Community Action Northumberland

Community Action Northumberland (CAN) is a registered charity, established for general charitable purposes in 1951. CAN serves as a voluntary and community sector infrastructure body to support and develop community groups, charities and voluntary bodies throughout the County of Northumberland.

Community Action is both a Rural Community Council and a Council of Voluntary Service.

Constitutionally, Community Action is two closely interlinked bodies: a company limited by guarantee (reg no. 07805401) which is the corporate trustee of the unincorporated charity (reg no. 224798). CAN’s members are drawn from the major local voluntary and statutory organisations, and individual Associate Members. The full membership meets twice a year and elects, on a 3 year rolling basis, a Board of 15 members, who are the company’s trustees.

Community Action owns one piece of property: Tower Buildings in Morpeth, of which the holding trustee is the Official Custodian for Charities. Other properties are occupied on leases or licences.

In accordance with our Performance Management system, we review our Business Plan every year, on a rolling 3-year basis. It defines our governance, roles, strategic priorities, and the broad deployment of our resources. Greater detail of our activities and intended outcomes are specified in our annual Action Plan which accompanies the Business Plan.