Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good free alternative to Mail Chimp?

We have been asked by one of our small organisations, as from the start of 2026 Mail Chimp are starting to charge for anyone with over 250 contacts (unless they have a free legacy account opened before May 2019.) This will impact many organisations.

Thank you, regards, Lorna.

A space for NAVCA members to continue the conversation about the rise of the far-right in communities and how we can work together to counter this.

Hello

We're thinking of investing in a social media scheduling tool. Can you recommend one please? Our main channels are: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Thanks

Lindsey

The consultations cover East Sussex, Greater Essex, Hampshire and the Solent, Norfolk Suffolk, West Sussex. These are the consultation questions - what do you want to feedback to MHCLG?

Question 1 To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposal suggests councils that are based on sensible geographies and economic areas?

Question 2 To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposed councils will be able to deliver the outcomes they describe in the proposal?

Question 3 To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposed councils are the right size to be efficient, improve capacity and withstand financial shocks?

Question 4 To what extent do you agree or disagree that this proposal will put local government in the area as a whole on a firmer footing, particularly given that some councils in the area are in receipt of Exceptional Financial Support?

Question 5 To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposed councils will deliver high quality, sustainable public services?

Question 6 To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposal has been informed by local views and will meet local needs?

Question 7 To what extent do you agree or disagree that establishing the councils in this proposal will support devolution arrangements, for example, the establishment of a strategic authority?

Question 8 To what extent do you agree or disagree that the proposal enables stronger community engagement and gives the opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment?

Hello all

Our council owns community asset that they are trying to attract funding for to refurbish to make it a health and wellbeing centre but are stumbling due to a lack of charitable status. They have approached CAVS to form a partnership so we can bid together for funds.

I do not want asset transfer of the property, I think the risks are too high around maintenance of the building for CAVS. Has any of you entered into such a partnership with your local authority and what gains were in it for you?

I am thinking this is the Council just using our charitable status to get more funding. As a new CEO I would welcome your views!

Many thanks

Tracy

Hi all, Claire from Voluntary Action Leeds here,

I'm wondering if anyone has any information or advice on banks who dont charge for small community groups. As you well know, a bank account is often a prerequisite for groups to access funding pots, I'm talking small amounts, ie under £1000. It used to be that we could share quite a long list of banks offering a business/community account for free. Found out recently from a group that Metro Bank will be charging £3 a month from December, which got us looking at other offers. Some will offer free to registered charities, but we couldn't find one bank that offers free for small groups.

VAL are looking at this from two ways, are there any banks we have missed from the list below that does offer free accounts?

Also, communication with funders asking for this to be considered, so, can the bank admin fee be accounted for in grant spend, and, where this is a blockage to group accessing, will they allow a larger charity to act as a holder of the funds.

Anyone any success with local Credit Unions??

Here is a list that we pulled togther:

• CAF Bank - charge £5 monthly fee.
• Co-operative Bank. Only registered charities and CICs can get an account
• Metro Bank. FROM DEC 25 Monthly charges of £3 per month will be introduced
• Charity Bank - have to put 10000 to open an account and only for registered charities
• Triodos Bank - You must have turnover of £50k or more. No longer available to new customers.
• NatWest Community Bank Account. Can only apply if you have a personal bank account already.
• Bank Of Scotland Treasurers Account. £4.25 each month
• Barclays Community Account - have to be registered charity, £8.50 per month
• HSBC Charitable Bank Account - Charges fees.
• Lloyds Bank - Now charge a fee - £4.25 pcm plus transactions.
• RBS Community Bank Account - have to have a personal account already
• Reliance Bank -registered charities only
• Santander - registered charities only
• Unity Trust Bank - business accounts only - charge £6 per month for an account
• Virgin Money - for registered charities.

Hi all, not sure if this is the right place on the forum, but we (CA:MK) are curious about what CVS organisations across the country are doing in terms of emergency preparedness. Do organisations have their own emergency response plans, for things like cyberattacks or other crises? Any ideas, resources, or best practices (beyond the helpful materials from VCSEP) would be greatly appreciated!

How are Integrated Neighbourhood Teams being implemented in your area? How are VCSE organisations being engaged? What models of good practice exist? What needs to be challenged? What opportunities are there to join up with other neighbourhood work e.g. Plan for Neighbourhoods, Trailblazer Neighbourhoods and proposed Neighbourhood Area Committees? Do use this as a space for discussion and sharing information.

I've had a group get in touch re Better Impact bill that has increased by 230% this year, for the basic package of 100-250 volunteers. The new annual cost is £852 which the group can't afford. Any one else heard anything about this?

Hi all - does anyone know of any animation software that can be used to create a short 1-2 minute video?

Hello everyone,

Does anyone have an SLA where the Local Authority provides funding for 25% of your expenditure, but requests 100% of your statistics? Is this normal?

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some insight into people's experiences with Local Authority tenders. We've been invited to bid on one, but the Local Authority has used our statistics in the tender document itself.

Has anyone encountered this before? Is this standard practice? Any information on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated.

Share your thoughts on the new RVS volunteering platform and what NAVCA and members can do together to influence the development of the platform.

With all the recent government announcements, publications and policy developments, we want to hear from NAVCA members about how this is affecting you. We recently recorded a short policy video digesting the announcements and what they mean for local infrastructure. Watch it here and let us know what you think!

Use the NAVCA Connect discussion forums to chat to other members about your experiences related to devolution, 10 Year Health Plan, Civil Society Covenant and more.

Hi everyone,

At Voscur, we've been facilitating a peer network for trans inclusive VCSE services following the Supreme Court ruling about the definition of sex in the Equality Act.

Some local VCSE services have received complaints from people wishing them to exclude transgender and non-binary people from their services.

We are collating resources to share with the group, and I was wondering if anyone has a response to a similar complaint that they are happy to share?

Many thanks,

Spencer

Hi everyone,

I have begun researching a clear, simple and transparent way to recruit VCSEs to statutory boards and panels (where an existing system doesn't exist already, for example on some of our ICS panels VCSE members are elected by their peers).

This is where there isn't capacity for infrastructure to attend/do everything (and sometimes local VCSEs have better subject knowledge e.g. Autism).

I've had a good trawl of other infrastructure websites, but there's often nothing explicit about how this is approached.

Does anybody have a local system or way to approach this they'd like to share? We are looking at basic role descriptions and a voting mechanism via the sector, but nothing overly onerous as there are a large number of local boards/panels.

Many thanks in advance!

Lisa Rawlinson

Networks and Representation Lead - Solihull

Hello!

Does anyone have any links/good resources to support a CEO/founder/chair with succession planning?

Thanks!

Hi everyone

We’ve had a query from a local Climate Action Network group, that we are supporting in Milton Keynes, about ethical banking options for unincorporated groups. They’re looking for a free current account – with online access and two signatories – but options seem limited. Many ethical banks only offer savings accounts or require groups to be incorporated.

They’ve also come across the Social Change Nest platform – https://thesocialchangenest.org/solutions/grassroots-groups/ – and are wondering if anyone has experience with this or similar “fiscal hosting” models?

We’ve shared a list of ethical providers – including those on the Charity Finance Group site: https://www.cfg.org.uk – but if anyone has tips, tools (e.g. comparison tables), or experience supporting other CANS with similar issues, we’d love to hear from you.

Please respond here or I would love to be contacted with any ideas on: anna@communityactionmk.org.

Thanks! Anna (Community Action: MK - Milton Keynes)

Hi Barking Owlers.

Is anyone doing a podcast? I'd be interested to know how easy/time-consuming/useful/costly it is. Thanks.

Peter

Just spotted this report - in case of interest..

"This joint report with the Runnymede Trust highlights large and unacceptable variations in the experience of the building blocks of health according to ethnicity, and the role of racism in this.!"

Hello,

Has anyone created Personas for their target audiences, please?

I started to doing this a while back but we have so many audiences that I got bogged down and wondered if anyone has any tips, tools, or examples they could share, please?

Thank you!

Lindsey

Hi,

Is anyone else using the Civi CRM system? Our charity has recently purchased the add-on MOSAICO for email newsletters and I'm finding it extremely basic in its functionality and design. Would love to chat with someone else who may be using this to see what their experience is.

Feel free to email me if you prefer: danielle.hilton@ocva.org.uk

Thanks

Danielle

I'm starting the process of searching for web designers to get quotes to build a new website. Would love to hear from you if you can recommend anyone you've used. Feel free to post here or email me at: clarem@nottinghamcvs.co.uk

Thanks!

Either:

Click the red ‘start a conversation’ button

Or:

Scroll down and click on the Allyship Champions button

then

Important: Whichever way you choose, write your message and then you need to select the Allyship Champions category. if you choose a different category, the message can be viewed by other NAVCA members. If you accidently post to a different category, please contact comms@navca.org.uk and Emily will amend it.

I’m interested in hearing different approaches to corporate volunteering programs/services.

Could anyone share any best practices or advice on structuring such a service? How do you typically match corporate volunteers with opportunities? Is this a paid for service?

As a CVS with a new volunteering service, we are working to establish a structure that will allow us to support corporate organisations with volunteer placement opportunities.

Thankyou.

Hi all,

Hope you're well.

We've just launched our CWVA Impact Report for 2024 so I thought I'd share it in case it's useful. We've created a new section on the CWVA website and a designed document.

I'd really like to see other impact reports if you've produced one. I'm aware local infrastructure organisations across the country operate differently so it'd be interesting to see your key areas of activity and impact.

See you all at the next Barking Owl.

Thanks,

Ryan

How are the proposals for the creation of Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the move from two tier to unitary authorities being felt in your area? What concerns or opportunities do the changes represent for LIOs? Use this thread to share your experiences and learning with other members.

The National Lottery Community Fund are looking for 10 to 15 partners to work with in the development stage of their Community Power fund. Community power means local communities being able to influence and change the places they live, as well as the services they use, and decisions that affect their lives.

For this development stage, they have up to £1.2 million funding available over one year. This work will shape how the Community Power fund runs in the future.

They'll fund each partner organisation between £50,000 and £80,000 for the development stage.

If you're looking to share thinking or explore partnership working around the 'Community Power' theme, comment here to let us know. If NAVCA is approached by organisations looking for partners, we will refer to these threads to make connections.

We are planning to introduce Affiliate membership to enable VCSE Alliances that wish to be members but are not eligible for ‘full’ (voting) membership to access NAVCA’s members services. This thread is for you to comment on our plans and to ask any questions. We will keep an eye out and answer all questions in full.

Hi all!

Following the Barking Owl session on 4th December, here's the Vlogger kit I mentioned: https://www.amazon.co.uk/R%C3%98DE-Microphones-Vlogger-Kit-Universal/dp/B08P4CHRWD/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2SSMECBRXL6D7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BK5ecoEEjZypZV1xTYvvXdNVAmLEb-DtRCilaB9AvphVUbpysNsOBQ8jbNgIijf0RrKv1MZNmJCIHyX5vffNFnLVwiPWIODF9rAZyTtd4xHG8lVRSRfJDoNDhURxkWPwUujWzNVh4UoRfrLnCqrUbRDb1E09t1sMrelac7ZoghXkCTiT_xYYyvUaolZOYIFm0tAFrlD8SGQtDpGRP1LqKImFPTkiLzwyzqXQyJFh9AE.dlhGfK7-cRlj5zE2aSHhwTMTy_XincGDwH2ri2I3LbU&dib_tag=se&keywords=vlogger%2Bkit%2Brode&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1733389407&sprefix=vlogger%2Bkit%2Brode%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-3&ufe=INHOUSE_INSTALLMENTS%3AUK_IHI_5M_VF&th=1

Really useful in terms of getting decent sound when recording on a mobile phone. I used it at a noisy event recently and got great sound from the people I interviewed, whilst hardly hearing me behind the camera/phone, or background noise in the room. Can mount it on a tripod, and there's a handy rechargeable light too. Good alternative to investing in video cameras, as most phones record in high quality now.

This is a branded Rode kit, so clocks in at £139, but there are cheaper (under £100) kits out there.

I know an increasing amount of us are leaving X/Twitter. If you have already left, did you stop posting or put out a statement to say you were leaving the platform?

If you did write a statement, what did it say? We don't want it to be took the wrong way.

Have any of your organisations got MyCake? It's a (paid-for) financial benchmarking tool that gives lots of stats, and I wondered if it was useful for your comms and sharing insights about the VCSE sector?