Making charity training budgets go further

Howard Lake | 5 April 2005 | News

Charity Days is a nonprofit group of 80 trainers who provide their training free of charge to charities, charging only for actual costs such as materials and travel.

Charity Days (not to be confused with CharityDays, the Internet Service Provider that generates funds for charities), was established in 2003 as a way to help trainers “give something back” to charity when their diary commitments allowed.

The trainers cover a wide range of topics and between them have a wealth of experience to offer. While they can not guarantee to find a solution to a charity’s needs they find they can usually help out. Topics covered include executive coaching; equality and diversity; disability awareness; management development; finance for non-financial managers; marketing; presentation skills; recruitment and selection; employment law; customer service; communications; and creativity.

The trainers do not charge for their time. All they ask is that expenses are covered: materials, up to £75, at the trainer’s discretion; mileage, at 50p/mile; and accommodation at £75 per night, if required.

Charities interested in making use of this pro bono service should fill in the online request form which asks for details such as training objective, delegate numbers, training location, and dates. This is then circulated to the volunteer trainers, some of whom will express an interest. The charity then gets to pick the most suitable trainer.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.