#SmallsForSmalls: 22 to 26 Jun 2026 - Free Small Charity Training Webinars
Our #SmallsForSmalls free webinars will run 22 to 26 June but aren't part of the formal Small Charity Week 2026 programme. They are an unfunded, ad hoc series of informative and fun fringe events organised by the smalls themselves, with support from their friends, to help and promote the fantastic work of all small charities. All small charities are invited but anyone and everyone is welcome.
For each day, I have included a Charity Excellence Report/Resource that has been created this year to raise the profile of smalls and offer possible solutions to help you and also 2 new free systems that'll make your life easier. But that's just a little warm up, we have much, much more coming soon. Join us on Wednesday, when we launch Charity Excellence 2.0 - you told us what you want and we've re-imagined ourselves to deliver that - it's , very, very different.
Monday 22 June
New CEF Report - Small Charity Crisis - Vital and Under Threat
- 9am to 10am. Charity Excellence. How to Find Funding in Tough Times. Join Ian and Kate for all the tips and tricks we use to find the funding other people don't know about. Take away all sorts of practical ideas and details of funding sources that you'll be able to take into use right now. We don't have a booking system - create an event in your diary and paste the link into it.
- 12pm to 1pm. Breaking Point: What Next? Vic Hancock Fell and Amber Shotton. An opportunity for small charity leaders to come together to discuss the changing landscape and share positive actions taken to support leadership and team wellbeing.
- 1pm to 2pm. The Saltways. Ethical Storytelling For Small Charities: Doing It Right On A Small Budget. Great storytelling doesn't require a big budget — but it does require care. In this practical session, we'll explore what ethical, dignity-centred storytelling really looks like for small charities, covering the frameworks, conversations, and simple techniques that help you create compelling content without compromising the people at the heart of your story. Free to attend. Built for small teams doing big things.
- 2pm - 3pm. Superhighways: Choosing & implementing a database resource. Tips, templates and database options to help you make better use of your data.
And here's a
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65+ Free Policy Downloads
Try our new easy, peasy, lemon squeezy free policy downloads - 65+ of them, by clicking the button below. Other organisations also produce policies but charge at least £100 to access these. All of our policies are free. In the first week, more than 1000 were downloaded.
View All Policies
We know that what policies you might need often isn't terribly clear, so we've expanded and improved our guidance and all of our our policies have been updated to be 'AI Ready' where necessary. |
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Tuesday 23 June
New CEF Report - Small Infrastructure Charity Crisis - Vital but Slowly Closing
- 9am to 10am. Charity Excellence. Charity Governance. Join Ian who's held many chair and CEO roles over the last 25 years,who built the CEF Governance health check and wrote all of the trustee guides. Practical and in plain English, an introduction to governance for new trustees and chairs, or a refresher for anyone. We don't have a booking system - create an event in your diary and paste the link into it.
- 11am to 12pm. Give As You Live. Ditch the Card Reader: How Small Charities Are Taking Contactless Donations for Free. Join Give as you Live as they show how small charities are shaking off the cash tin and gaining more than loose change.
- 2pm to 3pm. Access Insurance: Risk Management for Small Charities - will take you through approaching risk, what it is, who should manage it, building a risk register, to then making informed insurance choices.
- 3pm to 4pm. Superhighways: An Introduction to our Tech Guide for small charities and community groups. An introduction to essential technology you need to run your organisation well.
Wednesday 24 June
New CEF Report - London Marathon Small Charity Ideas
- 9am to 10am. Charity Excellence 2.0 - Making Small Charities Findable, Fundable and Future‑Ready. We spent 6 months on research and listening, then completely re-imagined Charity Excellence to deliver what you told us you need. Join us to find out how we plan to tap fully into the huge collective expertise of the sector by making it accessible for everyone, then supercharge it. We don't have a booking system - create an event in your diary and paste the link into it.
- 10am to 3pm. For international charities, SIDCN will be running their free SIDCN Fest 2026.
- 11am-12noon. Fair Collective x The Joyful Activists - Fill Your Cup First. What does it mean to build cultures of care within our movements and organisations? How do we hold each other, not just ourselves? And what would it look like to treat collective wellbeing as a strategic priority, not an afterthought?
Thursday 25 June
New CEF Guidance - Charitable Grant Making Best Practice
- 1pm to 2pm. Beeston-Clarke Accountants. Charity Finance is changing – are you ready? Please register to attend this webinar by following this link. Two important changes are affecting small charities right now - the new charity SORP, which came into effect on 1 Jan 26, and updated financial thresholds which vary depending on where in the UK you are. If you run a small charity, you need to know what's changing and which applies to you and which doesn't. In this session, Steph will break down the key updates in plain English, explain what they mean for your charity, and give you practical steps you can take right now. No finance background needed. Just bring your questions.
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Free Online Risk Register
Our Friends at CAP have also created a free online Charity Risk Register that's quick and simple to use and enables anyone to assess, manage and report risk.
We're working with them to create new upgrades that'll make it even more useful for you in the near future. |
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Friday 26 June
Recent CEF Report - Charitable Grant Making - Small Charities Being Used as Bid Candy
- 12.00pm to 1pm. Discussion: What Now for Small Charity Infrastructure Support? Vic Hancock Fell (plus other panelists TBC). This session creates space for honest, generative conversation about what's working, what's missing, and what needs to change.
- 1.30pm to 2.30pm. Working with your bank – the specialists' view. In this 40 minute webinar, the CAF Bank team will discuss the present environment for small charities, with a special emphasis on financial activities and working with your bank. As well as hearing about choosing the right bank, and fraud prevention tips.
Free Charity AI Training
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In association with Microsoft, we've launched Charity Excellence Learning, a range of 11 free, certificated, online courses that enable anyone to use AI effectively, keep themselves and their charity safe, and gain valuable career skills.
The 45 min courses require no prior AI knowledge, are completed at your own pace, using engaging bite size lessons, demo videos, practical tasks, and fun quizzes. Plus dozens of checklists and infographics to download, and links to more advanced training, enabling you to take your AI learning as far as you wish to, at no cost. |
Far More Free Support for Smalls
Charity Excellence works for any non profit but all of our systems are optimised for small charities and marginalised groups to help level the playing field at least a bit and, because we know it's really tough for you, everything is free.
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.
Find Funding, Free Help & Resources - Everything Is Free.
Register Now!
Thank You! To All of Contributors
Thank you to the following brilliant charities and companies for contributing to the #SmallsForSmalls free webinars. Click the links to visit their websites and find out how they can support you - Access Insurance, Charity Accounting Partners, Superhighways, CAF Bank, Fair Collective, Beeston Clarke Accountants, and the Saltways.
Can We Add Our Training Webinar?
We would be happy to add other free webinars providing these would be of interest and value to small charities. For contributors, the time and any financial costs will be met by those organising events/activities. Any event/activity must be free, and of interest to a reasonable number or segment of smalls. It's fine to say who you are and what you do and it's OK to include your branding, website, contact details etc on slides, but you must not use it as an opportunity to promote your company, goods or services. In participating, all contributors accept that they remain fully responsible for every aspect of their event, will ensure it is safely and well run, complies with all legal and regulatory requirements and, in the unlikely event of a problem, will deal with it, including accepting full responsibility for any claims or complaints arising from it. Send details to ian@charityexcellence.co.uk.
