UK Charity Commission Looks to Raise Trust
9 October 2018 at 8:28 am
The UK Charity Commission will prioritise raising public trust in charities as confidence in the sector reaches its lowest level in years.
Recent incidents – most notably Oxfam’s sexual misconduct scandal – has seen trust in UK charities drop to its lowest point since 2005.
In response, the Charity Commission’s new strategy will prioritise ensuring charities can thrive and inspire trust.
“This purpose will inform everything the Charity Commission does,” the strategy said.
“To be the effective regulator that the public demands and the sector requires, the commission must do all it can to ensure that charities show they are being true to their own purposes, can demonstrate the difference they’re making, and meet the high expectations demanded by the public.”
The strategy sets out five new strategic objectives for the commission, which included holding charities to account, dealing with wrongdoing and harm, and giving charities the tools needed to succeed.
Charity Commission chair Baroness Stowell said the great challenge was charities did not always live up to the public’s expectation of behaviour.
“The public, quite reasonably, expect a charity to have charitable aims, and to be a living, breathing expression of charitable behaviour and attitude,” Stowell said.
“By working on this together, charities and the commission will help ensure that charities thrive, so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.”
