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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

Volunteering in England in 2032

  • Involving volunteers

Mobilising the public response to war in Ukraine through partnership and collaboration

  • Responding to crises
  • Collaboration
  • Involving volunteers

12 things I've learnt about culture change over the last 12 months

  • Governance
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Inside NCVO

Volunteering round-up: March 2022

  • Involving volunteers

Governance round-up: March 2022

  • Governance
  • Law and regulation

Respond, recover, reset: What the voluntary sector can learn from the past two years

  • Funding and income
  • Impact and evaluation
  • Responding to crises

Sarah Vibert: My vision for NCVO and our membership community

  • Inside NCVO
  • Collaboration
  • Involving volunteers

The inside track: March 2022

  • Law and regulation
  • Government and politics

How charities and civil society can support Ukraine

  • Responding to crises

Volunteering round-up: February 2022

  • Involving volunteers

What is volunteering?

Find out what volunteering is and how to get started

  • Involving volunteers

Why involve volunteers?

How volunteers can benefit your organisation and play an important role in your work

  • Involving volunteers

Writing a volunteering strategy

A volunteer strategy helps secure the support to help your volunteering do more

  • Involving volunteers

Equity, diversity and inclusion in volunteering

Understand how equity, diversity and inclusion affects volunteers and those they support

  • Involving volunteers

Writing volunteer role descriptions

How to write volunteer role descriptions that show your volunteers' roles and responsibilities

  • Involving volunteers

Paying volunteer expenses

It’s good practice to pay back volunteers for expenses they incur while volunteering

  • Involving volunteers

Coordinating volunteers

Understand volunteer coordinator roles and decide how to support your volunteers

  • Involving volunteers

Safeguarding and volunteers

Help volunteers understand their role in safeguarding and their own right to be safe

  • Involving volunteers

Writing a volunteer policy

How a volunteer policy can benefit your organisation and what it should include

  • Involving volunteers

Getting volunteer insurance

Understand what insurance your organisation needs if it involves volunteers

  • Involving volunteers

Mentoring and coaching skills (0.5 days)

This course provides an introduction to the key differences between mentoring and coaching. You’ll learn how to use both skills effectively to develop and support staff, volunteers and clients

Theory of change for strategic planning and evaluation (1 day)

Learn how to create your own theory of change and narrative. This course will challenge you to think critically about what you're doing and why

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

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.

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

Tools and methods for measuring outcomes (1 day)

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

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

Recruiting volunteers (0.5 day)

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