Civic Voice

Bluefin

Member civic societies are able to benefit from a choice of two insurance packages which have been specially designed for civic society activities – Society Light and Society Comprehensive. These are provided by Bluefin insurance and there are options to take out trustee liability and professional indemnity insurance. There is further information available here

Individual members of member civic societies are also able to take out private health insurance or home, motor, travel, pet and heating insurance through Bluefin with the added bonus of a financial contribution automatically going to the local civic society and Civic Voice for each product taken out. Each civic society is asked to promote this opportunity to its members.

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Co-operative Bank

The Co-operative Bank will provide free current account banking services for civic societies that join Civic Voice and pay interest on these accounts.

The free banking service covers all day to day activities including paying in cash and cheques and managing standing orders. Credit interest will be paid on all credit balances held at a rate of 0.25% below Base Rate. This is usually only available for accounts with balances in excess of £250,000. To streamline the account opening process the Co-operative Bank can arrange for your standing orders and direct debits to be automatically transferred and can even arrange for your existing account balance to be transferred.

Civic societies will also benefit from internet banking, including provision for dual authorisation, and local depositing and cheque encashment facilities can be provided at nominated local Post Offices as well as local branches. This is convenient for civic societies and helps support Post Offices in the community.

The Co-operative Bank is the only UK bank with a published ethical policy and the first one to establish a specialist charity team

National Trust

Members of civic societies who join Civic Voice will be eligible for a free day access pass to the National Trust (worth up to £14). If they are already members this can be given to a friend or relative. Further information will be provided after joining Civic Voice 

NCVO

Civic Voice has a partnership with NCVO the largest umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England. Every group taking out full membership of Civic Voice benefits from free community membership of NCVO. This provides access to a range of services and advice on organisational, legal, fundraising and IT issues which complement the more specialist support provided by Civic Voice.

The benefits include:
• Free legal information service – a bank of dedicated lawyers can provide answers to your legal queries by email
• Free members’ only helpdesk – providing information and signposting oNCVn issues from finance and funding to IT and volunteer management
• A fortnightly member news bulletin providing updates on activity across the voluntary sector, as well as a bi-monthly email particularly for small organisations
• Over 50 discounted services – on a range of IT, office, finance, and HR services, including discounts with Charity Business and Microsoft.
• 30% discount on NCVO’s extensive range of publications
• Priority booking and 30% discount on NCVO regional and national events and access to some free bursary places
• Attendance and voting rights at NCVO’s AGM
• Free professional consultancy for at least one hour to help with charity property issues via Charity Property help.
• Free access to NCVO’s special interest networks – including IT and governance
After the first year all civic societies with an annual income of less than £10,000 will be able to continue with free community membership. Larger civic societies who wish it will receive a 20% discount on their NCVO membership in subsequent years.