Welcome to Cumbria CVS

Cumbria CVS is a registered charity and membership organisation. We help community/voluntary/not-for-profit groups and organisations to develop and improve by providing training and services that can be 1:1 support, funding advice, bespoke training, or through our regular training courses. We help place volunteers, and work with groups that involve volunteers to follow best practice.

200 orgs supported

Our District Manager for Cumberland, Bridget Johns, gives us an update on a packed five months, with 200 organisations supported since April, the team helping organisations in South Copeland secure over £500,00 in funding, Phase 2 of the Bedrock Basics programme commencing, the end of the Community Connectors project and more!

Powered By Communities

Our AGM saw 100 people gather in Penrith for a powerful day of collaborative conversations. The event saw attendees to create the agenda, starting with the question “How might we work together and support one another, as people who care about Cumbria, to build on what’s good and create sustainable futures?”  Read our report!

New CEO appointed

We’re delighted to announce our new Chief Executive; Dr Carolyn Otley will be taking over in January, following David Allen’s retirement. Carolyn will already be well known to many of you, as she’s worked in partnership roles for Cumbria CVS for over 20 years.

Christmas hopefulness

Our South Copeland Development Officer, Berry, discusses his hopes during the festive season and for 2025 in his latest blog. From restoring the natural environment in a hidden Eskdale valley, to a Millom coffee shop giving opportunities for employment and empowerment to young people with disabilities, there’s much to celebrate.

Useful Info – always updated!

We’ve rounded up the very latest events, training opportunities, charity news, surveys, research, feedback, reports, services and much more – in one handy place! Our Useful Information page is updated with new information as we receive it, and there’s a new page every week.

Your biggest challenge..?

Tell us what your biggest challenge is! We want to ensure that we are providing you with the support and services that you need. Our survey will take less that 5mins to complete and we’ll analyse the results and let you know what the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector in Cumbria said.

Lunch & Learn

Monday 13 January 2025, Barrow. This session aims to attract those that are feeling lonely, chronically isolated or anyone interested in finding out more about the Furness For You project and how it could help support you or someone you know.

Barrow Funding Fair

Our annual Barrow Funding Fair provides an excellent opportunity for local groups and organisations to network with one another and to meet with local, regional and national funders face to face. Book your place!

2023-24 Annual Review

Our 2023-24 Annual Review is out, featuring reports on a huge range of activity across the year. You’ll find reports from our projects, news of colleagues celebrating 20 years, details of how we’re connecting and supporting the sector, volunteering and health and wellbeing reports… it’s a packed summary of an equally busy year.

Latest News

Cumbria CVS Green – No 10 December 2024

Welcome back to Cumbria CVS Green! In our tenth blog post, Sarah Pearce, Administration Officer (... Read More


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