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Help and guidance

Our help and guidance content includes step-by-step guides, downloadable templates and interactive tools to help you run your voluntary organisation

Setting up

Learn about the practical steps you need to take to set up your own organisation

  • Setting up

Deciding to set up a new charitable organisation

Access our guidance to help you decide if you should set up a new charity, voluntary organisation or community group

  • Setting up

Choosing your legal structure

What you need to consider when choosing your legal structure and the main characteristics of different legal structures

  • Setting up

Understanding charity status and registration

Find out what charity status is and if you need to register as a charity

  • Setting up

Understanding social enterprise

Find out about social enterprises and their associated legal structures

  • Setting up

A charity's governing document: What it should include

Find out what information should be included in your charity's governing document

  • Setting up

Running a charity

Guidance and tools to help you run your charity or voluntary organisation

  • Employing and managing staff
  • Setting up
  • Closing down

Employing and managing staff

Practical guidance to help you recruit, manage and develop paid members of staff, including a useful introduction to employment law

  • Employing and managing staff

Employing staff essentials

Familiarise yourself with the essential aspects of employing paid members of staff

  • Employing and managing staff

Our equity, diversity and inclusion work: Proceeding at the pace of trust

  • Inside NCVO
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion

Volunteering round-up: February 2023

NCVO’s senior policy and influencing advisor Catherine Goodall shares recent updates and upcoming dates for your diary

  • Involving volunteers

Governance round-up: February 2023

Our round-up for trustees and governance professionals, with useful sector updates, training courses and guidance

  • Governance

Five tips for managing costs with the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme

Advice on what the Energy Bills Discount Scheme means for charities and tips on how to cope with rising costs

  • Responding to crises

Exploring approaches to age friendly inclusive volunteering

Susannah Hodge, training and regional support manager at the Third Age Trust, shares learning and reflections from NCVO's age inclusive volunteering project

  • Involving volunteers

The inside track: February 2023

Our latest update on what’s happening in Westminster. This month sees the creation of new government departments and a big change at the top of Scottish politics

  • Government and politics

Governance round-up: March 2023

With many of us approaching the end of our financial year, senior governance consultant Sally Stephens shares guidance for completing your annual return

  • Governance

Is this what a voluntary sector CEO looks like?

To mark International Women’s Day 2023, our chief executive Sarah Vibert reflects on what changes are needed to encourage more women into leadership positions in the voluntary sector

  • Equity, diversity and inclusion

Charities urge chancellor to provide cost of living support

Organisations have united ahead of next week’s spring budget to call on the chancellor to provide urgent support

  • Responding to crises

Government policy and funding round-up: March 2023

The latest government policy and funding announcements and updates on our influencing work

  • Government and politics
  • Funding and income

The stages of consortium development

Step-by-step guidance to help voluntary organisations develop a consortium

  • Collaboration

Pre-start-up scoping and planning

Guidance on scoping and planning before you set up a voluntary-sector consortium

  • Collaboration

Formation of working group

How to form the initial working group that will help partners set up a consortium

  • Collaboration

Development funding

An outline of how much funding is required to establish a voluntary sector consortium, and some of the potential funding sources

  • Collaboration

Stakeholder engagement

Why you need to engage stakeholders such as commissioners and local organisations in your consortium development, and how to involve them

  • Collaboration

Operational development and consortium documents

An overview of the key policies and procedures that will support the operational running of a consortium

  • Collaboration

Incorporation and establishment of interim board

A guide to becoming an incorporated company

  • Collaboration

Membership recruitment and due diligence

How to formally launch your consortium and invite organisations to join

  • Collaboration

Set up central management hub

How to set up the central hub that will run the consortium business, scope for contracts, network with commissioners and bring in contracts

  • Collaboration

Bid for and win contracts

How consortium members can work together to bid for, and hopefully win, contracts

  • Collaboration

Charity finance skills (1 day)

This course will help people with little or no financial background to feel confident in managing day-to-day charity finance

Charity trustee induction and refresher (2 x 0.5 days)

This course will give trustees an overview and understanding of charity governance, regulation and best practice

NCVO/Zurich webinar: Developing and embedding effective risk assessments for volunteers

Join us for an essential webinar on creating and embedding effective risk assessments to protect your volunteers and those they support

Financial governance for trustees (0.5 day)

This course will revisit the core financial duties of a charity trustee and explore what it means to practice good financial governance

Strategic leadership (1 day)

This practical one-day course for aspiring and existing charity leaders will elevate your strategic leadership skills, so you can create lasting impact for your organisations and the communities you serve.

Safeguarding essentials in charities (1 day)

All voluntary organisations have a duty to keep the people they work with safe from harm. This course introduces the basics of safeguarding within a charity context in England and highlights effective safeguarding practice

Tools and methods for measuring outcomes (1 day)

Get an introduction to data collection methods and practical guidance for evaluating your work

Better impact reporting (0.5 day)

This practical session will build your awareness of different types of reporting and support you to tell a compelling story through your reporting

Recruiting volunteers (0.5 day)

This course will develop your skills and help you use a marketing approach to recruit volunteers

Advanced project management (1 day)

Are you confident in your general project management skills but looking to strengthen your expertise? This course moves beyond the basics of project management to better understand techniques, activities and principles within a charity context.