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Degrees of charity; social finance is best?
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 24 May 2013 - 10:03am

As I was burrowing my way through learned texts, I came across the Jewish "8 degrees of charity". This is drawn from the Mishneh Torah of 1178.
It rates the importance of charitable actions ranging from the most selfish - charity given ostentatiously so people can see how wonderful you are to no8, what is seen as the top most important charitable action. This is:
“Helping a needy person become self supporting by a gift, loan or entering into partnership with or promoting work for him or her".
What a great thought from the 12th century backing our 21st century notions of social finance.
The G8 meeting in June is having social finance as one of the themes of the meeting. And later in July a group of social finance experts from and practitioners from across the Globe will be debating the issue.
Called the “Policy Innovation in Impact Investing 2013 Conference” it will mark the 3rd annual meeting of the Impact Investing Policy Collaborative. It comes at ...more

Kindling fires in the Bodleian?
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 23 May 2013 - 10:33am

It’s like being a student again! I turned up at the Bodleian Library in Oxford on Monday brandishing a somewhat moth eaten Library card, “well, we've not seen one of those for some time", was the amused response. “I’m afraid we have gone digital now". Well, my card was dated 1972 and not used since well back. Still, they issued me with a new plastic thing and I didn't need to take my oath again (which I did in 1972) promising not to “bring into the Library or kindle therein any fire or flame".

The Bodleian was founded in 1602 and is housed in the most magnificent buildings. I'm sitting in the Old Bodleian looking out over to the Radcliffe Camera, built by Wren and one of the Library reading rooms. I wanted to get a seat in there but it was jam packed with proper students hastily trying to cram 3 years work into a few weeks before they submit to their examiners.
Still, I had a splendid view of same from my seat- as you can see
...more

Charity and health provision
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 22 May 2013 - 2:34pm

Well, we know when dealing with Government that rhetoric can outrun reality. Whether it's Blair or Cameron they are eloquent on the need for an expansion of the third sector in health . And, let's face it, given the challenges of long term conditions and the preponderance of the elderly in hospital beds we know a major expansion of charity and social enterprise provision is the bedrock of reform.

So it was interesting to read recent evidence from the Foundation Trust Network on the strains on casualty show a looming crisis in secondary care provision unless we act to move resources into primary and community care.
 The Nuffield Foundation has produced a report this week on the independent's sector involvement in secondary care. See here for link to the study.
It has the following startling conclusion:
"despite policy interest in social enterprises and the voluntary sector, spending on ...more

The Work Programme
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 21 May 2013 - 4:57pm

A critical report from the Work and Pensions Committee says the Work Programme is not working well for people furthest from the labour market. The report finds that, while the programme is more effective for mainstream job seekers, members of vulnerable groups are being “parked”- i.e. the providers commissioned to run the payment-by-results schemes are choosing to focus on those most likely to get a job anyway, rather than devoting resources to the harder-to-help client groups. Work Programme providers are only paid once they get people into sustainable jobs lasting six months or more, and higher payments are made for more difficult clients. However, the report suggests that these differential payments are not sufficient to incentivise providers to focus their resources on those with complex needs.
According to the report, during the first 14 months of the scheme, 3.6 per cent of claimants moved off benefits into a job lasting over six months. But people in the most ...more

Nuptials and Rhododendrons
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 20 May 2013 - 10:10am

In London this weekend for the third sector wedding of the year; Sir Stuart and Lady Rosamund Etherington! A rather splendid Do at the Reform. The happy couple pictured here;

And the unaccustomed London weekend meant the Hound and I could go and see the rhododendrons in Brockwell Park. 

Friday saw me getting down to further work on my History of Charity. I went to the Lambeth Palace Library to search ...more

Atos
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 17 May 2013 - 3:52pm


Yet again the private sector company doing disability benefit assessments is under fire. Charities have for months been drawing attention to abuse and incompetence here.
Yet nothing happens.
The BBC are to be congratulated for drawing attention to the revelations of a doctor who worked for the private company which assesses people for disability benefits says its methods are "unfair".
Greg Wood, a former Royal Navy doctor, resigned from ATOS earlier this month, after working as an Assessor for two-and-a-half years.
He told the BBC the system was "skewed against the claimant ".
ATOS, which has been criticised in the past by disability charities and MPs, carries out work capability assessments on contract for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Claimants have to score a required number of points in order to qualify for the full sickness benefit under the Employment and Support Allowance.
In an interview with the BBC, Dr Wood says he ...more

Charity Commission.
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 14 May 2013 - 3:03pm

Stuart is absolutely right. The Commission has brought the sector into disrepute. The defensive response of the Commission chair in his letter to The Times demonstrates they have not learnt the lessons of their lamentable handling of the Cup Trust. For Shawcross to try and excuse inaction by "waiting for HMRC" is simply not good enough.

People want to know that there is a regulator that is fearless in pursuit of wrongdoing. Not one that hides behind legalisms and process. The problem with the Cup Trust case is that we don't know how many others there are, where the Commission is inactive.
Will the arrival of new people on the Board help?  Looking at the names I think not. Apart from Orlando Fraser, who I like, these are not inspiring appointments. But you never know; they may provide the much needed impetus for a more aggressive Commission that looks to exercise its powers in a way that inspires confidence, not looking over their shoulder to lawyers and making excuses ...more

The Queen and UKIP
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 9 May 2013 - 9:59am

Always a fabulous spectacle, though the elegance of the outfits rather outshone the dreary nature of what She must read.
Although all the commentators seem to have focused on a "thin" programme, two of the measures are of huge importance and great significance for the future. The Care Bill is a start, not just to ending the scandal of people being forced to sell their homes to pay for care, but other measures leading to a more sensible approach to care. The Government need to take this further by working to integrate health and social care, but I'm sure the Lib Dem Care minister, Norman Lamb has this goal in sight.
The pension reform bill is also important. The new universal pension for all is a needed change.
It is also worth mentioning the "rehabilitation revolution" bill published today. As I told Nick Hurd last night, ACEVO welcomes this new legislation. We have been closely engaged in the consultation process over these proposals and MoJ have listened to ...more

Yes, we love administration!
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 7 May 2013 - 10:27am


Now that will surprise my team. But I'm thinking of it in its broadest sense, rather than as something I would do as a CEO! 
“Administration”, “bureaucracy"; words usually said with curled lips. But they are necessary. Indeed essential. And we want more of it in charities, not less. 
I was delighted to read in our sector media a report that suggests donors should not favour charities that have low administration costs as they are likely to be low performers. Research, conducted by Giving Evidence and Givewell, is the first empirical data to be published about what administration costs indicate about charities' performance. 
It compared 265 charities from 2008 to 2011 and found that in 2011 recommended charities spent an average of 11.5% of their costs on administration. However charities that Givewell didn't feel confident to recommend spent less on their overheads, with an average of only 10.8% of their costs going towards administration.
I do hope that ...more

Rehabilitation?
Posted By Bubb’s blog
On 3 May 2013 - 10:37am


I don't get it?  Why does the Government think a prisoner using the gym is a “privilege”?  What message does that send?  Encouraging everyone to keep healthy, do exercise and keep fit is essential if we are to tackle growing problems of heart disease or diabetes.  We need everyone, and that includes prisoners, to use gyms. The idea this is a "privilege", as the Government have announced this week, sends mixed messages and surely was not agreed with the DH.
There are many other problems with this change in policy. We know there is a revolving door in prisons. Prisons do far too little to encourage rehabilitation and the Government send mixed messages by measures that tend to suggest (as the more rabid newspapers trumpet) prison is solely about punishment. Structured programmes of work, exercise, training and the like are rare and becoming rarer as the prison population has grown, as Frances Crook of that excellent organisation, the Howard League for Penal Reform ...more