Useful information – w/c 02/06/25
June 2, 2025
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: 06/06/25 – 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? Check out the latest edition of Focus on Funding here
Training and Events
Charity Digital Academy: Practical uses of AI for your charity
3rd June, 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.
Webinar: AI for charities – what leaders need to know
5th June, online. Artificial Intelligence is transforming the charity sector, helping organisations do more with less. Join our webinar to learn how AI can streamline operations, boost efficiency, and provide valuable insights for better decision-making.
Attendees can expect to learn:
- How AI can simplify day-to-day operations
- The real-world applications of AI in the charity sector
- How to identify areas within your organisation that could benefit from AI
Whether you’re curious about AI’s potential for your organisation or ready to get started, this session will demystify AI and provide clear, practical takeaways.
Neurodiversity in the Workplace: the New Now
Friday 6th June, online. Explore the power of neurodiversity in the workplace, understand common challenges and learn inclusive practices to better support neurodivergent colleagues and service-users.
Ideal for anyone managing or supporting neurodivergent people (i.e. autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia) and HR colleagues.
£50 per person, Fully-funded places for the first five people to book on each webinar, A 50% discount for the next five people to book.
How to use Canva for Social Media
Monday 9 June, online. Canva is the great free-to-use online graphic design tool which you can use to create great graphics as well as presentations and videos amongst other things.
This is an introductory session about Canva with a few tips about using it for social media.
How to master email marketing
10th June, online. 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.
Supporting People with Diabetes in the Workplace
Tuesday 10th June, online. Gain insight into the lived experience of people managing this complex condition and discover inclusive, legally sound approaches to ensure they are supported, safe and empowered at work – from someone who’s lived with diabetes for over 30 years.
Ideal for anyone managing colleagues living with diabetes and HR colleagues.
£50 per person, Fully-funded places for the first five people to book on each webinar, A 50% discount for the next five people to book.
Free introduction to coaching and development
Tuesday 11 June, online. If you’re supporting other people’s development, this free upcoming webinar explores how we build strong foundations for coaching and development that actually sticks. Simon Hill – a former fundraiser and partnerships lead – has worked with social purpose leaders to create a practical toolkit for coaching that’s sustainable, effective, and shaped by your values.
What’s in it for you?
- Real-world tools you can adapt to fit what you already do
- Ways to support colleagues without piling on more work
- Space to reflect on how coaching can strengthen your purpose
Sign up here Open to anyone supporting others in a local infrastructure or VCSE context.
Reimagining Service Delivery Summit
12 June, online. A free online event for charity professionals to unlock new perspectives on service delivery and help maximise value to service users.
Whether you’re a charity leader or a volunteer, working in service delivery, fundraising, or marketing, this event will have something for you. Sessions will help you re-evaluate the relationship between charities and their service users, consider how digital can help charity services go further, and make more room for hope and optimism in service delivery for meaningful change.
Find out more and register here
Introduction to Improving Quality
Thurs 12th June 2025, online. Improving Quality is a clear, simple system, and focuses on the key issues that make a difference for charities.
IQ can either be used for self-assessment or accreditation, and has international recognition: a number of organisations in the UK and the Republic of Ireland are already accredited to it.
Pride Month: standing up to anti-LGBTQ+ narratives
Thursday 12th June, online. Learn how the changing political and media landscape is impacting LGBTQ+ people, how to confidently challenge anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes and behaviours and create safer environments for LGBTQ+ colleagues rooted in respect and allyship.
Ideal for anyone involved with creating inclusive workplaces for LGBTQ+ people, including staff networks and employee resource groups (ERGs).
£50 per person, Fully-funded places for the first five people to book on each webinar, A 50% discount for the next five people to book.
Carers Health and Wellbeing information event
Friday 13th June, Barrow. This event is for unpaid Carers, their families, and anyone else to come along and see the free support that is available from the many wonderful organisations in our community.
There will be café style seating in the hall for FREE tea, coffee, refreshments and pie and peas (until they run out!).
Click here to view a flyer with more information
Learning Disability Week: creating Easy Reads for accessible communication
Monday 16th June, online. Discover the principles of Easy Read, why it matters and how to create clear, inclusive documents that improve access to information for people with learning disabilities and beyond.
Ideal for anyone working with people with a learning disability in any capacity.
£50 per person, Fully-funded places for the first five people to book on each webinar, A 50% discount for the next five people to book.
Celebrate the Month of Community with Lunch and Learn Series
Various dates 16th-27th June, online. Westmorland and Furness Community Cohesion Group would like to invite you, your colleagues, and communities to a series of free online lunch and learn sessions in June to mark The Month of Community.
A variety of sessions will held, including:
- What is Anti-Racism?
- Restorative Justice
- Volunteering – Reducing Loneliness & Supporting Cohesion
- Asylum Seekers & Refugees – Myths V Reality
- Victim Support
- Meet an Iman
- Hate Crime Awareness & Reporting
- Connecting People Through Festivals
For descriptions of these sessions, as well as their dates, times and login details please see the attached flyer.
Introduction to Engaging with Businesses: Five Things I Wish I’d Known
Tuesday 17 June, online. A basic introduction to engaging and connecting with your local business community.
This session is aimed at small charities and voluntary groups, whether they are at the beginning of their journey in engaging with businesses or wish to develop stronger contacts.
Community Fundraising Conference 2025
19th June 2025, online. Join the UK’s only Community Fundraising Conference and get practical tools to prioritise relationships, manage volunteers, measure impact and make confident fundraising decisions.
Learn from peers, hear inspiring stories and gain fresh confidence in the role you play at the heart of your charity.
Data Management – One small step to get you ahead
20th June 2025, online. Join TechSoup’s upcoming interactive event to get clear, practical answers to your biggest data challenges.
Learn how to confidently collect, store and share data, and take practical next steps that lead to real, measurable results.
Cumbria Diversity Carnival
Saturday 21st June, Carlisle. Celebrating Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Free event.
Parade starts at 11.30, followed by The Big Lunch in Bitts Park.
Click on the thumbnail image to view the event flyer.
Camp Jojo – showcase open weekend
21st & 22nd June, Hoff. Camp Jojo offer camping experiences for families of children with complex needs & disabilities, and are excitingly establishing their first site in the north of England.
CampJojo are holding a showcase Open Weekend to show people around what they can offer. If you would like to attend or know of any organisations that it would be relevant to, please let Alex know which session you would like to attend.
Contact: Alex Chalmers Alex@campjojo.org.uk
Cyber Essentials Training: Mastering the Five Key Controls for Digital Security
24th June, online. This three-hour workshop offers an accessible introduction to Cyber Essentials, a government-backed framework designed to help organisations protect themselves from the most common cyber threats.
Over two engaging sessions, we’ll break down the scheme’s five critical controls and run a live hack, including reconnaissance and initial access, where you will play a lead role in the operation. By the end of the training, you’ll be equipped with actionable strategies to strengthen your organisation’s digital defences.
Unconscious bias in recruitment: you don’t know what you don’t know
Tuesday 24th June, online. Understand how unconscious bias shapes recruitment decisions, learn strategies to interrupt bias at every stage of the hiring process and build a fairer pathway to inclusive hiring.
Ideal for anyone working in recruitment and hiring managers.
£50 per person, Fully-funded places for the first five people to book on each webinar, A 50% discount for the next five people to book.
Getting set up with Microsoft 365
25th June, online. The course, the first of three parts, uncovers everything you need to know about Microsoft 365.
The first half of the first session looks at the functionality 365 includes, helps charities to make sense of registration process and domain authentication, explores eligibility, and so much more.
Crafting your perfect team: Strategies for requirements gathering and partner selection
3rd July, online. Join Hart Square for this webinar, where we’ll cover how to effectively gather your business and technical requirements to ensure your project is well defined and set up for success from the start.
We’ll share proven techniques for identifying, capturing, and documenting your requirements and how best to align stakeholders, prioritise needs, and avoid the common pitfalls at this stage of a project.
Reserves – What They Are and How to Calculate Them
Tuesday 8 July, 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.
Getting started with Google for Nonprofits
22nd July, online. This course provides an introduction to the Google for Nonprofits program, which offers eligible UK charities free access to a suite of Google tools, including Google Workspace, Google Ad Grants, the YouTube Nonprofit Program, and Google Earth and Maps.
We will explore these tools and highlight how UK charities are already using them to enhance their operations and impact.
[NEW] Get Grants free Virtual Conference 2025
7th-8th October, online. The Conference will provide two days of expert fundraising advice, top tips, Q&As, networking, peer-support, and lots of chat, bringing together thousands of Fundraisers from across the UK for a programme led by Get Grants Experts, funders, and other experts from across the sector.
VCFSE News and Information
Concerns shared as Microsoft ends free software offers for charities
Concerns have been expressed for the impact on UK charities of Microsoft’s recent decision to end its free software service offers for voluntary organisations.
The US technology giant recently announced it would end its free offers of Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Office 365 E1 to charities in July.
From July, the firm will instead offer discounts of up to 75% on the software services to charities as well as up to 300 licenses of the more rudimentary Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
How to support neurodivergent staff
Charity Digital take a look at what employers can do to support neurodiversity in the workplace.
Supporting LGBTQIA+ staff after the UK Supreme Court’s Equality Act ruling
The UK Supreme Court has recently ruled that “sex” for the purpose of the Equality Act 2010, refers specifically to biological sex, prompting concerns among LGBTQIA+ communities, particularly trans, non-binary and intersex people.
Charities are being urged to acknowledge the emotional toll this may have on LGBTQIA+ staff and volunteers. Many may feel anxious, unsafe, or retraumatised, and organisations should be encouraged to listen with care, review policies, seek legal advice where needed and include LGBTQIA+ voices in shaping their responses.
This piece written by Proud Changemakers, sets out what you might need to know as a charity, how it is likely impacting your staff or volunteers, and some steps you might want to take.
Taking a stand for EEDI
Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EEDI) initiatives are recently coming under attack. In the US, President Trump has cut billions of dollars in federal grants linked to EEDI, in a move that appears to be influencing the UK as well.
In this article for DSC, researcher Kalli Jayasuriya highlights the significance of EEDI initiatives within the charity sector and beyond.
Regulator updates guidance to help charities open up opportunities for new trustees
The Charity Commission has recently refreshed its guidance on recruiting trustees (CC30). The guidance redesign comes after the regulator’s research revealed that just 6% of trustees applied for their role via an advert. The report published recently indicated that more than half of charities relied on personal contacts to recruit new trustees.
The regulator is encouraging charities to use the guidance to help improve their recruitment and induction practices. The refreshed guidance focuses on practical steps charities can take to connect with a broader range of candidates, and to identify and remove barriers that may put people off applying for the role.
The guidance also suggests considering a skills audit to test what the charity needs from its trustees.
What does the rise of Reform UK mean for the impact sector?
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK are on the rise. Recent local elections saw the party gain almost exactly as many council seats as the Conservatives lost, and they now control 10 councils in areas the Conservatives traditionally dominate.
But what does this mean for the impact sector? This is a question we need to be asking now for the years ahead, not just when the next General Election rolls around. In this latest blog from NPC, Head of Policy, James Somerville, shares 6 key things you need to know.
Fundraising Software Evaluation Guide
Choosing new fundraising software can be the catalyst your organisation needs to revolutionise its fundraising efforts. However, adopting new tools requires careful deliberation to make a return on the technology investment.
Blackbaud’s new Fundraising Software Evaluation Guide is designed to support nonprofit organisations in making informed technology decisions, providing clear steps to assess needs, evaluate vendors, and implement solutions.
Team Barrow – Participatory Grant Making Fund
A new £85,000 participatory grant-making fund has launched to support communities in Barrow – please help in spreading the word.
This fund is managed by Cumbria Community Foundation in partnership with Cumbria Development Education Centre (CDEC) and funded by Team Barrow. It’s a fantastic opportunity for local people to have a direct say in how funding is allocated to benefit their communities.
There is a poster you can share or display here
Invitation wording for community groups to share with their beneficiaries here
Full details and registration form
The Charity Awards 2025 shortlist is announced
A vaccination programme to eliminate rabies in Kabul, the enrolment of thousands of schoolchildren in music ensembles in Birmingham, and a campaign to help people feel more comfortable talking about death and dying with their loved ones, are among 30 inspiring projects shortlisted for the Charity Awards 2025.
The Charity Awards, which announced its shortlist last month, is celebrating 25 years as the charity world’s longest-running, biggest and best-known awards ceremony. This year’s charities have been judged by an independent panel of charity leaders as having demonstrated outstanding best practice in leadership and management, from which other organisations can learn.
Amongst those shortlisted is Cumbria Community Foundation.
The best AI tools for meeting notes
Charity Digital used one of their own meetings to compare three of the best artificial intelligence tools to see which offers the best meeting notes.
NCIC Member and stakeholder bulletin
The latest news from North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust is now available, including:
- Latest NHS data published
- NCIC launches new era of research and innovation
- Could you join our patient panel?
Surveys, Research, Feedback and Reports
Charity shops warned that collapse of UK rag trade could cost sector £19m-a-year
Environmental charity WRAP has warned that sector retailers would see costs rise by £19m per year if the textiles collection industry were to collapse.
WRAP warned in a report last month that most used clothes collectors, known as rag traders by charity retailers, are currently operating at a loss and out of public service.
The cost for collectors and sorters to gather and process the UK’s worn-out textiles was previously balanced out by the money they made on selling reuseable items overseas, it said, but the market for these clothes has deteriorated.
Legacy Giving Report 2025 finds legacy income rose by 9% in 2024
The Legacy Giving Report 2025 has revealed that legacy income for charities increased by 9% in 2024, compared to 1.3% growth in 2023, with total legacy income for last year reaching £4.5 billion. According to the report, legacy gifts now constitute an average of 30% of fundraising income across the top 1,000 charities that received legacies. In some cases – animal, conservation and disability charities – this figure was as high as 50%. One of the main reasons for the substantial growth in 2024 was a 15% rise in charitable bequests.
The whitepaper is the first report of its kind from the partnership between Smee & Ford and Legacy Futures. Featuring statistics, case studies and projections, the report is designed to offer the “most comprehensive legacy data and market review” available to support charities of all sizes, so is free to access.
New report finds the most affluent parts of the UK the least generous
A new report published by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has found that British people give 1.1% of their disposable income to charities on average, but those in the least generous areas, donate less than half of this proportion at around 0.5%.
The UK Local Giving Report, which uses YouGov data across parliamentary constituencies, finds that all of the top ten least generous constituencies have high or very high local incomes, but that some areas also have high levels of deprivation suggesting significant inequality.
Covenant urged to address ‘breakdown in trust’ between charities and government
Charities have called for the upcoming Civil Society Covenant to address a “significant breakdown in trust” between the sector and government.
A report summarising responses from more than 1,000 voluntary organisations details barriers to collaboration between charities and the state, including a “lack of respect and understanding” of how the sector operates.
NCVO and ACEVO’s report identifies a “power imbalance” between charities and the government or public bodies and makes several recommendations for the covenant, which is due to be published this summer.
Charities’ concerns addressed by proposed wills law changes, says legacy body
A report proposing changes to the laws involving wills “boldly addresses the concerns that the charity sector has had with the existing legislation”, according to the chair of the Institute of Legacy Management (ILM).
Last month, the Law Commission published a draft bill of reforms to modernise the law of wills in England and Wales.
Representatives of the ILM and sector consortium Remember A Charity have welcomed the proposals, which aim to make will-making more accessible and reflective of modern society.
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.
