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With the enduring challenges of the last few years, as well as fresh uncertainty ahead, it's no wonder the confidence and clarity of small charity leaders is taking a hit.
Join The Small Charity Friendly Collective for a day of learning, sharing experiences, connecting with other 'smalls', and thinking about ‘Doing less, not caring less’ as we consider new ways to navigate these challenging waters.
Places are free and open to all in the small charity sector.
The Small Charity Friendly Collective is an informal collective of small charity friendly specialists who have come together to respond to the challenge set in the Small Charities Coalition’s (SCC) “Small and Mighty” final report: to provide dedicated and trusted support to small charities.
We have a shared commitment to working in a small charity friendly way, which you can read more about here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/small-charity-friendly-collective/
This event is supported by gunnercooke LLP. We hope that you can join us for the whole day, but if not, session recordings will be available to access or relisten later.
Conference schedule
Timings are subject to change
9:50am -10:00am Welcome
10:00am -10:10am Opening keynote- Fozia Irfan, Director of Impact and Influence, BBC Children in Need
10:10am – 10:55am Getting the balance between fundraising and finance- Liz Pepler and Mike Zywina
In a challenging landscape, many smaller charities are having to revise their expectations about what it's realistic to raise and do. This session will give you the tools to develop a more realistic fundraising income projection, balance that against your planned expenditure, and take action if the numbers aren't balancing up.
11.00am -11.30am Q&A with Kelly Ruder, Programme Officer at The Fore
11.35am - 11.45am Making the most out of peer-led communities- gunnercooke
11.45am -12.15pm Break
12.15pm-12.45pm Governance-“Just one thing” what small governance changes can you make to do more with less Michele Price
In looking to make the most of decreasing or stretched resources, governance is often an overlooked area, but it could help unlock or unblock those vital resources. Michele has been working with charities in recent months on changes to objects, consideration of mergers and collaborations, and updates to out of date governance documents. She will share her practical advice and wisdom in a session focused on quick fixes and easy wins to help ensure that your governance works for you and flexes to your current needs. “Over the last year, I have helped redesign a set of objects to unlock a fresh income stream, removed onerous and time consuming annual general meeting protocols, and reshaped a suite of governance policies. In each case it was “just one thing” but it made all the difference”. Join her session to learn more about the governance hacks that you won’t want to miss. Michele is a Charity & Philanthropy Partner at gunnercooke LLP specialising in governance and regulatory compliance.
12.50pm -13.35pm Rising to the challenge - filling your board vacancies and spreading the load -Claris D’cruz, panel members: Janet Thorne, CEO of Reach Volunteering and Dr Ambreen Shah
In this panel session, we will explore current challenges charities face in finding new trustees and provide practical tips on recruiting and retaining trustees at the confluence of skills, experience and diversity.
13.40pm -14.25pm Planning with purpose- Yasmin Glover and Flora Raffai
With so much we want to do and precious resource to spend, we need to make sure we're focusing on the activities that are making the biggest difference. In this session, we will explore how to root in purpose, prioritise your activities, and test your intended impact to make the most of your resource.
14.30pm -15.15pm Rising to the challenge – being prepared for employment changes coming this year and next- Sonia Wilson
The Employment Rights Act, which is likely to take effect in 2026, brings in the biggest raft of changes for over two decades. This session will outline what small charities can be doing now to be informed and prepared. People practices such as probationary periods, zero hours contracts, flexible working and sick pay will be considered in the context of these changes.
15.15-15.25 Closing keynote- Mohammed Afridi, Interim Executive Director of Civic Power Fund
Mohammed Afridi will share some insights and thoughts on what both funders and small charities can do to create a more enabling environment and respond to the challenge in times of financial precarity, hostile policy making and increasing need.
15.25-15.30 Thank you and closing
Meet the Guest Speakers below
Mohammed Afridi, Interim Executive Director
Mohammed Afridi is the Interim Executive Director and previously the Director of Organising at the Civic Power Fund, an intermediary funder he helped found focused on supporting grassroots community organising across the UK. He has experience in activism and community engagement, having previously served as the National Coordinator for the Rize Up voter registration campaign, which focused on engaging marginalised and BME young people outside of formal education. He has worked consulting for various third-sector organizations and funders and has held senior positions at Momentum and Bloomberg LP.
His work at the Civic Power Fund focuses on supporting communities to build long-term power to enable self-determination. Outside the Civic Power Fund, he works to support organisations focused on widening civic inclusion and supporting excluded communities.
Contact details
mohammed@civicpower.org.uk
Janet Thorpe, CEO- Reach Volunteering
Janet is the CEO of Reach Volunteering, a national charity which connects people who are willing to donate their expertise with those charities that need it. Last year, charities recruited over 5,400 trustees and volunteers through Reach’s service.
Janet became CEO of Reach in 2012 and led the charity through significant changes, including a digital transformation. She has worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors, in roles ranging from Finance Director to Youth and Community worker. She is a trustee of The Movements Trust.
Janet believes in the power of collective action, in peoples’ care and concern for others, and that we all have a part to play in creating a sustainable and just world
Contact details
janet.thorne@reachvolunteering.org.uk
Fozia Irfan, Director of Impact and Influence, BBC Children in Need
Fozia is the Director of Impact and Influence at BBC Children in Need, specialising in equitable funding distribution and investment for young people. She was previously awarded the national 'Rising Star CEO' award by the National Charity Times and voted one of the 25 Most Influential Charity Leaders in the sector. Fozia set up the groundbreaking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition of foundations, leading fifteen major national foundations in the implementation of more effective and equitable grantmaking strategies. She is Chair of 360giving and on the Board of Alliance magazine.
Fozia completed a Masters in Grantmaking, Philanthropy and Social Investment at Cass Business School with Distinction. and is a keynote speaker at national conferences and specialist foundation events, covering topics such as leadership, equity and philanthropy. She is also a NED of Fair4All Finance and a former Trustee of the Association of Charitable Foundations. She was appointed a Leadership Fellow in 2019 and Churchill Fellow in 2020. Fozia is also a Visiting Lecturer at Cass Business School on the Charity Management Masters Programme.
Dr Ambreen Shah, Trustee at Smallwood Trust and Charity Bank
Dr Ambreen Shah is a Trustee at Smallwood Trust and Charity Bank and co-chair of the advisory group for Migration Exchange. Equity, diversity and inclusion a key driver for her non-exec work, in particular shifting power to people with lived experience. She is currently championing board shadowing as one way to support a greater diversity of people in the charity governance space.
She has worked in the not for profit sector for over 20 years, funding and supporting a wide range of charities to achieve maximum impact for their beneficiaries. She brings knowledge of policy, communications, grant funding and social/evaluative research and extensive experience of working with senior stakeholders and strategy development. Much of her experience has been drawn from her senior roles at the National Lottery Community Fund and Design Council. She is currently working as a freelance consultant supporting a range of funders and grant partners to learn from and adapt their work to better meet the needs of their clients. This includes supporting a greater understanding of what it takes to fund and deliver systems change.
Contact details
Meet the Small Charities Collective Speakers below
Liz Pepler (she/her)
Small charity financial resilience consultant
Liz is a charity resilience specialist, founder of Embrace Finance and co-founder of the Small Charity Friendly Collective. As well as running Embrace Finance, Liz also provides bespoke mentoring, consultancy and masterclasses to charity boards, leaders and teams at Liz Pepler Consulting.
Liz is co-author of Lloyds Bank Foundation’s Organisational Resilience framework, co-author of the Association of Chair's Financial Leadership in Small Charities and finance trainer for NCVO.
Liz is a practicing member at the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers, holds a Masters in Charity Accounting and Financial Management (Dist) and a PG Certificate in Charity Administration. Liz is a fellow of the RSA.
Contact details
Claris D'Cruz, Claris D’cruz Ltd
Governance Consulting and Trainer
Claris is an EDI and governance consultant and trainer. She provides Equity, Diversity and Inclusion training and board support including skills audits, diversity data mapping and facilitated board self-assessments to help charity boards unleash their potential. She also provides trustee training on a range of governance issues.
Claris has nearly 25 years as a charity lawyer having worked in-house for a charity, at the Charity Commission and in private practice. She also has over 15 years of voluntary leadership experience. Using this, she provides practical and solution-focused advice and support.
Contact details
Michele Price, Charity Partner, gunnercooke LLP
Charity law
I am a charity lawyer with a passion for helping small charities do great things. I specialise in setting up new charities and not for profits, general governance and annual reporting and troubleshooting across a range of legal, strategic and board issues. As former CEO of a charity and current trustee, I help with the legal issues but delivered with a practical and common-sense approach, based on wisdom and a real understanding of what makes small charities tick. I aim to unlock the heart of the problem or query and then guide you through the solution that is going to work best for you, within your budget and relevant to your resources.
I offer a free half hour initial consultation. Any follow up legal work is offered at a preferential small charities rate, usually for an agreed fixed fee.
Contact details
https://gunnercooke.com/people/michele-price/
07399 114 937
Mike Zywina, Lime Green Consulting
Strategy and fundraising
Lime Green Consulting work with charities and social enterprises to help them be more strategic, become more sustainable and access more funding. They do this by providing a mix of strategic consultancy, facilitated workshops, fundraising support and training. They provide training and consultancy to hundreds of grassroots charities each year, and have developed long-term partnerships with the School For Social Entrepreneurs and the Small Charities Coalition (until its closure in 2022).
Lime Green Consulting also offer a variety of free resources for grassroots organisations, including a set of fundraising help sheets, a podcast, and a monthly fundraising blog containing a mix of practical how-to guides and opinion pieces, with a particular focus on trusts & foundations and fundraising strategy.
Contact details
hello@limegreenconsulting.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/company/lime-green-consulting-limited
Sonia Wilson, Populo
Human Resources
Sonia Wilson set up her social enterprise Populo in 2013 to provide affordable HR support to small charities and social enterprises.
Sonia has supported over 400 small organisations with their people issues: from start-ups needing employment contracts and essential policies to those needing support for restructures, performance management, absence and many other employment issues.
Sonia provides free HR phone advice every Wednesday 10:00-12:00 for small charities and social enterprises. If you have a people issue which would benefit from running past an HR professional and is suitable to be resolved through a 20-30 minute call, then contact Sonia.
Contact details
07584 731 420
Yasmin Glover, The Olive Training and Consultancy
Strategic support
Yasmin works through The Olive Training and Consultancy, a social enterprise supporting organisations to become more focused, purpose-driven, and impactful.
Yasmin is an experienced facilitator, trainer and consultant providing support in areas including strategy and impact, executive support, change management, communications, project development, and staff development.
With over ten years' experience in the sector, Yasmin works to apply realistic approaches to challenges and reduce the pressure on small charity leaders and teams, strengthening and supporting the development of skills, services and processes through tailored support.
Contact details
07539 549 696
Flóra Raffai
Founder - Coach, Trainer, Consultant
Flóra is a small charity coach, trainer, and consultant. She has extensive experience as a small charity CEO and trustee. Since 2015, she has led small charities in the health, education, and community development sectors, and she is currently the Chair of the Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS). Flóra is an accredited coach with the EMCC and author of "Chief Everything Officer: A Field Guide for Small Organisation Leaders." Through Rapport Coaching, Flóra supports small charities to have a huge impact through strategic development, effective operations, and positive leadership.
Contact details
Who: The Small Charity Friendly Collective is an informal collective of small charity-friendly specialists who have come together to answer the challenge set in the Small Charities Coalition’s (SCC) “Small and Mighty” final report: to provide dedicated and trusted support to small charities.
We have a shared commitment to working in a small charity friendly way, which you can read more about here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/small-charity-friendly-collective/.