Newcastle United Foundation.
- Caron Bradshaw OBE, currently the Growth and Sector Solutions Lead at the Charity Finance Group (CFG) (formally its CEO between 2010 and 2025).
- Daniel Chan MBE, Partner and Charities Leader, PwC UK; and the firm’s Charities Leader and Government and Health Industries Audit Leader.
- David Holdsworth, CEO of the Charity Commission (the regulator for English and Welsh charities).
- Professor Noel Hyndman, Emeritus Professor at Queen’s University (and Honorary Professor at Durham University); member of the Charity Commission’s Charity SORP Committee (which steers the formulation of accounting and reporting for the sector) since 2006.
- Amanda Lacey, CEO of Nepacs, a Northeast England prisoner-support charity.
- Professor John Mohan, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham and Chair of its Third Sector Research Centre.
Conference fee is £65.00.
Organising Committee: Professor Noel Hyndman (Queen's University, Belfast). Professor Mariannunziata Liguori (Durham University) and Dr Henry Midgeley (Durham University).
If you have any queries, please contact Mariannunziata Liguori.
