Voluntary Organisations

Norfolk boasts a large and diverse range of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations. Community Action Norfolk is the leading organisation for engagement with the VCSE sector. Alongside strategic work championing the voices of the VCSE sector we provide practical support to organisations and communities.

There are 3,598 registered charities that describe their area of operation as including Norfolk. That doesn’t include unregistered charities, various social enterprise structures and the many informal community associations. Some research would suggest that the total number of VCSE organisations in Norfolk may be as high as 10,000.

Collectively as a sector we provide a unique and highly valuable contribution to our communities. Our goal is to provide you with the support you need to maintain and enhance that contribution. We do this through VCSE engagement alongside practical support to organisations and communities.

Leading VCSE engagement in Norfolk

For us VCSE engagement is about gathering your ideas, issues and challenges and bringing them together with those of other VCSE organisations and stakeholders to create a positive dialogue so we can collaboratively find ways to make Norfolk stronger and fairer.

Community Action Norfolk, together with Momentum Norfolk, have been commissioned by Norfolk County Council to deliver a programme of Voluntary and Community Sector Engagement.

VCSE Engage – Is the name we use to describe the Norfolk County Council funded engagement programme. Community Action Norfolk and Momentum Norfolk work closely to deliver the VCSE Engage programme, whilst tailoring activities to provide services built around the needs of the organisations with whom we work. Find out more about our approach.

Communications Hub – We know one of the things that is most important to you is getting the right information. To support this we provide a communications hub, collecting information from a variety of sources and distributing to you in different forms and where possible targeted to your specific interests.  Make sure you are registered on our website to stay informed.

Networking, training and events – Alongside the VCS Engage programme we provide a range of opportunities to support you to learn, share ideas and build relationships with other organisations. Take a look at our latest events. We also providing support for a variety of networks and forums

Partner Exchange – We want to help you find the right partners and contacts whether they are inside Norfolk County Council, other VCSE organisations or in the private sector. If you want to do something, know you will need to work with someone else to do it, but are just not sure who, get in touch.

Support for your organisation and community

We can provide advice and support in the key areas critical to your success. This includes:

• Identifying Needs – Helping you to engage with your community effectively as well as using data to understand their needs.
• Operations - Support you to run your day to day activities well by helping you to develop the systems, processes and policies that mean your organisation operates efficiently, safely and legally.
• Governance - Helping you to manage your organisation well, understand its legal purpose, structure and rules enabling you to make decisions effectively
• Planning and Project Development - Support for you to plan effectively, so that you can budget and schedule projects, identify the best options for delivery and relate these to the needs of your community
• Funding and Resources – Help you to access the income you need and use this efficiently, maximising the use of your assets and minimising your expenditure
• Skills and Knowledge – Support the people involved in your organisation understand their roles and develop the skills and knowledge they need through training and support.
• Engagement – Help you to involve the people you need either as volunteers or participants in your organisation's services and activities.
• Partnership – Support you to develop relationships with other organisations to enable co-operation and effective partnerships
• Strategic Planning – Help you develop your vision for the future and know where you want to get your organisation to.

Be part of a wider community and gain access to additional services and resources and regular information updates by becoming a member of Community Action Norfolk.