Research shows charities must show benefit of their work

New independent research, commissioned by the Charity Commission, has found that charities need to do more to describe how people benefit from their work. According to the research by Sheffield Hallam University, many charities miss out on the opportunity to explain, through their reporting on public benefit, how their work has a positive impact on their beneficiaries. The research assessed how well registered charities are getting to grips with the new requirement, introduced in 2008, to report on public benefit in their trustees" annual report, including what their key aims are and what they are doing to achieve them, who they seek to benefit and how these people have benefited. In its analysis of the research the Charity Commission has reported that overall charity trustees have made progress with the new requirement, with trustees generally able to explain their charity"s aims and who benefits from its work, however they are less successful in explaining how they have benefitted in practice. Charities with incomes over £500,000 were particularly successful, with 94% partially or fully addressing public benefit in their annual reports. However, many smaller charities are still not meeting the reporting regulations. The Charity Commission is concerned that some trustees involved in the research had not familiarised themselves with its guidance. They had instead relied on staff or external advisors to deal with the public benefit reporting requirement on their behalf. The research has also highlighted confusion amongst charities about the purpose and importance of their annual report. Submitting an annual report is a statutory requirement, and for charities over £25,000 these are made available for public scrutiny on the online Register of Charities. To download the Charity Commission guidance on annual reports visit www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Charity_requirements_guidance/Charity_essentials/Public_benefit/default.aspx. To request a full copy of the report and the Charity Commission's initial analysis visit www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/about_us/public_benefit_reporting_shu.pdf and www.charitycommission.gov.uk/About_us/About_charities/shu_initial_analysis.aspx.