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About us

Find out about our services, the way we operate and how we champion voluntary action

Who we are

We’re the membership community for charities, voluntary organisations and community groups in England

Our services

Find out how we can support you, from support for small charities and training to consultancy and corporate relations

Training

We offer a range of training courses designed to help you do what you do best

eLearning: Roles and duties of trustees

This flexible, interactive course will help you understand your duties as a trustee and support you to run your charity effectively so you can make a bigger difference

Leading on purpose

A practical four-month programme for emerging charity leaders who are on their way to leading organisations

Our vision for charity leaders

Learn about the mindset, knowledge and connections that emerging leaders need to guide the sector into the 2030s

Support for small charities and voluntary organisations

We know small charities make a big impact with limited resource - that's why we're here to help

Small charity helpdesk

Ask our practical support team any question about the setting up or running of your charity or voluntary organisation.

Creating inclusive growth: Local Enterprise Partnerships' engagement with the voluntary sector

  • Collaboration
  • Involving volunteers

Levelling up: The UK Shared Prosperity Fund

  • Government and politics

Volunteering: A family affair? Summary report

  • Involving volunteers

Volunteering: A family affair?

  • Involving volunteers

Beyond charities

  • Equity, diversity and inclusion

The impact of covid-19 on the voluntary sector

  • Coronavirus
  • Involving volunteers

The Road Ahead 2020

A review of the voluntary sector's operating environment.

  • Responding to crises
  • Coronavirus
  • Funding and income

Creating partnerships for success

  • Collaboration
  • Impact and evaluation

Time Well Spent: Volunteering in the public sector

  • Involving volunteers

Taking control, adopting a people-centred approach and seeking professional advice

Guidance on taking control of your situation, adopting a people-centred approach and seeking professional advice

  • Financial management

Managing your energy costs

Learn about what support is available for managing energy costs and being energy efficient

  • Financial management

Key stages of collaboration

Learn about the key stages of collaboration and what they mean for your organisation

  • Collaboration

What is collaborative working?

Collaborative working, also known as joint or partnership working, covers a variety of ways that two or more organisations can work together

  • Collaboration

Benefits and risks of collaborative working

Decide whether collaboration will help you achieve your aims by learning about the potential benefits and risks

  • Collaboration

Should you collaborate?

A checklist of questions to help you decide whether to work collaboratively on a given project.

  • Collaboration

Top tips for collaboration

Tips to help voluntary organisations collaborate effectively with the right partners

  • Collaboration

The collaboration spectrum

This page explains the different ways that voluntary organisations may collaborate in order to bid for and deliver a commissioned contract

  • Collaboration

Partnerships

Guidance to help you decide whether working in partnership is right for your organisation

  • Collaboration

Campaigning in collaboration

Guidance to help voluntary organisations collaborate on campaigns

  • Collaboration

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

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

Strategic planning: tools for decision making (1 day)

This course will introduce processes and tools to help ensure that decision-making is responsive to your environment and focused on the most important issues affecting your organisation

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

Leading external engagement ( 1 day)

This training will teach you how to raise your profile and the profile of your charity. You’ll learn how to improve your external engagement through network-building, collaboration, partnership development and effective communication.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in charity governance (2 x 0.5 days)

This course has been created by The Social Justice Collective to help you understand, address and embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into your governance practice

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

Good practice in volunteer management (1 day)

This course provides an introduction to the key principles of good volunteer management and how to apply them in your organisation

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

Advanced data protection (2 x 0.5 days)

This advanced course is specifically for data protection leads or officers in charitable organisations.