Charities Aid FoundationLabour, Conservative and SNP Party Conferences 2015Under the Microscope

In response to sustained negative press coverage about charities during summer 2015, CAF wanted to use our party conference activity and events as a way of capturing decision makers’ attitudes towards the

charity sector. We attended Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth, Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Conservative Party

Conference in Manchester and SNP Conference in Aberdeen.

We also wanted to influence MPs to get behind the sector by showing them where they are in line with and out of touch with public opinion and party activists. We wanted to use our events at conference as the

basis for discussions about the challenges and opportunities that voluntary organisations face and examine underlying philosophies of

each party.

Party Conferences 2015

We partnered with ComRes to undertake research exploring what both MPs and voters think about charities, and were able to segment the data in a number of ways including by contrasting MPs to the public, looking at the attitudes of the new intake, and seeing how MPs of each party compare to those who voted for them.

In addition to creating a conference report, we wanted to design a party

conference stand that was both interactive and exciting. We chose to utilise a science laboratory theme across the entirety of our party conference activity, unifying all of the different elements around a single theme.

Party Conferences 2015

The CAF Stand at Labour and Conservative party conferences

CAF Staff dressed up as Scientists on the Lab stand at Labour Party Conference

Melanie Orr MP came over to our stand to vote yes on whether charities are trustworthy

The results of our campaigning question on our stand at Labour Party Conference

A finding from our research on the opinions of Labour MPs

We were excited to win 2nd prize for best stand at Labour Party Conferenece

Our flyer at Labour party conference

Our packed fringe at Labour Party Conference in Brighton

The write up of our Labour fringe on Civil Society Media

Differences in opinion between Labour and Conserv

A finding from our Under the Microscope Research

Exploring the differences in opinion between Conservative voters and MPs

Great to have the Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan talk to us about charities

Our fringe at Conservative Party Conference being written up in Third Sector Media

CAF CEO John Low chairing the CAF/SCVO Fringe at SNP Conference in Aberdeen

The Trussell Trust asking a question from the floor on government funding of charities

UK Fundraising featured our blog on 5 things we learned from party conferences