CCE | Reports, guides and research

The first 100 days as a new CEO can set the tone for everything that follows. But this publication is not a one-size-fits-all, how to do it manual. It’s a roadmap for navigating the early terrain of CEO life, shaped by the real experiences of those who’ve recently taken up the role. It brings together practical tools, candid reflections and emerging best practice to help you make sense of the challenges ahead – building trust, consolidating insight and moving with intention from reflection to action.

Whether you are stepping into your first CEO position or transitioning between roles this guide offers more than structure. It encourages thoughtful provocation: a chance to reflect on your mindset, understand the systems around you and shape your early days with more self-awareness, strategic intent and impact.

The Centre for Charity Effectiveness was delighted to once again work with ACEVO on the third iteration of this report.

Please note that this report is available for purchase from the ACEVO website.

This valuable online resource explores the key elements of making a good chief executive (CEO) departure and ways that this can be achieved, together with some top tips from CEOs for leaving well. 'The chief executive's last 100 days' combines learning from interviews with CEOs at various stages of departure from their roles, with CCE insights and pointers, and you'll also find links to useful related literature, including articles and blogs, throughout the resource. (Launched 2022)

'Looking through a shared lens' explores the Chair/CEO relationship in the nonprofit sector, in the context of challenges in contemporary governance.  We examine the challenges and opportunities inherent in that vital relationship in a series of linked reports and a webinar recording.

Read the full report ‘Looking through a shared lens: Five explorations’: this includes the complete set of explorations together with a ‘Themes and rare insights’ summary from the series as a whole, details of further related resources, and an introduction by Professor Lynne Berry CBE and Alex Skailes of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness. (Published 2020).

'Chair/Chief Executive: working together to build resilience' examines the challenges and opportunities inherent in the vital Chair/CEO relationship in the nonprofit sector, and how that partnership can be essential in responding to periods of crisis. (Published 2020).

The thinking behind this report emerged from CCE’s first series of discussion forums in 2019-20, for invited Chairs and Chief Executives of national charities and entitled ‘Challenges in Contemporary Governance’. It also encompasses insights from a CCE presentation at the Civil Society Trustee Exchange online conference held in July 2020. This learning went on to be further developed as part of CCE’s ‘Looking through a shared lens’ reports and webinar.

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

The past decade has seen monumental change and uncertainty all around. Despite this, the UK charity sector has continued to make an ever-increasing contribution to society. As the pace of change looks set to continue, it is likely that the world will look very different ten years from now. Charity leaders will need to continue evolving and developing, to meet the needs that the role demands.

This research was under the lead sponsorship of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City St George's, University of London and was supported by sponsors Green Park, the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, Brewin Dolphin, the Association of Chairs and Crowe UK LLP. Early-stage seed funding was given by the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

The steering committee driving the project comprised of Alex Skailes (Bayes CCE), Daniel Chan (PwC), Helen Baker (Shelter), Kai Adams (Green Park), Lynne Berry (Bayes CCE), Malcolm McCaig (United Response), Ros Oakley (Association of Chairs), and project managed by Dawn McNish (Crowe UK LLP).

CCE’s 'Building Better Governance' is a series of practical guides to improving board effectiveness, covering all the essentials of nonprofit governance.

Produced by our expert CCE consultants, Caroline Copeman, Fiona Ash and Christine Fogg, 'Building Better Governance' will be a particularly useful resource for trustees and senior leadership teams, covering the key areas of practice that make the difference between a board that does the minimum and one that is truly effective.  (Revised and updated 2019).

Tools for Success is an essential toolkit, designed to help smaller nonprofit organisations focus on the key areas of organisational capacity crucial to long-term sustainability. With self-assessment tools and seven individual guides on a whole range of core topics, including Compliance, Finance, Governance, People and more. (Fully revised and updated 2021).

This online resource, exploring leading through uncertainty, is an invitation to charity leaders to celebrate the practices that support them in their leadership, as well as an encouragement to experiment with ideas, frameworks and practices that may be less familiar.

It does this by:

• capturing some of the ways that leaders in the sector lead during uncertainty;
• exploring new thinking about leading in uncertainty; and
• offering insights and practical suggestions.

The experience and wisdom of charity leaders is what forms the basis of this resource. It summarises the major themes gathered from interviews and focus groups held during 2022 with over 60 leaders, as a part of a CCE leadership research project led by Tammy Tawadros and Lisa Barry, and supported by the Bayes Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund (KEIF). Find out more about how the research was conducted here. The participants came from a wide variety of organisations, and represented a diverse demographic in terms of age, gender, and race. We are grateful to all those leaders who generously gave their time, and openly shared with us what they had learnt from their own experience.

This comprehensive online resource aims to encourage and assist nonprofit organisations who are striving to ensure the full participation at board level of those with lived experience of their organisation's cause. Includes insights and case studies from contributors across the nonprofit sector, CCE explorations of key topics, and a host of useful links including ways that you can get involved.  (Launched 2021).

'Peering over the precipice' is a toolkit aimed at charity trustees and executives who want to consider where they are on the organisational lifecycle curve. It will enable them to explore what impact the current environment is having on their organisation and on the economic and social value that it creates.  We ask the tough questions to help you consider if your organisation is already in decline. We provide the equally tough answers that will ensure that the decisions taken are in the best interest of your organisation's mission, before that of its existence.

By drawing on Bayes CCE’s cumulative knowledge, derived from in-depth work with our students, delegates and clients, ‘Peering over the precipice’ offers a health check to revitalise and a framework to consider reinvention for greater beneficiary impact. (Published 2018).

Notes summarising the results of a session hosted at the 2019 Trustee Exchange by Caroline Copeman, from the Centre for Charity Effectiveness, to launch CCE’s Building Better Governance guide on Top Teams. Over 100 participants explored how to build effective board and senior leadership teams, and these notes summarise the group’s ideas about the characteristics of an effective top team, improving top team effectiveness and balancing power dynamics.

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

The past decade has seen monumental change and uncertainty all around. Despite this, the UK charity sector has continued to make an ever-increasing contribution to society. As the pace of change looks set to continue, it is likely that the world will look very different ten years from now. Charity leaders will need to continue evolving and developing, to meet the needs that the role demands.

This research was under the lead sponsorship of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness (CCE) at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), City St George's, University of London and was supported by sponsors Green Park, the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, Brewin Dolphin, the Association of Chairs and Crowe UK LLP. Early-stage seed funding was given by the Higher Education Innovation Fund.

The steering committee driving the project comprised of Alex Skailes (Bayes CCE), Daniel Chan (PwC), Helen Baker (Shelter), Kai Adams (Green Park), Lynne Berry (Bayes CCE), Malcolm McCaig (United Response), Ros Oakley (Association of Chairs), and project managed by Dawn McNish (Crowe UK LLP).

This comprehensive online resource aims to encourage and assist nonprofit organisations who are striving to ensure the full participation at board level of those with lived experience of their organisation's cause. Includes insights and case studies from contributors across the nonprofit sector, CCE explorations of key topics, and a host of useful links including ways that you can get involved.  (Launched 2021).

'Taken on Trust' presents a comprehensive picture of trusteeship, recommending that charity boards do more to promote diversity and encourage applications from trustees from non-traditional backgrounds. (Published 2017).

• Taken on Trust 2017: CCE summary of report (2017)
• Taken on Trust 2017: full report (2017)
• Taken on Trust: the provider perspective on advice and support for charity trustees (2017)
• Charity Commission response to Taken on Trust (2017)

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

'Bridging the gap' is aimed primarily at those who are working within the private sector and who wish to take up a trusteeship or other volunteer role within the charity or nonprofit sector. It comprises a series of chapters that aim to provide an overview of the sector, the differences that you may find and how to become successfully engaged. It is also recommended for those who wish to recruit from outside the sector. (Published 2014)

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

'Looking through a shared lens' explores the Chair/CEO relationship in the nonprofit sector, in the context of challenges in contemporary governance.  We examine the challenges and opportunities inherent in that vital relationship in a series of linked reports and a webinar recording.

Read the full report ‘Looking through a shared lens: Five explorations’: this includes the complete set of explorations together with a ‘Themes and rare insights’ summary from the series as a whole, details of further related resources, and an introduction by Professor Lynne Berry CBE and Alex Skailes of the Centre for Charity Effectiveness. (Published 2020).

'Chair/Chief Executive: working together to build resilience' examines the challenges and opportunities inherent in the vital Chair/CEO relationship in the nonprofit sector, and how that partnership can be essential in responding to periods of crisis. (Published 2020).

The thinking behind this report emerged from CCE’s first series of discussion forums in 2019-20, for invited Chairs and Chief Executives of national charities and entitled ‘Challenges in Contemporary Governance’. It also encompasses insights from a CCE presentation at the Civil Society Trustee Exchange online conference held in July 2020. This learning went on to be further developed as part of CCE’s ‘Looking through a shared lens’ reports and webinar.

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

On Tuesday, 16 September 2025, Allia C&C, in collaboration with Bayes Business School, hosted the launch of a new report titled Charity Bonds: Unlocking Untapped Capital for Social Good at Bayes Business School in London.

The paper explores the limited impact of charity-issued bonds and discusses the potential to scale up charity bond issuance through smarter regulation, better investor engagement, and innovative financial tools.

The full report is available online here.

'Charities in a dynamic world' looks at how to upskill the charitable sector in financial management, considering topics such as collaboration, sustainability, efficiency, risk appetite, use of reserves, and innovation and scalability. This report by Lynne Berry CBE, Visiting Professor at Bayes Business School, presents key learning from a series of six round table ‘Charity Learning’ discussions hosted throughout the UK by CCE in 2017, in conjunction with Barclays. (Published 2018).

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

Summary report (English)
Summary report (Welsh)
Full report

About the research

Volunteers are at the heart of how Citizens Advice delivers services to local communities. Around 10,000 volunteers are involved in local offices plus around 2,000 trustees and 1,500 Witness Service volunteers. The value of Citizens Advice volunteering is substantial - for the Citizens Advice network and service, for communities and for volunteers.

This research, undertaken by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness and Sonnet Advisory and Impact, explores the different ways in which volunteers are involved and what value volunteering generates at Citizens Advice. The study involved 13 ‘deep dive’ case studies, interviews and workshops with local Citizens Advice staff, volunteers and stakeholders and surveys of volunteers (1,412 volunteers) and local office Chief Officers (98 respondents).

The study provides an up-to-date picture of the value of volunteering and insights to help local Citizens Advice offices develop the ways they involve and engage volunteers.

Insights from the research

Volunteering generates value to volunteers themselves, to local offices and to other key stakeholders (such as the NHS and economy) worth at least £100 million in 2024. Volunteering adds this value by:

• increasing the employability of volunteers through skills development
• helping volunteers develop and progress in their careers
• improving the health and wellbeing of volunteers
• improving life satisfaction through a sense of belonging and purpose

Across the Citizens Advice network there are a wide range of ways in which volunteers are involved, managed and supported. Three core dimensions shape the different approaches to volunteering:

• Local Context: The size, scale and location of local offices, the level of resource and funding they may have available and the volunteer management capability and capacity within that local office.
• Local Office Culture: The attitudes, beliefs and behaviours towards volunteering that impact the way in which volunteers are involved and supported, such as volunteering ethos and innovation in volunteering.
• Management Practice: Practical decisions about stages of the volunteer journey that create the day-to-day experience of volunteer involvement and support such as volunteer recruitment, support and development.

The research has informed the development of tools for Citizens Advice, including a value of volunteering calculator to help demonstrate the value of volunteering to external stakeholders, including funders, partners, potential volunteers and wider community. A toolkit has also been developed for local offices to understand the costs of different elements of their volunteering model (such as recruitment, training and supervision) and to inform and empower them to make decisions when developing volunteering.

Further information

Summary report (English)
Summary report (Welsh)
Full report

If you would like further information about this project, please contact Dr Helen Timbrell: Helen.Timbrell@citystgeorges.ac.uk.

This report helps us better understand how volunteering contributes to social care in Wales.

This research study was commissioned by Social Care Wales in 2024 to gather insight from volunteers, social care staff and other stakeholders around their experiences of volunteering.

The focus of the research was volunteering in residential care homes supporting older people in Wales. The team used different methods to gather evidence, including a rapid evidence review, qualitative case studies and an online survey.

The findings set out in the report help us understand more about things like:

• the scale of volunteering in residential care homes in Wales
• who volunteers and why
• different roles volunteers play
• how to recruit, train, manage and support volunteers
• the benefits and challenges of volunteering
• what needs to change in policy and practice to enhance the value of volunteering.

The research was funded by Welsh Government's  Volunteering Wales Strategic Grant, administered by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA).

It was carried out by the  University of South Wales, the  Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care and the  Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Bayes Business School.

Download the report.

For more information about this project, please contact Dr Helen Timbrell: Helen.Timbrell@citystgeorges.ac.uk.

'Bridging the gap' is aimed primarily at those who are working within the private sector and who wish to take up a trusteeship or other volunteer role within the charity or nonprofit sector. It comprises a series of chapters that aim to provide an overview of the sector, the differences that you may find and how to become successfully engaged. It is also recommended for those who wish to recruit from outside the sector. (Published 2014)

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

‘Poverty Porn as Humanitarian Business: The Effects of Framing, Affect Intensity, and Spokesperson Characteristics’ (2025) seeks to understand how poverty porn limits donor engagement and aims to determine the nature of White saviourism perpetuated by poverty porn. In addressing these gaps, Dr Haseeb Shabbir, a CCE’s Reader in Voluntary Marketing, as well as  Professor Roger Bennett (Kingston University), Rita Kottasz, Rohini Vijaygopal (The Open University), Bettina Gárdász, Julian Adams, and Paddy Kendall (Motif Ltd), they add to our knowledge of how poverty porn imagery works in practice.

This research evaluates the vital relationship between health and care commissioners and VCSEs, and how they can collaborate better.

Voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) contribute substantially to the English health and care system. To tackle health and care priorities, including addressing inequalities, the importance of commissioners and VCSEs working together is clear. This research explores VCSE sector and health and care commissioning relationships, practices and experiences to better understand the realities of commissioning and where improvements could be made.

The study is based on extensive research, including analysis of Clinical Commissioning Group spend on VCSE organisations, and over 160 interviews with VCSEs and commissioners in six localities across England, focusing on end of life care, learning disability services and social prescribing.

In this research paper, 'Beyond Reason', CCE's Dr Peter Grant, considers the likely impact of the UK leaving the European Union around the three key referendum issues of the economy, sovereignty and immigration. It suggests some of the ways charitable organisations and private philanthropy should respond, in particular regarding potential threats to British democracy. (Published 2019).

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.

'Voluntary action: a way forward' by Sir Stuart Etherington was described by Professor Paul Palmer as “a bold vision for the role that voluntary action can play in tackling many of the problems facing UK society, sustaining civil society organisations and ensuring that we remain an open society”. (Published 2017).

In this document you may still see us referred to as Cass Business School or The Business School (formerly Cass). Find out more about our name change.