The chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations has said that the umbrella body “is changing” and will look to “enhance its policy voice” with the government and with sector regulators.
Speaking at the ACF’s annual conference in London yesterday, Carol Mack said the umbrella body for charitable trusts and foundations in the UK would be looking to “enhance” its advocacy and policy work around “vital issues” facing UK charitable trusts and foundations “at the highest levels of government”.
Mack also announced that ACF were working on a number of other new projects, including “a member-led project that will work with you in articulating what leading foundation practice looks like across a number of areas”.
She also said that the ACF was “investing and delivering more” accessible services for its members, and was looking to enhance “the evidence base around the role of philanthropy” which she said was becoming more important “in this era of so-called ‘fake news’”.
A spokesman for ACF told Civil Society News that ACF would be “looking to be more proactive in bringing foundations’ concerns and expert input to policy makers and regulators across the UK,” including the Charity Commission, the CC Northern Ireland, OSCR in Scotland and with the Information Commissioner's Office and would be “enhancing capacity in-house” in order to do that.
Mack also referenced findings in the ACF’s most recent Giving Trends 2017 report, published in late September, which showed that grant making by charitable foundations was now comparable to grants made to charities by government.
In her speech, Mack said that while the sector was still trying to answer questions about how to deal with this, she’d noticed a move amongst ACF members towards “more place-based or community funding” and an increased appetite for collaboration amongst trusts and foundations.
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