About the plan
Our charity archives support and development plan will build on and complement the work of the Charity Archivists and Records Managers Group (CHARM), the Archiving the Mixed Economy of Welfare project, and other initiatives.
The overall purpose of this plan will be to:
- promote the value of archives and records to charitable organisations for institutional identity, good governance, transparency, accountability, and enfranchising missing narratives
- encourage the effective management and preservation of charity records
- raise the profile of charitable collections as cultural and research assets for the public, academic community, and archive sector, highlighting their importance as sources of personal and collective memory
- expand and develop networks and partnerships between practitioners working with charity collections in the public, private, and academic sectors
- improve the capacity of charity archivists and records managers through better advocacy, support, and training
Invitation to join the steering group
We are seeking to create a steering group that will work with us to develop our programme of support for charity archives.
It is important that the group represents the broad range of issues facing charity archives and so we are looking for members with varying experience and expertise who work with, or have an interest in, charity archives. We also value lived experience and understand that charities engage with some of the most marginalised members of society. We are therefore actively seeking participation from those who have worked within charities or have been users of charity archives.
Specific activities that the steering group will support include:
- developing an action plan for the project
- developing guidance around archives management issues, including creating an advocacy document for charity archives
- supporting the ongoing mapping of collections and the monitoring and mitigation of collections at risk
- supporting the development of sector networks and fostering links between these networks, other regional thematic networks, and the academic sector
- working to raise awareness of recordkeeping with charitable umbrella organisations and regulators with a view to advocating for the development of minimum recordkeeping standards for registered charities
The project will begin in the spring and run for between 3 and 5 years, depending on the availability of internal and external resources and funding. The steering group will meet up to 4 times a year via telephone or video-conference. Membership will be on a yearly basis with no obligation to participate for the full length of the project.
If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Kathryn Preston by Friday 5 March 2021. Please also get in touch if you would like to discuss the project or need any further information.