Perspectives from Aetas in the Workplace and Adena Street on the issues most likely to affect your organisation — and the questions trustees and leaders are asking most often.
An Investment Policy Statement is a legal requirement for any charity that has delegated discretionary investment management to an external manager. It sets out investment objectives, risk appetite, ethical restrictions, and governance responsibilities. Yet the vast majority of charities that hold investments either do not have a current IPS, or are working from a document that was written years ago and has never been revisited.
The consequences of an out-of-date IPS are not merely administrative. A document that no longer reflects the charity's ethical position — or that fails to account for significant changes in reserves, cashflow, or investment objectives — exposes trustees to reputational risk and creates gaps that the Charity Commission would expect a well-governed board to have addressed. Rupert Cecil of Adena Street explores what a current, working IPS should contain, when it should be reviewed, and what trustees can do if they are not sure where to start.
Read articleArticles are added regularly. New pieces will cover emerging questions across governance, financial guidance, and staff financial wellbeing as we hear them from organisations we work with.
The headline management charge is rarely the full story. Ongoing Charges Figures embedded within underlying funds can add significantly to the total cost of investment management — and in many cases, trustees are unaware they exist. This piece explains what to look for, how to ask the right questions, and what a full cost analysis typically reveals.
Financial stress among employees does not show up on a balance sheet, but its effects are visible in absence rates, turnover, and the quieter performance losses that are harder to measure. For a charity or not-for-profit where every team member carries a disproportionate share of the organisation's knowledge and relationships, the stakes are higher than in a large corporate. This piece examines what the evidence says — and what a proportionate response looks like.
CC14 — the Charity Commission's guidance on investing charity money — sets out clear expectations for trustees. Yet many boards are operating without a current Investment Policy Statement, have never tested their manager's performance against an appropriate benchmark, and are unable to confirm that their portfolio is free from investments that conflict with their charitable objects. This piece summarises the key obligations and what it looks like to meet them in practice.
The assumption that mission-driven people will tolerate financial insecurity indefinitely is no longer borne out by the data. Turnover in the not-for-profit sector has risen consistently, and exit interviews increasingly cite financial pressure rather than disillusionment with the cause. The organisations managing retention most effectively are those that treat financial wellbeing as a structural response — not a perk — and communicate it accordingly to their teams.
Gifts in wills represent one of the most consistent sources of charitable income in the UK — yet the majority of supporters who would consider leaving a legacy have never been asked, or have not had the guidance to make it feel straightforward. A structured legacy giving programme does not require a major fundraising operation: it requires the right conversation, at the right moment, with the right support in place. This piece explores what that looks like in practice.
Many charities hold substantial reserves in current accounts or low-interest deposit facilities — often because reviewing the arrangement has never made it onto the board's agenda. With interest rates having shifted considerably in recent years, the gap between what charities are earning and what they could be earning on their reserves has widened. This practical piece sets out how to approach a cash management review, what questions to ask, and how to match short, medium, and long-term needs to appropriate facilities.