Useful information – w/c 13/07/26
July 13, 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: 13/07/26 – 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.
For useful resources, information, news and events, updates on our climate commitment, blog posts from colleagues about what they’re doing (in a work capacity and privately) to minimise environmental impact and more take a look at Cumbria CVS Green
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
Every Life Matters – Training
Every Life Matters offer a range of suicide prevention and mental health training, including Suicide Alertness, Safety Planning, Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace.
There are dates for sessions from now until December in this leaflet, online and around the county in-person: Cumbria Training 2026
Practical uses of AI for your charity
Tuesday 14th July, online. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers huge potential for charities.
AI can revolutionise the everyday. It provides significant benefits, saving you time, cutting costs, reducing human error, supercharging operations, streamlining processes, and so much more. But such benefits are more often talked about than realised. Charities face a problem: putting AI into practice.
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.
Safeguarding Awareness Webinar
Thursday 16th July, Online. Safeguarding is a vital tool in ensuring the most vulnerable remain protected.
This webinar from CST’s Safe programme is an introduction to safeguarding, and covers what to do if you suspect there may be an issue which needs early intervention.
Creating an interactive dashboard using Power BI
Tuesday 21st July, online. As brilliant as it is, sometimes Microsoft Excel can’t deliver everything you need when it comes to data analysis, visualisation and publication.
This is where Microsoft’s Power BI steps in, enabling you to take your data analysis to the next level creating and sharing powerful, interactive and secure dashboards which can be shared privately or published and embedded in your website.
➡️ Getting to grips with Power BI’s basic building blocks
➡️ Getting data from Microsoft Excel
➡️ Creating & customising charts and visualisations
➡️ Printing, sharing & publishing reports
How to master email marketing
Wednesday 22nd July, online. Email marketing is one of the best ways to attract donors, raise funds, raise awareness, and highlight the impact of your charity. It is, in the simplest terms, an indispensable part of your marketing toolkit. There are 4.5 billion email users worldwide and research suggest two-thirds of marketers believe email provides the best ROI.
This course aims, in just three hours, to boost your email marketing. The course provides a hands-on approach, showing charities the basics of email marketing, the best platforms, strategies for effective list-building, the importance of segmentation, tips and tricks for crafting effective emails, the best way to write a subject line, the virtues of personalisation, and so much more.
The session explores barriers and boundaries that charities face. It shows you how to avoid email marketing traps such as spam filter, the various legal considerations and the best routes to compliance, the tedious tasks that are ripe for automation, how exactly you can start email automating, and more. Basically, in three hours, you’ll learn to be a whizz at email marketing.
Driving value: Realising the benefits of your digital project
Thursday 23rd July, Online. The digital journey doesn’t stop when the system goes live – this is when the real work begins.
Adoption often stalls because of competing priorities, inconsistent training, or unclear ownership. Join Hart Square for this free online session.
How to manage charity finances – CPD Accredited
Tuesday 28th July, online. Finance can feel daunting, with the confusing terminology and frustrating processes.
Charities of all shapes and sizes find themselves struggling with finances, which can cause myriad problems: lack of transparency, absent accountability, reduced efficiency, inaccurate reporting, and so on.
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.
Ctrl+Alt+Defend: What are trustees’ responsibilities in relation to AI and cyber risk?
Wednesday 29th July, online. Artificial intelligence (AI) and cyber threats are rapidly reshaping how charities think about risk. From AI-enabled fraud and increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks to data breaches and operational disruption, trustees are facing growing expectations to ensure their organisations are resilient in an increasingly digital environment.
Alongside these risks, trustees must also consider their governance responsibilities. This involves, balancing oversight, delegation and accountability, while ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place to protect their organisation’s people, data and assets. The potential consequences of getting this wrong can be significant, including financial loss, reputational damage and regulatory scrutiny.
This session is designed for charity trustees and senior leaders, including those with responsibility for finance, governance or risk. It is aimed at people who are seeking clear, practical guidance to support effective oversight of AI and cyber risk—without unnecessary technical complexity.
Strategic planning for your charity
Tuesday 4th August, online. This half day online course, in two 80 minute sections with a short break, encourages charity trustees and managers to embrace long-term planning. The course will help you to understand what is meant by ‘strategic’, think strategically, understand the importance of strategic planning in charity governance, develop an in-depth strategic plan, understand the tensions that arise between operational and strategic priorities, keep your strategic plan on track, and much more.
In the first session we will explore why your charity must develop a plan, not just to meet governance requirements but to allow effective financial and operational planning. A strategy is not a luxury but a necessity. It ensures your charity meets objectives, practices financial sustainability, and maximises impact. The first session will dive deep to clarify exactly what it means to think strategically and how to separate strategic and operational thinking.
The second session will address the process of generating a strategic plan, from start to finish. Starting with your constitution, vision and mission, and culminating in the production of a tangible document that will guide all areas of your charity’s operations including fundraising, recruitment, operational planning, developing infrastructure, and budgeting.
Introduction to Google Analytics 4
Wednesday 5th August, online. This course aims, in just three hours, to help you get to grips with GA4.
It explores recent changes to the platform, how to ensure you have the best data, the metric that you must know, and a general run-through of the interface, dipping into ‘realtime’ reports.
Making the most of M365 apps – tips and tricks
Tuesday 11th August, online. Microsoft 365 offers huge possibilities. It helps charities with email, file storage, and provides plenty of productivity applications that can streamlines your charity.
This three-hour session shows you how to master 365 apps. The first section will cover an overview of the apps available. It will explore web vs desktop applications, the joys of Copilot, the best way to use Microsoft Forms, and the secrets of Sway. The second section is dedicated to Teams, exploring meeting and channel management, file storage, whiteboards and polls, and so much more.
The final section looks at project management and collaboration. Attendees can expect to explore OneNote, the virtues of To Do and Outlook tasks, the best ways to utilise Planner, tips and tricks around Loop, the core functionalities of Bookings, and so much more.
Google Ad Grants for beginners
Wednesday 12th August, online. Is your charity looking to set up a Google Ad campaign, but don’t know where to start?
This 2-hour course is specifically for nonprofit staff who have been awarded the $10,000/month Google Ad Grant, but do not know the basics for setting up their first campaign.
You will learn:
➡️ What is a Google Ad Grant?
➡️ How to structure your charity’s account
➡️ Google Ads & Keywords
➡️ Setting up a conversion with Google Analytics.
➡️ Google Ad Grants compliance and maintenance
Supercharge your use of social media
Tuesday 25th August, online. The landscape of social media is growing increasingly complex. Legacy platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X seem to constantly change their offerings and shift functionality. New platforms arrive every week, perpetually touted as the next big thing, perhaps even commanding time and resources, then fade into irrelevance. It can prove difficult to navigate the social landscape, to find the platforms that suit your organisation, to identify the best demographics, to maximise return on investment.
This course aims, in just three hours, to supercharge your use of social media. You’ll explore how you can pick the right platforms for your charity and how to know whether you should invest, or divest, in other platforms.
You’ll see how to increase social media engagement, how to extend your reach, and how to ensure you target the most rewarding demographics.
Excel: Essentials and Advanced options
Excel is an incredibly useful tool to help you store, analyse and present your data. Even with basic skills there’s a lot you can do to help with your organisation’s monitoring and evaluation practice – but how do you get started?
➡️ Essentials – Level Up your Skills: Tuesday 8th September, online
➡️ Advanced – Tips and Tricks: Tuesday 15th September online
Get Grants FREE Virtual Conference
Tuesday 6th & Wednesday 7th October, online. Join Get Grants for two days of expert fundraising advice, top tips, Q&As, networking, peer-support, and lots of chat!
The Conference is a celebration of fundraisers, with a programme designed around the topics you want to talk about.
Bringing together thousands of fundraisers from across the UK every year, this fun and heart-warming event with lots of practical advice is not your typical fundraising conference!
Conscious AI Summit
Thursday 15th October, Online. How can charities build an ethical future? This FREE event focuses on helping charities to use AI ethically.
Together, explore how charities can champion fairness, inclusion and awareness while navigating the risks and challenges associated with AI. The event will examine the vital role the sector can play in shaping the future of a technology that is too powerful to be defined by a select few alone.
Through thought-provoking discussion and practical insight, attendees will be encouraged to adopt AI with intention, purpose and creativity, leaving with the confidence to harness its potential responsibly and effectively within their organisations.
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.
