Here’s a further selection of top pro bono and free resources for third sector organisations, as provided by Charity Connect, an online networking community of around 20,000 professionals working in the charity sector. Each resource has been thoroughly researched to ensure it is among the best available resource or supplier of its type. The list is particularly geared towards smaller charitable organisations whose networks and resources are less developed. To see the full list, go to the Charity Connect website.
This charity offers substantial discounts for hot desks, shared office space and meeting rooms in one of five locations in London. Use their online calculators to compute the rent for any given space right there and then without applying first. There’s also live chat assistance. At the time of writing, the daily rate for a single hot desk was £20/day but you can also book meeting rooms, multiple desks (at a monthly rate) and establish a virtual office address at any of their locations. This is a paid service but very flexible, tech-forward and inexpensive.
ThirdBridge provides an online matchmaking platform for charities to meet corporations seeking to donate skills, resources, and knowledge. Charities post their specific needs including anything from help with donations, fundraising and sponsorship to cause-related marketing, gifts in kind and skilled volunteering. Charities, once vetted (usually by telephone within one business day), can use the platform for free. Corporate members include O2, Sky and Accenture among other household names.
The grand-daddy of voluntary organisations in the UK with 13,000 member organisations representing ⅓ of the country’s voluntary workforce, The National Council for Voluntary Organisations provides support, advice and consulting to members. Membership is not free unless your organisation’s turnover is less than £30k per year but you can still access a lot of content authored by guest bloggers on their knowledge base, Knowhow Nonprofit.
The FSI is both an online information hub and holds conferences, webinars, seminars and training courses very regularly for small charities with turnover of less than £1.5M, The topic areas covered by FSI literally encompass 360° of managing a charity, from IT to fundraising, governance, GDPR, the consequences of Brexit, etc. You have to pay a small fee to participate in face-to-face learning but web conferences and online lessons are free to charities making less than £1.5M annually.
