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Our completely free Charity Excellence Quality Mark for charities and non profits takes only 2 hours, as part of our online health check, which works for even the smallest organisation. The free management health check enables you to assess any and all aspects of your charity and connects you to our master resource hub of free support, policies, templates and guidance. To complete the health checks, first register (it takes 2 mins), then login. Doing so requires no management or charity expertise.
It's free, it’s also automated, so you there’s no extra workload to achieve it and you're assessed using a framework created to meet your specific needs, not the normal one size fits all. Moreover, the assessment is ongoing, not once every few years, so funders and others can have confidence in it.
It demonstrates to funders and other stakeholders your commitment to excellence, provides assurance to trustees and recognition to your staff and volunteers for achieving this.
“I’m delighted that we’ve gained the Quality Mark. It provides a structured but easily accessible way to review operations, locate gaps in operational excellence and, most importantly, be the best we can be for those that we support”. Herefordshire Mind
Once you have scored all 8 questionnaires, with a scoring rating of at least ‘Pass’, the Quality Mark will be displayed on your dashboard and you will be sent the Quality Mark logo.
If your rating isn’t Pass (green indicator), rescore the questionnaire. Each assessment statement looks at an issue from several perspectives. Not do we have it, but is it working as well as it could be? We all tend to make assumptions (self-included), but if you don’t meet all of a statement’s criteria, or aren’t sure you do, it’s not a 5.
You must score each questionnaire within the last 12 months to retain the Quality Mark. The Quality Mark reporting displays the date by which each questionnaire next needs to be scored and traffic light indicators will warn you, when you need to do so.
If you don't, the system will automatically remove your quality mark. To requalify, rescore the relevant questionnaires.
At the bottom of your dashboard, you'll find the Quality Management area.
| On the left, the circle tracks your progress towards achieving the Quality Mark, then the Scoring Quality alerts you if scoring is not accurate, and then the status of each questionnaire is displayed. |  |
As you score each questionnaire, its section will turn green and includes the date by which it must be scored again to retain the quality mark.
To qualify for the Quality Mark, your Scoring Quality indicator needs to show Pass (green). If it appears as Amber or Red, it simply means that some questionnaires may have been scored a little too generously and need a quick review.
The system isn’t trying to catch you out — and it will never penalise you for low scores. It fully recognises that over‑demand, funding pressures, and limited capacity sit outside your control. Even the very best charities simply do not have the capability or resources to do everything as well as they'd wish to.
Its purpose is to give you an honest, helpful picture of how things are really working, so it can point you to the most useful support and help you focus your very limited resources where they’ll have the greatest impact. To do that well, it needs scoring to reflect day‑to‑day and it's not about whether you have a system but whether it's working as well as you'd wish it to be.
Each statement usually includes several elements, such as who does something, when, or how consistently, how effectively it’s used in decision‑making, or whether there’s appropriate training. A score of 5 is therefore intended only for situations where all parts of the statement are fully met, and the approach is working as well as it realistically can.
If your Scoring Quality indicator turns Amber or Red, there’s no cause for concern. Simply rescore the questionnaires using the guidance above, and the indicator will return to green. This small adjustment helps ensure the insights you receive are accurate, relevant, and genuinely useful to you.
Why It Matters for Your Charity. AI will quickly fundamentally change our world bring with it real opportunities for non profits but also equally real risks in areas such as fraud, abuse, bias, data protection and ethics. Achieving the AI Ready Logo demonstrates that you are able to not only use AI effectively but also keep your people, donors and beneficiaries safe. Non profits which have achieved the Quality Mark can apply for the AI Ready Logo. This demonstrates that you have reviewed how AI will impact on you non profit, have people who have been trained, and taken steps to help ensure it is being used ethically and effectively, and that people and beneficiary and donor data are being kept safe.
How to Achieve Recognition. As with all of our services, it quick, simple and free.
Charity Excellence Learning. In association with Microsoft, Charity Excellence created 11 free AI online, certificated courses that enable anyone to use AI effectively, keep themselves safe, and gain valuable career skills. These require no prior AI knowledge, are completed at your own pace, using engaging bite size lessons, demo videos, practical tasks, and fun quizzes. Plus, checklists and infographics to download, and links to more advanced training.
A registered charity ourselves, the CEF works for any non profit, not just charities.
Plus, 65+ policies, 8 online health checks, the Quality Mark and the huge resource base. Our AI Ready programme and our 11 free online AI training courses.
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