The youth charity YMCA Together has changed its name in a move designed to provide greater freedom and remain flexible in the services it provides

The Charity Commission has found no evidence of wrongdoing by City of Sanctuary UK after false claims the charity was encouraging school children to send Valentine’s Day cards to adult asylum seekers

Two local Mind charities have merged to make it easier for service users to access support

Two YMCA charities have merged in a bid to widen their reach and run their services more effectively

Charities have welcomed the government’s decision to exclude some charitable memberships from new consumer rights rules after warnings they could “cripple” heritage organisations

A payroll giving worker who defrauded his employer out of almost £200,000 has been spared jail

🎧 Small charity infrastructure, donation decline and an AI fundraising experiment Join @lrouse.bsky.social @emilyharle.bsky.social and Emily Burt for an editorial team meeting on the Third Sector Podcast

Darren Richards: AI is arriving like a side of fries in every app and piece of software your team already uses. AI amplifies, multiplies and accelerates everything it touches; good or bad, true or false, helpful or hindering

Luke Hall: When charities are treated as true, trusted partners by policymakers, and can work in partnership with professional bodies and government, tangible reform is possible

A major leisure charity has gone into administration after failing to overcome rising costs, reduced government funding and post-pandemic recovery challenges

The Brothers of Charity Services has changed its name to Best Lives as it looks to move forward as an independent charity with a fresh identity, it has said

The Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales has restructured its staff team

The former chief executive of Pride in London has been sacked after he was suspended over allegations of bullying and of “financial and corporate mismanagement”

Union members across 36 services and 12 local authorities have said their wages fail to reflect the skill, responsibility and emotional demands of their roles, according to Unison

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has appointed Keon West as its first head of reparations

We need deeper, more democratic representation for the sector. A democratic membership organisation of individual workers could better represent the true views of the sector and those in it than the managerial echelons bound by institutional politics. @barelycivilsociety.bsky.social

The Good Law Project has sent a formal complaint to the Charity Commission alleging ‘persistent breaches of charity law’ by the Institute of Economic Affairs

A 40-year old mental-health charity has changed its name and left the Mind Federation, as it plans to expand its services across London

FoodCycle has appointed the founder of the affordable food clubs charity The Bread and Butter Thing as its chief executive

Two Christian debt advice charities have announced they will unite under a new parent group structure to further their reach

Navca has urged local government and funders to invest in a place-based infrastructure offer

The Brain Charity has appointed Matt Meaney as its new chief executive

World Vision UK recorded redundancy costs of nearly £600,000 last year, latest accounts show

The Coram Group has today absorbed the family support charity Family Lives, with about 100 staff transferred to the larger children’s charity

A theatre charity is set to make redundancies to secure its long-term future and remain accessible for audiences, the charity has said

A campaign group has criticised a London council for approving redevelopment works at two sites used as workspaces by more than 100 voluntary sector organisations

The NCVO’s chief executive has apologised to its small charity members for “uncertainty and confusion”, after two open letters expressed concern about the infrastructure body’s provision for small charities

🎧 Podcast: How to approach safeguarding Lucinda Rouse and Dami Adewale hear from Sebastian Rocca and Joanna Nicolas about some common safeguarding concerns and how to deal with them @microrainbow.org

Crisis is in the middle of a radical shift. For the first time in its 60-year history, it has set out to buy its own properties – a bid to provide a bold solution to what its chief executive describes as a “normalised emergency”. @emilyharle.bsky.social reports

Zoe Amar: What three years of AI has taught the charity sector If technology is going to help charities boost their impact, they need funding, support and confidence in the path ahead @zoeamar.bsky.social

The NCVO has been criticised for an allegedly “tone-deaf” video recruiting for associate director roles, just weeks after axing most of its practical support team

The Charities Aid Foundation has appointed the former head of the Money and Pensions Service as its interim chief executive

A lifeboat charity’s decision to publicly criticise a fuel retailer “risks discouraging future support for worthwhile causes”, the retailer’s managing director has warned

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into an international children’s charity over serious safeguarding concerns

Total income for charities in England and Wales increased by £6bn to more than £100bn in 2024, new figures show.

LGBTQI refugee support organisation reverts to Covid-19 measures to protect staff, chief reveals @microrainbow.org

Our top stories of last week included: ⚪️ Charity considers Nando’s franchise to diversify income ⚪️ London Marathon could become a two-day event ⚪️ Oxfam GB trustee steps down after less than four months

A London-based almshouse charity is aiming to make between £3m and £4m by selling 11 of its 12 properties on one street due to financial challenges

The organisation said its new identity aimed to assert its position as the “leading” breast cancer charity, making it more recognisable and simpler for people to find

The chief executive of Refuge has stepped down as a trustee of Oxfam GB after less than four months in the role

The Hatzola Northwest Trust has raised nearly £1.5m in just over a day after four of its ambulances were destroyed in an arson attack

Transgender girls must leave Girlguiding by 6 September

An experimental autonomous AI agent that sends emails, posts on social media and even contacted Third Sector for promotional purposes has helped a London Marathon runner pass his fundraising target

A Scottish council’s decision to confiscate high-visibility workwear on display at a hospice charity shop was “frustrating”, the shop’s manager has said

Seven Dials Playhouse is set to close after more than 45 years due to a combination of financial pressures, rising costs and an increasingly difficult funding environment, the charity said

The Church of England has dropped plans to create a new charity to unify two national church bodies after the move failed to gain parliamentary approval

A Jewish charity said it was “deeply saddened and shocked” by a “senseless” arson attack that destroyed four ambulances belonging to one of its sister organisations

The on-the-night total raised by Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day fell by about £4m this year, echoing the decline recorded by the televised event last year

The latest UK Giving report shows a general decline in the proportion of people who give to charity. @andyricketts.bsky.social delves into the figures

“What this merger brings is stronger governance and a more robust executive leadership structure across both organisations”