www.city-action.org

Does City Action charge for its services?

What geographical area does City Action cover?

What organisations are eligible for City Action membership?

Does City Action have membership policies?

How do City Action's volunteer matchmaking and partnerships services work?

Are there similar services to City Action in London and the UK?

Why does City Action focus on skills-sharing?

Does City Action get involved in charity fundraising or corporate donations?

Is City Action a charity?

---

Does City Action charge for its services?

No, City Action is able to provide a free service for both business and community organisation members as it is a programme delivered and funded by the City of London Corporation. This includes our Account Management service, events and online database for businesses who we provide a full service to (not our partnerships only service).

A small number of volunteering opportunities listed on the City Action database require a donation to be made directly to the community organisation involved.

---

What geographical area does City Action cover?

City Action works within the City of London borough and the seven boroughs that surround it: Camden, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Westminster.

---

What organisations are eligible for City Action membership?

Business Membership

Businesses that are based within the Square Mile of the City are eligible to become members of City Action. City Action has a principle responsibility of supporting Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and businesses that have little or no internal resource for managing volunteering activity. For businesses with dedicated Community Engagement staff, City Action will work solely on brokering longer-term partnerships and not ad-hoc activities.

City Action solely facilitates skills-based volunteering and does not facilitate team challenge activities.

Community Partner Membership

City Action works with community organisations based in the City and surrounding boroughs of Camden, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Westminster. All City Action Community Partners work to improve the lives of the people within in their communities. Please contact the team to find out if City Action can support you in accessing skilled support from City businesses. City Action is currently only recruiting social enterprises as new partners.

---

Does City Action have membership policies?

Yes, City Action issues membership policies to both its business and community organisation members.   

---

How do City Action's volunteer matchmaking and partnerships services work?

Volunteer matchmaking

City Action's volunteer matchmaking service is available to all our business clients except those with dedicated resources for managing volunteering activity who we work with solely to facilitate long-term partnerships with community organisations. There are two main ways in which City Action provides a volunteer matchmaking service:

1. The City Action online database
   This database contains hundreds of volunteering opportunities which have been requested by City Action's community organisation members. Each corporate member (or an employee of a corporate member) can register their interest for a volunteering opportunity through the database and a member of the City Action team will be in touch to facilitate this request.
2. A bespoke matchmaking service for City Action's corporate members
   This service involves undertaking a consultation with a corporate member in order to identify the available time, skills and resources that can be shared with the local community via employee volunteers. City Action Account Managers will then recommend suitable skills-based volunteer matches, arrange initial meetings with local community members and social enterprises when appropriate and monitor the volunteering programme for as long as is necessary.

Partnerships

City Action is aware that there is a growing desire within its business and community membership base to establish longer-term partnerships. City Action believes a partnering approach is a great way to achieve measurable and sustainable outcomes and would encourage all its members to consider this approach to their community engagement programmes. The City Action team are experienced partnership brokers and certified by the Partnership Brokers Association.......................................................................................................................................................................................................

Are there similar services to City Action in London and the UK?

There is currently no other service that is run by a local authority which is similar to City Action. City Action is funded and run by the City of London Corporation, the local authority for the City of London borough.

The City of London Corporation is in a unique position as the local authority for the 'City' - a world leader in international finance and business services which contains more than 13,000 businesses within a square mile. There are other employee volunteering organisations in London and the UK, the majority of which charge a membership fee for their services.

---

Why does City Action focus on skills-sharing?

City Action was established in 1998 by the City of London Corporation as a service to 'bridge the gap' between the City and the City-fringe boroughs and assist in the regeneration of these areas. The vast majority of local community organisations and social enterprises identify volunteer support needs which focus on making use of their skill-set; either workplace skills such as business or IT knowledge or personal skills such as leadership and communication.

City Action believes that a skills-based volunteering experience is beneficial to all parties involved: volunteers are using their skills to support a local organisation but in turn they are developing or enhancing their own skills whilst experiencing a different environment and meeting new people. City Action can recommend organisations who may be able to support team challenge activities to business members.

....................................................................................................................................................

Does City Action get involved in charity fundraising or corporate donations?No, City Action's aim is to provide a free volunteer matchmaking service for City businesses and local community organisations. City Action is not able to promote fundraising requests or events on behalf of our community organisation members.

---

Is City Action a charity?

No, City Action is not registered as a charity. The service is fully funded by the City of London Corporation and is based at the Economic Development Office in the Guildhall, EC2.