Useful information – w/c 19/10/26
October 19, 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: 23/10/26 – 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
Comms Clinic: Cut through with clearer messaging
Tuesday 20th October, Online. Explore how your charity can simplify complex ideas and make sure your audience understands what matters most.
Join Media Trust for this free practical session with expert volunteer Graham Bednash, Co-founder of Unstuck and former Director of Marketing at Google, and focus on your charity’s messaging challenges.
We’ll explore how to:
- Identify the key message you want your audience to take away
- Cut through jargon and make complex ideas easier to understand
- Find the human story or insight at the heart of your message
- Make your messaging clearer and more consistent across different channels
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
Association of Volunteer Managers (AVM) Conference
Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd October, online. As the landscape of volunteering continues to shift, staying ahead of the curve is more important than ever and at this year’s conference, delegates will gain exclusive insights from leading industry voices and discover innovative best practices, alongside over 200 volunteer professionals.
Both days of this online event will feature:
- An inspiring keynote
- a selection of interactive workshops
- a thought-provoking panel discussion.
More information about the conference can be found on AVM’s website
Engaging younger audiences on social media – arts and culture
Tuesday 27th October, Online. Join HdK for this free online session on engaging younger audiences online.
The panel will bring together thought leaders from across the culture sector to discuss practical steps to develop a social media strategy with specific audiences, platforms and trends and examples of successful campaigns.
How to manage charity finances – CPD Accredited
Tuesday 27th October, 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.
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.
AI and information integrity
Thursday 29th October, online. Almost four in five charities are using artificial intelligence (AI), according to the 2026 Charity Digital Skills report, but very few are using it strategically. Many charities are asking for more guidance on how to use AI, with 60% saying they’d like more training for staff and volunteers and 48% requesting sector support on responsible AI.
This accessible, non-technical webinar introduces essential AI literacy for charities, civil society organisations and activists. It explains how generative AI works, where it may be useful, and where caution is needed.
Through practical examples, the session explores accuracy, bias, privacy, safeguarding, copyright and accountability. Rather than arguing for AI adoption, it equips attendees to assess these technologies critically, make proportionate decisions and undertake small, purposeful experiments where appropriate.
Canva Get Together
Thursday 29th October, online. This is a free, casual online get-together of people working in the charity sector who are interested in using Canva for visual design.
This get-together has no agenda and is governed entirely by what people want to know and/or share. These include tips and questions about using Canva to create: graphics, animations, posts, videos etc. either for social media, online or print formats.
The Autumn Budget: What it means for charities
Thursday 29th October, online. The Chancellor’s Budget could have far-reaching implications for charities. What should your organisation be preparing for?
Join Rathbones and Charity Finance Group for a timely discussion on the impact of the Autumn Budget on the charity sector.
The expert panel will examine:
- Key Budget announcements affecting charities
- The outlook for public spending and the economy
- Potential implications for charity funding and operations
- Planning for uncertainty around public spending and policy change
- What charity leaders should be considering in the months ahead
Managing your lease and working well with local authority landlords
Tuesday 3rd November, online. Leading UK property advice charity, the Ethical Property Foundation is delighted to offer this free online property seminar for voluntary organisations.
This informative webinar is a must-attend for all trustees, staff and volunteers currently renting charity premises from their local council. It is an excellent CPD opportunity for local council property department staff.
With lawyers from leading charity law firm Birketts LLP – Louisa Saunders (Legal Director, Charity Property) and Claire Jones (Partner, Public Sector) – this is a fantastic opportunity to learn the basics of managing your lease and avoid misunderstandings and disputes.
Find out more and book your place here
Excel essentials – level up your skills
Tuesday 3rd November, online. 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?
Join this practical session to navigate the Excel ribbon and create, format, sort and filter your spreadsheets. We’ll introduce basic auto and manual formulae and why you should be using Tables. We’ll also cover splitting and joining columns and inserting basic charts.
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.
Social Media Training for Charities
Wednesday 4th & Wednesday 18th November, online. Learn how to use social media more strategically.
This practical two-part online training course is designed to help charities make better use of social media by focusing on what really matters: understanding performance, reaching the right audiences and creating content that supports organisational goals.
Across two interactive half-day sessions, participants will gain a clear understanding of how social media platforms work today, how to measure success using meaningful data and how to turn insights into more effective strategies.
Festival of Trusteeship
Monday 9th – Friday 13th November, online. The Eastside People Festival of Trusteeship’s week-long series of online events is full of exciting discussions and debates, thought leadership, best practices, learned experience, educational topics and breakout sessions.
Sessions in the programme include:
- Festival Launch with Dame Julia Unwin, Chair of the Charity Commission for England and Wales
- Building board chemistry: What makes boards click?
- Trustees Like Us: Where are all the working class trustees?
- When boards turn toxic
- Show me the money: a trustee’s guide to fundraising
- The Joy of Trusteeship
- Brave boards in an age of hostility
- Goldilocks Governance: Big, small or just right?
Plus another 10 sessions covering everything from finance and fundraising to mergers, board diversity, AI and the future of trusteeship.
Introduction to Google Analytics 4
Tuesday 10th November, Online. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a powerful tool that can supercharge your charity. It provides an accurate and insight-rich understanding of your supporters and donors. It provides a complete view of user journeys and enables you to make effective data-driven decisions. And, perhaps most importantly, it can drastically improve your marketing and fundraising.
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.
Shaping strategy that delivers
Thursday 12th November, online. Charity Digital invites you to the first of our ticketed Leadership Series Events: ‘Building strategy that delivers’.
Leadership is essential for building and delivering a successful charity strategy. It integrates day-to-day operations into the bigger picture and brings everyone along with your vision – but to achieve this, leadership needs to extend beyond the executive tier, across all levels of your organisation.
The first event to kick off our new Leadership Series brings together charity leaders from across the sector to share their experience developing successful digital strategies. Join us for an afternoon of live Q&As and discussions designed to help charity leaders strategise for success. Tickets cost £20 & VAT.
Google Ad Grants for beginners
Tuesday 17th November, Online. 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.
What will be covered:
- 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
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.
Making the most of M365 apps – tips and tricks
Wednesday 18th November, online. Microsoft 365 offers huge possibilities. It helps charities with email, file storage, and provides plenty of productivity applications that can streamlines your charity. Registered charities in the UK are eligible for discounted licenses and this session aims to help you make the most of your M365 subscription.
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.
Supercharge your use of social media
Tuesday 24th November, 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. We’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. We’ll show you how to increase social media engagement, how to extend your reach, and how to ensure you target the most rewarding demographics.
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.
Advanced Excel – tips and tricks
Tuesday 1st December, online. Join this 3 hour session to find out how to optimise your spreadsheets so they can do what they’re meant to be doing – saving you time, facilitating effective service delivery and enabling you and your team to get insight into the bigger picture.
This hands-on workshop will guide you through demos and practical exercises using a sample spreadsheet. Key features covered include:
- Smarter formulas that save you time
- Conditional formatting, data validation, and other techniques to keep your data tidy
- Using Pivot Tables to summarise and rearrange data
- Connect, clean & organise data from different sources using Power Query
Safeguarding for Trustees and Community Buildings
Tuesday 1st December, online. This session will look at the legislation, and what trustees need to know and do.
It will also look at how best to apply it in a community building setting where you may be hiring space but have little direct interaction with the vulnerable people attending the activities.
Developing a Fundraising Strategy
Tuesday 8th & Wednesday 9th December, 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.
Advanced AI – upgrade your skills
Tuesday 15th December, online. As more organisations begin using AI tools in their day-to-day work, many people find themselves wanting to go beyond the basics and develop a deeper, more practical understanding of the technology. Questions around prompting, workflows, reliability, ethics, and limitations become increasingly important as AI use matures.
This advanced Academy AI course aims, in just three hours, to help you take your AI skills to the next level. Designed for those who have already completed an introductory AI session or have some experience using AI tools, the course explores more sophisticated prompting techniques, practical agentic workflows, real-world applications, and a deeper understanding of how AI systems operate.
[NEW] FREE Second-hand laptops for voluntary and community organisations and groups in Mid Copeland and South Copeland
Nuclear Waste Services has the opportunity to access a significant number of laptops from a contractor in their supply chain as part of their commitments to social value. The laptops are second-hand and would be given completely free to the recipient organisation(s).
They are approximately 4 years old but are in full working order. They will be equipped with Windows but will not have any Software (Including Microsoft packages) pre-installed on them. The software packages would therefore need to be purchased and installed by a recipient (organisation or person).
All Organisations in receipt of the laptops would be expected to sign for them on receipt, and that they would be used in the furtherance of their work or project and to the benefit of their staff, volunteers and / or beneficiaries.
If you would be interested in receiving some of these Laptops or have any questions whatsoever, then please get in touch by email community.investment@nuclearwasteservices.uk by 30th October, stating the number you would be interested in receiving.
NWS will initially prioritise organisations within the Mid Copeland and South Copeland search areas.
What are the secrets to great fundraising leadership?
Fundraisers possess a variety of skills and attributes that enable them to lead successful fundraising teams and campaigns. In Fundraising Magazine’s free Fundraising Leadership guide, we hear from three senior-level fundraisers who offer insight into strategy, management and growing income.
In their interviews with editor Stephen Cotterill, the fundraising leaders answer questions including:
- What are the biggest challenges facing fundraising leaders?
- How do you keep your fundraisers motivated?
- Where do you see the most innovation in fundraising?
- What are the key lessons you have learned in your career?
The Grassroots Organisers Field Guide
A new guide by Community Organisers sets out a practical and principled approach to grassroots community organising. It is designed for community practitioners, volunteers, activists, and leaders who want to move beyond engagement and consultation, and towards building meaningful, sustained community power. It has taken the learning from working with hundreds of community organisers and practitioners over the last 10 years and from the training of thousands of people.
Find out more and download the guide here
Neighbourly – free funding, volunteers & surplus for your organisation
Neighbourly is a giving platform that connects charities and community groups with support from major UK businesses. Neighbourly works with companies including M&S, Aldi, Lidl, B&Q, Sainsbury’s and E.ON, helping them provide funding, surplus products and volunteer time to organisations making a difference in their communities.
By joining Neighbourly, your organisation could access:
- Surplus food and products – from regular food collections to donations of useful items such as DIY and gardening supplies.
- Grants and funding – apply for available funding opportunities through simple application forms.
- Corporate volunteers – connect with employees who can offer hands-on or skills-based support.
Neighbourly is completely free to join and use, so it’s another useful way to bring additional support into your organisation alongside the funds you’re already raising through easyfundraising.
Join Steve Butterworth from Neighbourly and Mic Miller from easyfundraising for a relaxed online chat about the different ways you can support your good cause, with practical tips and ideas you can put into action. 3rd November, 12.30pm – register here
Lobbying register proposals could have ‘chilling effect’, charities warn
Proposals for charities to be on a new lobbying register could have a “chilling effect” on their campaigning activity, sector organisations have warned.
The Ethics & Integrity Committee (EIC) has proposed introducing requirements for all charities and other organisations that lobby the government to be put on a public register, potentially having to pay a registration fee.
It suggested an AI-enabled register, with a sliding scale for the registration fee and either no or a nominal cost for smaller businesses and charities.
How to plan a project
Charity Digital give charities some advice on planning projects, looking at the need for project managers, the best ways to communicate, actually devising a plan, and much more.
Cumberland Council newsletter
You can view Cumberland Council’s newsletter from 18/10/26 here, including:
- Young volunteers support Great British Beach Clean in Silloth
- Prepare for Winter: free community resilience webinar
- Carlisle Fireshow 2026 – Grand Départ GB support for sparkling event
Westmorland & Furness Council newsletter
You can view Westmorland & Furness Council’s newsletter from 16/10/26 here, including:
- Dock Museum celebrates double success
- Businesses encouraged to support staff and speak out against hate crime
- The Digital Switchover – what you need to know
Proposed trustee banning powers ‘fall short’ in protections for women, NSS warns
A concern has been raised about proposals to extend the Charity Commission’s powers not including stronger protections for women and LGBT people.
This week, the government launched a 10-week consultation on strengthening the commission’s abilities to tackle extremist abuse of charities.
Under the proposals, the commission would be empowered to ban those who promote or encourage “violence, or racial or religious hatred” from being trustees or holding senior roles at charities.
‘Immediate’ cut to wait times not guaranteed, says commission chair
The Charity Commission chair has promised no “immediate” cut to wait times experienced by sector organisations seeking support despite a government funding uplift.
Julia Unwin, speaking last week at the commission’s annual public meeting, said the regulator could not guarantee short-term wait time cuts to assess concerns or register applicants.
However, she stated that the 25% government funding increase would help the commission to modernise and be equipped for the future.
Making the most of Get Jobs – the free charity jobs board
Get Jobs is helping connect charities with jobseekers, with more than 900 live vacancies available to browse and every job advert free for employers to post. The Get Jobs website provides a jobs board for the charity sector, offering a completely free space for organisations to advertise vacancies and for jobseekers to discover new opportunities.
With small organisations in mind Get Jobs offers not-for-profit organisations an alternative to paid jobs boards giving organisations another place to promote their vacancies without paying advertising fees.
For jobseekers, Get Jobs brings together hundreds of opportunities across the sector, making it easier to find roles that match their skills, experience and passion for making a difference. They can also sign up for the weekly Jobs Roundup email to receive the latest opportunities directly in their inbox.
More information about Get Jobs in this document
NPC publishes guide for charities to evaluate systems change
Sector think tank NPC has published a free guide to help charities, funders, investors and public bodies evaluate the impact of systems change initiatives.
The publication aims to help organisations assess initiatives that seek to transform the systems underpinning social and environmental problems rather than traditional service delivery.
In it, NPC argues that traditional approaches to measuring success may not adequately reflect how increasingly complex social and environmental challenges are addressed.
Commission chair to lament DSC closure and urge support for ‘vital’ infrastructure bodies
The chair of the Charity Commission will lament the Directory of Social Change’s (DSC) closure and urge funders to increase their support for the sector’s infrastructure bodies.
Julia Unwin will speak at the commission’s annual public meeting to warn of the knock-on effects for charities of DSC’s closure, after the 50-year-old organisation announced it would cease to run yesterday due to “huge financial pressures.”
“DSC has been a fixture in the voluntary sector for over half a century, providing practical training, governance guidance, research and campaigning on behalf of charities,” she is expected to say. “It, and its work, will be greatly missed.”
Directory of Social Change announces sudden closure
Charity sector support organisation the Directory of Social Change (DSC) has announced sudden plans to close.
Leaders of the organisation, which has operated for more than 50 years and is also a registered charity, said that it has appointed an insolvency practitioner to manage its closure.
DSC’s chief executive of 25 years, Debra Allcock Tyler, and chair, William Butler, said: “Our income-generating model enabled us to survive through five decades of charity infrastructure turmoil, and meant we could cross-subsidise our crucial policy and campaigning work with our own independent resources.”
Legislation and regulation can hamper charities’ banking access and use, report says
The UK’s legislative and regulatory framework can cause friction for charities when accessing and using banking services, a new finance-sector report has said.
This week, UK Finance, a membership organisation representing the banking and financial services industry in the UK, published its first Charity Banking 2026 report.
The report takes stock of the banking landscape for charities and voluntary organisations, highlighting products and services offered by the industry.
The National Heat Risk Commission – call for evidence
Established in March 2026, The National Heat Risk Commission provides independent expertise and strategic advice on how the UK can improve its resilience to the growing risks posed by high temperatures.
They are seeking evidence from businesses, public bodies, institutions, and voluntary and community organisations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
How did this summer’s heatwaves affect you or your organisation? What did you do in response? What worked, and what didn’t? What got in the way of taking action? And what would help you prepare for future heatwaves?
Evidence can be submitted to the Commission by 30th October.
Charities must understand risks before taking crypto donations, report warns
Charities must understand the implications of accepting crypto donations and should conduct risk assessments before doing so, new guidance has cautioned.
The Crypto Fundraising Guide, published by the Fundraising Regulator (FR) on 16th October, urged organisations to gauge risk before taking crypto donations, and to evaluate whether such donations align with their values.
Trustees should make a “strategic decision” over the acceptability of crypto prior to any donations being taken, it added.
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.
