Organisations distance themselves from register
Howard Lake | 9 May 2006 | News
Business in the Community, the Centre for Competitiveness and Community Action Network (CAN) have moved to distance themselves from a private sector initiative which has been set up to approve charities in Northern Ireland. The Register of Approved Charities for Northern Ireland, established by PCI Consulting, claims to enable charities that they are well run and accountable, therefore assisting them in attracting funding and assisting potential donors to make informed decisions when giving to charities.
There is currently no official register of charities for Northern Ireland, although it is anticipated that the Department for Social Development will announce just such a statutory register later this month, following its consultations on the 2005 Review of Charities Administration and Legislation in Northern Ireland.
Business in the Community, the Centre for Competitiveness and CAN are supportive of the need for a charities register, which they believe should be administered by Government. The organisations also agree that a robust system of approval is required and furthermore, accreditation for the third sector would be beneficial, but they believe this process should be managed by the third sector and should be self-regulating.
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A joint statement from Business in the Community, the Centre for Competitiveness and CAN reads We are not critical of PCI Consulting in taking the initiative to develop an approval mechanism in the absence to date of any statutory process, however PCI Consulting does not have approval to use our logos in association with the Register of Approved Charities, nor are we involved in any way in this initiative. We would indeed support the need for a registration, approval and accreditation process applicable across the third sector, but we believe this process should be led by Government working in partnership with the sector to help increase accountability, professionalise the sector and provide a valuable screening mechanism for donors which allows them to be confident their donations are being well managed and administered.
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.