London Plus facilitates the London CVS Directors Network which represents organisations providing local infrastructure support to charities and local community groups across the majority of London boroughs.

There are 29 infrastructure organisations in the network who support over 20,000 voluntary and community organisations across London.

What is a CVS?

To give a definition of a CVS (Council for Voluntary Service) CVSs are charitable organisations, some of whom incorporate the local volunteer centre and they operate in 29 of the 33 London Boroughs.

They act as an umbrella organisation for the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors (VCSE) in each borough offering a wide variety of services, for example:

• Training and development support for community organisations
• Networks and forums to encourage information sharing and innovation within the VCSE.

CVSs are involved in advocacy for the local community groups they represent, and broker communication between the local voluntary sector, faith, public and private sector organisations. Some also develop consortia of local organisations to deliver programmes which tackle inequalities or act as system leaders around key issues affecting Londoners.

CVS meet up sub-regionally through initiatives such as the West London Network and the South London CVS Network.  London Plus facilitates the pan-London CVS Director’s Network which meets quarterly and is chaired by Jake Ferguson (Hackney CVS).

The Network

The focus of the network is to build more effective links between regional, sub-regional and local work and to provide peer support and strategic direction, enabling members to:

• Discuss policy developments, particularly those relating to infrastructure and affecting voluntary action at a local level.
• Identify key strategic priorities and areas of potential collaboration for local infrastructure delivery
• Agree on common themes that can be promoted to demonstrate the value impact of local infrastructure.
• Facilitate relationships between CVS directors and key stakeholder organisations at the regional and national level including GLA, London Councils, NACVA etc.

A pan London approach

London Plus works to support local infrastructure across the city. We work with our CVS partners to support learning across borough boundaries, share best practice and local intelligence. As a pan-London organisation, we use our position and networks of local civil society organisations to build a strong voice that can be directed and amplified to best effect for Londoners. Our goal is to ensure that funders and decision makers understand the importance of local infrastructure and the support it gives to thousands of smaller charities across the capital.

Some examples of the CVS directors joint working are:

CVS Director’s Response to the Civil Society Strategy

CVS Director’s Response to the Way Ahead

To find out more…

If you would like to know more about the Network email hannah@londonplus.org.

You could also head over to our directory and definitions page for CVS’s and Volunteer Centres, to find the full list of CVSs in London.