Reputational Risk: a Charity’s Most Vulnerable Asset Details 23 September 2026 For Charities For most charities, reputation is one of their most valuable assets. It may not appear on the balance sheet, but without it fundraising becomes harder, volunteers disappear, potential partners become cautious and beneficiaries may lose confidence.Unlike a building or an investment portfolio, however, reputation can take years to build and only days – sometimes hours – to damage.That makes reputational risk a governance issue, not simply a communications issue. The Charity Commission's current risk-management guidance expects trustees to identify the major risks facing their charity and decide how they should be managed. Damage to reputation is specifically recognised as a potential risk. What do we mean by reputational risk?Reputational risk is the possibility that an event, behaviour, decision or failure damages the confidence that stakeholders have in the charity.Importantly, the event itself and the reputational consequences are not necessarily the same thing.A safeguarding incident may be unavoidable. A cyberattack may succeed despite reasonable precautions. An employee may behave improperly despite good recruitment and supervision. A well-meaning trustee can make a statement in what they think is a private situation but find that it leaks into the public domain.What often determines the scale of the reputational damage is how the organisation responds.Did the trustees know about the risk? Did they ask appropriate questions? Were concerns escalated? Was action taken quickly? Was the regulator informed where necessary? And was the charity open about what had happened? Read more
Why SMEs need to know what they can control…and what they can’t Details 24 August 2026 For SMEs Over the years, I have reviewed many Strategic Plans. Some are very detailed, others a bit sparse, but most cover at least some of the following: what the business does the market in which it operates its competitive advantages its marketing strategy how its operations and management work financial information its principal risks. One area that is regularly missing is a SWOT analysis. For anyone unfamiliar with the acronym, SWOT stands for: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats. It’s one of the most useful things you can do for your business, and without it you’re missing important details that can help shape your plans. Why You Need a SWOT Analysis Many owners of SMEs spend so much time working IN the business that they rarely have an opportunity to step back and work ON the business. This is understandable, particularly when customers, employees, suppliers and cashflow all need immediate attention. Time working on your business is always well spent. If you don’t do this, you risk bouncing from one urgent problem to the next without ever deciding where you actually want your business to go. This matters even more during periods of relentless change. Since 2020, businesses have dealt with Brexit, Covid, inflation, energy price rises, labour shortages, global instability and digital and AI transformation (here’s an article I wrote about this earlier this year). And as we’re learning this summer, economic and political turmoil doesn’t stop. We are adjusting to more and more change - whether that’s a new Prime Minister, tax policies or increasing costs. While things shift around your business, if you understand your market, your competition, your customers and your goals, you’ll be able to make quicker, better decisions when you need to. You can’t do this if you don’t know where you are strong, where you need to improve, what your opportunities are and when you’re at risk. That’s where a SWOT analysis is invaluable. Read more
Why Good Trustees Still Get Into Trouble – Lessons from Recent Charity Commission Inquiries Details 20 July 2026 For Charities One of my regular tasks is reviewing Charity Commission inquiry reports to identify what today's trustees can learn from yesterday's mistakes. What strikes me is that most investigations do not begin with fraud or financial collapse. They usually start with something much more ordinary – poor governance, weak financial oversight, inadequate record keeping or complaints from members of the public. Recent inquiries continue to highlight the same recurring issues: Failure to appoint or elect trustees correctly. (I’m currently working on such an issue!!) Failure to hold effective trustee meetings. Poor financial management and record keeping. Misuse of charitable funds. Conflicts of interest and related party transactions. Unauthorised trustee benefits. Trustees acting whilst disqualified. False accounting. Failure to manage debt and financial risk. Trustee disputes affecting the charity's ability to operate. None of these should be inevitable. Most are entirely preventable. Read more