Twelve charities have joined Knowledge Peers’ new Charity Leaders' Exchange, a leadership programme comprising regular events, an online forum and full access to all Knowledge Peers’ online material.

The Charity Leaders' Exchange was launched in November as part of Knowledge Peers’ programme for charity leaders.  Marketing manager Esme Jones said that until then, Knowledge Peers’ work had focused mainly on the private sector, sharing knowledge and experience among chief execs and directors of private companies.

Knowledge Peers' director Gill Gibb (pictured) described the Exchange as "an experience-sharing club for leaders of medium to large UK charities who want to drive positive change in their organisations".

The Charity Leaders' Exchange allows up to five representatives of the same charity to join the programme for a total of £295 per year, or £30 per month.  The members can be trustees or executive staff or a mixture of both.  

For this fee they will be invited to six events over the year, have access to the online Charity Leaders’ Exchange Forum, and can view all films of interviews with leaders uploaded to the Knowledge Peers site.  Events will be tailored to topical subjects – the first, held last month, was on ‘Developing your fundraising as a product’, while the next one will be about ‘Managing your board as they manage your reserves’.  Members will also receive journals and reports about each topic.

The Exchange has around 50 members so far from 14 organisations. Charities that have joined include Samaritans, Beatbullying, Build Africa, Crisis, Victim Support and the Family Planning Association.