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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

Spring Statement 2025: what it means for charities

  • Funding and income
  • Government and politics

The Road Ahead 2025

  • Government and politics

The importance of project management in the voluntary sector

  • Business planning and strategy

Power of Small project report

The Power of Small: championing small organisations across the sector

  • Impact and evaluation

How your charity can make the most of Small Charity Week

Practical ways to take part in Small Charity Week – from sharing your story to getting free training, funding support and expert advice.

  • Cost of living
  • Campaigning

194 small charities selected for Small Charity Week match funding campaign

  • Collaboration
  • Funding and income

Civil society’s priorities for the new Covenant

A new report by NCVO and ACEVO sets out six key recommendations to make the Civil Society Covenant meaningful, based on feedback from over 1,000 organisations.

  • Campaigning
  • Government and politics

Examples of monitoring and evaluation frameworks

View what some monitoring and evaluation frameworks look like for different organisations

  • Impact and evaluation

Choosing your evaluation methods

Learn about which evaluation method will be best for the type of evaluation work you're doing

  • Impact and evaluation

Choosing your method

Find out about the process of choosing evaluation methods, and what some of those common evaluation methods are

  • Impact and evaluation

Using interviews

Learn about what types of interviews there are and what to consider when running interviews

  • Impact and evaluation

Planning and running focus groups

Learn about how to plan for and run focus groups

  • Impact and evaluation

Designing questionnaires

Learn about the basics of questionnaire design

  • Impact and evaluation

Using creative data collection methods

Learn about different creative data collection methods and when they can be used

  • Impact and evaluation

Using secondary data

Learn what secondary data is and how to find it

  • Impact and evaluation

Analysis and reporting

Learn about how to generate evaluation findings and to report clearly in an appropriate format

  • Impact and evaluation

Analysing quantitative data for evaluation

Learn about how to analyse quantitative data

  • Impact and evaluation

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

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

Leading change and transformation (2 days)

This practical two-day course for aspiring and existing charity leaders will teach you how to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Learn how to successfully deliver meaningful change to improve your team or organisation

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.