Charity regulation begins at home

Friday’s announcement that the new Independent Charities Regulator was to be established is welcomed by most charities, including Concern, which has long advocated tighter regulations.

In the last six weeks there has been an unprecedented destruction of confidence in Irish charities.

All stakeholders must rebuild this trust: funders, the public, and the media must continue to be inquisitive of fundraising and of organisations in receipt of state grants. Charities need to be transparent and should not wait until the formal establishment of the regulator’s office to become more accountable.

There is no shortage of guidelines for good practice — around governance, financial management, fundraising and communications. Concern has adopted higher standards of transparency, such as the financial reporting standards that have long existed in other jurisdictions: for example, the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), which is required for all UK charities and demands that they report on sources of income, pay-bands of highest-paid employees and the uses to which they put their assets. This is entirely reasonable.

About 200 Irish charities — some large and some small — have adopted the SORP and many, such as ourselves, make our accounts available to all online.

The critical work undertaken by the charity sector, and the public trust built up over decades of volunteerism and hard work that supports us, cannot be undermined by the actions of a small minority.

Dominic MacSorley

Chief Executive, Concern

52-55 Camden Street

Dublin 2