Sir Stuart Etherington
Chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington says government should open up commissioning and make other initiatives less complex
Charity leaders are feeling more optimistic about their organisations’ financial prospects in the forthcoming year, according to a new report by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
The umbrella body’s latest quarterly Charity Forecast Survey, carried out last month and published today, shows that 31 per cent of the 200 or so NCVO members who responded feel the overall situation of their organisations will improve over the next year, compared with 21 per cent in the poll carried out for the last Forecast Survey.
The proportion who feel their organisation’s overall position will worsen over the coming year is down slightly, from 46 per cent in the last survey to 42 per cent.
The proportion of charity leaders who expect to reduce the services their organisation provides over the next quarter fell to 11 per cent from 16 per cent in the previous survey. Forty-four per cent say they expect to increase the services they provide, an increase of 10 percentage points on the previous quarter.
Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the NCVO, said: "Charities are under considerable pressure. The demands on all organisations are increasing while they are still trying to support the needs of the most vulnerable in society.
"We need government to support charities by encouraging the opening up of commissioning processes and by making initiatives such as the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme less complex so charities can benefit."
