Largest charities urged to improve their reporting

Howard Lake | 31 August 2002 | News

In an open letter to the Chairs of Trustees of the 200 largest charities in England and Wales, The Chief Charity Commissioner, John Stoker, has urged them to take the lead to improve the way charities communicate about their activities and achievements within their annual reports.

The letter, a copy of which is published on the Charity Commission’s Web site, addresses how well charities account for and report on the effectiveness and efficiency of their work.

Mr Stoker asked whether trustees were aware of the opportunities to use their charity’s annual report under the Statement on Recommended Practice (SORP) to communicate its aims and achievements “in a rounded, rather than a narrowly technical way.” He noted that The National Audit Office had recently reported that, reading charities’ annual reports, it was not always possible to compare actual with planned performance, or to compare performance over time. In addition, he commented that not enough charities “provide sufficient information or explanation about other matters on which the SORP invites a supporting narrative, including reserves policies and fundraising performance.”

Mr Stoker was not seeking response specifically, but encouraged the major charities’ trustees to reflect on these issues and to discuss them with their peers.

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.