Centre for Charity Effectiveness: Celebrating 20 years of impact

This milestone is a marker not just of time but of growth, learning, and contributions made to the nonprofit sector.

Alex Skailes, Director of CCE, shares her thoughts on what this milestone means to her, and focuses forward on the Centre’s continued impact, relevance and growth over the next 20 years.

Look forward

We are immensely proud to act as a catalyst for social change, and of our work supporting leaders and professionals who are committed to achieving greater effectiveness in their work to change society for the better.

"The 20th anniversary is a time not only to honour and be proud of our past but more importantly to look forward and see how we can innovate for the future”.

A changing sector

Strong leadership will continue to be critical for the sector if it is to fully embrace future opportunities and to overcome challenges.

Looking ahead, Alex Skailes acknowledges the challenges the charity sector will continue to face, while also seeing the opportunities.

"Recent research shows us that many of the challenges we are seeing today will continue and are likely to evolve. Equally, there are new trends emerging, some of which will become more prominent with their future impact on the charity sector yet to be ascertained. Top of the list for me are:

• More networks and movements
• Place-based working and funding
• Embrace improved environmental and sustainable working practices
• Grow the use of data and AI including to drive decision making
• Meet the challenges of new workforce trends."

ESG and social change

“There is also a blurring of boundaries between charities and other organisations. Social change is no longer the sole preserve of charities with businesses increasingly focusing on the “S” of ESG and allocating significant funding to deliver this. A driver for the CCE team to develop the BSc Business Management with Social purpose as a further step to integrate social purpose into mainstream business education.”

Surprisingly, it still seems something of a rarity to find a Centre such as CCE sitting within a leading global business school. Perhaps one could argue that Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) was ahead of the game 20 years ago, creating a Centre that enabled it to contribute to the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education from an early stage.

Leadership and cross-sector partnerships

The charity sector has a powerful history of purpose driven grassroots and expert subject knowledge. This is well demonstrated at the leader’s breakfasts that CCE host on a quarterly basis.

These sessions always put a spring in my step and deliver a big dose of hopefulness.

"The charity CEOs I meet exude passion for what they do but most importantly they are resolutely focused on purpose, are future oriented, inclusive, adaptive, curious and collaborative. The openness with which they share with their peers is impressive.”

Combining this with corporate resource and social aims creates the potential for powerful cross-sector partnerships. New skills and expertise will be required from all sectors to lead across these ecosystems and to build the platforms for new connections and initiatives.

CCE’s goals are unchanged, and the Centre remains well placed to support the sector; to strengthen the performance of Boards and senior executives and to actively contribute to building a pipeline of future charity leaders.

Thank you

CCE would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have contributed to the success of the Centre. We would also like to thank our partners and collaborators who have supported us throughout this journey. We look forward to continuing our work together and making a positive impact on the world.

Here's to the next two decades of new knowledge, learning, growing, and supporting current leaders and those of tomorrow.

Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE)

Since 2004 the Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) has been committed to empowering and supporting charitable, voluntary and social enterprise organisations and their current and future leaders. We are recognised nationally and internationally as a critical resource for the nonprofit sector and its leaders, and are proud of our preeminent position as a leading provider of postgraduate charity courses and professional development programmes, sharing our sector expertise through innovative research and thought leadership, bespoke consultancy services and coaching, and our open access tools and resources for nonprofits.

In celebrating 20 years, the Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) stands as a testament to the transformative power of education, new knowledge, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to making a positive impact on the nonprofit sector.