Charities: Donors
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what guidance her Department has issued to charities on listing (a) private sector and (b) public sector donors making grants to the charity in their annual accounts.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock
Reporting, accounting and auditing is crucial in helping the charity sector achieve transparency and accountability. The Charity Commission provides guidance on charity reporting and accounting.
The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) requires larger charities (with income over £500k) to report in their Trustees’ Annual Report on the principal sources of income of the charity. In their annual accounts, charities are also required to provide aggregate figures for income received from donations, grants, and other sources. A charity in receipt of government grants must also disclose more detailed information on those particular grants.
Greater transparency is to be encouraged as a matter of good practice, but it is not a legal requirement for charities to publicly disclose the identity of individual donors or grant-makers. Donor anonymity is an important consideration in ensuring people have the confidence to donate to charitable causes they care about.
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