Amy Walton, Frankie Hockham and Josie Hinton draw on decades of experience inside small charities and infrastructure bodies to ask a simple but urgent question: what does effective small charity support really look like and how do we sustain it?
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The contraction of specialist support for small charities has rightly raised serious concern. The closure of the Small Charities Coalition (SCC) in 2022 and the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI) in 2023, followed by NCVO’s recent decision to make its Practical Support team redundant, have exposed growing uncertainty about who should provide this support, how, and on what basis it can be sustained.

Small charities are defined here as social impact organisations with an income under £1m. Registered small charities alone make up 96% of the sector.

Before debating delivery models or ownership, the sector needs a shared understanding of what effective small charity support looks like in practice. This is not about replacing the essential guidance and oversight of the Charity Commission or other regulators, but about ensuring that practical support complements and reinforces regulatory expectations in ways that are accessible to small charities.

As the Small Charities Coalition’s 2022 closing report emphasised, voice and support are inseparable: those seeking to represent small charity needs in the 'corridors of power' must understand and engage with them on an operational level. It's the practical part of the equation that we focus on here, drawing on decades of experience of working with and for small charities to set out tried and tested principles of effective support.

1. Work with small charities, not for them
Support for small charities works best when it is developed with them, not done to them. They are the experts in their own realities, so why would we not start there? "Small for small" approaches have sometimes struggled to deliver sustained impact because they face the same capacity and funding constraints as the organisations they support; as we saw with the closure of SCC, FSI and Getting on Board. Larger infrastructure organisations can help fill this gap, but only if they are willing to listen rather than broadcast, and consult meaningfully. Engaging small charities as equal partners, early enough that their input can genuinely shape decisions, and closing the loop by being open about what was heard, what changed, and what did not and why. NCVO's Small Charities Advisory Panel recognises its potential role here. As co-chair Vicki Beevers puts it: "If we are serious about supporting small charities, it has to be done with them, transparently and in partnership, not retrospectively."

Recognise small charity leaders as experts by experience and remunerate them for their time, as with any collaborators. When small charities are treated as partners rather than recipients, support becomes more grounded, trusted and effective.

2. Be accessible and inclusive
Support needs to be accessible, open and inclusive, removing unnecessary barriers rather than reinforcing them. Use clear, plain English, make complex issues easier to understand, and create a non‑judgemental environment where charities feel safe to ask questions. Cost can also present a significant barrier to access. Provide free and low cost support to small charities running on small budgets. A clear example of this is SCC’s charity set up tool - a step by step guide to establishing a charity that simplifies the myriad sources of guidance available online. There is no such thing as a silly question. Fluency in jargon does not equate to authority or expertise.

Small charity leaders usually reach out for help having already exhausted what they can find online, so access to a real person still matters. Many need to talk things through, sense check their ideas and work through problems in conversation. AI can help by cutting down on admin, freeing up specialists to focus on the conversations and relationships that only humans can provide. But it needs to be used carefully. Poorly implemented digital tools can exclude organisations with limited digital skills and widen existing inequalities.

There is no single right way to access support. Offering multiple routes, whether through events, one to one support, written guidance or peer learning, means different organisations can get help in the way that works best for them.

3. Choose collaboration over competition
Support for small charities must be a collective effort. In practice, small charities rarely arrive with one neat, isolated issue. A funding question quickly connects to governance, staffing, digital tools or safeguarding. When support is disconnected, small charities are left to navigate the gaps, often feeling forced to pay for help they cannot afford. When infrastructure organisations collaborate, referrals are quicker, support is joined up and duplication is reduced. The Small Charity Friendly Collective offers a practical example of this approach in action, showing how organisations can share expertise and come together to create a clearer, stronger support offer.

In our experience, some areas are best owned locally. Navigating local funding landscapes and commissioning practices are areas where local infrastructure organisations have unmatched credibility. But there are areas where a national perspective adds real value: tackling banking barriers; navigating Companies House changes - issues that affect small charities everywhere. The answer is not local versus national. It is local and national together, each playing to their strengths and respecting each other’s expertise and credibility amongst distinct and shared audiences.

Partnership is not an abstract principle. It is what makes support more coherent, more credible, and more useful.

4. Be informed and trusted
The best support comes from truly understanding what it is like to run a small charity. That can mean having worked in one, but not always. What matters most is whether those offering support have taken the time to understand the reality on the ground: the limited resources, the difficult decisions, the pace of work, and the diversity of circumstances. For those under intense pressure, generic advice can be a burden. Advice designed for a £10m charity with a fundraising team won’t translate to a volunteer‑led organisation without in-house expertise. Small charities are far more likely to engage when advice feels relevant to their situation, is honest, and does not overcomplicate things.

Effective small charity support is like a lighthouse, helping organisations navigate a confusing and crowded landscape by pointing them towards trusted, reliable help, and connecting them with the right support at the right time.

5. Use data and sector insights
Lead with evidence about the issues with which small charities are grappling, not assumptions. It is easy to rely on anecdotes or respond to the loudest voices, but this can distort reality. Support must be shaped deliberately by sector data, local intelligence, and direct feedback from small charities. Enquiries to NCVO’s Small Charity Helpdesk historically shaped webinar and help‑and‑guidance priorities, to meet current needs.

Used well, data is about listening properly, targeting support where it is most needed, and making sure what is offered stays relevant. And these insights are crucial to advocating for what’s really needed at decision-making tables.

Where do we go from here?

Stop competing. Start collaborating.
Infrastructure organisations must resist the temptation to fill the void alone. This means working collaboratively, being honest about their expertise and working out who is best placed to deliver. Competition for funding and profile has too often fragmented what should be a coherent offer.

Fund the foundations.
This is about a system that is no longer funding the infrastructure it depends on. Organisations are closing not because they lack impact or leadership, but because the environment around them is not viable. Sustainable support requires long-term, flexible investment, not short-term project funding, and funders must actively enable collaboration rather than fuel competition.

Put small charities in the driving seat.
Small charities must be at the centre of decisions about their future; engaged as equal partners from the start, not consulted as an afterthought. That means being open about what is decided, what changes, and what does not and why.

Share the data. Share the picture.
If we are serious about evidence-led support, we need to share data and insights far more openly, locally and nationally. Intelligence hoarded in silos helps no one.

Use AI wisely. Keep humans central.
AI can help reduce the admin burden and free up specialists to focus on what matters most. But it cannot replace the relational, human work that effective small charity support requires. As AI becomes more present in the support landscape, we must make sure it serves small charities rather than sidelines them.

Join the conversation
We are planning an event to continue this conversation. If you would like to be involved or hear more please fill out this google form. We have a collective responsibility to build on the foundations laid by reports such as the Power of Small, SCC’s closing report, and the Cranfield Trust’s ‘Championing small charities: Our national asset.’

Small charities sustain the communities we all depend on, and so getting this support right is critical and everyone’s responsibility.
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About the authors

Amy is vice‑chair of the LGBTQIA+ membership charity Proud Changemakers and is passionate about championing diversity, inclusion and community‑building. Until recently, she was Small Charity Helpdesk Manager at NCVO. Prior to this, Amy managed the helpdesk, mentoring and grants programmes at the Small Charities Coalition, playing a pivotal role in securing its legacy of small‑charity support and the transfer of key services after its closure. Amy also has extensive frontline service delivery experience across various roles at small local charities supporting marginalised groups, primarily refugees and asylum seekers, and young people with additional needs.

Frankie Hockham works in local charity infrastructure and fundraising, and also runs a small astronomy charity. She has held roles from Event Fundraiser to Head of Fundraising, advised charities on funding and governance at Community Impact Bucks and NCVO, served as a trustee of Fertility Network UK, volunteers for a number of other causes, and shares sector insights on LinkedIn through Friends of Frankie (https://www.linkedin.com/company/friends-of-frankie/).

Josie Hinton is a senior leader with deep expertise in the operations and needs of small charities, most recently serving as Practical Support Lead at NCVO and previously working at the Association of Chairs. She has designed national support programmes and served as Chair and Trustee of a local organisation and a national grant-maker. Josie holds an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management and a Diploma in Charity Accounting.

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