As you have no doubt spotted by now, we are celebrating Small Charity Week in Dudley borough and we have plans for all sorts of support and discussion opportunities both face to face and online. I’ve offered to collect and share ideas, stories and top tips for Policy and Influence day (Wednesday 17 June).

In our most recent survey of our sector the third most important area of support organisations and groups said they want Dudley CVS to provide is creating the conditions for the sector to influence local policy and planning, be engaged, represented and involved in local decision making bodies. Also making it on to the top 10 priorities was support to the sector to campaign for social change.

As the Small Charity Week website points out: small charities are the centre of civil society. In the UK 97% of charities have an annual turnover of less than £1.5 million but in terms of impact on local communities here and across the globe their contribution is phenomenal. It is important therefore that the voices of small charities are heard.

Some of the ways Dudley CVS helps small charities to be heard is by:

• supporting networks which bring together and amplify the voices of small charities
• working with small charities to get press coverage
• giving staff time to support small groups at social media surgeries so that they can communicate and connect online using free tools
• representing small charities and the wider sector on a range of strategic boards

We’d love to hear from local small charities about your…

• success stories  – what or who have you influenced and how?
• learning – what worked and what didn’t in your efforts to influence?
• top tips for other small charities who want to influence policy and have their voice heard

Just leave us a comment below or reply on Facebook or Twitter.

And in the meantime, here is a brief but very useful piece of advice about influencing decision-makers on the Campaign Central site. Let us know what you think of it.