The Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI) and NCVO have reached an agreement to transfer the FSI’s key charity assets - such as the running of Small Charity Week - to us when the organisation ceases activity on 2 May 2023. We will then work with others across the sector to establish partnerships for the longer-term management of these assets.
The FSI has been working closely with us and others to protect its important work for small voluntary organisations since announcing its closure. Last week, we, the FSI and the Small Charity Advisory Panel convened an open voluntary sector stakeholder meeting where concerns could be raised and ideas shared on:
We'll be sharing some initial insights from the session in the next couple of days and are committed to working with others to ensure the assets of the FSI are shared with the sector in the best way possible.
Upon closure of the FSI, we'll be offering FSI members free membership if their annual turnover is under £50,000. NCVO members enjoy unlimited access to tools, templates and guidance, 30% off training and events, exclusive offers from trusted suppliers and more. Our membership supports leaders and staff so they can deliver the best possible services for the public and communities they work with.
We are extremely saddened by the closure of the FSI but are determined to ensure the specialist support provided by the FSI is not lost. We will support the maintenance of some of the FSI’s core small charity assets while working with the support of the Small Charities Advisory Panel, to seek new partnerships for the future delivery and evolution, which will benefit all small voluntary organisations. We are also looking forward to welcoming members of the FSI into our own 17,00 plus strong membership community.
Our focus since our announcement has been working with others to protect the important work FSI has done to benefit small charities and voluntary organisations. As we must cease our activities today (3 May 2023), we have agreed to transfer our key assets to NCVO. We believe NCVO has the capacity and power to connect and collaborate with others - and we believe this is a key way to ensure our legacy of small charity support lives on.
The FSI have recommended the following organisations for support. They've also crowdsourced a comprehensive list of sources.
Information, resources and tools
Support
Finance and funding
Networks
Membership bodies
Training and consultancy
Communications and digital