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Finance, Legal and Admin

For Community Accountancy projects dotted around the country, see Accountancy Services page.

• Association of Charity Independent Examiners. See our Charity Accounts page - this is for those who do, or want to, scrutinise smaller charity accounts to SORP requirements. Bentley Resource Centre, High Street, Bentley, Doncaster, DN5 0AA, phone 01302 828338, email: info@acie.org.uk

• Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (AIRMIC) have a special interest group (SIG) for the voluntary sector. Phone 020 7480 7610.

• Charity Complaints Forum Aims to provide support and information for anyone managing complaints within the voluntary sector; and promote the use of complaints handling and information to improve service delivery. Contact Jane Mason, phone 020 7834 6242 x273, email: janem@girlguiding.org.uk

• Charities Facilities Management Special Interest Group of Upkeep, for those whose work in a voluntary organisation includes dealing with buildings. Email: upkeep@sbu.ac.uk

• Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG). Monthly meetings in London, developing a regional network; helplines for members on such things as IT and finance, accounting problems, VAT, charity law, investment. Membership from £90. 3rd Floor, Downstream Building, 1 London Bridge, London, SE1 9BG, phone 0845 345 3192, email: info@cfdg.org.uk. Also have a Northern base at Levy Gee, Manchester, phone 0161 833 9300 (Richard Zoltie), email: charity@levygee.com Three is also a Scottish Charity Finance Directors' Group.

• Charities Internal Audit Network Membership (free) is for anyone working, or having an interest, in internal audit and internal control within charities. Email: enquiries@cianonline.org.uk

• Charity Investors' Group. Open to investing charities and charity sector investment managers - mainly concentrating on the big players. Focus is on exchange of views and information rather than lobbying.

• Charity Law Association This is more for charity lawyers, but membership is open to any individual or organisation with an interest in charity law. Subscription from £45.

• Charities Safety Group Self help and support network for people with health and safety responsibilities.

• Charity Sector Procurement Group is a Special Interest Group affiliated to the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supplies.

• Charity Tax Group (was Charities' Tax Reform Group) Advice and lobbying on tax issues. Church House, Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3AZ, email: info@charitytax.info

• Charity Treasurers' Forum. Contact Les Jones, phone 0118 9412365, email: LDjones1000@aol.com

• Chief Executive PA's Network, new 2005, holds network sessions over coffee in the London area. Contact Diane Bramson, email: dianebramson@lmca.org.uk, phone 020 7813 3642.

• Institute for Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) - Charity Secretaries Group. Open to chartered secretaries and others taking on a company secretarial role in voluntary organisations. Specific charities info via Quick Links box on web site, plus see further info here. £60 for non-ICSA members. Contact Louise Siveter, ICSA, 16 Park Crescent, London, W1B 1AH, phone 020 7612 7040, email: lsiveter@icsa.co.uk

• PACE is an informal network of chief executive PAs from across the voluntary sector. Co-ordinator (at Nov 07) is Diane Bramson, email: dianebramson@ltca.org.uk

Funding

• Association of Charitable Foundations Exists to promote and support the work of UK grant-making trusts and foundations, membership open to all such bodies and some administrative trustees. Web site has guidance notes available for both funders and applicants, and alphabetical list and web links (with basic info) to ACF members. Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0AE, phone 020 7255 4499, email: acf@acf.org.uk

• Community Fundraisers’ Forum, new spring 2007, designed for fundraisers in smaller charities who are working by themselves and need a bit of support. Membership is £10 per year with four meetings a year, email: janerockliffe@wspa.org.uk

• Funding Advice Workers Network has an email list operating from NACVS, but there are independent regional groups. No longer any info about this on NACVS web site.

• Institute of Fundraising#* Park Place, 12 Lawn Lane, London, SW8 1UD, phone 020 7840 1000, email: enquiries@institute-of-fundraising.org.uk. See regional info on the web site - Wales, Scotland, NI and English areas too.

• Institute of Fundraising IT Special Interest Group. Regular meetings.

• Institute of Legacy Management promotes professional standards in legacy administration and provides consultancy, training and support services to its members.

• London Funders is "open to all London-based local authorities, public, independent and corporate funders and to all charitable funders and investors in the capital's voluntary and community sector".

Information and Research

• ARVAC (Association for Research in the Voluntary and Community Sector) provides researchers with a supportive network, amongst other things. See Sector Research page for more.

• Charity Archivists and Records Managers (CHARM) Was on Society of Archivists' web site but can't find it at Mar 02. Provides a forum for archivists, records managers and other people responsible for the management of charity records and archives.

• LMSC - the Legislation Monitoring Service for Charities, voluntary organisations and their advisers. 'Subscribers (are) kept abreast of developments in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels'. Policy as well as law, quarterly reports. Subscription £65 charities, £150 others. 12 Little College Street, London, SW1P 3SH, phone 020 7222 1265, email: lmsc@central-lobby.co.uk

• Vol-info (uses Yahoo groups, replaced VOLSIF). Voluntary Sector Information Workers Network for anyone involved in providing and managing information in the voluntary sector.

• Voluntary Sector Studies Network is for those with an interest in academic research about the sector. It uses the university JISCmail service, but is open to all.

Technology

Also see Voluntary Sector and IT for support projects and research.

• Charities Consortium IT Directors Group For Heads of Information Systems/Information Technology from the major UK Charities.

• Charities Information Technology Group. Web site has disappeared (was www.citg.org.uk). So may no longer exist - had been based around the Royal Colleges (medical profession bodies).

• Charity Web Managers Forum An informal but helpful group with knowledgeable members (uses Yahoo Groups).

• CITRA has relaunched as a membership organisation for ICT workers in charities, December 06. Sub rates from £75 for those in smaller organisations.

• eCampaigning Forum Network International eActivism Practitioners Community aiming to share expertise and increase capacity to use new media to stimulate change.

• The ICT Consortium is a group of voluntary organisations working to improve voluntary and community sector ICT infrastructure through developing a co-ordinated framework of ICT guidance, good practice, advice and support. They have taken on the job of national hub of expertise on this.

• In Northern Ireland, see ICT Consortium NI.

• UK Circuit Riders Discussion group for those providing IT support across a number of voluntary organisations, which are too small to have their own IT staff.

Other

• Association of Charity Shops Brings together over 200 member charities which have more than 6,000 charity shops between them. Aims to help member organisations through the sharing of information and representing their interests by lobbying and informing. Has developed kitemark scheme. Membership £31 per shop or a minimum of £105. 5th Floor, Central House, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1H 0AE, phone 020 7255 4470, email: mail@charityshops.org.uk

• Charities HR Network. We have no info on this other than Sonia Higgs, HR director at Advanced Housing and Support, is its chair.

• Community Transport Association Promotes safe and efficient use of community and accessible transport. Highbank, Halton Street, Hyde, Cheshire, SK14 2NY, phone 0161 366 6685, email: ctauk@communitytransport.com

• Fifth Estate, connected with Chartered Institute of Public Relations#, "aims to support anyone in the not-for-profit sector who has public relations in their job description". £20 per year (at 2003). Contact Group Chair Lyn Smith by email: lyn@lynnt365.fsnet.co.uk