This section of the website is specifically designed for our groups, and is here to encapsule everything that you might need to run your group in one place. Most of our resource pages involve links to more appropriate and focused pages and organisations, to make all the information available more easily accessible, and to show you examples of what groups in our network have done or are currently doing, as well as our recommendations. You can find a list of them at the bottom of this page, or in the main menu at the top of the website.
Small Charities Coalition.
For a lot of things the Small Charities Coalition website is a fantastic resource, whether your group is a charity or not. It basically has lots of useful advice for any small community groups and charities, including on Governance, Finance, Campaigning, Measuring Impact, Recruitment, Media, Insurance and lots more.
They also have a fantastic “Starting a new charity FAQs…” section, for anyone wondering about governance and structure, and offer a list of Training Opportunities.
Other useful websites
Knowhow NonProfit is a great website with lots of advice and resources for setting up non-profit organisations, including great “how to” and “tools and resources” sections.
The Resource Centre based in the Brighton and Hove area provides a similar service to the Small Charities Coalition and is “a really useful place for community groups”.
The Charity Commission website provides advice and guidance on how to set up and register as a charity for English and Welsh groups, if you wish to, and for trustees.
The OSCR is the Scottish Charities regulator and provides useful information on starting up and managing a small charity.
The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is the equivalent authority for Northern Irish groups.
The Charities Regulatory Authority plays this role in the Republic of Ireland.
Local training
It is always a good idea to contact your local CVS, Volunteer Centre, Voluntary Action, or whatever is local to you to see if they deliver any relevant training. Simply do an online search for your local area + CVS to find your local organisation.
Our Resources
The amount of information you can find in either of the above places, however, can be quite overwhelming. This section of our site is attempting to slim this down to what we know our groups need, and tailored to our (albeit diverse) network, with resources specific to what groups have requested.
If you have any useful resources you would like to share with the network, or can’t find something you are looking for, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: [email protected]
NB. Although we do try to cater all groups, and most information will be relevant, due to the slightly different legal practices in different regions we cannot guarantee that the information we provide will be correct for all of our groups. If this is the case please do let us know, and we will try to amend this.