North East Skills Sharing

Business in the Community supports companies in the North East to integrate responsible business practices, and connects them with local communities to help them tackle the most pressing social issues in the region. BITC offer a range of volunteering programmes to inspire companies to tackle key social issues, and they aim to make employee volunteering normal practice within business.

The Community Foundation runs two programmes to support skills sharing.

Community Ventures provides in-depth support to voluntary organisations in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, helping the sector to be as effective, responsive and resilient as possible. The programme provides time and expertise from highly-skilled businesses and individuals who work, pro bono, with organisations over a sustained period of time.

Trustee Match matches volunteers with specific skills and expertise looking to become trustees with organisations seeking trustees with that expertise.

The Cranfield Trust offers pro bono management consultancy to charities in the North East whose primary purpose is addressing the needs of poverty, disability or social exclusion. Highly-skilled volunteer management consultants are on hand to offer support with everything from strategic planning to improving financial processes, building a strong board or creating a marketing plan. A free online HR service is also available to provide answers to specific HR questions.

The Federation is keen to hear from businesses who want to help them ‘plant a seed and grow a community, as well as getting some great PR and fulfilling your Corporate Social Responsibilities’, and see ESV as a key part of this. Regional / national in scope.

A professional volunteering service where local professionals donate their time and services to be then matched to the needs of small voluntary and community groups (turnover less than £100k pa) in the Tees Valley.

Support for businesses to get more involved with the community in North Tyneside by linking them with small local voluntary groups that need help. Businesses, of all sizes, have offered support in areas such as financial management, health and safety, graphic design, HR, IT and PR.

SkillsBridge (part of Newcastle CVS, Support and Development team) exists to support organisations in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, by providing them with access to a range of professional skills and expertise at no direct cost. This expertise is volunteered by individuals working or recently retired from the private and public sectors.

SkillsBridge is about knowledge transfer and skills sharing. Our SkillsBridge Advisors are there to guide and act as a critical friend to individuals and organisations in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, as they take on new challenges and address emerging issues.

Central to the ethos of the project is creating alliances between sectors and developing long-term relationships based on trust and mutual respect.

Pilotlight is a unique, capacity building charity offering free tailored strategic planning support to charities and social enterprises that are tackling disadvantage in the UK. Pilotlight matches directors from charities and social enterprises with teams of senior business people and facilitate a year-long engagement to plan for sustainability, development and growth. Regional / national in scope.

Reach is a skills-based volunteering charity acting as a source of volunteers and trustees for the voluntary sector in the UK online. Connecting people, skills and good causes is their mission and passion. Below you can see a live update of available opportunities.