The Future of Charities: Why Doing Good is Not Enough

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Despite their essential, life-altering work in many different arenas, people no longer give charities the benefit of the doubt.

Charity is about benefiting society, adding value to our lives and communities – making us proud and the world a better place. And indeed, the role of many individual charities is becoming more complex, as charities provide essential public services and fulfil their purposes in innovative ways. But research shows that the public no longer gives charities as institutions the benefit of the doubt. The crisis in confidence suffered by other institutions that have fallen prey to wrongdoing and questionable behaviour has left its mark on the charitable sector. People now trust charities less than the average person on the street.

In this exclusive RSA address, Baroness Stowell will unveil her ambitions for the Charity Commission, and set out, how, under her leadership, the Commission will help charities maximise their benefit to society and inspire public trust. She will argue that, to achieve this, charities and their regulator must respond to the basic public expectation that charity means more than having worthy aims: a charity must be a living example of charitable conduct and behaviour. It must be good, as well as do good.