PEOPLE GET ANGRY IF DONATIONS ARE USED TO FILL PAY PACKETS

WHEN I began working for charities more than 25 years ago, starting at Oxfam, it was a completely different world to the one we live in now.

We generated donations the old-fashioned way and there was no concept of government funding for what we now call the ‘third sector’.

Largely, charities were staffed by volunteers and there was no real sense of a corporate identity or approach in the way they operated.

It seems light years away from the present situation, where, as the Mail has found, some charities are receiving millions of pounds from government.

In some cases it is undeniable that these organisations – doubtless all committed to benefiting the community – would be unable to exist without this funding.

And many of them are fulfilling government policy as they receive this money, which for some will raise questions about the blurring of boundaries between the state and the charitable sector.

We have also seen salaries many times greater than the average income being earned by charity chief executives, presiding over large organisations more akin to big businesses.

And yet, as someone who has held key roles in charities on both sides of the Border, I can see why this situation – to some extent the commercialisation of charities – has evolved over the decades.

GOvErNMENts now rely on charities to take on some of their workload. Effectively, the third sector plays a vital part in complementing public services and carrying out roles which perhaps in previous generations did not exist, or had been performed by the state.

that funding from the taxpayer is going towards the provision of services which benefit society.

My own charity, tenovus Cancer Care, provides support for cancer patients and their families, including mobile support units bringing cancer care to communities, and even financial advice for people affected by cancer.

these are services that only have so much funding, but our support dovetails with the excellent care of the NHs, which is funded through direct taxation.

My view is that it is undesirable for charitable organisations to become wholly reliant on the taxpayer, and there is a real need to ensure charities are not simply duplicating services that are available directly from the state.

salaries are bound to create some level of public concern where they are deemed to be excessive.

People can be angry if they believe that their hard-earned cash is going to fund someone’s pay packet rather than the service the charity provides.

that is understandable but it saddens me greatly when the public reputation of charities is tarnished by negative publicity over executive pay because people who run charities and work for them are all absolutely devoted to the task.

Many of them make enormous sacrifices and love the work that they do so the idea that they are ‘cashing in’ is wrong.

But there is a duty for the entire sector and indeed for regulatory regimes to ensure that pay does not get out of control, which can erode public confidence in the crucial work charities do on a daily basis.

And there is also a need to face up to the fact that charities have changed irrevocably from past decades, when they depended on rattling tins in the high street for their income.

While fundraising on the street does still have great value, there can be no doubt that charities operate like businesses because they are working in a crowded field, competing for your support.

there are large sums of money and teams of people to co-ordinate and organise; inevitably, as they become more ‘corporate’ in nature, the people in charge of them will act in much the same way as chief executives running major businesses.

BUt they must also ensure that they retain the confidence of the people who donate to them and that means making sure that the funds they do raise are spent in an ethical way, at a time when demand for their services is increasing.

Charities are doing fantastic work which too often receives little publicity and needs to be highlighted: government depends on us to offer key services it cannot afford or would struggle to provide.

But while we carry out that vital work, we also need to guard against the disillusionment of those who donate to charities in the hope that the needy or vulnerable will benefit.

their support is truly indispensable.

Claudia McVie is chief executive of Tenovus Cancer Care