Partnerships

ACT has partnered with the following organisations to support you to access quality services for village halls and community groups.

ACT has partnered with funding website easyfundraising to help you fundraise for your hall. It’s an easy and efficient way to raise some additional funds from over 7,000 leading online retailers. Simply sign up, and encourage all your volunteers, committee members and anyone who wants to support the hall, to click on your hall’s easyfundraising link whenever shopping online.

It’s completely free for the shopper and for the hall. And if you join using ACT’s referral link, you’ll be helping our charity too!

ACT has partnered with funding website easyfundraising to help village halls and other voluntary organisations in Cumbria to generate additional income.

With easyfundraising, over 8,000 online retailers will donate to your hall when your supporters shop with them. Anything from a weekly grocery shop to a family holiday can generate a free donation for your hall. Retailers include eBay, ASDA, Argos, Sainsbury’s, Trainline, M&S, Tesco, Booking.com, Morrisons, John Lewis and thousands more.

Register with easyfundraising, then ask your supporters to access their usual online retailer from the easyfundraising website or app. The retailer then send your organisation a donation based on how much your supporters spend. There is no extra cost to the customer as the retailer pays the donation, not the shopper. Every 3 months your organisation receives all the donations raised by your supporters, which you can put towards a particular project; or keep for a rainy day.

With many more people now shopping online, this is an easy way for your volunteers and supporters to raise money for your organisation through their normal online shopping.

  • Over a year, just one person could raise over £100 for you by doing their weekly food shop online at Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and many other supermarkets.
  • When your supporters switch their broadband, TV package, and other household bills, they could raise up to £45.
  • Booking holidays and travel can also raise up to £60, and so can renewing annual insurances like home, car, or pet insurance.

ACT’s partnership with easyfundraising also benefits our charity as we receive a small commission when you register with this link. This doesn’t affect your payments as it’s paid by the retailers, in addition to funds raised for your hall.

Getting started

Click here to set up your easyfundraising page – it takes 2 minutes.

You get the option to book a free call with an easyfundraising coach, to show you how to get started and give practical advice on getting supporters involved.

FAQs

Do we need to be a charity to use easyfundraising? No, it is open to all voluntary groups, community organisations, CICs, social enterprises of all shape and size – you don’t have to be a charity

Is it really free? Yes, there are no sign-up fees, monthly costs or hidden charges. easyfundraising is completely free for your organisation and supporters to use – and your supporters will not pay a penny more on their shopping either.

What info do we need to set up our free page? Just your name, your email address and the name of your organisation – it only takes 2 minutes. You can choose if you also want to include a brief description and logo. You’ll need to let easyfundraising know how to pay your donations, but these details can be added later if you don’t have them to hand.

My organisation is already registered with easyfundraising – can we have a coaching call? Yes! If you need some help getting your easyfundraising account going, book your free call here

Any more questions, please contact becky@easyfundraising.org.uk who will be happy to help you.

Testimonials

“We were looking for new ways of raising funds for our village hall and I came across easyfundraising. The hall earns money when our supporters shop online – what’s not to love? It was incredibly easy to set up and there are so many retailers to choose from. I can’t recommend it highly enough – we have 15 supporters and have raised a lot already. It’s a very easy, passive way of earning money for your cause without any work.” Bishopwood Village Hall

“Like many community organisations we are looking at a very difficult year financially. easyfundraising enables us to quickly and efficiently reach out to the public to support work and services. Quite often community projects have limited time and resources to gather funding and create fundraising opportunities. This is a great way of doing it with little fuss!” Kinlochleven Community Trust

Support ACT

If you’d also like to help raise funds for ACT, to support out work with communities, please also use our charity’s easyfundraising page when shopping online: www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/action-with-communities-in-cumbria

ACT has partnered with Utility Aid, the UK’s leading energy broker for the charity and not for profit sector.

As well as helping to secure new contracts at the lowest possible cost, Utility Aid can also help with supplier problems, inaccurate bills, advising on renewable energy options and your journey to ‘Net Zero’. Village and community halls; Church and faith buildings; Parish Council premises; Pre-school buildings; and other premises owned or managed by charities or not for profit organisations, can all benefit.

Utility Aid exists to protect charities and not-for-profit organisations from wasting money on energy. We check every bill, challenge every error, and recover what’s owed — with over £10 million returned to the sector so far.

Since 2002, we’ve helped charities, housing associations, schools, churches, and community organisations reduce costs, recover overcharges, and manage supplier relationships.

Everything we do is focused on helping organisations spend less on energy and more on the people and communities they support.

How can Utility Aid help you?

As an ACT Supporter you can benefit from a free consultancy session with Utility Aid, whether you need support with understanding your bills, checking whether you are paying the correct VAT or if you need advice on starting your journey to Net Zero.

Contact a member of the Utility Aid team today!

If you decide to enter into a new energy contract via Utility Aid, ACT receives a small commission (at no extra cost to you), so you’ll also be supporting our work with village and community halls.

Testimonials

“We’re very happy that we used Utility Aid to sort out our energy renewal – we’ve saved about £1,000 a year!” – Chairman, Braithwaite Institute, nr Keswick

ACT recommends A Muir Surveying to village halls and other community buildings looking for professional building surveys. When planning building improvements, better energy efficiency and maintenance at your hall, getting the right professional advice at the outset is invaluable.

There are various types of building survey available and most halls benefit from a combined Building Condition Survey and Energy Audit ‘Greening Report’ – helping the committee to make informed decisions for the future and providing evidence of this to grant funders and others.

ACT is pleased to recommend A Muir Surveying to village halls and other community buildings looking for professional building surveys.

When planning building improvements, better energy efficiency and maintenance at your hall, getting the right professional advice at the outset is invaluable.

There are various types of building survey available and most halls benefit from a combined Building Condition Survey and Energy Audit ‘Greening Report’ – helping the committee to make informed decisions for the future and providing evidence of this to grant funders and others.

This combined survey provides an overview of the current condition and what remedial works may be required in the future. Budget costs can be provided along with outline specifications. It may also include thermal improvements such as roof/wall insulation or draft-proofing, and recommends sustainable materials where appropriate. The report continues with recommendations for heating/hot water/ventilation including possible low or zero carbon alternatives. Finally, retrofit renewables will be included to give the option for on-site power generation and further reduction of carbon footprint and utility cost. An EPC (energy performance certificate) or DEC (display energy certificate) can also be produced, as well as modelling potential impacts of suggested improvements.

Alasdair has been involved with the survey of community buildings in Cumbria since 2009 with training provided by the Building Research Establishment and CAfS and membership of the Chartered Institute of Building (MCIOB).

Many halls ACT has supported to access grant funds for refurbishment, have used these reports in their funding applications. And whilst we need to say that Alasdair is married to ACT’s Fran Richardson, it’s the positive feedback about his work from both hall committees and funders, which has led us to choose him as a Preferred Provider.

Contact Alasdair for a quote and to discuss your needs. When you get in touch, make sure to reference ACT.

Web: amuirsurveying.co.uk
Phone: 07837 598 482
Email: info@amuirsurveying.co.uk

ACT has partnered with Wrigleys Solicitors, a specialist law firm which advises charities, social enterprises and community groups. Groups can access a free 20 minute virtual meeting or phone call.

ACT has partnered with Wrigleys Solicitors, a specialist law firm which advises charities, social enterprises and community groups.

When you need legal support, choosing the right solicitor who understands your legal structure and the way you operate is crucial, to avoid creating further problems down the line. Laura Moss, one of the firm’s partners, lives in Cumbria and has advised many not-for-profit organisations across the region on governance, charity law and contractual issues.

You can book a free virtual meeting or telephone call of up to 20 minutes with Laura or one the others members of the team by emailing laura.moss@wrigleys.co.uk