Target Audience
Anyone who has responsibility for preparing budgets and those who wish to understand them better.
Prerequisites
Participants should be familiar with Microsoft Excel basics. Laptops will be provided by Carmichael for the training session.
Outline
This course will help you to understand how to prepare a budget and how to use that budget as a tool to effectively manage the resources of your organisation. We will work through a number of examples using Microsoft Excel – participants are limited to 10 to allow maximum interaction.
Methodology
In-person training, in Carmichael Centre, Dublin 7.
Target Audience
This 2 hours’ session is aimed at people who have no experience of using Canva, or graphic design. Basic IT skills are required for this introductory course.
What is Canva?
Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Use it to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more.
Course Outline
- Opening and creating a Canva account
- Canva for Non-Profits
- Creating a design; using templates or creating from scratch
- Searching and editing elements
- Using template photos from Canva or uploading
- Adding text and using different fonts
- Saving and downloading designs
- Sharing and collaborating designs
- Design for Print
- Managing your Brand
Methodology
Delivered virtually via Zoom.
Target Audience
For Approved Housing Bodies categorised as ‘Micro’ (less than 20 dwellings), ‘Small’ (between 20 and 100 dwellings) as well as those registered as Care and Support AHBs.
Outline
The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) is an independent authority, established in February 2021. The organisation is tasked with the regulation of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for the purposes of protecting housing assets provided or managed by such bodies. Section 37(8) of the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 requires all AHBs to comply with the Standards. The AHBRA establish a set of outcomes that AHBs are required to achieve to demonstrate the protection of housing assets provided or managed by AHBs.
Compliance with the Standards is a statutory requirement and clearly this presents many challenges for AHBs at the smaller end of the scale, particularly from a human and financial resource perspective.
The primary objective of the training programme is to provide AHBs categorised as ‘Micro’ (less than 20 dwellings) and ‘Small’ (between 20 and 100 dwellings with a clear understanding of the Standards for AHBs, enabling them to effectively implement and maintain compliance.
The training content supports:
- develop an increased awareness of the Standards for AHBs and what it means for them;
- enhance operational efficiency and help understand to a greater extent how compliance can be demonstrated; and
- undertake gap analysis to identify weaknesses or non-compliance with the Standards.
Methodology
Delivered virtually via Zoom.
Target Audience
New Board Members, Directors, Charity Trustees of non-profit organisations.
Outline
A comprehensive induction is an important first step in ensuring that new Board Members, Directors and Charity Trustees have the understanding needed to carry out their roles, responsibilities and obligations effectively. This workshop aims to form part of that induction process.
Below is an outline of the topics covered:
- Governance Overview
- Board Members’ Roles and Responsibilities
- The Chairperson
- Board Relationship with CEO/Staff
- Company Limited by Guarantee – Directors
- Charity – Charity Trustees
- What more to expect from a Board Induction
Methodology
Delivered virtually via Zoom.
Target Audience
Effective report writing is a cornerstone of good governance, accountability, and transparency for every Irish charity. Whether you are a dedicated staff member, a manager, a CEO, a voluntary charity trustee, or a valued volunteer, your ability to communicate clearly and accurately through reports is paramount.
This essential introduction provides clear insights into the critical importance of robust report writing within the unique context of Irish charities.
Outline
- Why Report Writing Matters: Understand how well-crafted reports underpin your charity’s operations, decision-making, and external communications.
- Meeting Regulatory Requirements: Learn how precise reporting is vital for compliance with key regulatory bodies, including:
- The Charity Regulator: For demonstrating good governance, financial transparency, and adherence to charitable objectives.
- HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority): Essential for charities providing health and social care services, ensuring quality and safety standards are documented.
- TUSLA (Child and Family Agency): Crucial for charities working with children and families, requiring meticulous record-keeping and incident reporting.
- MHC (Mental Health Commission): Important for mental health service providers, demanding clear and compliant documentation of care.
- HSA (Health and Safety Authority): Necessary for all charities to document health and safety practices, incidents, and risk assessments.
- Enhancing Accountability & Trust: Discover how clear, concise, and accurate reports build confidence among donors, beneficiaries, and the wider public.
- Internal Communication & Decision-Making: Explore how effective reports facilitate better internal communication, enable informed strategic decisions, and support continuous improvement.
- Best Practices for Clarity & Impact: Learn practical strategies for structuring reports, using plain language, and ensuring your message is understood and impactful.
Methodology
Delivered virtually via Zoom.
Target Audience
If you are an experienced Excel user, you will know that you spend a good chunk of your time re-organising and re-formatting data. What if there was a way within Excel to automate this? Meet Power Query…
Outline
In this short course you will learn:
- What is Power Query and why should you care?
- Text clean up.
- File clean up.
- Combining folder contents automatically.
Methodology
- Delivered virtually via Zoom.
- GiraffePad will be the platform used to hold the Zoom link/training materials/recording.
Target Audience
- Non-profit organisation staff and volunteers
- Non-profit leaders and managers
- Communications and marketing teams
- IT and operations staff in non-profits
Outline
- Introduction to WordPress for Non-Profits
- Benefits of using WordPress (cost-effective, customisable, scalable)
- WordPress Basics: Creating and Managing Content
- Essential Plugins for Non-Profits
- Customising Your WordPress Site for Impact
- Enhancing User Engagement with Key Features
- Integrating contact forms (e.g., WPForms, Contact Form 7)
- Embedding social media feeds and donation buttons
- Adding newsletter subscription forms (e.g., Mailchimp integration)
- Security and Backup Strategies
- Importance of securing a non-profit website
- SEO and Analytics for Non-Profit Success
- Understanding basic SEO principles for visibility
- Case Studies and Best Practices
- Q&A and Hands-On Workshop
Methodology
Delivered virtually via Zoom.
Target Audience
Non-profit staff working in operations, communications, fundraising, administration, and programme delivery who want to move beyond curiosity about AI and start using it confidently in their day-to-day work. Suitable for those with little or no prior experience of AI tools, as well as those who have experimented casually but want structure, technique, and sector-specific use cases. No technical background is required.
Outline
1. Setting the Scene
- Where the non-profit sector sits in the Irish AI adoption picture
- Current data on adoption rates, productivity gains, and the widening gap between organisations using AI strategically and those that aren’t
- What AI realistically can and cannot do for a non-profit
- Highest-value opportunities: grant writing, communications, reporting, donor engagement, and internal administration
2. Understanding the Tools
- Working overview of the main large language models: ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Claude
- What each tool is good at and where they differ
- Practical view on free versus paid tiers to inform organisational spending decisions
- Short demonstration of how an LLM generates a response and why prompting matters
3. Writing Prompts That Work
- The core skill of the session: moving from vague requests to structured prompts
- A clear prompting framework covering role, task, context, format, tone, and constraints
- Worked examples drawn from realistic non-profit tasks — drafting a funder update, summarising a board paper, turning meeting notes into an action list, rewriting a newsletter intro for different audiences
- Live hands-on exercise in attendees’ chosen AI tool
4. Practical Applications for Non-Profit Work
- Drafting and refining grant application content
- Accelerating social media and newsletter production
- Using AI to interrogate long documents (policy papers, funder guidelines, legislation) without reading them in full
- Each use case demonstrated live with time for attendees to try it themselves
5. Custom Assistants and Next Steps
- Introduction to Custom GPTs and similar features
- How a non-profit can create a reusable assistant trained on its own tone of voice, funder language, or service information
- Practical tips on building an AI habit and avoiding common pitfalls
- Resources for continued learning
Methodology
Delivered via Zoom.
Target Audience
Board members, managers and all those with responsibility for the financial viability of their voluntary organisations.
Outline
Course material will include where to look for vital sources of funding, how to answer the critical questions that funders ask, how to develop a compelling story, an A to Z of digital and face to face fundraising techniques and with presentations focussed on sectors such wellbeing, social, community, health, enterprise, educational, arts environmental and other objectives.
Methodology
Delivered virtually via Zoom.
Target Audience
This course is aimed at Board members/staff of non-profits who need to develop or enhance their understanding of Risk Management.
Outline
This course will enable participants to develop a good understanding of Risk Management within an organisation and the tools which can be employed to minimise risk. It also shows how the roles of Boards is vital for effective risk management and how risk management makes for very effective Boards.
Topics covered include:
- Understand Risk
- Understand Risk Categories
- Understand Risk Management and Know Why It Is Important
- Understand What Makes a Good Risk Management System
- Drafting your own Risk Management Strategy