ACEVO have launched a new range of services to assist the third sector in fully costing their projects and services

Following on from ACEVO's three-year Full Cost Recovery training programme, which reached 15,000 voluntary organisations, a more specialised range of products and services has been developed. The various training opportunities, website resources, one-to-one support, tools and publications are specific to your needs. Whether you are a beginner and need help in fully costing your projects, or someone who is familiar with the full cost principles, these services will be valuable for you.

This website provides information on each area of ACEVO's Full Cost Solutions package, via the products and services links. If you are unsure as to which service is best for you, please contact Eleanor Dandy E: eleanor.dandy@acevo.org.uk T: 020 7280 4933 to discuss your needs.

Why Full Cost Recovery?

Understanding your organisation's full costs is critical in strategic decision making, and ensuring you remain sustainable. ACEVO have a range of tools and services which help you to implement the principles of full cost recovery to your organisation (details of which are on this website). This is a method of cost allocation which ensures appropriate portions of overheads are allocated in projects and services.

Struggling to secure funding for overhead costs, leads to underinvestment in:

management and leadership
internal and external infrastructure
strategic development and governance.

This difficulty is historically exacerbated by a trend on the part of the third sector's funders towards funding the direct costs of projects rather than overheads or "core funding". Failure to secure funding for overhead costs makes important services, including public services, and the organisations that deliver them, unsustainable.

Both government and the sector's representatives have agreed on a solution: Full Cost Recovery (FCR).

Under FCR, organisations and their funders ensure that the price of projects and services reflects the full costs of delivery, including the legitimate portion of overhead costs. This commitment poses challenges for both organisations and their funders.

Third sector organisations must cost their projects and services on an accurate, defensible and sustainable basis.
Government must ensure that all public bodies fund services sustainably, by permitting the inclusion in prices of the relevant portion of overheads, and ensure that prices are determined on a realistic basis.

ACEVO has been pushing for this full costing model to be sector wide since 1999 and provides a wide range of products and services to support organisations implementing FCR. For more information on these services, please contact Eleanor Dandy E: eleanor.dandy@acevo.org.uk T: 020 7280 4933

Individual Budgets: Fully Cost your Services

This one day session explores the challenges of personal and individual budgets in the context of full cost analysis. Ensuring your overheads and direct costs are appropriately allocated to each service.
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