Your voice and opinion matters

At NICVA, we are here to build an effective, vibrant voluntary and community sector. We are proud to be the voice of Northern Ireland’s voluntary and community sector, with over 1300 members.

We talk to our members and the wider sector,  finding out what they'd like us to do more of and how we can best support them to continue to make a difference in communities. 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete NICVA surveys reviewing our specific services, including governance, human resources and fundraising and general training in Autumn 2022.

You told us that the things you value most are:

• Practical help
• Having a collective voice for the sector
• Providing access to decision makers

We have listened and learned from the feedback and continue to shape what we do to meet your needs, the needs of your organisations and the people you work with.

Training, workshops, and events

We have responded to your feedback regarding our training. We have listened to your request for a mix of online and face-to-face training, workshops and conferences. 

You also identified specific areas you wanted further training and guidance, including finance, fundraising, wellbeing and impact measurement.  We have designed and will continue to design and deliver a training and events calendar to meet your needs.

We are proud that over 95% of people who attend our training rate it very good or excellent. 

You can find full details of our training calendar here.

Bespoke Support

We followed up directly with 26 people who included specific asks of support, providing written guidance, practical support and in some cases bespoke clinics or workshops.

Headway NI, a voluntary organisation who work to improve life after brain injury, took the opportunity to respond to our survey and request specific support for staff on how to measure their impact.  Since then, our Impact Practice Manager Leanne Kelly has worked closely with the team and developed a tailored session to meet their needs. 

Melanie Bowden, Headway NI's  Network Support Manager Northern Ireland manager said:

“I really enjoyed this training session, very helpful to adapt and review our practice.”

If there is something specific that you would like NICVA to help you with, please reach out to our team.

Collective Voice

NICVA values the collective voice of its members and works hard to continue to lobby on key issues affecting you and your beneficiaries. 

We continue to take an active role in supporting the sector in terms of the cost of living crisis and for this reason, we are asking you once again to tell us how the cost of living crisis is affecting you. 

The survey was sent directly to all Members on Monday 6 February 2023, so please take five minutes to complete it and tell us how the cost of living crisis is affecting you. 

It will be your voice and experiences that we will use to lobby for change.   

Get involved!

If you are not already a member of NICVA, you can be part of Northern Ireland’s largest network of voluntary and community organisations.

Now small groups can join the 1,300 of our members who are making a difference in our community for free.

We would love to welcome you on board.

Thank you for continuing to shape what we do!