As an organisation, RDA UK and RDA groups have always evolved to meet the needs of the disabled people we serve – and now, we want to be able to share the incredible impact that RDA groups have with the biggest possible audience. 

We are updating our brand to ensure it remains fit for the future. This is not about changing our name and who we are, but about making sure the way we position and present ourselves – to funders, partners, participants, and the wider public – reflects both our proud history and who we are today. 

This work is now vital because the context in which we operate is changing rapidly – funding is harder to secure, costs are rising and yet demand for our services is higher than ever. In this context it is important that RDA is well-known and prominent in the public eye and engaging and trusted by our supporters 

Our brand must evolve to help us respond to this changing context. Currently, our brand does not easily reflect the impact of our work, and it does not emotionally connect with people the way it could.  

However, we are not starting from scratch. This work builds on the strong foundation of the 2019 brand research, which included extensive consultation across the federation.  

A key outcome from that process was a decision not to change our name, but instead to focus on the power and recognition of the initials ‘RDA.’ 

Now, we are taking that work further. Our approach will: 

• Use insight gained in 2019 as a foundation. 

• Complement this with updated engagement from our community, as well as gaining external insight.  

• Draw on our soon-to-be-published Impact Report, ensuring that the brand we build reflects the real difference RDA makes, and the value of what we offer. 

Our aim is to develop a brand that helps us all express our purpose with clarity and consistency; whilst making clear the urgency and need of our work – unlocking the awareness, understanding and support we need to thrive in the years ahead. 

To be clear, brand is about more than a new logo – it is about developing our brand as a long-term strategic tool to fuel success. The foundations of this are a clearer, stronger articulation of who we are, why we exist, what we do and why it matters, that align with our strategic intent, amplify our voice and makes it easier for everyone to understand us; and run through everything we do, from our products and services to our culture, innovation, fundraising and marketing communications.  

A stronger, more emotionally engaging brand will:  

• Help us become a great fundraising organisation – diversifying and increasing our income and audiences.  

• Make us and our cause more distinct and a higher priority for decision makers.  

• Give us a stronger story to tell that engages even more supporters, volunteers, funders, and partners.  

• Make a clearer connection between the national charity and RDA groups across the country, showcasing the scale of our impact. 

• Help make us more accessible and inclusive. 

We are working with Red Stone, an expert branding and creative agency, to develop our new brand. There will be opportunities to be part of the process and share feedback.  

This rebrand will help us tell our story clearly, demonstrate how our work is changing lives for the better and inspire even more people to join us.  

This is an important and exciting stage in RDA’s development – and we look forward to collaborating with our community to shape a brand that proudly represents who we are and where we are going. 

We want our brand to be shaped by the people who support, work with, and champion our mission. Therefore, we will be seeking input and feedback, from a range of voices, over the coming weeks and months. As such, we will be calling on members of our community to get involved in a number of ways – from helping our agency partner get under the skin of RDA through initial focus groups; to sharing your feedback as we develop our new visual identity via surveys and other feedback mechanisms; to helping us shape the implementation plan so we can develop  a suite of branded resources that will benefit all of us across RDA. 

We aim to launch our new brand in the spring of 2026. We will take a phased approach to introducing the new brand, maintaining the RDA name throughout, to ensure a smooth transition, and to minimise waste and additional costs. 

We look forward to collaborating with you on the project and will publish updates on My RDA to keep everyone informed on progress. You can contact comms@rda.org.uk for further information. 

We have recently seen many wonderful photos shared from RDA sessions across our network. These activities provide fantastic opportunities for engagement and enrichment, and we truly appreciate the effort that goes into making them special. 

However, we would like to take this opportunity to remind all Groups of the importance of best practice, risk assessment, and appropriate content when sharing images on public platforms. 

Key Considerations: 

• Safety Measures & Risk Assessments: All RDA activities should be conducted in line with appropriate risk assessments to ensure a safe and controlled environment for participants, volunteers, and equines. If any adaptations are made, please ensure they are fully risk assessed and recorded. 
• Hygiene Considerations: Maintaining good hygiene is essential, particularly when working with older or vulnerable participants. Ensuring that equines remain at a safe distance from food and drink areas can help minimise hygiene risks and cross contamination. 
• Image Content & Public Sharing: When sharing photos online, please ensure they align with best practices for safeguarding and privacy. Avoid images where safety measures are not visible or could be misinterpreted, as this may set unintended precedents for other Groups or Centres. 

We appreciate your commitment to delivering safe and enjoyable RDA activities and encourage all Groups to review their risk assessments and session setups to ensure they meet RDA guidelines. 

If you have any questions or require further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Email groupsupport@rda.org.uk  

Changes now in effect 

Increased inquiry powers 

Part of OSCR’s role is to conduct inquiries into a charity when they identify possible misconduct or a risk to assets. The new Act provides increased powers: the  Power to direct charities to take particular actions, the power to appoint interim trustees, the power to inquire into former charities and former charity trustees, and changes to OSCR’s powers to require charities and others to provide information.  

Action – General awareness by trustees. 

Removing charities that fail to submit accounts and to respond to OSCR 

The 2023 Act gives OSCR the power to remove charities from the Scottish Charity Register that have failed to submit accounts on time and failed to engage with OSCR about putting this breach of trustee duties right. 

Action – Trustees must be aware of their obligation to submit accounts to OSCR within 9 months of their financial year-end and to respond to any inquiry made by OSCR. 

A charity’s connection to Scotland 

OSCR must refuse an application to be registered as a charity from organisations that have no or a negligible connection with Scotland. 

Other changes 

The 2023 Act has made minor changes to simplify interactions between charities and OSCR and provide more flexibility, mainly around the names of charities and how charities are entered into the register. 

Changes expected in 2025 

Publication of charity annual reports and accounts 

From mid-2025 OSCR will be displaying all accounts from Scottish Charities and in particular this means after charity accounts are sent to OSCR (including personal information) will be available for anyone to view on the Register for at least five years. OSCR recommends that charities consider what information to include in this narrative before they start to write their accounts. This could as an example, include listing trustee correspondence as the group address to protect the personal information of Trustees. 

Action – take appropriate action as recommended by OSCR 

Automatic disqualification 

OCSR share a current list of those automatically disqualified from being a charity trustee. The 2023 Act expands this criteria and will now include, for instance, those convicted of terrorism, or who are on the sexual offenders register.  

These criteria, which have previously only applied to trustees, are being extended to include staff or volunteers who undertake a senior management function for a charity 

Action – The timeline to introduce this change has yet to be confirmed but trustees should be aware of this pending change. 

For full details of the changes detailed in law please visit the OCSR website. 

OSCR | Changes to charity law after the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023. 

If you require any further assistance then please don’t hesitate to contact your Regional Chair or RDA UK on groupsupport@rda.org.uk 

An opportunity to give your views about RDA’s future   

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has participated to date in the initial Listening Exercise as part of the RDA Governance Review.

Bookings are now open for the Governance Review Roadshows, which are the next part of the exercise – Our Governance: How We Work Together Tickets | Eventbrite. We are now able to give you further information about how the Roadshows will be run and what will be discussed.

The Roadshow Format

The Roadshows have capacity for 100 attendees at each event. They will be introduced by Barbara Manson, Trustee and Governance Review Steering Committee Chair.

Alongside her will be Steph Harland from CCE (Centre for Charity Effectiveness, City of London University), other RDA National Charity Trustees, and Michael Bishop our CEO. The events will last for two hours. Please do encourage everyone to book in and be part of the conversation – this is their chance to influence how we work together as a National Charity in the future and we are keen to hear everyone’s views.

There are five physical meetings across the UK – one in Northern Ireland, one in Wales, one in Scotland and two in England, and we have tried to balance the locations geographically as best we can. However, we appreciate that it may not be convenient to attend the events in person so we have planned two virtual events during October which can be joined from anywhere in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We very much hope that everyone across the RDA community can access either a physical or virtual meeting should they so choose.

Framing the Discussion – The Consultation Document

The Consultation Document sets out in some detail the topics for discussion at the Roadshows so that everyone has a chance to reflect and discuss these topics with fellow RDA volunteers in advance. The document is available on this link.

There is, as you would expect, much we could discuss and we have had to prioritise based on the collective feedback. There were also some very useful strategic and operational issues raised which fall outside of this governance review, and our CEO, Michael, will look to address these in his future plans.

Gathering feedback

The topics raised in the consultation document are topics for discussion. CCE will gather the feedback from the Roadshows, together with all feedback given between 11th October to 11th November 2024 through the Consultation Feedback form, to gather everyone’s input and prepare a report for the RDA UK Board.  

Everyone in RDA will be able to give Consultation Document feedback between the above dates, whether they have attended a roadshow or not.

In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact our email address governance@rda.org.uk

Thank you very much for all your support in this process and we hope this lays the foundation for a more consultative and collaborative approach to make sure our charity is in the best possible shape to support our member groups.