An idea to help smaller charities

Charities rely on grants or people's donations. Since the first Charity Act in 1604, charities have been regulated to ensure people can trust they are using the money wisely and as intended. Complying with the law and the charity governance code and doing good work is challenging for small charities run totally by volunteers.

There are almost 184,000 charities in England and Wales, with over 5.5 million volunteers and almost a million trustees. The sector employs 1.25 million people. Amazingly the Arts Council, the largest charity, has an income of nearly £1.5 billion, with the largest high street charities, Cancer Research and the National Trust, each having an income of over half a billion pounds.

However, about 80,000 registered charities have an income of less than £10k. These are generally the local charities that do vital work in their communities.

I am the secretary of one such charity in our local community with an income of just under £5k per annum. It keeps the community connected and informed, organises events and helps maintain the village facilities. The chair, treasurer, and I share admin tasks, finances, village hall bookings, meeting agendas and minutes, and the charity commission's statutory duties. It is a bit of a pain, but we all have some experience to do it quite well. But I am aware that other charities often don't have people with any experience, and these tasks can feel quite daunting and demanding and often fall on just one person.

It also means that instead of focusing on how the charity can fulfil its mission more effectively volunteers' time and energy are taken up on the administration tasks of running the charity.

In comparison, I am also chair of the local Parish Council, and the admin support is undertaken by the parish clerk, who works a few hours for us a month and another parish council. This makes my life as a chair really easy. The foundation qualification CiLCA (Certificate in Local Council Administration) provides a broad knowledge of all the aspects of a clerk's work – roles and responsibilities, the law, procedures, finance planning and community involvement.

So why isn't there an equivalent for charities, a charity clerk who could work as much or as little as they wanted but would ease the pressure on the volunteer trustees? The role could have a qualification to support it. We pay our parish clerk for just a few hours each month which would be affordable for a small charity. It would also be easy to ask a local firm to sponsor the role. CVSs could provide support on employment issues, allowing the trustees and volunteers to focus on maximising their impact with their limited time and funds.

I would like to hear what people think. Is it a good idea? How could it be made to happen? Let me know your thoughts.

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An idea to help smaller charities

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