Essex County Council

Provides community information and pages aimed at promoting Essex at home and abroad. Council, business, travel, health and caring, enjoyment and living.

Improving Support for the Third Sector

Improving Support is a joint initiative to strengthen the support services available to third sector organisations. It is co-ordinated by Capacitybuilders and funded through its National Support Services programme. There are nine workstreams including income, volunteering, governance and equality.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales is established by law as the regulator and registrar of charities in England and Wales. Their aim is to provide the best possible regulation of these charities in order to increase charities’ efficiency and effectiveness and public confidence and trust in them. Most charities in England and Wales have to register with the Charity Commission. You can also view the Register of Charities online.

The Learning and Skills Council exists to make England better skilled and more competitive. Their goal is to improve the skills of England’s young people and adults to ensure we have a workforce of world-class standard. The LSC is a non-departmental public body which began work in 2001, taking over the roles of the former Further Education Funding Council and Training and Enterprise Councils. The LSC is responsible for planning and funding high quality education and training for everyone in England other than those in universities. The national office is based in Coventry and nine regional offices oversee the work of local partnership teams throughout the county.

NAVCA is the national voice of local third sector infrastructure in England. Searchable directory of CVS nationwide, and Trainers and Consultants Direct.

National Council of Voluntary Organisations - the umbrella body for the voluntary sector in England

A place for parish & town councils, community and voluntary groups to have a FREE website – an easy way of getting your organisation on-line.

The Essex Single Funding Gateway is designed to be the only destination for funding opportunities available through Essex County Council. This site should contain all you need to know about ECC funding and where to go for further information.

This England-wide programme aims to help infrastructure organisations to have more of an impact and to better communicate that impact to others.

Banking On Essex

Banking on Essex, an association between Essex County Council and Santander Corporate Banking, provides finance to small and medium sized businesses in Essex. It also seeks to better align business support and finance, helping ensure Essex is a great place to do business.

Community and Voluntary Forum: Eastern Region

A comprehensive source of news and information for voluntary and community sector organisations working in the East of England.

Updated regularly with information for those working in health, disability, older people, social care, children and young people, and across the voluntary sector, we feature the latest on:

- Developments in policy and research
- Regional governance arrangements and representation of the sector
- Sector news and opportunities
- Our work around skills and workforce development
- Opinion and expert articles
- Details of COVER's projects

Regional ICT Champions

Answers frequently asked questions about Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and how it can help the third sector. It is aimed at staff and volunteers from:

• charities,
• community groups,
• social enterprises and
• other not for profit organisations.

Volunteer Management Portal