Like most of us, I’m sure, we’re looking forward to a busy start to the new year. February will see the publication of the latest edition of our Salary Benchmarking Report, sponsored by our partners Merrifield Consultants, providing some fascinating insights into not only current salary and benefit benchmarks amongst ACO charities, but also how flexible working patterns have impacted the charity sector. Following that, our next report coming in May will focus on Occupational Charities, looking at how these organisations continue to evolve the way they support their beneficiary audiences and what are the key challenges facing them moving forwards.

In terms of our events programme, in addition to our winter schedule of Special Interest Groups (SIGs), we’re looking forward to a couple of special additions:

• 28 January – What’s shaping our work? – a workshop hosted by ACO and delivered by our colleagues at Turn2us, offering the opportunity to step back from day-to-day delivery and reflect on some of the broader questions impacting our work.
• 19 May – our first Leaders Conference – bringing together CEOs from across the network for a workshop-style event focusing on some of the key strategic issues facing our charities (further details to be published shortly).

Like a number of charities in recent years, we’ve also taken the decision to move to a remote working basis to reduce our cost base. This means we no longer have a fixed home on Commercial Street in London (for those of you who have visited us), and have now moved our registered address to Canopi, 82 Tanner Street, London SE1 3GN, who provide a range of flexible work options for not-for-profits and charities. Over the course of 2026, we’ll be exploring whether this is the most effective option for ACO moving forward, and we’d welcome feedback from colleagues who have made a similar move.

We look forward to working with you and your colleagues to continue to collaborate, connect and share expertise across the ACO network – here’s to a productive 2026!

Donal Watkin
Chief Executive

This month’s edition features:

• Upcoming ACO events
• Jobs board
• Member spotlight on Charity for Civil Servants
• Guest article from iplicit
• Member news
• Policy and sector news
• Publications

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