Upcoming 2021 Events
Dates for your diaries for upcoming events in 2021.
- PR Group - Tuesday 19 January 2021
- Grant Making Forum - Thursday 21 January 2021 AM
- Under Fives - Thursday 21 January 2021 PM
- Benevolent Charities and their connected Professional Associations - Thursday 28 January 2021
- CEO Forum - Thursday 11 February 2021
- Establishing a Benevolent Fund - Thursday 25 February 2021
- Fundraising Forum – Thursday 11 March
- Increasing Diversity & Inclusion in the Benevolent/Grant-Making Sector – Thursday 25 March
Grant Making Forum - Thursday 21 January 2021
We're looking forward to welcoming members to our first Grant Making Forum of 2021! Please register on Eventbrite to attend and receive Zoom access details.
This virtual event will feature presentations from the following speakers:
Helen Handzel - Relationship Manager at StepChange
Helen will present about the work being done by one of the UK's largest debt advice services during the pandemic, and how ACO members can work with Stepchange during a time where it is predicted more beneficiaries may be in need of debt advice.
Cassandra Beattie (Senior Business Development Manager) and Peter Dando (Sales Director) at Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network are a major UK supplier of gift card & voucher solutions, both digital and physical. Currently they are supporting charities with their hardship fund disbursement using Select rewards. The reasons this method is being used to support charities and impact their workload quite significantly in a positive way are:
•Providing beneficiaries with a range of retailers that they can redeem their value, which can be customised;
•Reducing admin and processing of bank transfers, purchase of individual gift cards etc. that you may currently do;
•Improve the audit trail as no cash would be given;
•Rewards would be received within 24 hours of an order being placed (but usually this is actually 1-4 hours);
•Provide reporting which would show retailer redemptions to give you some MI;
•A customised and personalised message sent to each recipient;
•No initial or ongoing fees.
Peter Gilheany - Charity Director at Forster Communications
Peter will be speaking about the charity sector's joint #NeverMoreNeeded campaign, which was established in 2020 during the pandemic to press the government for much-needed charity sector support. Peter will be giving an update on the campaign so far, and its plans for 2021.
Communications agency Forster Communications have been helping charities to shape this campaign since its inception. Peter is charity director at Forster Communications and has spent 25 years working in and for the voluntary sector. He started out at CSV, the volunteering charity, helped to create the Gift Aid It brand and has run hundreds of campaigns for charities across every issue and aspect of the sector.
This meeting will be followed by a meeting of the ACO Under Fives group at 2pm.
ACO Forum: Benevolent Funds and their Professional Associations - Thursday 28 January 11am - 1pm
Register for free on Eventbrite
Following the publication of the ACO Guide Benevolent Funds and their Professional Associations: Seizing Opportunities and Mitigating Risks last year, which looked at the relationship between benevolent charities and their connected professional associations/bodies, our free Forum event will take the opportunity to build on this discussion and take a practical look at some of the key issues that impact this partnership.
Through a combination of benevolent fund case studies, panel discussions and a Q & A we will explore how these connected bodies can work collaboratively to ultimately maximise the support delivered to the charity’s beneficiaries.
The programme will include:
Setting the legal and governance background
Benefits of effective collaboration
Working to improve the relationship
Data-sharing: issues and agreements
Developing memorandums of understanding and service level agreements
The Forum will provide valuable takeaways in maintaining effective relationships between both bodies