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About Us

"
Our vision is for
active and sustainable
communities in which
everyone is valued and
can play their full part.

Community Matters is the National Federation for Community Organisations

Community Matters champions voluntary and community action at neighbourhood level, as a means of local people taking control of issues in their area and fostering community spirit. We do this in three ways:

Membership

By creating a national network of community organisations and activists who share our vision and support our aims. Our membership is constantly evolving to meet changing social needs, and includes multipurpose community organisations, communities of interest, local support and infrastructure bodies, and Associates. Members are supported with a comprehensive range of tool kits and hands-on advice and support, and help shape the direction of Community Matters by electing representatives to the National Executive Committee.

Services

By developing and delivering low-cost, targeted and practical support. This includes training and consultancy; free advice and legal services; business development support; online resources; and a dedicated youth department. We also offer deliver specialist programmes like Communitybuilders and Community Assets Matter, along with campaigns such as Red Flags crisis management and The YES Project for youth engagement. To underpin our committment to the highest standard of community work we developed VISIBLE Communities™, comprising our nationally recognised quality standard and development tools.

Campaigning

By building a comprehensive programme of external affairs work covering policy, parliamentary affairs, communications and a growing portfolio of research work. We also seek to enable community activists by providing campaigning resources and briefings on legal and regulatory issues. In addition we are a member of and provide the secretariat for the Community Sector Law Monitoring Group, which lobbies on behalf of 15 voluntary and community sector networks.

We're increasingly committed to widening participation and access by delivering services and information online. This site was launched in November 2010 and will be further developed in the coming months. Take a look around, and use the feedback buttons you'll find at the top of each page to help shape our digital direction.