Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG) is setting up a working group to develop and implement ideas to improve levels of short-term professional volunteering in the sector.

It is hoping to attract support from the Charity Commission and the Office for Civil Society for the project and wants to engage with the wider voluntary sector to ensure it does not duplicate work already being done elsewhere.

In its response to the Charity Commission’s strategy review consultation, CFDG said: “We believe the Charity Commission has a great deal of non-financial expertise that can be contributed to the design of projects elsewhere in the sector.

“Increased awareness of these types of initiatives within the Charity Commission may help improve efficiency overall and to reduce its own burden.”

CFDG also said that in general, the Commission and the OCS “could look more carefully at how their functions within the sector currently relate to each other and how this may be improved”.

“More specifically, OCS strategies aimed at increasing the skills and capacity of the charity sector could have benefits for the Charity Commission, by helping to reduce levels of information provision and tailored support.”

CFDG declined to expand on its proposed professional volunteering project, saying it was still in its “very early stages”.