Charity Networks and Membership Charities

As part of our work in promoting sister non profits and greater collaboration, which we think is a huge missed opportunity, we've created this list of 100+ charity networks and membership charities.  Find your tribe, and join them to give and get back and be stronger together.  We also have a list of UK federated charities.

If you want charities that help individuals, ask the click the AI Bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and tell her what you want.  Ask short questions and be specific.

Add Your Network or Membership Charity

If you run a charity network or offer membership of charities, send me details to ian@charityexcellence.co.uk. Or if you'd like your existing entry amended, or removed, simply send me the details.  It needs to be short - your name, a web link, whom you support and number of members.

Charity Networks and Membership Charities - Functional Activities

1. Charity Excellence – 40,000+ members - all UK non profits but prioritises small and marginalised groups.  Unlike almost (all?) of the others in this section, joining us is completely free. We're a one-stop-shop for funding, free help and resources - Register now.
2. 360 Giving - data specialists' networks.
3. ACEVO – CEO membership, 1,700.
4. ACOSVO – Scottish CEOs.
5. Association of Chairs – provides advice and training.
6. British Arts Festival Association - their Useful Links page connects you to a dozen or so other arts related associations.
7. Charities HR Network - national non profits.  Membership fee.
8. Charities Responsible Investment Network (CRIN) - charities with investments.
9. Charity Comms – comms experts, professional, membership organisation for individuals.
10. Charity Finance Group – professional membership, over 6,000 finance professionals across more than 1,450 charitable organisations.
11. Charity Retail Association - membership association for 400 UK charity shops.
12. Chartered Institute of Fundraising – professional membership, 4,500 in 2021.  (I think). They have individual, corporate and organisational members.
13. Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland - guidance and support for good governance.
14. CO3 - Third Sector leaders in Northern Ireland.
15. Environmental Funders Network - foundations, family offices and individual donors.
16. Gunnercooke Foundation - 150+ members in their free UK wide Inspire network of CEOs.
17. Honorary Treasurers Forum
18. ICAEW Charity Community - finance community hosted by ICAEW.
19. National Digital Inclusion Network - 5,000 organisations supporting their local communities with digital inclusion.
20. Responsible Finance - a network of responsible finance providers.
21. Third Section Support Wales - network of 19 charity infrastructure organisations.

National Membership Charities - General Support

1. Association of Charitable Organisations – probably about 100+.
2. Civil Society Group - 50+ members.
3. Locality - supports local community organisations, 600+ members.
4. NCVO – National Council for Voluntary Organisations - 17,000 members. Charity, community group, voluntary organisation or social enterprise members in England.
5. Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action.
6. SCVO - Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the same but for Scotland.  It has 3,900 members.
7. WCVA – voluntary organisations in Wales.

Networks & Membership Charities - Sub Sectors

1. Acting For Others – 14 charity theatre companies.
2. Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) – 38 members.
3. Active Partnerships - 43 local and national partners in England, across different sectors, especially sport and physical activity, education and health.
4. Alliance for Scotland's Rainforest - 20 organisations, mainly charities.
5. Almshouse Association
6. Arts Society - 360 local societies.
7. Association of Air Ambulances
8.  Association of Charitable Foundations - membership association for foundations and independent grant-makers in the UK.
9. Association of Independent Museums
10. Association of Medical Research Charities
11. Association for Science and Discovery Centres – a network of 50+ of the nation’s largest publicly accessible science centres, discovery centres, science museums and scientific bodies.
12. AVSM – Association of Volunteer Service Managers – volunteers in hospices/palliative care.
13. Beacon – rare disease community (previously Findacure).
14. Befriending Networks - membership body for befriending organisations.
15. British & International Federation of Festivals (BIFF) - amateur music, dance and speech.
16. Caritas Social Action Network - co-ordinates charitable activities by Catholic dioceses and specialist Catholic charities in England and Wales.
17. Churches Legal Advisory Service - 35 members, most of the major UK churches and many of the smaller ones ecumenical groups such as Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
18. Clinks – criminal justice.
19. Community Leisure UK
20. Community Transport Association
21. Compost London - Voluntary and Community Sector groups.
22. Community Libraries Network - England & Wales.
23. Cycling UK
24. Environmental Funders Network - foundations, family offices and individual donors supporting environmental causes.
25. Equally Ours - UK-wide pan-equality and human rights, 80 members.
26. FEL Scotland - Forth Environmental Link - an SCIO that works in central Scotland.
27. Grant Funders’ Network - free UK grant making network.
28. Heritage Alliance
29. Hospice Income Generation Network - small fee to join.
30. Hospices Lotteries Association - small annual fee.
31. Hospice UK - 200+ UK hospices, plus links to a number of related professional networks and associations.
32. Hospice Volunteer Managers Network - 120 hospices.
33. Hospital Broadcasting Association – 170 stations.
34. Hospices UK – 200+ members.
35. Interfaith Network
36. Independent Schools Organisation – head teachers, 500+ members.
37. Independent Schools’ Bursars Association
38. Law Centres Network
39. Locality  - UK network supporting 1,600 local community organisations.
40. Making Music - UK amateur music making.
41. Maritime Charities Group
42. Museums Association.
43. NASS - National Association of Independent Schools & Non-Maintained Special Schools.
44. National Association for Hospice at Home (NAHH) - small fee to join.
45. National Association of Women’s Clubs
46. National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs (NABGC) - supporting member clubs and county organisations.
47. National Care Forum – 130 care sector umbrella bodies.
48. Natural History Consortium - a charitable collaboration of 14 organisations.
49. Neurological Alliance - 70+ members plus regional groups.
50. NHS Charities Together
51. Parentkind – PTAs, Parent Councils and schools - 12,500 members.
52. Phab - supports disabled and non-disabled children, young people and adults, 140 clubs.
53. Religious Education Council of England and Wales - Religious Education and RVE, 60 members.
54. Reuse Network – network of 120 charitable and voluntary reuse organisations.
55. Scotland Funders Forum - part of the Funders Collaborative Hub. Various grant making bodies.
56. Social Farms & Gardens - represent hundreds of UK community gardening and farming organisations and groups.
57. Sport & Recreation Alliance.
58. Sported - supports 2,600 grass root groups.
59. Street Games - 1,600+ UK community organisations that make Doorstep Sport is accessible to young people.
60. UK Literacy Association - professionals concerned with the development of language, literacy and communication.
61. Universities UK - represents 140+ universities.
62. Welsh Museums Federation - 20+ members.
63. Wildlife Trusts – 46 independent UK wildlife conservation charities.

Social Enterprise Networks

1. Co-operatives UK
2. Plunkett Foundation – community businesses.
3. Social Enterprise UK.

Networks & Membership Charities - Groups of People

Membership Charities - Young People

1. Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Wales - a National Youth Sports and Youth Work Organisation that has 150 member clubs.
2. Boys & Girls Clubs Northern Ireland - offer a range of services for member organisations.
3. Boys & Girls Clubs Scotland - provide support to members and deliver a national programme of initiatives.
4. Early Years Alliance
5. Early Years Wales
6. Foyer Federation – young homeless people.
7. NUS – National Union of Students.
8. Street Games - 1,600+ UK community organisations that make Doorstep Sport is accessible to young people.
9. UK Youth - supports 8000+youth organisations.
10. Youth United Foundation - 12 organisations.

Membership Charities - Older People

1. Age Action Alliance - charity and non charity members, and other older person networks, that collaborate on key issues and tap into the lived experiences of older people.
2. EngAgeNet - English Age Network, 7 regional forums.
3. Older People’s Advocacy Alliance.

Regional Charity Networks

There are quite large numbers of small infrastructure organisations, such as CVSs spread across the country. For example, Communities 1^st - Voluntary, Community, Faith, CIC, Social Enterprises and SMEs in St Albans and Hertsmere.  You can search for a local infrastructure charity near you by logging into Charity Excellence, going to our Help Finder directory and running a search using the Umbrella Bodies & Regulators category, from the pull down menu. 

National Charities Providing Regional Support

1. Navca – local infrastructure organisations.
2. TSI Scotland Network - 32 TSIs – or Third Sector Interfaces, one for each local authority area.
3. UK Community Foundations – 46 grant makers - one in each English county plus one in each of the other countries.

Regional Charity Networks

1. Arts and Heritage Alliance Milton Keynes - yup, the folks with the concrete cows.  Just down the road from me.
2. B&NES Third Sector Group - 200 organisations in Bath and NE Somerset.
3. Birmingham Economic Justice Action Network - set up by Barrow Cadbury in 2023 as a pilot to to tackle the root causes of economic injustice.
4. GCVS Networks - a range of VCS networks in the Glasgow area.
5. Leeds LGBTQ+ Community Consortium - 7 partner groups.
6. London Funders - 170+ membership network.
7. Momentum Youth Work Network - organisations working with 11 to 19 year olds in Norfolk.
8. Voluntary Norfolk Network - resource-sharing, regular news & updates and workshops & events.
9. Yorkshire Funders - 70 members, from small, local family foundations to local authorities, corporate and community foundations, local infrastructure organisations and national funders who give in Yorkshire & the Humber

Charity Marginalised Group Networks

All of the Charity Excellence systems are optimised for small and marginalised groups who too often get pushed to the back of the queue for support, so we always put in more effort when creating resources.

Membership Charities - African

1. Association Of Somali Voluntary Organisations – Hammersmith and Fulham.
2. Community African Network (CAN) - African led organisations in London.
3. Council of Somali Organisations – 200+ members, UK Somali led community organisations.
4. National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance (NBTA).
5. Scotland Malawi Partnership - community-led partnerships between our 2 nations.
6. Ubele – African diaspora CIC focussing on making organisations sustainable.

Membership Charities - BAME

1. Action For Trustee Racial Diversity.
2. Alliance for Racial Justice - representing people of Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic backgrounds and communities across the UK.
3. Avocado Foundation - tackling inequality through training, including fundraising.
4. BME Health Forum - London.
5. Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights - to eliminate racial discrimination and harassment and to promote racial justice across Scotland.
6. CRÈME - Communicating the Race Equality Message Effectively, joint project/collaboration between Race On The Agenda (ROTA), The Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG) and the Runnymede Trust.  My thanks to Lou Roe for spotting the broken link.
7. Irish in Britain - 100+ organisations.
8. Jewish Leadership Council info@thejlc.org
9. Jewish Volunteering Network - membership charity that promotes volunteering, training etc.
10. Lancashire BME Network - member-led infrastructure charity for VCS groups.
11. Migration Exchange - a collaboration of funders and organisations in the UK migration and refugee field.
12. Phoenix Way - probably better known as a funder, run by Ubele, they also act as an infrastructure organisation.
13. TERN – supports refugee social entrepreneurs.
14. Tower Hamlets Equalities Hub - brings together various groups and fora, including ethnic minority, disabled, inter faith, LGBT+, older people's, younger people's, and women's networks.
15. Voice4Change - Black and Minority Ethnic voluntary and community sector (BME VCS).

My thanks to Ubele for their input in making this list more comprehensive.

Membership Charities - Disability

1. Activity Alliance – disability sport.
2. Disability Rights UK
3. Voluntary Organisations Disability Group.

Food Bank Networks

1. Feeding Britain - a network of 116 regional and local anti-hunger partnerships, comprising more than 700 frontline organisations.
2. IFAN - Independent Food Aid Network, with 550 members.
3. Trussell - network of 1,300+ food banks.

Homeless Charity Networks

1. Homeless Link - membership charity for organisations working directly with homeless people in England.
2. Foyer Federation – young homeless people.

Membership Charities - LGBTQI+

1. Consortium – LGBTQI+.
2. Equality Network Scotland – LGBTQI+.

Membership Charities - Muslim

1. Muslim Council of Britain – UK's largest and most diverse national Muslim umbrella organisation with over 500 members including mosques, schools, charities.
2. The Always Network – supports small UK Muslim charities.
3. Muslim Charities Forum.

Membership Charities - Women

1. Women's Resource Centre - local and national, predominantly small and grassroots organisations.
2. NAWO - membership organisations and individuals working for women’s empowerment in the UK and internationally.

Membership Bodies Which Aren't Charities

1. Arts Council England - the national development agency. Each UK country has its own arts body.
2. Arts Council Northern Ireland.
3. Arts and Humanities Alliance -  learned societies that work together to promote the arts and humanities, particularly higher education and research policies.  Their Affiliates page connects you to another 20 or so learned societies.
4. Association of Fundraising Consultants – 12 members.
5. Charities and Networks in Association – 89 Christian organisations of different church traditions.
6. Consultants for Good - network of charity consultants and trainers.
7. Creative Scotland - the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland.
8. Criminal Justice Alliance - 200+ organisational and academic members.
9. End Violence Against Women - 163 specialist women’s support services, researchers, activists, victim-survivors and NGOs.
10. Independent Schools Association - 674 members.
11. Independent Theatre Council - 450+ companies and producers working in drama, dance, opera and musical theatre, mime and physical theatre, circus, puppetry, street arts and mixed media.
12. Libraries Connected - public library services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
13. Sports and Recreation Alliance -  320 health, sport, recreation, fitness and leisure members.
14. Sport National Governing Bodies.
15. Sport Northern Ireland - the leading public body for sport in Northern Ireland.
16. Sports Scotland - the national agency for sport in Scotland.

International Networks and Membership Charities

UK International Development Networks

1. BOND – international development, 400 members, ranging from small specialist charities to large international NGOs with a worldwide presence.
2. CADA – Coalition of Aid and Development Organisations in NI.
3. Humentum- global humanitarian and development.
4. Scotland’s International Development Alliance
5. Small International Development Communities Network - SIDCN has 2000 members.
6. SW International Development Network - any person or organisation who state they are working internationally towards the SDGs.

Global Non Profit Networks

1. Climate Action Network-International (CAN) is the world’s largest environmental network of over 1,800 non-governmental organisations in over 130 countries.
2. Coalition for Human Rights in Development - social movements, civil society organisations, and grassroots groups, including some UK ones.
3. Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) is a schools association 660+ global members.

Thank You!

Penny Wilson and I created this list initially some years ago and I've continued to build on it, with support by others.  My thanks to Jo Hobbs, the CEO of Classics for All, Tasha Cobb of Norfolk Network,  and Gayle Harris of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wales for their input that made this index better.

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Thank You

My thanks to Jo Hobbs, the CEO of Classics for All, for spotting corrections that made this list better.

This Charity Network and Membership Charities List - Caveat

This charity network and membership charities list is for general interest only and does not constitute professional legal or financial advice.  I'm neither a lawyer, nor an accountant, so not able to provide this, and I cannot write guidance that covers every charity or eventuality.  I have included links to relevant regulatory guidance, which you must check to ensure that whatever you create reflects correctly your charity’s needs and your obligations.  In using this resource, you accept that I have no responsibility whatsoever from any harm, loss or other detriment that may arise from your use of my work.  If you need professional advice, you must seek this from someone else. To do so, register, then login and use the Help Finder directory to find pro bono support. Everything is free.