Information to help your organisation run smoothly

What do you need in place to have an efficient and effective organisation?

There are many legal and practical aspects to running an organisation. You may need to write policies on Health & Safety, GDPR or Safeguarding, or someone in your organisation may need some practical training.

Here you can find guides, processes and example policies to keep your organisation running smoothly.

Have a question or can’t find what you are looking for? Contact us on info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk or call 01904 704177.

Community First Yorkshire resources

Equality Diversity and Inclusion Organisational Health Check – want to create a more inclusive, supportive, and high-performing workplace or volunteer team? Our Equality & Inclusion Health Check is here to help.

Scrutinising end of year accounts – If it’s coming to the end of your financial year, you may be wondering what to do about scrutinising your accounts. Let’s clear up some myths.

Impact Toolkit – designed to help you showcase the difference your organisation has made, our Impact Toolkit offers a wide range of templates, guides, and insights. Use it to create your own Impact Report and showcase your achievements to your beneficiaries and stakeholders with confidence.

Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Toolkit – this toolkit will help anyone thinking of registering or converting their group to a CIO. Our easy to read step-by-step guide will navigate you through the process. There are links to external sites and other resources.

Environmental policies template for charities – this sample policy is a word document so you can adapt, copy and paste, and complete to create a policy relevant to your organisation.

GDPR – many organisations keep personal data and need to know the legal requirements for storage and use.

Management Committees – our helpful guide outlines the ins and outs of running a successful committee.

Employment Advice Service podcast: Episode 1 – Redundancy

Employment Advice Service podcast transcript on Redundancy.

 

Advantages to becoming a CIO – helps to inform the early planning stages as you prepare to embark upon the process of becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

Timescales of conventing to a CIO – example plan of the conversion of an unincorporated charity to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

Who to consult when planning to become a CIO – supports you with understanding who you should consult with and seek agreement from when planning a conversion to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and how this should be conducted and recorded.

Foundation vs association model – this factsheet aims to explain the differences between the foundation and association structures of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

Application form prompt sheet – use this worksheet as a tool to help you to capture your thoughts on what it is your organisation does and the benefits of this work.

Top Tips when completing the online charity registration – this will help you with knowing what to expect in terms of some of the practicalities of completing the form.

Why on earth would you want to become a school governor? – wondering if you could contribute to your local community as a school governor? This factsheet will help you decide.

Hybrid working

Hybrid Working Hub – here you will find a collection of HAYS best hints, tips and guides to help you excel in a hybrid working world.

Planning for hybrid working – advice from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) on how organisations can begin to prepare for a return to the workplace and a longer-term move to hybrid working.

Hybrid working – advice from Acas for employers on how to consider, discuss and introduce hybrid working.

Digital development

NCVO’s new digital and technology hub for charities – use digital tools and ways of working to help your charity, organisation or community group.

Catalyst: how to move digital teams from service to strategy  – this article looks at digital transformation.

Charity Digital – How to make Zoom training sessions more interesting – Zoom training sessions can be highly effective, but they can become a bit boring. These tips will help ensure your participants stay engaged.

Reboot platform –  a step-by-step interactive guide for charities, local voluntary networks and schools to combat digital exclusion in their neighbourhood.

The Charity Learning Consortium – online little books – these bite-sized books are designed for learning professionals working within charities to provide an all in one resource.

Lincs Digital – How-To Guides useful for voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations who are supporting people to get online.

Charity Digital – podcasts for charities adapting to going digital – The Charity Digital podcast looks to inspire, educate and connect charity pro’s to the latest trends in the (sometimes) scary world of ‘digital’.

Local Trust – A guide to staying connected –  this guide to staying connected will help people in different locations access and take part in community meetings, even when a venue isn’t available.

Charity Digital – People first, how to manage a successful charity digital transformation – charities can learn first-hand how they built the skills and confidence of staff while ensuring the change made a positive impact on the organisation’s 500 employees and 4,000 volunteers.

NAVCA – 13 Free Digital Tools for Charities – NAVCA has created this guide to help charities access the free resources available to them.

Lloyds Bank Foundation – Designing and Delivering Online Sessions toolkit – this toolkit will support you to deliver sessions online that are engaging and designed with your audience in mind.

The Curve – Digital skills training for the third sector – The Curve is a series of free, 90-minute workshops for third sector organisations.

Health & Safety

Tyro Training – courses on food safety, fire marshals, health and safety, risk assessment, first aid.

ALSS – courses on adult social care, equality and diversity, safeguarding, health and safety.

Livius Training Centre – courses on health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety.

GDPR

ICO – Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – The Guide to the UK GDPR is part of our Guide to Data Protection. It is for DPOs and others who have day-to-day responsibility for data protection.

West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce – The Essentials of GDPR – this training is ideal for anyone who handles personal information in their job.

University College London – Introduction to GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation – learn how to handle data in the digital economy safely, securely and respectfully.

Other

Employment Law changes – Locality created a helpful resource outlining employment law, legislation changes that were implemented in April 2024.

Fundraising glossary – Charity Digital has compiled a free A-Z glossary of fundraising terms and definitions.

Resilience toolkit –  NICRE’s toolkit encourages leaders to think about the strengths and weaknesses of their businesses, and helps them to identify their greatest potential future risks. It also makes crisis planning quick and easy.

Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) – free adaptability resources and tools are available to help charities build their resilience and adapt for the future.

Resilience toolkit – this NICRE toolkit will help you identify future risks and how to plan for them.

Survive & Thrive 2021 Charity Excellence Framework – a strategy toolkit assessing the 2021 outlook and detailing everything you need to mitigate risks and exploit opportunities.

NCVO How charities work – NCVO has created this site to answer some of the common questions people have about how charities work.

CharityJob Diversity in Charity Sector Recruitment: A Hiring Guide – are the recruitment practices at your charity inclusive enough? Read this diversity guide and find everything you need to audit your organisation, build better hiring practices and inspire collaboration and inclusivity in everything you do.

The King’s Fund – maintaining motivation in uncertain times.

NCVO – How to be a resilient organisation – learn how to assess your environment, define your markets and plan steps to increase your organisation’s impact and resilience.

CIPD – online modules and resources to support employers responding to the coronavirus.

Acas – experts run free regular webinars on employment law topics and employment relations.