CONFERENCE WITH CAF - OUR REVIEW OF PARTY CONFERENCE SEASON 2017

11 October 2017

Each year, CAF attends the political party conferences as a way of making sure that our policy work – and the needs of charities – are on the political agenda.

It’s the one time in the year when all of the key figures from the political world are easily accessible, and an important opportunity to build ties with them and secure support for new, innovative ideas.

This topic formed the basis of events at those two conferences too, where experts in the international field such as Andrew Mitchell, former Secretary of State for International Development, and Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods, part of Labour’s Shadow International Development team, joined us and Barrow Cadbury Trust for a discussion on how to boost global philanthropy, as well as the need to set a positive example for civil society here in the UK.

We also used conference season to talk about one of our key projects in the UK – building a new, civic philanthropy that encourages people to come together in their local areas to give for social good. This is particularly relevant as devolution increases, with powers being distributed to a local level, and there is a growing political debate about the importance of place and identity in the modern world.

Last, but by no means least, our final conference event took place in Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations where we held an event at SNP conference. Building on our recently released Scotland Giving report, this gave figures including Linda Fabiani MSP, the opportunity to explore the way that people in Scotland give to good causes, and how charities and government can work collaboratively to maximise their impact.