Charity Management Month launched for second year
The Trust aims to boost vital management skills and confidence in the sector as 1 in 3 leaders have limited time for personal learning
Building on the success of last year, Cranfield Trust is today launching its second annual Charity Management Month, a month-long campaign designed to inspire charity leaders and managers to prioritise their professional development. Charity Management Month returns with an expanded program, offering free, accessible learning resources and practical tools for charity managers.
From December 2023 to April 2025, 5,157 charity managers and leaders shared their challenges with Cranfield Trust and 1 in 3 of them reported having limited time for personal learning. During the month, Cranfield Trust aims to address this and build confidence, capability, and resilience in charity managers and leaders.
Throughout May, Cranfield Trust will be sharing valuable learning content and expert insights, and signposting charity managers to a range of resources to support their development in vital and core management skills. The month will be broken down into four key strands, each addressing core charity management areas and skills:
• Week 1: Leadership and strategic direction
• Week 2: People management
• Week 3: Financial management and sustainability
• Week 4: Performance and impact
During each week, Cranfield Trust will release new Charity Manager Blueprints, which are designed to guide managers through the essential skills for specific roles and signpost to available training from Cranfield Trust and important partners including Charity Excellence, The Media Trust and NCVO. These have been developed based on findings of the Trust’s research into learning and development opportunities for charity managers, Charity Management Matters, which identified lack of affordable and accessible training.
Cranfield Trust is honoured to have become the custodians of the former Getting on Board training videos for charity leaders, and will also be launching the Cranfield Trust Governance Channel ensuring these valuable video and learning resources will continue to be available to the sector.
Amanda Tincknell, Cranfield Trust CEO, says: "It’s good to be back again this year with our Charity Management Month. Cranfield Trust is committed to providing opportunities for leaders and managers of vital voluntary organisations to develop their management skills, empowering them with the confidence and capabilities to thrive. This month helps us to do that.
“During Charity Management Month, we aim to highlight the importance of taking some time for learning and development in core and vital management skills. Through our new online resources and webinars, Charity Manager Blueprints, and new YouTube channel, we are encouraging managers and leaders to access some of the online learning that is on offer to invest in their own professional growth, which is turn helps to strengthen management and leadership in the sector as a whole.”
Key dates:
May 1-2: Welcome to Charity Management Month video, Charity Manager and Leader Blueprints launch, and introduction to new resources
May 5: Launch of Cranfield Trust Governance Channel on YouTube
May 14: People Management Week with an Essentials to Excellence Webinar on leading hybrid teams in the charity sector
May 19: Launch of new online resource, ‘Management Accounting for Charity Managers and the Board’ guidance and template
May 26: Performance and Impact week concludes with a summary video from Charmaine Griffiths, Chair of the Cranfield Trust Board and British Heart Foundation CEO.
Follow Cranfield Trust on LinkedIn, Facebook and Bluesky for all of the updates.
