NCVO

We are very pleased to announce that Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary of the Treasury, has been announced as a Keynote Speaker at the our Annual Conference on 5 March 2012.

Danny was a key member of the coalition negotiating team and played an important role in drawing up the detailed programme for government.

Read more.

It is with sadness that we announce the death of Sir Geoffrey Chandler on Thursday 7 April 2011.

Sir Geoffrey was a leading proponent of corporate social responsibility and a driving force in the development of ethical business principles.

Amongst an extraordinary career stretching across the private, public and voluntary sectors, Sir Geoffrey was Chair of NCVO from 1989 until 1996.

He is survived by his wife Lucy and four daughters, Hilary, Sarah, Clare and Susan.

We are proud to be supporting a new petition which calls for co-operative action to narrow the gap between the rich and poor in the UK.

With the gap at its highest since records began, the petition aims to get 100,000 people calling for national debate on narrowing the gap through action to share ownership and wealth in a co-operative way.

Today the Leadership 20:20 Commission on the future leadership of civil society announced it is extending its online consultation until April 30th.

Launched in January, the consultation seeks to collect the opinions of emerging and current leaders in the sector on both the challenges of the future, and how best to support emerging leaders.

Don't miss your chance to win £100 and a place at our annual conference - make sure you enter our annual members' photography competition before Friday 21 January.

With less than two weeks left before entries close, we'd encourage all of you to get snapping and send us a picture of your work that you believe depicts this year's theme: Building a Better Society. If you're shortlisted, your work will also be put on display at the annual conference, raising the profile of your organisation and its work.

Today we announce a consultation on a major restructuring, and a decision to expand our King's Cross Office to provide a home for more of our members.

Martyn Lewis has been formally appointed as our new chair.

Mr Lewis, who is well-known from his long career in broadcasting at the BBC and ITN, took over at our Annual General Meeting last Wednesday (November 24th). 

He succeeds outgoing chair Sir Graham Melmoth, who is standing down after the maximum two terms in post.

Mr Lewis has been involved with the voluntary sector for almost 30 years.

More than 160 of our membership organisations are expected to attend our 13th annual Hinton Lecture later this week (Wednesday 24 November). The lecture – delivered by Baroness O'Neill CBE FBA on the subject Can trust be rebuilt? – will take place after our Annual General Meeting, due to be held in our central London office at 5.30pm. The AGM will also mark the appointment of a new NCVO chairman following the retirement of Sir Graham Melmoth.

The Big Society agenda needs more than good intentions and hot air if it is to have a hope of succeeding, according to our Chief Executive, Sir Stuart Etherington.

In a seminal speech at Cass Business School, Sir Stuart argued that the Big Society agenda presents key opportunities for the voluntary sector to set its direction and content.

NCVO has set up a new Task and Finish Group to review the regulatory powers that the Charity Commission and HM Revenue & Customs have over charities in relation to fraud. It will pay particular attention to any potential duplication between the two bodies' responsibilities. It will also examine whether the measures taken by HMRC are proportionate, transparent and effective when applied to the sector.