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Charities would get more support if they realised they had no right to state cash, warns regulator

Baroness Stowell of Beeston, the chairwoman of the Charity Commission, has said voluntary organisations had to recognise they did not have right to state support - David Rose
Baroness Stowell of Beeston, the chairwoman of the Charity Commission, has said voluntary organisations had to recognise they did not have right to state support - David Rose

Charities would get more support from people if they realised "that they don’t have a right to public or taxpayer support", the charity regulator has warned.

Many charities have been calling for more Government support to survive the coronavirus pandemic, despite being given £750 million in April.

However Baroness Stowell of Beeston, the chairwoman of the Charity Commission, made clear that voluntary organisations had to recognise they did not have right to state support.

Speaking to the commission's annual public meeting on Thursday, Lady Stowell said: "People will be more supportive of charities which recognise that they don’t have a right to public or taxpayer support, but rather a responsibility to uphold the special status charity holds in the public mind."

Lady Stowell also said that charities had to make sure they had boards which better reflected all of British society to ensure that their motives did not get hijacked by a particular world view.

The comments came after major charities such as the National Trust have been criticised for taking positions on controversial issues – such as Britain's colonial past – that has risked angering their members.

She said: "Ensuring that people with a diversity of outlooks, and a diversity of backgrounds are involved in charities is the right way of meeting the challenge of ensuring that charities are truly welcoming for all people.

"And always ensuring the purpose they were set up to serve sits at the heart of their work. Any other approach puts in peril the unique potential of charity to bring people together.

"And that’s why I want more people, with more diverse backgrounds and world views, to get involved in formal charity."