Useful Links

Fundraising:

Stairway to survival
Joe Saxton reveals his recession-resilient fundraising strategy.

Recession Watch Blog
Set up and managed by Sean Triner, Co-Founder and Director of Pareto Fundraising, this blogspot is a space for ideas, articles and research based on whether the recession is having an impact on fundraising in different countries.

In Kind Direct
In Kind Direct re-distributes new goods donated by corporations for charities working at home and abroad. The benefits of becoming a member is not only the access to the quality products of hundreds of companies but also a significant reduction in cost, but the knowledge that they promote and encourage sustainability, and source 'quality of life' goods for your beneficiaries.

Defending Local Grants Guide
The Local Grants Forum has released this guide through fears that the recession is likely to reduce grant funding from local authorities.

Key Changes to the Grassroots Grants programme
The Minister for the Third Sector, Kevin Brennan, has announced two key changes in response to the challenges of the current economic climate.

ACEVOs Free Guide to Surviving the Economic Downturn
A Charities Guide is a compilation of advice from key experts in the fields of HR, fundraising and finance.

Recession Watch
The Institute of Fundraising has created a webpage to help the Third Sector through these challenging times. It is a source for news, information and support.

BIG response to help UK recession-hit communities
The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) - the largest distributor of National Lottery good-cause funding - is to pump a multi-million pound package of funding into communities to help them cope with the effects of the recession.

South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau
Information sheet available from the link above.

Directory of Social Change's Trustfunding.org.uk website
Trustfunding details all trusts featured in DSC publications including the Directory of Grant-Making Trusts and the Guide to the Major Trusts Volumes 1 & 2. It is updated regularly throughout the year.

Directory of Social Change's Company Giving website
A comprehensive database of company support available to voluntary and community organisations. This database contains all those companies in The Guide to UK Company Giving, as well as newly discovered large givers. Over 500 companies are featured on this site, giving over £290 million in cash donations and more in other forms of community support.

Directory of Social Change's Government Funding website
This website gives users a chance to search for funding for the voluntary and community sector from 150 Local Authorities.

Directory of Social Change's Grants for Individuals website
This website contains details of over 3,500 trusts operating both nationally and locally. These trusts collectively have £362 million available each year. Prior to the launch of this website, the content has featured in A Guide to Grants for Individuals in Need and its sister publication The Educational Grants Directory.

Financial:

RBS Economic Reports
You can now register for free economic reports from RBS. You can pick from the Groups Chief Economist's Weekly Brief, a Monthly Update, Global Outlook, Sector Analysis, Interest and Exchange Rate Forecast, UK Regional Purchase Managers, US Weekly Update and RBS Insights.

Charities and Insolvency
Howarth Clark Whitehill have prepared a detailed guide covering issues of fund accounting, negative balance sheets, wrongful trading and the responsibilities of trustees. This is available on their document library to CFDG members.

What did you do in the recession' part1 and part2
In June last year CFDG's CEO, Keith Hickey, wrote an article which looks at the current economic climate and provides some thoughts on how Finance Directors can support their charities through the challenges ahead.

The Third Sector and the Recession in Wales-Toward an Action Plan
The Wales Council for Volunary Action has published a report which addresses concerns about spending and service cuts within the sector.

The Financial Crisis, the Economic Downturn and the Scottish Voluntary Sector
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has created this webpage to give detailed up to date financial advice to the Scottish Voluntary sector.

NatWest Business Guides
NatWest have produced these free guides to give support, guidance and help keep your business trading through the current economic climate. The guides contain information on new initiatives, asset management, managing cash flow, dealing with bad debt and how to spread your risk.

Financial crisis helpline from the Charities Aid Foundation
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has set up a confidential helpline for charity leaders seriously worried about their financial situation.

The Charity Finance Directors Group Recession Watch
This page has the latest news and advice on the recession

Bank of Scotland Corporate Specialist Banking Team
Specialist not-for-profit banking. The bank believes that the social sector needs and deserves specialist support.