Everyone should routinely give 10 % of their estate to charity when they die.

This is the view of the current Coalition, which wants to encourage more philanthropy from the public as charities lose millions through government cuts in public spending.

Britons gave £106 billion in 2009, £400 million more than in 2008, despite the recession. MPs have paid themselves millions in fiddled expenses.

A charity, The Christian Institute, is funding the legal fees of the West Country guesthouse owners who are being taken to court by the government’s Equality and Human rights Commission for refusing to supply double-bedded accommodation to two gay men.

The guesthouse owners argue that they have also refused such accommodation to unmarried heterosexual couples and those clearly under-age on the grounds that it would be an affront to their faith in their own home. The government argue that the couple acted illegally in breach of the Equality Act Regulations of 2007 and should pay damages of up to £5000.

The RSPCA has lost its legal battle to keep a £2 million estate left to it in a will.

Christine Gill of Northallerton overturned her mother’s will in the High Court last year, a decision upheld by the Appeal Court against the RSPCA this year, leaving the charity to find an estimated legal bill of £1.2 million.

Drug addicts are being paid by an American charity to undergo sterilisation.

Project Prevention defend their scheme on the basis that it reduces the numbers of drug-addicted babies born, but other drugs charities attack it as exploitative and morally questionable, and express concern that addicts will simply use the £200 paid to feed their habit.

According to Private Eye the first Briton to collect the money also picked up £5000 from the morally unquestionable Daily Mail, to run his story.

Thieves stole charity boxes for the Royal British Legion, Macmillan Cancer Support, Action Research and Help for Heroes on Remembrance Sunday in North Northumberland. (The Journal)

Their actions were described as “despicable” by the police, who also commented that the thieves “didn’t have a place in the community”

Family charities have condemned US company Ashley Madison, which makes its money from running a contacts website for those wanting to have affairs.

Jenny North, head of policy at Relate said that it “trivialises infidelity and the pain it causes. Its effect ripples through the family and can be devastating” And Emrys Jones of Care For The Family commented that an affair is “a breach of trust that tears at the heart of a relationship”

There is also a view, far less moral and more pragmatic, that those accessing the website cannot be sure that any identifying details given will not be sold on, and/or fall into the wrong hands, given the notorious insecurity of the internet.

Charities hoping to get a favourable rate for their fund-raising events from charitable Charles Saatchi’s epomymous art gallery venue off Sloane Square might want to think again.

According to Telegraph columnist Tim Walker the organisers of the recent Art of Giving auction, which raised more than £140,000 for the charity had to hand over the full commercial rate of £60,000 for venue hire, plus a charitable £400 charge for every electrical socket used. In addition the organisers were not allowed to accept an offer from chef Heston Blumenthal to provide free canapes, instead being told that they would have to buy these from the venue’s “official” caterer, from which the management will be extracting the charitable, time-honoured sales commission.

Wonder if advertising whiz Charlie Boy, who knows a bit about image, knows how his lackeys are denting his? He really should be told.

The free seminar programme for the Charities and Associations Exhibition (CHASE – London, February 22/23) has just been announced.

Subjects include: effective PR for fundraising, strategic planning for fundraising, databases for fundraising, delivering memorable/beneficial/cost-effective events, corporate governance and the Equality Act and charities.

www.chase2011.org.uk