Trusted Charity Mark

• What is the Trusted Charity Mark?
• Benefits of assurance
• How to get assurance
• Apply for assurance
• What next?

What is the Trusted Charity Mark?

The Trusted Charity Mark is a quality mark awarded to your organisation after an external assessment. It is a nationally-recognised award.

You can apply for the quality mark after completing your Trusted Charity self-assessment. Achieving the award offers both users and funders external verification of the quality and credibility of an organisation.

It remains the only quality mark for charities designed by charities. No other quality mark addresses all the essential areas necessary for the effective management and governance of a charity.

We offer two levels of achievement for the Trusted Charity self-assessment and the quality mark. Find out more about Trusted Charity levels

Benefits of the Trusted Charity Mark

Achieving the Trusted Charity quality mark will give your organisation:

• external verification of your achievement of the Trusted Charity standards
• greater recognition and creditability from statutory and independent funders, users and other stakeholders
• increased motivation for staff, trustees and volunteers
• confirmation that your organisation has reached a recognised quality standard
• enhanced organisational learning through the assessment process.

How to get the Trusted Charity Mark

1. Complete the Trusted Charity self-assessment
2. Apply for the quality mark by completing our online form. Your organisation must be a registered charity in order to apply
3. Once you’ve successfully applied your organisation will undergo an external assessment which involves gathering evidence, reviewing documentation and interviewing staff, board members and volunteers.

The external assessment will be carried out by Trusted Charity Mark assessors – members of the voluntary and community sector who are specially trained and supported by NCVO to carry out assessments of organisations against the Trusted Charity standards.

What is the process?

The following flowchart outlines the assessment process.

Cost

The cost of an assessment depends on:

• the size of your organisation
• the number of sites you operate across
• the assurance level at which you are assessed.

These prices are based on organisations with one site or office and do not include expenses – reasonable travel and subsistence expenses for your assessor(s).

‘Full-time equivalent staff’ includes all paid staff and excludes volunteers.

VAT will be applied to fees for organisations.

NCVO/WCVA member discount

If you are a member of NCVO or WCVA you’ll get a 10% discount off the fees.

NCVO membership offers a number of other benefits for your organisation - find out more about becoming an NCVO member.

Getting a quote

If you operate from more than one site or office or you have more than 200 staff, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You will need to provide details on the number of staff and the number of sites you operate across.

Apply for the Trusted Charity Mark

Before completing the application, please read the terms and conditions.

APPLY FOR THE TRUSTED CHARITY MARK

Once you have submitted your application you’ll be invoiced for the assessment fee. It is essential that you have completed your self-assessment before applying for the quality mark.

Supporting documents

There are some common mistakes that organisations make when applying which can delay the process and cause problems further down the line. Use this helpful checklist for applicants (pdf, 160KB) to make sure you have everything ready for your assessment.

Latest (4th edition)

Level 1 assessment: 

• Assessment workbook – level 1 (Word, 240KB)
• Welsh assessment workbook - level 1 (Word, 243KB)
• Desktop review list – level 1 (Word, 240KB)
• Welsh desktop review list - level 1 (Word, 244KB)
• Guidance on Trusted Charity indicators (Word, 350KB)
• Welsh guidance on Trusted Charity indicators (Word, 277KB)

Level 2 assessment - all the documents above, plus:

• Assessment workbook – level 2 (Word, 240KB)
• Welsh assessment workbook - level 2 (Word, 244KB)
• Desktop review list – level 2 (Word, 240KB)
• Welsh desktop review list - level 2 (Word, 225KB)

Improvement actions

If the assessors’ findings show that your organisation has not yet fully met the Trusted Charity standards, you will be asked to implement improvement actions.

• Improvement action plan (Word, 220KB)
• Guidance on improvement action planning (pdf, 460KB)
• Welsh improvement plan (Word, 219KB)
• Welsh improvement action planning guidance (pdf, 370KB)

Previous (3rd edition) 

Level 1 assessment:

• Assessment workbook - level 1 (Word, 240KB)
• Guidance on Trusted Charity indicators - level 1 (pdf, 260KB)

Level 2 assessment - all the documents above, plus:

• Assessment workbook - level 2 (Word, 240KB)
• Guidance on Trusted Charity indicators - level 2 (pdf, 270KB)

What next?

Maintaining your award after achieving the Trusted Charity Mark

Trusted Charity is about continuous improvement and the quality cycle does not stop with achievement of the Trusted Charity Mark. We recommend that you continue self-assessing against the Trusted Charity indicators for the three years that your award is valid. This is the best way to ensure that there are no major gaps and that good practice is maintained. Changes in staff, volunteers, trustees, the external environment, and of course the needs of your users mean that you have to constantly assess and evaluate where you are. Some organisations maintain their Trusted Charity implementation group as a mechanism for checking that the organisation is still compliant. Others incorporate Trusted Charity within their standard structures and review systems.

Sometimes organisations decide that this is an opportunity to consider implementing Trusted Charity at the next level (for example, you are awarded at level 1 and now you decide to move to level 2). In the plans and processes you put in place in order to meet the new requirements, it is important to check that you are still maintaining your performance against all indicators at all previous levels.

Renewing your Trusted Charity Mark award

Approximately six months before your award expires we will get in touch with you to remind you to renew and to give you details about how to reapply.

To maintain your award and avoid a gap between the expiry of your original award and your renewal, we recommend that you apply at least three months in advance of the award expiration. If your assessment progresses smoothly, this should mean that your next award is in place before the expiry of the initial one.

If you don’t wish to renew your award, your listing will be removed from our website at the end of the three-year period.