Useful information – w/c 24/08/26
August 24, 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: 24/08/26 – 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
Skills Bootcamp in Business and Leadership for Social Enterprise
Starts September Carlisle. This Skills Bootcamp is designed to support individuals living or working in Cumbria, who are employed within a social enterprise or a trading charity, and who are looking to develop practical leadership and management capability.
The programme focuses on building the skills required to lead people, manage performance and deliver sustainable impact within a purpose-led trading environment. It combines core business and leadership principles with a clear understanding of the social enterprise landscape.
Delivered through a series of structured face-to-face sessions, supported by online learning, the course enables participants to apply learning directly within their own organisation.
Skills Bootcamp in Project Management
Starts September, Online and in-person. The Skills Bootcamp in Project Management takes learners with little or no project management experience through the fundamentals of project management. Taught workshops provide essential knowledge and skills, and a workplace project allows an opportunity to practise those skills and reflect on learning. The programme also includes, at no additional cost, the Association for Project Management (APM) Project Fundamentals Qualifications (PFQ).
Project Management skills are in high demand across all sectors. This course introduces project management processes, tools and techniques and gives you the opportunity to try these out in your current workplace. You will learn about managing a project from inception to closedown, including planning and scheduling, quality management, budgeting and estimating, and working with stakeholders.
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
TikTok for arts and culture: What’s working now?
Tuesday 25th August, online. Join HdK for this free online session. TikTok continues to evolve, with new formats, algorithms and audience expectations. How can arts organisations engage with the platform – in a way that feels authentic, and achieves optimal results?
In this webinar, we’ll explore the latest TikTok trends and developments, with practical takeaways for your team to action.
AI Agents in Action: Helping Nonprofits Streamline Operations and Drive Impact
Tuesday 25th August, online. Join Microsoft for a practical webinar to explore how AI agents can help nonprofit organisations automate tasks, streamline workflows, and improve decision-making.
You’ll learn what AI agents are, where they can add the most value, and how to identify practical use cases that support your mission and increase organisational impact.
Building The Picture in Cumberland: Understanding Health and Wellbeing
Tuesday 25th August, online. Dive into the ins and outs of The Picture in Cumberland to understand local and national performance data across Cumberland
Join Cumberland HDRC Data Analyst Peter Kelly for our webinar ‘Building The Picture in Cumberland: Understanding Health and Wellbeing’.
You’ll hear more about the purpose of our Picture In Cumberland report which brings together a wide range of data on the wider determinants of health across Cumberland, the North-West and England, how the data was sourced and brought together whilst highlighting the key findings across each of the HDRC’s seven research themes to provide a comprehensive baseline of health inequalities within Cumberland.
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.
Let’s talk about menopause at work
Wednesday 26th August, Online. The menopause is a natural occurrence, yet up until recently, it has received little attention despite the impact it is known to have on women at work.
Join Acas for this free webinar where we will discuss the importance of supporting those experiencing the menopause.
An introduction to AI literacy for charities
Thursday 27th August, online. Join us for a one-hour webinar to gain a practical introduction to artificial intelligence and its role in the charity sector.
This beginner-friendly session explores how generative AI works, its potential benefits and limitations, and the key considerations organisations need to keep in mind, including accuracy, bias, privacy and accountability. You’ll leave with a stronger understanding of AI and the confidence to assess and discuss its use within your organisation.
South Lakes Youth Work Summit
Saturday 5th September, Kendal. A day dedicated to celebrating, strengthening and championing Youth Work across the South Lakes. Bringing together youth workers, practitioners, volunteers, VCFSE organisations, public sector colleagues and partners (18+), this event will provide an opportunity for inspiration, strengthened connections and discussion.
Aim of the day: To create inspiration, strengthen connections, and reflect on youth work practice and provision, building a collaborative and sustainable future for youth work in the South Lakes.
Understanding Governance: The Trustee Role
Tuesday 8th – Wednesday 9th September, online. Governance fundamentals for new and experienced trustees.
If you are new to the role of being a charity trustee, this course will provide the perfect introduction, while experienced trustees will also benefit from a refresher of their responsibilities and comprehensive updates on evolving elements of the trustee role.
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
Influencing the political landscape
Thursday 10th September, Online. Join NPC for this free online session for trustees.
The event will provide a set of clear actions for trustees to takeaway to support them in influencing the political landscape, whether they have a campaigning focus or not.
Find out more and book your place here
Managing charity reserves in an inflationary environment
Tuesday 15th September, Online. Many charities have worked hard to strengthen their financial resilience, building larger reserves and cash balances to navigate an uncertain environment. But as reserves grow, trustees and finance teams face an important question: how can those funds best support future impact?
Join CAF and LGT Wealth Management for a practical webinar exploring the role cash plays within a modern reserves strategy, the impact inflation can have on long-term purchasing power, and how charities can think about balancing liquidity needs with longer-term objectives. The session will also explore diversification, risk management and the role different types of financial assets can play within a reserves portfolio.
Crisis Fundamentals with Horizon Resilience
Tuesday 15th September. VCSEP are running another session in collaboration with Horizon Resilience. They are really keen to tailor this one for those VCFSE groups and target the limited spaces available to those supporting disproportionately impacted groups. This won’t preclude others from attending, but priority will be given to those outside of, or less familiar with, formal resilience structures.
Drawing on their experience at the heart of UK government crisis management, the training will provide participants with a strong practical foundation in crisis management principles, supported by a scenario-based discussion and applied learning. Attendees will go away with an improved awareness of crisis and resilience in the UK context, including how the voluntary and community sector fits within the wider resilience system and a practical understanding of the crisis lifecycle, from anticipation and response through to stabilisation and recovery.
Register by emailing marcusbowen@vcsep.org.uk
Get Media Interview Ready
Tuesday 15th September, online. Build confidence when speaking with the media about your charity.
Media interviews can be a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of your charity, but they can also feel daunting without the right preparation. This interactive half-day online course is designed to help charity staff develop the confidence and practical skills needed to handle media interviews effectively.
Using real-life examples, practical exercises and interview practice in a supportive environment, participants will learn how to prepare for interviews, communicate key messages clearly, respond confidently to challenging questions and make informed decisions about when and how to engage with the media. By the end of the session, attendees will feel better equipped to represent their organisation with confidence, credibility and impact.
Collaboration for trustees
Wednesday 16th September, Online. Join NPC for this free event for trustees who want to know more about supporting collaboration and partnership working.
The session will cover the case for partnership working and collaboration, overcoming challenges of collaboration and include a case study of effective partnership working.
Writing a Successful Funding Application
Wednesday 16th September, Online. This 3 hour course provides a beginner’s guide to how to write a successful funding application, using the National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards For All online application form as an example.
This course is suited to people who haven’t written a funding application before, or want a refresher on the fundamentals of writing a successful application in a competitive funding landscape.
Data Protection Training for Charities
Thursday 17th September, 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.
Finance & HR – Behind the Purpose
Thursday 17th September, Online. A charity’s purpose can be measured and felt not only by its external impact, but also through its internal practices and strategies.
This ‘Behind the Purpose’ FREE online event will explore how HR and Finance teams can join forces to make the most of their organisation’s resources and deliver a greater impact – from building staff training strategies and investing in wellbeing, to collaborating on charity risk assessments.
The event will also cover the recent changes to employment law and their effect on charities, how to plan digital projects, and talking finances with funders.
Active Bystander Training with Protection Approaches
Thursday 17th September. Division in communities, rising tensions and civil unrest continue to be high on the risk register for organisations. A lot of research points to pre-bunking – intervening early to dispel myths rather than challenging misinformation after it appears, so how can community organisations feel better equipped to intervene? NAVCA are collaborating with Protection Approaches to run a special session on helping participants safely address identity based harms in their community, school or workplace, using real-world scenarios to build confidence in implementing Active Bystandership in everyday life.
You’ll learn what it means to be an active bystander, through group discussion we’ll explore what being an active bystander means. How to stand up for those being targeted safely: working through a series of scenarios to consider and learn what you can do when you encounter identity-based harms and proactive prevention: returning to the scenarios we’ll reflect on the root causes of prejudice and discrimination before discussing ways to contribute to dismantling those root causes and to building safer, more inclusive, and just communities.
Register by emailing marcusbowen@vcsep.org.uk
Contract Training for Charities – Managing Contracts with Confidence
Tuesday 22nd September, 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.
Developing a Fundraising Strategy
Tuesday 22nd & Wednesday 23rd September, online. This popular two day course will walk you through Lime Green Consulting’s tried-and-tested framework for developing a fundraising strategy, enabling you to evaluate and prioritise the most valuable fundraising activities for your organisation and make the best use of your limited resources.
We’ll show you how to analyse your current fundraising performance, explore future opportunities and challenges, and identify key fundraising audiences – then scope out and prioritise a range of different types of fundraising, identify key building blocks to put in place for long-term success, and accurately forecast the likely financial return. Finally, we’ll explain how to get everyone in your organisation behind a shared fundraising vision and ensure they understand their role in successful fundraising.
Strategic Plans
Tuesday 6th October, online. Strategic plans are one of the key documents as an organisation starts to grow, especially in the current climate where organisations have to search wider for funding.
A good strategic plan helps keep an organisation grounded in its work and should help prevent mission drift.
Preventing Charity Fraud
Tuesday 6th October, 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.
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!
Faith-Based Governance Training
Wednesday 7th – Thursday 8th October, online. Faith-Friendly Governance: Making good governance work for you.
Good governance is often seen as a burden – but it can be one of a charity’s greatest assets. This faith-friendly course helps senior leaders and trustees understand what good governance really looks like and how to make it work in a faith context. It explores how to clarify roles, strengthen decision-making, and build confidence around risk. Scenarios and case studies help participants develop skills in practical, relevant ways.
NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria: Launching our next phase of work
Thursday 8th October, Newcastle. This event will bring together our key partners to celebrate the start of our new programme of work (2026 until 2031).
We will share details of our refreshed research themes, new priorities, and opportunities for collaboration across the region. There will also be opportunities for networking and conversation, and light refreshments will be available.
A full agenda will be shared ahead of the event.
Please complete this short form to register
Emergencies Partnership: LIVE
Thursday 8th October, Leeds. Bringing together partners from across the voluntary sector, local authorities, Local Resilience Forums, faith groups, government and community organisations, EP:LIVE is all about strengthening connections, sharing learning and exploring what effective community-led resilience looks like in practice. The programme covers trust, social cohesion, bridging divides, the next generation, harnessing volunteers and empowering action – with plenty of opportunities to build new relationships across the sector.
Understanding Governance: The Trustee Role
Tuesday 13th – Wednesday 14th October, online. Governance fundamentals for new and experienced trustees.
If you are new to the role of being a charity trustee, this course will provide the perfect introduction, while experienced trustees will also benefit from a refresher of their responsibilities and comprehensive updates on evolving elements of the trustee role.
An Introduction to Canva and Affinity for posters and flyers
Thursday 15th October, online. This session is an introduction to the online Canva graphics design program. It will cover the basics and have a few tips for experienced users.
Affinity is owned by Canva and is a more advanced graphic design desktop program. The session will contain a brief description of what Affinity is and how to download it for free.
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.
Practical AI for small charities
Tuesday 20th October, online. Whether you are already using AI, are planning to or don’t yet know how your charity could use it, this short session will help trustees of small charities get to grips with;
- What tools you could use (focusing on the free!)
- What tasks you can – and can’t – use it for
- Advantages, risks and how you could manage those
- What skills your team needs and how you might develop those
The Art of Being an Effective Chair
Wednesday 28th – Thursday 29th October, 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.
Best Practice Reporting
Tuesday 3rd November, online. In the current economic climate where fundraising from funders and the public alike is a tough ask, it is important that you sell your charity in the best possible light. We all know that funders will look at your statutory accounts and therefore they need to reflect well on your organisation to provide key messages in a way that encourages them to fund you.
Our half day online course will give the tips on best practice reporting in the sector and show you how to think about your Trustees report differently. It is much more than a compliance document and an opportunity to ‘tell your story’ in an engaging way.
Fit for Funding
Tuesday 17th November, 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.
Understanding Governance: The Trustee Role
Wednesday 25th – Thursday 26th November, online. Governance fundamentals for new and experienced trustees.
If you are new to the role of being a charity trustee, this course will provide the perfect introduction, while experienced trustees will also benefit from a refresher of their responsibilities and comprehensive updates on evolving elements of the trustee role.
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.
