“While the charity landscape has changed – including through increasing digital activity and a greater emphasis on resilience – adapting to the challenges of recent years has also resulted in new opportunities,” says Alison Taylor, CEO of CAF Bank and Charity Services, in the report’s foreword. “We see 2022 as a year of opportunity for charities: to take stock, to rebuild finances, and to devise strategies for moving forward purposefully and sustainably,” she adds.

Trustees from local, national and international charities across a range of cause areas were interviewed to help inform the report. 

The report considers six key areas:

1. Financial resilience: diversifying funding is key

An ongoing concern for charities and trustees is that of sourcing funding. Even charities that have secure incomes worry about protecting these or the possibility of losing them.

2. Working together: trustees impact collaboration within charities

The nature and involvement of a charity’s trustees can significantly impact the collaboration and culture within the organisation. Trustees can help guide their charities’ collaboration, which is why having the right trustees can greatly affect that charity’s outcomes.

3. Diversity: achieving diversity remains a challenge

Cultivating diverse and inclusive trustee boards is a complex issue for many charities. A key element of diversity in all its forms, however, is that it can help to ensure that a group is not homogeneous in opinion and experience.

4. Support and training: extra support would yield positive results

There are many resources available to charity trustees but identifying which of these are useful or high-quality can be difficult. The research identified that charities have an unmet need for easily accessible support and training materials.

5. Digital: digital advances impact everyone, but not everyone understands them

Digital covers a wide range of charity functions and is interpreted differently by trustees depending on their expertise and the relevance of various elements of technology to their charities.

6. Climate change: charities want to do their bit

While not officially a priority issue for most charities, climate change and sustainability considerations are increasing in relevance and importance.

Michael Izza, ICAEW's CEO, Alison Taylor, CEO of CAF Bank and Charity Services, and Daniel Chan, Chair of ICAEW’s Charity Committee and a Director at PwC, introduced the report on 4 March 2022. Watch the recording and a panel discussion on three of the key challenges facing the sector: financial resilience, board diversity and sustainability.  

In the foreword to the report, Izza says: “This examination of the challenges currently facing charities and trustees, and insights into how these challenges might be turned into opportunities, will be critical in helping charities to evolve, adapt and continue to deliver meaningful results. It is in all our interests that we get this right." 

Key takeaways of the webinar include: 

• An overview of what trustees are thinking across the sector.
• Ideas on how to tackle some of the challenges faced by charities.
• An understanding of the kinds of support and training that can help trustees to maximise their impact.