Independence and values: practical support

The Compact

The Compact is the agreement between the government and the voluntary and community sector, which sets out key principles and establishes a way of working that improves their relationship for mutual advantage.

As well as the national Compact, most areas in England also have a local Compact, which interprets the principles set out in the Compact to reflect local need and determination.

Find out more about the Compact.

Compact Advocacy

The Compact Advocacy programme exists to offer support and advice to voluntary and community organisations in their dealings with public bodies. If you think a public body has made a decision that's not compliant with the Compact or public law principles, the dedicated Compact Advocacy team can help.

Find out more about our Compact Advocacy programme and how to contact the team.

Compact Voice

Compact Voice is an independent organisation which is the voice of the voluntary sector on the Compact. Their website contains resources, information and advice on how to develop positive cross-sector relationships and how the Compact can best be used.

Visit the Compact Voice website for more information.

Organisational values: how to practise what we preach

KnowHow NonProfit run a free Studyzone online training course on organisational values, which helps you learn what values can do your staff and how they can help deliver your organisation’s mission.

Topics covered include:

• That 'what' and 'why' of organisational values
• Building or refreshing your organisational values
• Practical applications of values

Do the full training course on values for free on the KnowHow NonProfit website.

Panel on Independence of the voluntary sector

The Panel on the Independence of the Voluntary Sector has been established by the Baring Foundation because of continued concerns about voluntary sector independence of purpose, voice and action.  Over the course of five years, the panel aims to shed light on how far there is a problem and what can be done about it.

The first of five annual statements on independence was published in January 2012 following an earlier consultation.

Read Protecting Independence: the Voluntary Sector in 2012 (PDF, 788 KB).

Get in touch

To find out more about our research work on the independence and values, contact Véronique Jochum, our Research Manager. You can also follow Véronique on Twitter.