Useful Sector Resources

• Media Trust - provides training and consultancy in all aspects of media, and matches skilled volunteers with charities.
• CharityComms - membership network for communications professionals working in UK charities with free to access communications guides, templates and reports.
• Charity Commission - published guidance for charities using social media, which includes a link to a template for drafting a social media policy.
• Equally Ours - offers free strategic communications training workshops for organisations in London working on inequality and discrimination, poverty or multiple disadvantage.
• NEON has comprehensive advice on messaging and framing communications at this time Far right violence, a messaging guide.
• IMIX - a specialist communications charity has a resource for grassroots groups and small charities working towards migrant justice to communicate with confidence, care, and strategy. It includes tools on how to prepare for a media interview, respond to a crisis, and sharing your story safely.
• Not in our name - specialist women's rights and migrant justice organisations have shared a practical guide to help people have more effective conversations over the weaponisation of violence against women and girls to create division and anti-migrant feeling.
• Museums Association's guidance on Communicating Decolonisation - a starting point for museums and galleries to build a robust communication strategy to support decolonisation work.

• Campaigns Collective - provide a helpful guide to what campaigners can and can't do under the UK Lobbying Act.
• Sheila McKechnie Foundation - supports campaigners with training, awards and advice. SMK have developed Freedom to Campaign, a guide to campaigning in relation to the Lobbying act. Together with Bates Wells, they have also produced guidance for charities on campaigning in the run up to the general election.
• Activists Resource Hub  by Social Change Lab and JRF has plenty of resources packed into a single page.
• Systemic Justice - developed a Community Toolkit for Change, to support communities and movements to use the courts for their causes and campaigns.
• The Edge Fund - provide a helpful list of campaigning resources listed by issue including links to blog posts, guides, tips and checklists
• The Refugee, Asylum, Migration, and Policy Project can provide support to organisations working in the migration field with political engagement or political strategy development, including training from their advisers based in Parliament on legislation, and how to prepare for a meeting with an MP.

• Directory of Social Change – provide training and publications, as well as information and analysis on issues affecting the sector through their own policy work.

• Julie's Bicycle - working with arts organisations to help them measure, manage and reduce their environmental impacts
• Centre for Sustainable Energy - resources for communities to take action on energy from setting up a community energy project to making community-wide energy savings
• NPC Everyone’s Environment Pathway - guidance and tools to help charities understand their role in environmental action and embed sustainability into their work
• NPC Everyone’s Environment Programme- a programme supporting organisations to take practical environmental action and build climate confidence across the sector
• Going Green Together (VONNE) - support for voluntary organisations to take collective climate action and reduce their environmental impact
• Growing Climate Confidence (SCVO) - training and resources to help organisations in Scotland build knowledge, confidence and practical skills on climate action
• Fit for the Future - a network supporting organisations to collaborate and take practical action on sustainability and climate change
• Climate Fresk training- interactive, science-based workshops that help participants understand the causes and impacts of climate change and explore solutions
• Climate Outreach - Britain Talks Climate and Nature - research and engagement tools to help organisations communicate about climate and nature in ways that resonate with different audiences, especially those less engaged
• Climate Justice Coalition - a network advocating for fair and inclusive climate action, ensuring the voices of communities most affected by climate change are heard
• Energy Resilience Fund (Social Investment Business) - a blended finance fund offering up to £250k (40% grant, 60% loan) to help charities and social enterprises in England decarbonise operations through energy efficiency and renewable technologies
• Carbon Trust - Transition Strategy and Delivery- expert advice and support for organisations to develop and implement net zero and sustainability strategies
• Business Energy Efficiency (UK Government) - practical guidance and tools for organisations to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs
• Energy Saving Trust (Business) - advice, resources and support to help organisations reduce energy use and carbon emissions
• Community Energy England - information on funding and support for community-led energy projects

• Food Systems Academy - an open education resource for sharing knowledge and increase the public’s understanding of our food system
• Good Food at Work - guidance from Sustain on how to ask your organisation to sign up to a healthy and sustainable food policy

• Involve – have a range of resources on public participation and involving people in democracy and decision-making
• Clinks - guide to service user involvement
• Going Places Community Engagement - developed in collaboration with museums and galleries across the UK, the Art Fund has launched a toolkit offering practical guidance for developing and delivering opportunities for community
• Museums Associations: Power to the people - a self-assessment framework for participatory practice to help organisations improve community engagement in museums
• Hope Not Hate - has produced guidance for community organisations facing increasing hostility, harassment and intimidation linked to far-right activity in the UK. It includes best practice on safeguarding, incident response, online abuse, misinformation, and longer-term resilience planning.

• 10 values for co-production - sets out evolving best-practice principles for meaningfully involving young people in organisational decision-making.
• HUDL Up - podcast sharing real experiences from young leaders, practitioners, and partners, focused on shared power, collective change, and building a fairer future through conversation and connection.
• The Listening Fund - an England-wide initiative focused on supporting and improving how organisations listen to and involve people, with resources and partners sharing learning from the programme.
• Funding Youth Activism - a resource for funders supporting investment in young people’s activism, campaigning, and organising to tackle injustice and inequality and build their social and political power.

• Take Note - free collaboration toolkits and resources  that are relevant to anyone undertaking or exploring collaboration and delivering work in partnership - social change organisations, funders, researchers, advocacy organisations and networks. You can also watch a webinar we hosted with Take Note, which takes you through the key tools and the thinking behind them.
• Museums Association: Working Equitably - guide to creating equitable partnerships
• Making partnerships work - learning and practical advice on building effective partnerships, highlighting the time, resources and flexibility needed, and offering insights from funded organisations on successful collaboration

• National Survivor User Network and partners - guide on developing remote and online peer support through a range of online platforms
• Unlocking Networks - handbook and toolkit on developing a peer network
• How to Guide by Researchers with Lived Experience on Participatory Action Research - guide examines the peer-led participatory action research (PAR) model

• Cast - helps UK charities and social impact organisations to make the fullest use of digital and AI technologies, in order to be as responsive and resilient as possible. This includes free digital and AI resources
• Charity Digital (formerly Tech Trust) - offers donated and discounted software, email marketing and foreign exchange services for UK charities.
• Datakind UK - links data scientists with not-for-profits to help them use data in support of their mission.
• The Catalyst - free services and funding to transform social impact through digital.
• Superhighways - Helps small charities do more digital.

• Dovetail has a range of 'how to guides' to help non-profits find a digital partner that fits Data Orchard - provide a free tool to help you assess how data savvy your organisation is and identify areas for improvement. You can choose between a short 5 minute survey or the full assessment, which takes about 20 minutes to complete.
• Google - provide a range of free digital skills training courses
• Guide to choosing and implementing the right CRM from Datawise London.
• How to understand web users’ needs and building a Digital Workforce toolkit from NCVO Knowhow Nonprofit.

• Diversity, equity and inclusion support - review of DEI support support provided to organisations we fund through Funding Plus.
• Supporting employees with lived experience - a report sharing learning from a peer group of sector leaders on improving workplace support, wellbeing, and inclusion for staff with lived experience in social impact organisations.
• Centring Lived Experience: A strategic approach for leaders - a guide created by NPC
• D5 - D5 is a five-year coalition to advance philanthropy’s diversity, equity, and inclusion. They have very helpful resources including pointers on how to talk about DEI.
• Directory of Social Change - Charities against hate - How to respond to racism - a new resource practical actions that charities can take to ensure their own safety and continued operation. The resource also helps charities reevaluate their strategic planning and join in solidarity with others to push back against racism and other forms of bigotry and discrimination.
• Inc Arts Unlock - an anti-racism toolkit that gives arts organisations practical steps to take anti-racist action.
• National Coalition Building Institute - delivers equalities leadership programmes.
• Race for Nature's Recovery - an initiative that uses the Government's Kickstart scheme to tackle the longstanding lack of racial diversity in the environment movement. Organisations can sign up for support to offer a paid placement for a young person.
• Stagetext - provides captioning and live subtitling services to theatres and other arts venues.

• DEI Data Standard - a framework and taxonomy to help organisations monitor equity considerations developed by 360Giving and The Social Investment Consultancy.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion monitoring tool - a free tool by Big Issue Invest, which organisations can use to input information about their Board, staff and communities they serve to generate an overview of their diversity split as well as their gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

• Centre for Cultural Value - provide free resources and training to help the cultural sector develop skills in research, evaluation and reflective practice.
• Directory of Social Change – carry out independent impact and programme assessments for charities, funders and other not-for-profit organisations.
• Evaluation Support Scotland - provides practical support and access to impact and evaluation resources and tools.
• Good Finance guide to measuring impact for social investment.
• IVAR (Institute for Voluntary Action Research) - works to understand, support and strengthen the voluntary sector using action research
• Museums Associations toolkit - a set of tools and resources for measuring social impact designed to help museums find the right approach for their participants and organisation.
• NCVO Charities Evaluation Service - free tools and guidance on evaluation, learning and impact measurement
• New Philanthropy Capital- a think tank and consultant to the charity sector, with lots of free research and publications
• Pro Bono Economics - matches volunteer economists with charities wishing to address questions around measurement, results and impact

• CFG Small Charities Programme - provides practical face to face and online finance training and resources for charities with an income of £1m or less including budget and cashflow templates
• Charity Finance Group - membership organisation offering training to the charity sector to develop leadership and financial management skills, understanding of topical financial issues, networking and knowledge sharing.

• Charities Aid Foundation - 'Fundraising Fundamentals' a free toolkit for small to medium sized charities
• Directory of Social Change – provide a range of directories, including the Directory of Grant Making Trusts, and how-to fundraising publications and courses. Also provide the Funds Online (previously trustfunding) database.
• Fundraising for first timers - a beginner's guide produced by Arts Council Wales aimed at organisations or charities that are starting out on their fundraising journey
• nfp Synergy - a comprehensive beginner's guide to fundraising for small organisations
• The Edge Fund - provide a helpful list of fundraising resources including links to toolkits, guides, training and funder databases
• Nesta - offer a guide to nine of the main crowdfunding platforms supporting good causes in the UK

We also list useful links to help you find other sources of funding.

• Charity Commission have launched a free practical guide for recruiting trustees
• Trustee Recruitment Cycle - Guidance, tools and tips to help you recruit trustees and diversify your board from Reach Volunteering

• Clore Social Leadership Programme - develops future leaders in the social sector
• Directory of Social Change – provide leadership training through both public courses and in-house consultancy.
• Pilotlight - free tailored strategic planning support for charities and social enterprises from senior business people
• The Confidence Framework - a free interactive tool designed by Realising Ambition to support sector leaders and individual organisations to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.

• Free Human Resources advice and information from Cranfield Trust for charities and social enterprises based in England and Wales
• RadHR - practically applys anti-oppressive ideas to how social change organisations and workplaces organise internally. It offers alternatives to off-the-shelf HR policies and processes, which tend to replicate the very oppressions that our organisations strive to challenge.

There are several resources which may be helpful to learn more about safeguarding:

• Charity Commission strategy for safeguarding:
  • England and Wales
• NCVO Knowhow Nonprofit - provide a comprehensive collection of free safeguarding resources
• SAFE CIC - provides free advice and training on sector specific safeguarding issues, both online and face to face
• The statutory guidance for all agencies and organisations for safeguarding children:
  • England
  • Wales

• LawWorks provides free legal assistance for one-off pieces of advice needed by small not-for-profit organisations who are eligible for the scheme. For longer term advice, LawWorks may be able to match a small not-for-profit organisation with a volunteer solicitor through their Honorary Counsel service. They have also produced free short online videos for not-for-profits on specific areas of law such as how to incorporate a charity, the basics of property law and employee grievances.
• Sistren Legal Collective - guide to legal structuring for social justice initiatives. This free resource helps changemakers to navigate the legal complexities of setting up non-profit organisations in the UK.

• The Decelerator offer resources to support organisations considering a closure with practical and emotional guidance and signposting.
• The Good Merger Guide and The Good Merger Index by Eastside Primetimers
• The Institute for Voluntary Action Research has published three reports:
• Story of a merger
• Merger as Strategy
• Let’s talk mission and merger by NPC

• NAVCA- national membership charity for local infrastructure
• NCVO- research, resources and training for voluntary sector organisations in England
• NICVA- support for voluntary sector organisations in Northern Ireland
• SCVO- support for voluntary sector organistions in Scotland
• WCVA- support for voluntary sector organisations in Wales
• GOV.UK - the UK government has a guide to setting up a charity

• Arts Council England - funding, advice and tools for the arts sector in England
• Arts Council of Northern Ireland- the funding and development agency for the arts in Northern Ireland
• Arts Council of Wales - Wales' funding and development organisation for the arts
• Creative Scotland- the public body that supports the arts in Scotland
• Association of Independent Museums - connects, supports and represents independent museums and galleries
• Museums Association - the membership organisation for everyone working museums, galleries and heritage
• Clinks - supports, represents and campaigns for the voluntary sector working with offenders

• Inspire to Enterprise - offers free-to-access social enterprise support, information and advice
• School for Social Entrepreneurs - offers courses to help individuals start, sustain, and scale social enterprises, charities and community projects
• Social Enterprise UK - from building markets to large scale public facing campaigns, SEUK the membership body for social enterprise, exists to amplify the voice of their members and get social enterprise on the radars of decision makers across sectors
• Directory of Social Change - provide a toolkit and resources to help new charities get off the ground

• Cranfield Trust - matches charities up with pro bono business expertise from management consultants
• Spring Impact - provides an open-source toolkit giving mission-driven organisations and individuals the resources to identify, design, and implement the right strategies, models, and processes for scaling impact
• Consultants for Good is a network of independent consultants who work with voluntary organisations.
• Bid for public sector contracts: a GOV.UK guide for voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations.
• Tenders and project support:
  • Rough guide to preparing a tender process
  • Rough guide to setting project budgets

For more tools and resources for charities, social enterprises and community groups, check out NCVO's KnowHow knowledge and e-learning hub.

• Charity Digital - a round up of some of the best wellbeing resources for charities. Charity Digital has also produced its own wellbeing guide
• Healing Justice London create vital spaces and resources for healing and learning.
• Mental Health Foundation's guide to supporting mental health at work, including a helpful checklist for employers.
• Mental Health at Work has collated resources from across the sector into 'toolkits' to support a broad range of workplace wellbeing topics
• Migration Exchange Resilience and Wellbeing Handbook - useful resources and guidance for organisations and individuals working with refugee and migrant communities, as well as those supporting racialised communities
• Mind have a guide on looking after your mental health online.
• NCVO - useful links and guidance on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of your team
• Samaritans - resources and training for supporting wellbeing in the workplace
• St John Ambulance - guide to assist with creating a wellbeing policy for your workplace
• The Black Wellbeing Collective is a mental health and wellbeing service that prioritises the lived experiences of the Black community to heal from racial trauma, racial bias, racism and discrimination, operating as a digital platform for collective healing.

• Hope Not Hate - has produced guidance for community organisations facing increasing hostility, harassment and intimidation linked to far-right activity in the UK. It includes best practice on safeguarding, incident response, online abuse, misinformation, and longer-term resilience planning.
• Migration Exchange - has updated their resources on safety and resilience in the refugee and migration sector, covering areas including safety, security, resilience, and wellbeing across the sector. There is also a blog for funders on what they can do to boost security and safety for migration and refugee charities.
• Stop Hate UK - a free independent 24/7 hate crime reporting helpline who also have a guide on reporting online hate.