Where to Get Support When You Work For Small Charities

Did you know that 96% of the UK’s 166,000 charities are classed as small? Working for small charities offers amazing opportunities. There’s lots of scope for learning and development as you have the chance to get involved in a bit of everything. You’ll have more autonomy and more sense of making a difference.

However, working for small charities can also bring many challenges: smaller teams, smaller (sometimes non-existent) budgets, fewer resources and higher workloads. So, what can be a very rewarding role can also sometimes feel a bit isolating. So where do you turn when you need a helping hand, an ear to moan to or someone to celebrate successes with?

What’s the definition of a small charity?

According to Small Charities Data, the most commonly-used definition across the sector defines a small charity as having an annual income of less than £1 million. However, this definition covers a vast range of ‘small’ charities, as often the very smallest have an income closer to four figures than six and are primarily run by a handful of unpaid trustees and volunteers.

Support for setting up and running a small charity

Setting up and running a small charity can be daunting. From registering with the Charity Commission to appointing trustees, it can be hard to know where to start. And as a Chair or trustee of a small charity, you may find yourself a lot more involved in the day-to-day management than you would somewhere larger. Fortunately, there is help at hand.

• Charitysetup.org.uk powered by NCVO, is a dedicated support website for setting up a new charity, step by step.
• Small Charity Support offer some guidance for starting a small charity and further resources for trustees and programme planning.
• The Association of Chairs have a variety of training, events and resources for Chairs and trustees of charities.

Support for working for a small charity

If you work for a small charity, you often don’t have others doing similar roles to ask for help or advice. Perhaps your line manager doesn’t fully understand your specialism, or maybe you’ve been asked to take on responsibilities that you yourself don’t have experience of. If this sounds familiar, then check out our sister site, CharityConnect.

CharityConnect is the online charity network where you can join thousands of charity professionals to get insights, share experiences and get answers to your questions. You can join sub-communities by specialism, such as fundraising, marketing and comms, or leadership and governance. They also run regular online Connections networking events with guest speakers from different specialisms.

Further support for working for small charities includes:

• Our partner, NCVO, provides four pillars of support for small charities: online help and guidance, a small charity helpdesk that will answer questions about setting up and running a charity by email or phone, practical support webinars and a bi-monthly practical support bulletin, all tailored for small charities.
• The Directory of Social Change offer a variety of resources in different formats, such as videos, podcasts and webinars, designed to support small charities.
• Charity Excellent Framework can provide online health checks, templates and write funding bids. Their #LoveYourSmalls campaign helps small charities access free promotion and support.
• Small Charity Support offers email, telephone and online support as well as mentoring and training.
• Part of a small fundraising team (or is the entire team just you)? The Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CioF) has developed a small charity hub full of professional development tips, templates and how-to-guides.
  

Mentoring

Mentoring can be an excellent resource for those working for smaller charities. Mentors are great for sparking ideas, learning how things are done at other charities and helping you grow your skills and confidence. Here are some good places to find a mentor:

• The Charity Mentoring Network connects charity staff and volunteers with mentors both inside and outside the sector.
• The Cranfield Trust offers a wide range of services to support charities, including free management consultancy and mentoring.
• CharityComms runs a great mentoring scheme for those within the communications discipline.
• And don’t forget, you can always ask for a mentor on CharityConnect.

Other useful sources of support

• You can become a member of the NCVO for free if your charity has an annual income of less than £30,000. This gives you 30% off online and face-to-face training.
• Charity Excellence Framework has a funding finder for small charities, as well as a list of organisations willing to donate raffle prizes.
• Charity Digital offers useful resources to help charities make the best use of digital technology, including discounted software and free training courses and webinars.
• If you find yourself working in a very small, under-resourced comms team, then CharityComms can be a great source of support and inspiration. They have specific resources for small charities.
• Reach Volunteering can be helpful for finding volunteers for your charity, and don’t forget that it’s free to post volunteer ads on CharityJob.
• Small Charity Week is a campaign in June each year that offers training and events to address the challenges that small charities face as well as promote their role in society.

More support needed

Operating in increasingly difficult conditions over the last few years has put more and more strain on small charities, especially after the closure of the Small Charities Coalition. It’s clear that further help is necessary. So, the NCVO has been running a development project about the support needed from infrastructure bodies for small charities to best serve their communities over the coming years.

Have thoughts on support for small charities and how the government should help? NCVO are also working with ACEVO to improve the sector’s relationship with the government through a new Civil Society Covenant and are keen for people to get involved.

Work for a small charity and need support from your peers? Join CharityConnect and ask a question today.

Want to work for a charity? Browse the latest roles.