Karl Wilding's blog

This is a guest blog from Peter Ainsworth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund

“The volunteers at the Games did a fantastic job. We need to capitalize on that success but there is a danger of the volunteering legacy fizzling out.” These are words taken from the recent Public Accounts Committee report ‘London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: post-games review.’ 

It may well be the case that the Chancellor’s best hope for addressing the nation's finances is a tax on blogs that comment on Budgets. Our brief survey suggests even a small charge would net considerable gain. So, with no little trepidation, here’s our contribution of the 10 things you might usefully want to know following the 2013 Budget.

The publication of yesterday’s report from the Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector has surfaced perennial but important fears that charities’ independence is at risk.

In the social sector much of our interest in technology seems to me to focus on how we engage with supporters and users. As we seek to become more sustainable, investment in broadening our base or strengthening our relationships with supporters has taken precedence. Which is fine - tech has huge potential when it comes to core activities such as fundraising, campaigning and brokerage (time, money, assets).

I seem to remember one of the discussions during Trustee week about how to involve more young people as trustees made reference to the fact that some board meetings are just, well, boring. And of course the many discussions about the barriers to involvement as a trustee include the issue of lack of time, the difficulties of getting there etc.

Last week I had the good fortune to speak at the launch of a new book, Helen Kara's Research and Evaluation for Busy Practitioners: A Time Saving Guide.

I’m sure by now that if you have any interest in charitable giving and fundraising you will have seen the many news articles published as a result of CAF’s report on young people and giving, The Generation Gap

Our final postcard from the party conference season arrives stamped Birmingham. If indeed this was a postcard it would have been one from a natty little range showing famous election posters from history, sold by Conservative Archives. An example is below. Sadly, my conference budget has all but been used up buying cups of tea for MPs as Chloe Stables and I enticed them to talk to us about the Gift Aid Small Donations Bill.