This page provides answers to your questions about the use of the Charity
Forum.
What is the Charity Forum?
The Charity Forum is a place where you can take part in a series of discussions
about charities and the third sector including:
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Volunteering
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Giving
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Charity News
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Fundraising
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Getting the most out of GuideStar
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Finance and Governance
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General Discussion
It works by having headings for different discussion topics under which separate
sub headings or "threads" appear.
You can reply to a message by clicking on the heading or subheading and clicking
the add reply button. You can then enter text and send or "post" your response
which will appear immediately. You need to register on the forum before you can
post comments.
You can also create a new topic heading by clicking the add topic button and
entering a topic heading.
Who is the Forum for?
The Charity Forum is a free online community for anybody interested in
charities. There is no charge to subscribe and your e-mail address is not
passed to any other organisation.
Who runs the Charity Forum?
The Forum is hosted as a free service by GuideStar UK. While GuideStar UK
moderates the content it is envisaged that the forum will become self
regulating.
The GuideStar UK moderator will therefore not be answering questions. If you
have a specific question for the GuideStar UK team please email
info@guidestar.org.uk - opens new browser window and you will receive a
response within five working days.
How to use the Forum
Before posting your first message, we recommend creating a "signature" in your
user control panel. This should include your full name, e-mail address and
organisation (or location) which will be appended to each message. This will
help everyone else on the list see who is posting each message.
Keep messages short, polite and focused.
Do choose an explanatory subject line for your message; for example -
"volunteering advice needed". Don't forget that people searching the Forum will
be presented with a list of results with their subject lines: the more specific
your subject line, the more likely someone will click on it.
Sometimes you may want to discuss an issue in more detail with another forum
user. In this case it may be better to e-mail a person direct.
This is a community forum. You might strongly disagree with someone's comments,
but every user is entitled to respect and courtesy.
How not to use the Forum
Types of message that the moderator will remove from the Forum include:
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Offensive, obscene or indecent material
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Material which is defamatory or which infringes copyright
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Commercial material or advertisements
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Fundraising appeals on behalf of individuals or organisations.