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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

Volunteering during the covid-19 pandemic: What we know

  • Coronavirus
  • Involving volunteers

Governance round-up: July 2022

Read our latest round-up for trustees and governance professionals, with useful sector updates, training courses and written guidance.

  • Governance

Impact round-up: August 2022

In this edition, Sandy Chidley, senior consultant, spotlights opportunities in impact and evaluation and shares useful evaluation resources and training opportunities

  • Impact and evaluation

Time Well Spent: A national survey on the volunteer experience

Our survey of more than 10,000 people provides the most detailed analysis of volunteering for a decade

  • Digital and technology
  • Involving volunteers

Time Well Spent: Employer-supported volunteering

Building on existing work on corporate volunteering, this report looks at employer-supported volunteering through the eyes of the volunteer

  • Employing and managing staff
  • Involving volunteers

Government policy and funding round-up: August 2022

This round-up will help you to stay informed about our influencing work, and any government policy and funding announcements. For news related to what’s happening in parliament, see our regular inside track round-up.

  • Government and politics

Governance round-up: August 2022

Governance consultant Sally Stephens shares updates on the Charities Act and the Charity Governance Code, along with some exciting training opportunities for trustees

  • Governance

Turning abandoned shares into support for communities – and what you can do to help

We explain what dormant assets are, how they could support communities and how you can help make that happen.

  • Law and regulation

Supporting members through the cost of living crisis

  • Government and politics
  • Responding to crises

Government must provide immediate financial support to help communities

Voluntary sector partners joint statement on the cost of living crisis

  • Government and politics
  • Responding to crises

Dual bottom line analysis

  • Business planning and strategy

Forcefield analysis

Use this tool to help you identify the forces working for and against a particular option

  • Business planning and strategy

Even over statements

Use this tool to help your organisation explore tradeoffs

  • Business planning and strategy

Deciding to close

Important things to consider before deciding to close your voluntary organisation

  • Closing down

Reasons to close

Every voluntary organisation should regularly ask whether it’s still well placed to achieve its goals

Alternatives to closure

If your organisation is still financially viable, you may want to consider alternative options to closure

Factors to consider before closing

Whatever your reasons for considering closure, you’re likely to have legal responsibilities to follow

Planning for closure

Steps you need to take before closing your organisation

  • Closing down

Create a closure plan

Depending on your route to closure and your legal structure, you may have different legal duties and wider responsibilities

Plan your closure communications

Once the decision has been made to close, you’ll need to decide who to inform and how to inform them

Boost your personal influence and impact (0.5 day)

Learn practical tools and techniques to increase your capability, confidence and impact when seeking to influence others – both within and outside your organisation

Charity finance strategy (1 day)

This course will give you an overview of how to build a simple finance strategy. We’ll introduce tools to help you build the financial resilience of your charity

Data protection essentials (2 x 0.5 days)

This essentials course is suitable for anyone within an organisation that handles the personal data of staff, service users, beneficiaries, volunteers, customers, members or supporters, and needs to know the basics of data protection for voluntary organisations.

Safeguarding essentials for trustees (0.5 day)

This introductory course explains the key trustee responsibilities for safeguarding, following guidance from the Charity Commission

Designated safeguarding leads in charities (1 day)

This one-day training course provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities of safeguarding leads in charities in England

Project management in the voluntary sector (2 days)

This practical course is specifically tailored to the voluntary sector. It’s designed to give you all the principles and practical tools you need to plan, deliver and evaluate your project successfully

Small Charity Week 2025 Webinar: Top tips to create an effective fundraising strategy

This free webinar as part of Small Charity Week 2025, will give small charity leaders practical tips to develop and deliver a successful fundraising strategy to ensure the resilience and sustainability of their charity.

Trust fundraising in a challenging climate: Over to you

We know that increased competition for funding, shifting priorities among funders, and economic uncertainty are making trust fundraising more challenging for charities. It’s more important than ever to understand the evolving funding landscape and adapt your approach. This free event is an opportunity to network with other NCVO members in facilitated discussions. Share experiences and challenges, work through solutions together, develop new relationships and learn from your peers.

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