CCE | Events

At the heart of the research is a provocative question: does a distinctive nonprofit mindset make organisations reluctant to recover their full costs—even when this could threaten their financial sustainability? The research examines the tension between mission and money, including attitudes towards overheads, optimism, professional roles and the familiar charity culture of “making do”. It also looks at business models, and the different motivations of CEOs, Fundraisers, Operations and Finance Staff, along with the complexity of bidding for grants, separately from contracts.

What is certain is that everyone has a different viewpoint. It’s complex, and really relevant to todays’ nonprofits. Estimates put the gap in funding in the UK charity sector as £2.6Bn per year.

Mark focuses on finances and how they create impact. He is Co-lead on the MSc Finance and Accounting pathway at Bayes Business School and was previously Director of Sustainable Finance for CCE. Mark brings a blend of management consulting experience and in-house leadership experience across Humanitarian, Conservation and Nature and Human Rights, as well as older people charities. He is an expert in costing and pricing, cost recovery, and finance strategy with over 100 business model reviews. He has over seventeen years of consulting experience at CCE, KPMG and as Managing Director, nonprofit services at Moore Kingston Smith. He has been Acting-CEO and Finance Director at CARE International UK, and Chief Operating Officer at IUCN.

In 2026 Stone King launched the first Annual Charity Chair Survey in partnership with Centre of Charity Effectiveness. This year’s survey explores the theme: “Governance under pressure: how Chairs are leading through political, regulatory and financial complexity and uncertainty.”

The survey was open to current Chairs, Co-Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Deputy Chairs of charities in England and Wales, as well as those who have held these roles within the last 12 months. This includes exempt and excepted charities, as well as those registered with the Charity Commission.

In addition to the survey, a series of discussion groups took place in September, offering participants an opportunity to contribute more in-depth reflections on the challenges facing charity chairs.

The Stone King Annual Charity Chair Survey 2026 builds on The Future Charity Chair, a forward-looking research project in 2024 on the issues facing charity Chairs in the next decade and beyond, also produced by CCE.

We are very grateful to the expert members of the advisory group who supported the survey - Liz Lowther, Chief Executive, Association of Chairs; Jane Ide OBE, Chief Executive, ACEVO; Lena Bheeroo and Dalton Leong, Co-chairs, Board Racial Diversity UK; and Lynne Berry CBE, Advisory Board, Centre for Charity Effectiveness.

Véronique Jochum is a freelance social researcher with substantial experience of leading and delivering research projects, and supporting organisations to think about the implications of research findings. Formerly Head of Research at NCVO, Véronique was responsible for the production of the UK Civil Society Almanac and the Road Ahead publication on the sector’s operating environment. Much of her research has been on volunteering and includes high profile projects such as Pathways through Participation and Time Well Spent. She is currently a trustee of Forest Recycling Project and was previously the co-chair of Carefree Kids.

Leila Baker is an independent researcher with a track record of delivering high quality, practically useful research in the charity sector and supporting charities and social enterprise organisations (from hyper local to large) with governance and strategy. Leila has carried out work for the Charity Commission on public benefit and on social investment as well as being lead author on the Value of Small research commissioned by Lloyds. Recent work includes supporting the Charities Aid Foundation to analyse and report on their CAF Resilience Fund. She is the former chair of her local Citizens Advice and a volunteer with Migrants Organise. Leila works as part of the Social Research Association’s Ethics Appraisal Service and sits on their Ethics Forum.

Elena Laguna is a senior People, Learning & Development and Volunteering leader and founder of REWIRED, an independent consultancy supporting purpose-led organisations through change, growth and transformation.

Elena’s interest in coaching began early in her career when a manager encouraged her to become a mentor, recognising an instinctive ability to support others to think differently and navigate challenge. That experience developed into a broader belief in coaching as a strategic leadership tool. She sees team coaching in particular as a powerful way to strengthen collective accountability, improve decision making and create the conditions for sustained organisational performance.

Elena has held senior roles across organisations including St John Ambulance, UK Youth and Oxfam. She is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and Vice-Chair of the Central London Committee and Vice-Chair of Peer Power Youth.

A Taste for Change: How can we work together to build a food bank free future?

Wednesday 14 October
Location:Bayes Business School

Hosted by Bayes Business School & Centre for Charity Effectiveness in partnership with Trussell.

Food banks have become an increasingly normalized part of life across the UK—but emergency food provision should not be a permanent fixture. The drivers of food bank need are multiple: rising living costs, job insecurity, physical and mental ill-health, social isolation, and problems with our social security system.
Building a future where no one needs emergency food requires a movement that spans sectors and specialisms.

This event marked the launch of A Taste for Change, a new book by Heather Buckingham, published by Policy Press, setting out a practical vision and roadmap for a food bank–free future.

Following a presentation of the book's core insights, a cross-sector panel spanning lived experience, community leadership, business, and policy shared their responses and explored how we can drive change together. A panel discussion was chaired by Professor André Spicer (the Executive Dean of Bayes Business School), featuring:

• Kirstie Mackey OBE, Managing Director, Citizenship UK & Europe, Barclays
• Rajesh Makwana BEM, Executive Director, Sufra NW London
• Sharron Spice, Author, Playwright & Campaigner
• Baroness Ruth Lister CBE, FBA, FAcSS, Member of the House of Lords.

Emma Revie OBE, Co-Chief Executive, Trussell delivered the closing remarks.

Watch a recording of this event.
Please note that the Q&A portion of this event was not recorded.

Rock for change book launch

Wednesday 7 October 2026

Fund raising rock concerts have been a major feature of the music scene since the first recognized event, the Concert for Bangladesh, was organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar in 1971. Since then, they have come in many guises, from small-scale local affairs to mega international extravaganzas with the causes they support including national and international disaster relief as well as more political objectives.

During this event the co-editors of Rock for change,  Peter Grant (CCE lecturer at Bayes Business School) and Nick Baxter-Moore (Brock University, Canada), as well as several of the contributors discussed the research and insights presented in the the book. The guest speaker for the evening was Stephen Greene CBE, CEO of the international pro-social media company Rockcorps.

Watch a recording of this event.
Please note that the Q&A portion of this event was not recorded.

Making the case for coaching: how to secure support for coaching as a leader

Thursday 15 September

In this free webinar Dr Helen Timbrell (CCE Consultant and Coaching Programme Coordinator) and Aimee Hardaker (Chief Operating Officer at the charity Settle) shared insights and advice to help you make the case for coaching, drawing on both evidence and personal experience .

Watch a recording of this event.

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About CCE Charity Talks

Charity leaders shared their expertise on the challenges facing the sector. This evening lecture series had welcomed over 10,000 attendees by the time it reached its conclusion.

Please find links below to information on our previous Charity Talks

• Charity Talks series 2022/2023
• Charity Talks series 2021/2022
• Charity Talks series 2020/2021
• Charity Talks series 2019/2020
• Charity Talks series 2017/2018
• Charity Talks series 2016/2017
• Charity Talks series 2014/2015
• Charity Talks series 2013/2014
• Charity Talks series 2011/2012
• Charity Talks series 2010/2011