Free advice line for small charities opens

22 Jun 2017 News

The FSI has launched a free service offering advice to small charities on a range of organisational issues.

A pilot of the Advice Hub opened to FSI members with an annual turnover of under £100,000 this week and will run until the end of 2017.

From January next year, the scheme will expand to be open to all FSI members, all of which are charities with a turnover of under £1.5m.

To deliver the programme, the FSI is recruiting for volunteer advisors who would be willing to work a minimum of one hour a month.

The FSI is looking for volunteers with charity sector experience in a range of areas such as financial resource management, impact reporting and measurement, governance, HR and others including:

  • building organisational strength;
  • strategy and business planning;
  • fundraising and income generation;
  • marketing and communications;
  • campaigning and public affairs.

Pauline Broomhead, founding chief executive of the FSI, said the hub was being introduced to address an 81 per cent increase in demand for her organisation’s members’ services since June 2013.

She said: “The Advice Hub pilot phase is being launched during Small Charity Week to expand on the free monthly advice clinics currently delivered by the FSI on the first Monday of every month.

“The increase in demand for services has meant that many of our members are struggling to find the funds and time to attend training so by expanding this programme we will be supporting small and local charities and community groups to address their particular skills gaps in a more flexible way.

“We are looking for skilled and talented volunteer advisors to join us in this pilot to support the sustainability and effectiveness of the small charity sector during the increasingly difficult climate in which they operate”.

Further information on the Advice Hub and how to sign up are available from the FSI website.

 

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