About Us

Founded in 1946, ACO is the UK’s umbrella body for benevolent funds and charitable organisations that provide financial and wellbeing services to individuals.

Find out more about ACO and our members below.

What We Do

ACO enables members to benefit from the collective expertise, experience and resources of benevolent/grant-making charities across our network to address common issues and develop shared solutions.

We do this through a coordinated programme of knowledge sharing, learning and benchmarking opportunities throughout the year.

Join us

ACO is the membership body for benevolent and grant-making charities that provide financial and well-being support to individuals.

We would invite you to consider the potential benefits of ACO membership for your organisation.

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News & Blogs

Read for the latest news from ACO and our latest blog articles, thought leadership pieces, guest articles and more.

What are benevolent charities?

Benevolent charities are organisations that provide financial and well-being support to individuals and families facing difficult circumstances.

Find out more about how these charities can help below.

Our Members

Our Membership Directory enables you to access information about all our charity members across the ACO network.

Our Team

Our friendly and approachable team is always available to help with support for your charity, listen to your issues and challenges and provide/signpost to sources of advice and assistance where appropriate.

Please feel free to contact us at any point using the details on our team’s profiles.

Governance

ACO is a registered charity and is managed by a board of trustees comprising both ACO members and individuals with experience in the wider charity sector

Find out more about ACO’s Trustees and access our latest ACO Trustee Report and Financial Statements below.

Special Interest Groups

ACO runs several special interest groups that meet regularly to allow members to discuss common issues and challenges within their charities.

Find out more about our different working groups.

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Our Partners

ACO partners with suppliers who provide a range of specialist products and services to the charity sector. Use the search below to find specific providers.

For more information about becoming an ACO Partner please contact Donal Watkin (Chief Executive) donal@aco.uk.net

Privacy Policy

We like to be transparent about the collection, storage and use of personal data gathered on our website. We have set out the purpose of data collection on this site, the types of information collected and the scope and limitation of how that information is used. For the purposes of UK Data Protection law, we are the Data Controller of the personal data we process.

Find out more about how your data may be collected, stored and used when using our website.

Press centre

Access press releases, news items, recent publications and resources for journalists.

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