Events

Every year ACO organises an Annual Conference with excellent speakers, a thought-provoking programme and unparalleled networking opportunities. It has become an unmissable date in the diary for organisations helping people in need. This year's Annual Conference is on Friday 10th May 2019

Upcoming Events

Next Grant Making Forum and Under Fives - Wednesday 11th September

Autumn Summit 2019 - Friday 11th October

Grant Making Forum (GMF)

We run quarterly Grant Making Forum meetings in London, Manchester and York and quarterly meetings for organisations with small staff teams in London, which are all free to members. Potential members can be invited to attend to get an idea about ACO and its membership.

Meetings are held at the British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS, from 11am-1pm

Dates for 2019:

Wednesday 11th September
Monday 25th November

Under Fives

The Under Fives meeting follows on from the GMF after a half hour break for lunch to start at 1:30pm.

The objective of the Under Fives group is to support smaller charities with five staff or less to meet their stategic goals.

The group discusses how themes relevant to the benevolent sector (presented in the Grant Making Forum) translate to charities delivering on a smaller scale. The group also gives the opportunity to discuss hands-on issues outside of the workplace, enabling staff to deal with day-to-day issues.

We are planning to create a virtual network to encourage greater participation from members between meetings.

The ACO is grateful to the British Dental Association Benevolent Fund for supporting these events.

What our members say:

"We have found the ACO conferences an invaluable and cost effective method of inducting new Trustees. The high quality speakers added with the unrivalled opportunity to network with other Trustees, staff and volunteers who work within the benevolent sector really helps to embed the uniqueness of the work which we do and the context in which we operate. We aim to engage every Trustee with ACO events as a part of the Board's development plan".

"We have always found the ACO to be an immensely helpful and important resource in our grant making. Events such as the Annual Conference and Forums are important opportunities for sharing working practices and we have appreciated fellow members' willingness to offer help and advice over similar issues."

Events

Annual Conference 2019 - Presentations Thank you to those that made our ACO Annual Conference 2019 so successful. Thank you to EdenTree Investment Management and Wilsons Solicitors for sponsoring the event.
AGM 2019 The ACO's Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 12th June at 3pm, followed by a drinks reception. The AGM will be held at Haysmacintyre, 10 Queen St Pl, London EC4R 1AG
ACO Conference 2018 - follow-up A BIG thankyou to everyone who attended our Annual Conference on Friday 27 April, to Quilter Cheviot for kindly sponsoring and to our fantastic line-up of Speakers. A very enjoyable day was had by all and the feedback has been great - thankyou!
Grant Making Forum Meetings are held at the British Dental Association, 64 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8YS, from 11am-1pm. This is a "Members-only" event, everyone is welcome and attendance is free. No need to book (unless we ask), just turn up!
Under Fives Meeting A group meeting for solo workers and small staff teams ("under 5 employees"). The meeting is Chaired & Minutes taken however there is no agenda and members discuss topics of interest and pose questions. This is a great forum for support/ advice/ Best Practice and general sharing. No booking required. ACO members only.