Jenny Ramage looks at Small Charity Week and how the FSI is helping small charities achieve great things

Small charities are the unsung heroes that make up the vast majority of the UK non-profit sector. It’s a constant battle for these brave little outfits, with state funding dwindling and the recession continuing to bite hard. Many are struggling to deliver in key areas such as fundraising, impact reporting and long-term strategic planning, and are being forced to channel their ever-diminishing funds into delivering frontline services at the expense of much-needed staff and volunteer development and training.

Indeed, this was the finding of a recent report, conducted by the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI), into the skills gap currently being experienced by the small charity sector (see news roundup, page 4). A non-profit organisation that supports small charities by providing training, advocacy and advice, the FSI wants to address the issues raised in the research. So this year its keynote calendar event – Small Charity Week – is geared towards doing just that.

A helping hand

The FSI established Small Charity Week in 2010 with the aim of giving small charities a range of opportunities to build their knowledge, raise funds, and engage with the public and policy makers. Charities with income under £1.5m can sign up for a variety of free events, initiatives and competitions, and get advice and guidance from third sector and business experts.

So far, through the Small Charity Week initiatives, charities have been supported in raising over £60,000 and have received over 100 hours of free advice. Participation has grown from 300 charities in 2010 to over 1,000 charities last year. Pauline Broomhead, chief executive at the FSI, says they’re set to smash that record this year. “The Small Charity Week programme for 2013 is larger than ever”, she says. “There’s much more for small charities to get involved in – we’ll be running more competitions, and there will be more hours of advice on offer”.

Furthermore, the FSI’s research findings have prompted the addition of an extra, sixth day to the programme this year. “Forty-four per cent of small charities say they rely on volunteers, rather than paid staff, to meet the skills gaps within their organisations – so this year we’ve added Volunteering Day to the agenda”, says Broomhead. The extra day will provide a dedicated space for charities to promote their volunteer roles to individuals and to businesses.

A captive audience

Throughout the week, which this year takes place from 17-22 June, small charities will be given opportunities to showcase their causes to a wider audience. “We seek to capture new audiences by any means possible”, says Broomhead. “For example, on Celebration Day we’ll be setting up 40 stalls in Russell Square. Charities have the chance to win their own stall by telling us why they should be chosen, and how that stall would be used”.

There’s been a buzz of activity in the lead-up to this year’s Small Charity Week. Among other initiatives, the FSI ran a competition whereby small charities could win licences to fundraise in their locality on Fundraising Day. Nine charities around the country were selected to receive the one-day licences, and all those who entered the competition were placed into a draw to win an entertainer to help them pull in crowds at their own fundraising events.

Behind the scenes, the FSI has been working closely with The Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration (SOFII), which is the official partner on Fundraising Day. “Ken Burnett, SOFII’s managing trustee, wants to share more best practice, more widely, and with more small charities in the UK, so we’re launching a competition whereby we’ll be offering small charities the opportunity to put forward examples of what they’ve done and what has worked well for them. Ten winners will get £50 from the FSI, and their examples will be loaded onto the SOFII website in its Small Charity Showcase area”, says Broomhead.

Something for everyone

Despite having limited resources itself, the FSI has done its best to ensure that Small Charity Week benefits as many small organsations as possible. “There is something for everybody during the week; we try our best not to be restrictive”, says Broomhead. So if you’re a small charity looking for inspiration, check out our summary of the agenda (below), and then head to the website, smallcharityweek.com, for more details of what’s on offer.

This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 29, May 2013