CAF challenges charities to avoid reliance on government funding
Howard Lake | 3 November 2003 | News
Charities Aid Foundation’s Chief Executive Stephen Ainger will challenge charities at this month’s CAF Annual Conference to diversify income away from statutory funding.
Top charities are increasingly reliant
on government funding and Stephen Ainger will be using the upcoming CAF Annual Conference & Exhibition 2003 to highlight the
need for charities to retain their independence.
Ainger commented: “in the last five years income from statutory sources to the top 500
charities has grown by 36% in real terms, in contrast with a growth of 11% in total income over the same period. In this environment it is vital that we maintain a real diversity of income and not become dependent on any particular source.”
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He added: “Public sector funding is growing to a point where the Government now sees itself as a shareholder in the charity sector. The proportion of total income from state sources has already passed the 50% mark amongst the major service-providing charities in the elderly and general welfare sectors, and is very close to it amongst the disability and youth sectors.”
Ainger’s speech at the conference will also encourage charities to take full advantage of the tax-effective schemes already introduced by the Government. In light of the fact that charities as a whole are not making enough of these opportunities, he will argue that it is difficult for charities to propose that the Government should be introducing new tax reliefs.
“It is crucial for charities to maximise the resources already available. It is a scandal that only 27% of voluntary giving is tax-effective. We must get our act together”, he said.
The CAF Annual Conference & Exhibition 2003 is sponsored by NatWest and The
Royal Bank of Scotland, and will be held on 13 November 2003, at One Great George Street Conference Centre, London.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.