November 2021
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
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This conference discussed priorities for the third sector - looking at key issues around funding and sustainability as it recovers from the impact of the pandemic.
Sessions assessed the impact of regulation and legislation, options for government support post-pandemic, and latest thinking on fundraising, ethics and transparency, and public engagement.
The conference was also an opportunity to look forward to priorities for the Charities Bill, now in its second reading in the House of Lords, which aims to reduce the level of bureaucracy faced by charities and expand the dormant assets scheme.
Alongside the Bill, delegates examined other recent developments in the sector, such as the increasing importance of charities’ digital presence and the increased cyber security risk that this brings, as well as issues and best practice around data protection in light of the European Commission’s draft data adequacy decisions and ongoing work on the ICO’s Direct Marketing Code of Practice.
This was also an opportunity for delegates to consider priorities for the sector in the context of COVID-19, looking at the impact it has had on fundraising, priorities for support, and the role of the charity sector in the response to the pandemic - and how this can be built on to develop future practices.
We were pleased to be able to include keynote sessions on:
- How the charity sector responded to the pandemic and its role in reaching vulnerable groups - with a senior speaker confirmed from Barnardo’s
- Ongoing priorities for fundraising regulation - with Gerald Oppenheim, Chief Executive, Fundraising Regulator
- The impact of COVID-19 on fundraising, practice, and innovation - with Daniel Fluskey, Head of Policy and External Affairs, Institute of Fundraising
- Taking forward the Law Commission proposals for reform to charity law - with Professor Nicholas Hopkins, Commissioner, Law Commission
Attendees
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders. Places had been reserved by parliamentary pass-holders from the House of Lords and officials from the Charity Commission; the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport; and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Representatives also attended from the Association of Charitable Organisations; BBC Children in Need; BHP; British Heart Foundation; Burton Sweet; Canal & River Trust; Change Grow Live; City Hearts; Community Leisure UK; Founders4Schools; Haysmacintyre; HCR Hewitsons; Islamic Relief; Jonathan Badger Consulting; Medway Voluntary Action; National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society; Nicola Gunn & Associates; One Thought Changes All; Parchment Trust; Pelvic Partnership; Prader-Willi Syndrome Association UK; Prisoners' Education Trust; Provident Financial; Radcliffe Chambers; RSM UK; Ruils; Scleroderma & Reynaud's UK; Sheila McKechnie Foundation; St Edward's School, Windsor; Syon Housing; The Braveheart Association; The Oswin Project; The Rothschild Foundation; Tuberous Sclerosis Association; Turning Point; Underwood Consulting; WaterAid; World Pencil; and Wycombe Homeless Connection.
Press passes had been reserved by representatives from Third Sector.
Overall, we expected speakers and attendees to be a senior and informed group including Members of both Houses of Parliament, senior government and regulatory officials involved in this area of policy, as well as from representatives of charities, technology providers and fundraising consultants, marketing organisations, those in the public and private sector who work with the third sector, regulatory bodies, citizen groups, local authorities, campaigning organisations, legal experts and practitioners, businesses and their advisors and social and academic commentators, together with reporters from the national and specialist media.
