Good morning everyone, thank you Neil for that really kind introduction and thoughtful speech – the challenge you outlined is an important one.
It’s great to be here with you at the Beacon Philanthropy and Impact Forum today.
I want to start by thanking The Beacon Collaborative for organising this event, and the Charities Aid Foundation for sponsoring it and the City of London for hosting at this beautiful building.
You’re here today, and are part of organisations like Beacon Collaborative, and Charities Aid Foundation, because you believe in the power of organisations and people using their resources to deliver social impact.
And it’s a belief this Government shares.
The UK has a vibrant culture of service and generosity, and philanthropy is so often the outlet for that culture.
Every week hundreds of thousands of people – in our villages, towns and cities – come together and do what they can to support others. They devote their time, their money or both, to improve the lives of people less fortunate than themselves.
That is something we should never take for granted.
Philanthropy sustains over 170,000 charities in the UK and thousands of others who are so small they’re not actually registered.
And it does things Governments can’t do – reaching into communities, and applying local knowledge and insight.
I see it all the time in my own area of Barnsley.
I can tell you so many examples, organisations such as Barnsley Youth Choir, Barnsley Hospices and BIADS, a local dementia charity I am patron of, all rely on charitable donations and giving from the local community to sustain their vital work. As Neil said, they all have their own stories, as I know you all will.
But you recognise, as I do, that more is possible.
And forums like this are a vital opportunity for the sector to come together and look at how we take philanthropy in the UK to the next level.
The instinct people have to help is always there.
It’s the job of the Government, working with organisations like the ones you represent, to find new, creative ways to make it not only easier to give, but more rewarding.
That is part of why we started a new chapter in the relationship between Government and civil society through a Civil Society Covenant.
We launched the Covenant at No10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister in October, in order to reset the relationship between Government and Civil Society. To make it a partnership that is built on a foundation of trust and respect.
And it reflects our view that our charities, social enterprises and community groups have a huge and vital role to play in helping us deliver on this Government’s missions.
Civil society groups can help make our streets safer, they can create opportunities for our young people, and they can reduce the burden on the NHS by supporting people to live healthier lives.
And philanthropists, social investors and impact investors will have an important role to play in the Covenant, when it’s fully established in the coming months.
This Government also recognises the enormous contribution social investors, philanthropists and businesses can provide in the delivery of our Plan for Change.
Our impact investment market, worth £76 billion, leads the way in Europe and really sets the standard, and it reflects the fact that people want to see a connection between their investment and real social impact on the ground.
As the Minister responsible for the impact economy, encompassing both philanthropy and impact investment, I see not only the incredible work happening in this space, but the huge potential for growing the money invested in public good.
That is why I’m proud we are building on the UK’s strong industry leadership in social impact investing and working in partnership with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to establish the Government’s Social Impact Investment Advisory Group. And I was really pleased to speak to Darren Jones about this last night.
We are committed to backing private investment that delivers positive social impact right across the country, and this newly announced Advisory Group will help achieve this.
Philanthropy is a vital part of the impact economy.
So I’d like to be clear with everyone here today on our three priorities for philanthropy.
Firstly, the Government wants to help to connect philanthropic investment with the places that need it most.
Secondly, we want to unlock extra philanthropic investment.
Thirdly, we want to partner with civil society, communities, donors and businesses to celebrate a culture of giving.
On our first priority, this Government has been clear since our first day in office that we are committed to putting local people, communities and places first.
Supporting philanthropic growth across the country is a really important route to generating more private capital that can deliver public good.
That’s why the Secretary of State has committed to setting out a place-based philanthropy strategy so we can create an environment where the benefits of philanthropy are felt in communities everywhere.
I know this is an area that many of you are invested in or connected to.
Made-in-Stoke, which I was really pleased to visit a few months ago, Blackpool Pride of Place and Islington Gives are brilliant examples of what can be achieved with a place-based approach. I know many representatives of these networks are here with us today.
By creating a community of philanthropists who are invested in the future of a city or town and who want to contribute to its success, they are blazing a trail for others to follow. And Neil, you rightly referenced the impact of place in your remarks.
In areas that need it most, these networks are delivering programmes supporting young people’s skills development, from sports activities to dance and ballet classes for children.
We can learn a great deal from these models of giving – by people motivated by the idea of helping give back to the community that helped to shape them.
My officials and I will continue to explore how this Government can best support the growth of these innovative initiatives.
When it comes to the second priority of unlocking additional philanthropic investment, there are already some excellent examples of what philanthropy can deliver.
Family Foundations such as the Reece’s Foundation in the North East are working to address some of the most complex problems in the region, supporting innovations like the National Geothermal Energy Centre whilst providing new opportunities for local people.
But, as I said earlier, we need the right structures in place to make it as easy as possible for philanthropists to give more and would-be philanthropists to give for the first time.
Gift Aid is a vital part of the already existing system, and it gives charities and donors important tax relief.
And for businesses, payroll giving provides companies an easy way for employees to give in a tax-efficient way to the causes they care about.
We want to raise awareness of just how straightforward that scheme is, and there couldn’t be a better time as February is Payroll Giving month, as I’m sure you all know.
The final part of the equation is changing how we talk about and celebrate philanthropy.
In 2023 we collectively gave £13.9 billion to charity. It’s a phenomenal amount of money and it’s testament to the generosity that exists across our country.
But if you look deeper, you find that the number of donors is actually decreasing.
Clearly there’s no one single reason why that would be the case, but I think it’s all of our responsibility to do our bit in championing and celebrating those who do donate.
Last year I had the privilege of attending the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, seeing first hand some of our most exceptional athletes perform on the biggest stage of all.
Over the last decades, philanthropists like Barrie Wells have supported the training success of athletes including Jessica Ennis-Hill, who started her career in Sheffield, just down the road from my constituency of Barnsley.
After winning Gold at the 2012 Olympics in London, she went on to engage and inspire the next generation of young people through philanthropy funded workshops in the Athletes4Schools programme.
Similarly, businesses continue to contribute to society, like Barclays, who support young people and create opportunities for all, through their community grass roots football grants.
5,500 community groups have been supported across the UK with the aim of helping to reduce inequalities in football.
If you look at a sector like the arts, that is one that’s always relied on a variety of funding sources.
And that’s why, for over 20 years, DCMS has partnered with the Wolfson Foundation to deliver the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund.
But these are just some of the examples of what can be done when we work together to build things that deliver long term benefits.
You share in our ambition to raise the amount donated and the number of people donating it, and I urge you all to talk loudly and proudly about some of the great work going on in the regions across the country.
That just leaves me to thank you all, once again, for inviting me to join you all today.
By working together we can fulfil the huge untapped potential that exists in the impact economy, in our civil society, and across our philanthropic landscape.
There are no simple answers to how we do it but, by focussing on the areas I’ve set out today, I am certain we can meet the challenge head on.
Together we can grasp the opportunity to improve people’s lives and give back to communities we all care deeply about.
