Our history
2012
CFG’s 25th anniversary year saw many big developments – including a name change - CFG loses the ‘D’ to reflect its broader role in supporting all those with responsibility for charity finance irrespective of their job title, and a new ‘describer’ – Inspiring Financial Leadership’ which is also the title of the Annual Conference.
A reception is held in February at the House of Lords hosted by Baroness Hayter with a speech by Lord Phillips.
From 1st April 2012 a new initiative sees all charities with individual CFG membership being able to nominate a free secondary member who would receive all the same membership benefits.
Several publications are added to CFG’s regular ones including Banking for Charities; National Ethical Investment Week 2012: An action guide for charities; The Practical Approach: A Handbook on How Skilled Volunteers Can Help Charities Measure Their Impact; Beyond Reserves; Charity Fraud: A guide for the trustees and managers of charities; Principles of Good Impact Reporting; Principles into Practice: How charities and social enterprises communicate impact and Writing your charity’s investment policy.
The year finishes with 2,129 members and 156 subscribers.
2011
Ian Theodoreson takes over as Chairman of CFDG’s Trustees.
Several publications are added to CFDG’s regular ones including Better FX, a guide to foreign exchange; CRM implementation; National Ethical Investment Week: An action guide for charities; Impact reporting in the UK charity sector and Anti-bribery principles and guidance for NGOs.
The newly redesigned website goes live on May 2011 including an online event-booking facility and Jobs Board in conjunction with CharityJob.
The Annual Conference’s topic of ‘Moving from Gloom to Bloom’ equips attendees with the right questions to help shake off some of the gloom of 2011. Over 600 people attend. Topics include innovative funding, trip hazards and driving your charity.
The year finishes with 1,761 members managing over £21.7bn and 142 subscribers.
2010
This year CFDG welcome a new CEO - Caron Bradshaw who joins from ICAEW where she was head of the Charity and Voluntary Sector.
The Policy Team is expanded in light of the changed political landscape, the emergence of the Big Society agenda and the dramatic changes in public sector spending. CFDG produces a thorough submission to government in advance of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Several publications are added to CFG’s regular ones including: Unlocking Socially Responsible Investment; International Financial Reporting Standards and Charities: A Review of the Potential Impact of Recent Proposals; The Tax Implications of Charity Trading; Relocation: A Charity Finance Professional’s Guide and Socially Responsible Investment: A Practical Guide for Charity Trustees.
CFDG sets up a number of policy liaison groups to deal with specific operational or policy issues: Banking Forum and Technical Accounting Forum.
The topic for the Annual Conference is ‘Austerity and Innovation’.
The year finishes with more than 1,691 members managing over £17.53bn (which represents around half of the sector’s income) and 129 subscribers.
2009
CFDG, in conjunction with Sayer Vincent, continues the series of 12 ‘Made Simple’ guides covering areas such as reserves, risk management, VAT, grants and mergers.
Other publications this year include Sustainability in Practice: Monitoring and Reporting; the 8th Annual PKF/CFDG Risk Survey and the second in the series of Managing in a Downturn.
The topic for the Annual Conference is ‘Managing in a Recession’.
Keith Hickey steps down as CEO and joins RNIB. David Membrey, CFDG’s Deputy CEO stands in as Interim CEO.
The year finishes with 1,622 members who collectively manage nearly £15bn of charity income and 124 subscribers.
2008
The year starts with Phil Hope MP, the Minister for the Third Sector, speaking at CFDG’s 20th ‘Birthday Party’ in the Crypt at St Paul’s Cathedral.
To celebrate 20 years CFDG publishes ‘The Role of the Charity Finance Director’ edited by Keith Hickey.
In February CFDG with support from Hays Accountancy and Financial publishes its first salary survey.
In April CFDG publishes ‘The Pension Maze 2008’ which updates members on the current issues concerning pension schemes.
CFDG runs a successful conference in Manchester and announces conferences in Manchester and Cardiff in 2009 along with a new course ‘Understanding the Voluntary Sector; to be run in Birmingham, Bristol and London.
In October a new CRM system went live at CFDG which should enable CFDG to increase service provision to members
As the recession starts to develop in December CFDG publishes a guide to ‘Managing in a Downturn’ jointly with the Institute of Fundraising and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
CFDG merges with Charity Consortium whereupon the latter becomes the Large Charities Special Interest Group (LCSIG) of CFDG.
The year finishes with 1572 members and 107 subscribers.
2007
Over 500 people attend the annual conference and over 500 people attend the annual dinner, making them both the most successful yet.
A new publication, 'Know your Cost Base, Know your Charity', is issued challenging charities to understand their resources, how they are used within the charity and the risks associated with them.
Charles Nall becomes CFDG Chair.
Grant Thornton takes over from the COOP in supporting the Northern members group.
CFDG announces its first conference outside London in Manchester in June 2008.
The year finishes with over 1350 members and 101 subscribers.
2006
CFDG starts with almost 1,200 charity members and over 90 corporate subscribers, whose expertise and contributions help CFDG to develop further services.
On 1 April 2006, Keith Hickey, a former member as Finance Director of Help the Aged, joins CFDG as the new Chief Executive, ready to take the organisation forward.
At the September AGM, CFDG changes its governance so that the Trustees are the company members and to enable 3 Trustees to come from a wider audience than Finance Directors.
2005
CFDG introduces new branding.
The Annual Conference has grown to 300+ delegates and 450 people attend the Annual Dinner in October.
After leading CFDG through a continuous period of growth, CEO Shirley Scott leaves the organisation at the end of 2005 after 11 years.
At the AGM in September, the Chair Paul Breckell, launches the 2005-08 Strategic Plan and announces a major governance review.
2004
CFDG celebrates its 1,000th member at the 16th Annual Dinner.
Charity Commission published the draft SORP 2005 in July 2004, asking CFDG to hold the first launch event in London, which saw 350 members and non-members come together to hear about the new changes. This meeting was followed by other introductory meetings in the regions, and finally by a series of SORP 2005 training courses in spring 2005.
An additional regional group is founded in the West Midlands, with meetings in Birmingham supported by Baker Tilly.
Pensions Maze is published after a period of consultation with members on the key issues relating to pensions provision in the sector.
After five years in Vauxhall, CFDG moves to state-of-the-art office space in the collaborative project, Mezzanine 2. This space houses over 60 not-for-profit organisations at the southern foot of London Bridge.
2003
CFDG holds its "graduation party" on the Terrace at the House of Commons in March. Speakers including Lord Filkin from the Home Office and our host for the evening, Bob Russell MP, gave praise to CFDG for its progress and to the sector as a whole, which has evolved rapidly.
CFDG grows to an organisation with 9 staff members working with just under 800 members.
CFDG started making plans for taking the management of its IT and Risk Conferences in-house, which before had been run with the help of partners. Both annual events are representative of the new broader strategic outlook of CFDG, which has evolved into an organisation looking at charity management and the role of financial planning in it, in a strategic sense.
Inputs Matter is published as a result of a period of consultation with members on the key areas that they would like to see taken up in the next SORP. All the key suggestions find their way into SORP 2005.
Paul Breckell was appointed Chair.
2002
Investment Training for Trustees course in London starts as a regular course run by Sarasin Chiswell.
First electronic discussion groups for members on selected topics and for selected charity groups are trialled, the special interest group for overseas development organisations, OSSIG, develops most prominently and runs in co-operation with Mango.
The first risk survey is carried out in conjunction with PKF; this is well received by members and becomes a regular annual publication.
2001
CFDG for the first time has a full-time post dedicated to policy work.
First regional groups were formed in the North (March) supported by the COOP and the Southwest & Wales (July) supported by PKF.
CFDG embarks on building an online resource for charities to share documents and expert advice - the Charities Resource Network database is developed with funding from the Community Fund.
Geoff Miller was appointed Chair.
2000
Mark Freeman was appointed Chair.
1998
David King was appointed Chair.
1997
Launch of a one day Introduction to Charity Finance course, run by BDO Stoy Hayward. This course continues today.
Annual Dinner that year attended by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal. The momentous event marked CFDG's 10th Anniversary Year.
The then Chancellor announced the launch of a Taxation Review in his July Budget. CFDG was heavily involved in the consultation with officials from HM Customs & Excise, leading to the publication of the consultation document and beyond.
1996
CFDG was incorporated on 29th March 1996. CFDG registered as a charity on 25 April 1996.
VAT Club (run by Hays Allen, now haysmacintyre) starts, runs as VAT Exchange.
Stephen Burgess, at that time Finance Director of Help the Aged, was appointed Chair.
CFDG ends the year with about a dozen corporate subscribers, who come from companies supporting the group.
1994
The Scottish arm, based in Edinburgh, was established in April and although independent of the London CFDG, sought to fulfil the same aims.
Shirley Gillingham (now Scott) was appointed as part-time Executive Secretary and David Taylor, at that time Finance Director for WWF-UK, was appointed Chairman.
1993
Launch of first members' newsletter and the then Chairman, Andrew Hind said: "The first edition of the newsletter... comes as the latest in a line of developments all aimed at contributing to the fulfillment of the [CFDG's] objectives..."
1992
CFDG worked with the South Bank University on an MSc in Charity Finance, providing input on course content and lecturers. The course is run on a part time basis to allow flexibility for attendees.
In March 1992 the Charities Bill became an Act, containing provisions for strengthening the Charity Commission's powers and new duties for trustees. This Act was significant for CFDG because it gave us a greater focus to achieve our second objective of improving the professional standards of those with financial responsibilities in the charity sector.
Membership now over 300 charities.
1991
CFDG produced first Charity Finance Handbook. In this Adrian Randall set out CFDG's 3 key objectives: to provide a forum for information exchange, to assist in improving the professional standards of those with financial responsibilities in the charity sector and to provide a focal point within the charity sector for financial advice on technical matters.
First members' helpline was started by Pesh Framjee, and served as a vital means of issue spotting and knowledge sharing.
First Annual Conference held in summer 1991.
1990
Membership had reached 175, and senior finance executives from 18 of the top 20 charities were members including Oxfam, the National Trust, the British Heart Foundation and Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
1988
First members meeting held on 16th February 1988.
First Annual Dinner took place in the Autumn.
Publication of SORP 2 - Accounting for Charities.
1987
CFDG sprung from the vision of one man, Adrian Randall, FD of Cancer Research Campaign at the time.
With support from the London Society of Chartered Accountants (LSCA) Adrian sought to establish a Group that provided "...an opportunity for the exchange of views and the discussion and potential solution of common problems among chartered accountants and other senior financial executives working full-time in charities."
With the support of colleagues from five leading charities, Adrian set up a steering group to take the project further.
At this point CFDG was being run out of a small office at the Cancer Research Campaign by Adrian's secretary, Claire Webb, who stayed with the Group for over ten years.
130 charities joined the Group initially.