Useful information – w/c 26/01/26
January 26, 2026
Events, training, charity news, surveys, research, feedback, reports, services and much more – in one handy place!
This page will be updated with new information as we receive it during the week. Please check back regularly. (Last update: 26/01/26 – items added on this date are marked as [NEW])
You’ll also find the latest Health and Wellbeing news, events and opportunities in the current post on our News page here.
You can view previous Useful Information posts here to catch up on our archive of information.
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If you’ve seen something you think we should be sharing, let us know! Email us: info@cumbriacvs.org.uk
Looking for funding information and news? Check out Focus on Funding here
Data Protection Training for Charities
27th January 2026, online. It is important for every charity leader to ensure their organisation is fully compliant with the latest data protection regulations.
This half-day course will guide you through the key points to consider and what measures you should have in place. You will also learn how to avoid some common data protection pitfalls.
Operational Plans
Tuesday 27th January, online. Operational plans are often called many things, but it’s the plan that lasts for about a year and is often in-depth. This is perhaps one of the most important documents an organisation has.
It should set out what you are going to do for the coming year and often forms the basis of how you report your progress to trustees and stakeholders. The workshop will look at ways to create this document to make your life easy.
Brunch Bites: Power Up With a Streamlined Cloud Setup
Wednesday 28th January, online. In this webinar Qlic IT will share actionable insights to help your organisation simplify, streamline and strengthen its cloud setup.
From improving performance and security to making day-to-day working easier for staff, this bite-sized webinar will help you get more value from your cloud systems with confidence.
Free Charity Trading Essentials webinar
Wednesday 28th January, online. This practical session, delivered in partnership with Withers LLP, explores charity trading and when to consider a trading subsidiary. It’s designed for charity leaders, trustees, finance teams, and anyone involved in income generation.
Charity trading is increasingly on the agenda for organisations exploring income diversification and financial sustainability. This session is a useful opportunity to understand the key considerations, hear real-world examples, and get up to date guidance – whether you’re advising groups on trading or considering it for your own organisation.
Attendees will learn:
- What trading means and the different types of trading activity
- When it’s appropriate to set up a trading subsidiary and key considerations
- Where to find guidance to ensure trading activities comply with charity law
- Real-life insights from a charity already trading
How to master bid-writing
28th January 2026, online. Join Charity Digital for a one-hour intensive masterclass on the fundamentals of bid-writing. Attendee will learn exactly how to craft successful bids from one of the charity sector’s experts.
Grant expert and Director of Get Grants, John Ellery, will explore the process of grant-funding, focussing on the core challenges faced by charities. John will cover, among other things, the importance of ‘being fundable’, the right funders for you to approach, how to make an application stand out, and tips to increase your chance of success.
Digital Exclusion Workshop
Wednesday 28th January, Whitehaven. Digital Unite is running a free 2 hour workshop on on the topic of Digital Exclusion.
It is open to representatives of voluntary and community groups throughout Cumbria.
Click on the thumbnail image to view a flyer with more information.
Cybersecurity without the blockers – scalable security for non-profit AI adoption
Wednesday 28th January, Online. Ensure your non-profit’s AI journey is both ambitious and secure.
Join host Zoe Amar, alongside Jean-Paul van Ravensberg, Senior Security Advisor & Architect at Microsoft, for a webinar that shows how to implement practical, innovation-friendly security measures that support your AI initiatives rather than hold them back.
- Discover how to implement robust, scalable security that enables your AI ambitions.
- Learn practical approaches to safely pilot AI projects before full deployment.
- Understand the essential security foundations your charity needs before starting AI initiatives.
- Explore size-specific strategies for both small large nonprofit organisations.
- Gain expert insights through live Q&A addressing your specific security concerns.
How to transform volunteer and donor management with monday.com’s CRM
Thursday 29th January, online. This webinar with monday.com will explore how the platform can transform donor and volunteer management and help charities deliver successful projects.
During the session, you’ll learn about monday.com’s Nonprofit Program and how to apply for 10 free seats, discover how to get started managing donors, volunteers, and more using monday.com’s CRM, and see how easy it is to customise workflows, connect tasks, and integrate with other tools.
Finance for Trustees
29th January 2026, online. How confident are you that you really understand your charity’s finances?
It’s a complicated business, what with managing different types of funds and income, the accounting and reporting rules, as well as dealing with tax and VAT. This course, lead by the team from leading accountancy firm BDO, will give you the tools to get to grips with how all that works in your own organisation, and includes time to chat with fellow trustees over the practicalities and challenges you face.
Protecting your Legacy Income
3rd February, online. Managing your charity’s legacy income can be a lengthy and complex process. From the various tax considerations (Inheritance, Capital Gains), to dealing with contested legacies and all of the administration in between, there are many factors that can delay legacy income reaching your charity.
Led by the legacy protection team at VWV, this course has been designed to give clear and practical legal advice for breaking down these obstacles as well as tools for recognising legacy risks early on in the process.
Practical uses of AI for your charity
3rd February, online. This course aims, in just three hours, to boost your everyday use of AI.
The course takes a hands-on, practical approach, showing charities how to use AI to improve meetings, boost email marketing, smash data analytics, enhance workflow efficiency, and so much more.
The Digitally Informed Trustee
Wednesday 4th February, online. Trustees are the backbone of every charity. Trustees play a vital role in governance, yet many feel underprepared when it comes to digital tools—from managing cybersecurity risks to understanding data dashboards and AI systems. This first event in our series will help trustees build confidence in navigating essential digital technologies.
The webinar will be hosted by Mark Wood, Chair of Trustees at Barnardo’s, and will include a session from Holly Riley, Head of Policy at the Charity Commission, on the importance of embracing digital innovation.
Preventing Charity Fraud
5th February, online. Combining 25 years’ expertise as a charity lawyer and governance trainer with frontline experience from various voluntary leadership sector roles, Claris D’cruz will lead this half-day training course to help your charity prevent and deal with fraud or suspected fraud.
This training is relevant to charity trustees, CEOs, finance directors, finance managers, charity advisors and anyone with responsibility for dealing with fraud in their charity.
Throughout the morning we will explore the types of fraud and financial crime to be aware of, the controls and procedures to prevent fraud and how to handle a fraudulent incident.
How to read a lease – free webinar for charities
Thursday 5th February, online. The Ethical Property Foundation (EPF) is running a free webinar for charities and community groups on how to read and understand a lease. The session will be led by expert solicitors and surveyors and will cover the essentials of leases, key terms, rights and responsibilities, and common risks to look out for.
Attendees will also receive a practical information pack and access to free follow-up advice. EPF is the UK’s leading property advice charity for the voluntary sector and the Charity Commission’s referral partner for land and property advice.
Find out more and register here
Moving beyond Us and Them – Othering in action
Thursday 5th February, online. In a world where reactions, assumptions, and categorising people is becoming more and more common, it’s easy for ‘us and them’ thinking to take hold, even in spaces built for connection or in places where different people need to come together around a shared purpose. This is known as othering, and it’s something we all do to other people, but it gets in the way of belonging and connection we seek and often need to make progress on things we care about.
In this session, Letesia Gibson, Founder and Programme Leader at behaviour change consultancy New Ways, will explore how othering shows up in our organisations, and how it can shape dynamics within teams, services and communities. Drawing on real world examples that will feel familiar across the sector, she’ll unpack some of the subtle ways othering creates distance, and share practical ways to replace it with curiosity, care and connection
How to manage charity finances – CPD Accredited
10th February, online. This course aims, in just three hours, to help you make sense of your finances. It provides a simple, straightforward, plain-English introduction, covering budgeting, reporting, governance, sustainability, futureproofing, and so much more.
In two back-to-back sessions, each lasting approximately 80 minutes, the course offers key insights into the essential elements of charity finance.
Charities SORP Training: Lease Accounting
Tuesday 10th February, online. Programme highlights include:
- Understand and apply the new requirements for lease accounting under the SORP 2026
- Recognise exemptions to the requirements for lease accounting
- Calculate the lease liability and apply an appropriate discount rate
- Case study applying the revised lease accounting model
- Practical considerations for charities in collating and processing data
- Social donation element- how to recognise when this is relevant
- Determining the discount rate
- Impact on reserves
4C Webinar: “More than a Funder”: Towards Community-Driven Philanthropy
Wednesday 11th February, online. Join Mark Wear (National Lottery), Dr Suzanne Wilson and Dr Katherine Jewell (University of Lancashire) as they introduce a new 5-year Lottery-funded project taking place in locations across Cumberland, which will use the Connected Communities approach as a vehicle for identifying funding priorities in local areas.
The project has grown out of the Lottery’s commitment to become ‘more than a funder’, with the aspiration that the Connected Communities findings will form the foundation of future Lottery funding applications for projects that are identified in local communities. The webinar will outline the research and projects leading up to this initiative, provide an overview of the work to be undertaken over the course of the project, and discuss potential future applications of the approach within Lottery funding processes. This seminar is part of the series presented by the University of Lancashire’s Centre in Community Connectedness & Co-operation (4C), supported by the Institute for Planetary Resilience & Community Transformation (PACT).
To secure a place, please register here For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Suzanne Wilson (swilson21@lancashire.ac.uk) or Katherine Jewell (KJewell1@lancashire.ac.uk)
Working smarter with AI: A practical introduction
11th February, online. Join Charity Digital for a one-hour session to help you put artificial intelligence into practice.
For just £20, you’ll learn how to find real value with AI from one of the charity sector’s experts.
Free to attend virtual summit: Pounds & Purpose
Thursday 12th February, Online. Charities face rising costs, reduced donations and growing demand for services. Many teams are stretched. Financial decisions feel tougher. The stakes feel higher.
Join Third Sector for Pounds & Purpose, the must-attend one-day virtual summit taking place on 12 February 2026. Chaired by Emily Burt, editor of Third Sector, this event provides practical, strategic guidance to help you navigate financial pressure, regulatory change and rapid shifts in technology. You’ll hear from sector leaders and finance specialists who will share clear, usable actions you can apply today.
Management Accounts for Small Organisations
Thursday 12th February, online. What do management accounts look like and why should you do them? The session will look at: why we do them, how to do them, when to do them, what we do with them.
This session is delivered by HSl Accountancy Solutions.
The Art of Being an Effective Chair
12th–13th February 2026, online. The role of the chair of the board or a committee is more demanding and can be more complex than most people realise.
This course will help you to chair well and to ensure that board governs effectively and that board committees add value to the governance process. Scenarios and case studies help develop skills in practical ways.
[NEW] Donor Journey Mastery Masterclass
Monday 16th February, online. This MASTERCLASS is designed for individuals in fundraising and/or communication teams in charitable organisations across all areas.
Whether you’re just starting to explore donor journeys or refining existing plans, the session is accessible, relevant, and easy to apply regardless of the size of your organisation.
Use data to grow your impact
25th February, online. Marketing analytics expert, Dr Simon (Seongsoo) Jang, Associate Professor at Cardiff University, will cover the importance of intuitive- and data-driven decision-making, practical tips for maximising impact, real-life examples of successful marketing and analytics campaigns, and so much more.
Jang will introduce four core marketing principles that will revolutionise your charity’s approach to data. By the end of the hour-long session, you’ll be able to integrate the principles directly into your charity.
Contract Training for Charities – Managing Contracts with Confidence
26th February 2026, online. For a charity entering into a contract with any other party, there are a number of key factors to consider.
In this half-day session Ed Rimmell, partner at VWV, will share his expertise on managing charity contracts effectively to ensure risks are mitigated, all parties fully understand what has been agreed and what to do if a dispute arises. Ed will also guide you through some common and important contract clauses which are often poorly understood.
Harmless Conference
Friday 27th February, online & in-person (Nottingham). The national centre of excellence for self harm and suicide prevention conference – The Uncomfortable Truth: Confronting Barriers to Connection in Self Harm and Suicide Prevention.
Aims & Objectives: This CPD-accredited event brings together experts, leading academics and professionals from across the sector for a powerful day of evidence-based insights, practical solutions and shared experiences, with a strategic focus on:
- Collaborative Partnership
- Service-User Representation
- Effective Practice
- Driving Change
- Overcoming Stigma & Discrimination
[NEW] Creating Impact Reports Masterclass
Wednesday 4th March, online. Boost your confidence and fundraising with a practical session on creating clear, engaging impact reports.
During this 1-hour session, this Masterclass will look at:
- Why impact reports matter – and how they support income generation.
- What to include (and what to leave out!) for a more engaging report.
- How to create reports that work for multiple audiences.
- Ways to combine data and real-life stories for maximum emotional impact.
- Free and simple tools to make your report look professional.
VCSE National Summit
11th March, online. A free national training and inspiration day for VCSEs across the UK – Join a unique, nationwide webinar designed to help VCSEs – charities, social enterprises, schools, clubs and local initiatives strengthen their role in today’s social value and procurement landscape. The event caters organisation in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This free event will equip you with practical ideas and confidence to engage with councils, public sector commissioners and corporate supporters, become a trusted social value partner, and access new opportunities for funding, other resources and commercial partnerships. You’ll gain insight into public sector procurement and social value requirements, learn how to raise resources more effectively, and explore how digital tools can support your mission.
By registering, you’ll join organisations across the UK who are stepping forward as vital social impact partners, improving lives, communities and the environment—together.
Exercise Impassible
11th March 2026, This Table Top Exercise is a training opportunity being led by Counter Terrorism Police North West – there is an opportunity for Voluntary Organisations to participate. All expressions of interest should be directed in the first instance to Alison Love alison.love@cumbria.gov.uk from the Cumbria LRF team who is collating responses prior to submission.
This exercise will explore the Local, Regional and UK’s readiness to respond to a Maritime Terrorism incident on Lake Windermere. It aims to improve multi-agency coordination, strengthen Local Resilience Forum (LRF) capabilities, and support the development of inland maritime contingency plans in line with JESIP and developing MMER Joint Operating Procedures (JOPS).
Growing reliance on inland waterways for recreation, logistics, business and infrastructure makes them potential targets for hostile acts. Lake Windermere’s geographic location, coupled with a high volume of international tourism makes it a potential target for such an act.
Village Halls Week 2026
16th-22nd March. The campaign aims to highlight the importance of village halls to the health and wellbeing of rural communities across England, Wales and Scotland.
You can register for campaign updates here
Where Are Your Next Generation of Volunteers
Tuesday 24th March, online. Volunteer numbers have been falling since 2020. Considerable changes have occurred in how the public wants to volunteer. There has also been a rise in younger people wanting to give back to their communities, contribute to their environment, and make a difference in their neighbourhoods.
It is important for any group to start thinking about how it can adapt and remove the barriers so that younger people can get involved in volunteering. This session will offer you some practical ways to make volunteering for your organisation more appealing to younger people.
Award in Safeguarding for Work, Education and Life Level 1
From Monday 13th April, for 10 weeks, in Kendal. This level 1 course aims to give you an improved knowledge of the meaning of safeguarding in the workplace, education and in life in general. You will learn about different forms of abuse and learn ways that you can recognise if abuse may be taking place. You will find out about the safeguarding issues caused by modern technology and learn about discrimination and victimisation. Finally you will learn what to do if your have safeguarding concerns and the importance of disclosing information to professionals.
This is an ideal introductory course for anyone working or volunteering with children or vulnerable adults or who would like to improve their understanding of safeguarding in general.
Find out more and book here – if you experience any issues trying to sign up, please email helen.edmonds@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk
Reserves: What They Are and How to Calculate Them
Thursday 21st April, online. Reserves are a critical element when building small charity resilience. However, they are often, for very valid reasons, miscalculated.
The session will look at Why we hold reserves, how to calculate reserves, what a good reserves policy looks like and how to report on reserves.
Suicide Prevention Conference
Thursday 23rd April, Rheged, Penrith. This year’s theme, “Take action. Prevent suicide.”, focuses on the practical steps we can all take to save lives and support those affected by suicide across Cumbria.
This full-day event brings together inspirational speakers, interactive workshops, and hands-on training to equip individuals, organisations, and community groups with the skills and confidence to help create a Suicide Safer Cumbria.
Whether you work in a school, a workplace, health or public services, the third or faith sectors, a sports club, or are attending as an individual – join us in our mission.
How to Make Your Social Media More Engaging
Thurs 30th April, online. Do you get the most engagement from your Facebook, Instagram or X (Twitter) posts? Why do some posts get more clicks than others?
How to increase engagement.
Impact Reporting for Charities
Tuesday 16th June, online. Funders want proof of the difference your organisation makes. They want to understand your charity’s impact across services and locations, and what the benefit is of the services they have agreed to fund.
Amongst other things this session looks at ‘what is impact and how do you measure it’, ‘what does impact look like’ and how do you engage with your stakeholders to maximise impact.
Disclaimer
The information above is provided in good faith. Whilst every care is taken to ensure that it is correct, Cumbria CVS cannot accept liability for any omissions or inaccuracies and does not take responsibility for the quality for any services or products mentioned.
