About Us

Welcome

CaDVAS was formed via a partnership between the Canterbury and Herne Bay Volunteer Centre and Whitstable Volunteer Centre and was launched in May 2008.  In early 2012 CaDVAS merged with Whitstable Volunteer Centre and Thanet Community Networks to form EKVAS (East Kent Voluntary Action and Support), a new charity supporting voluntary and community sector organisations in East Kent. EKVAS is dedicated to local service provision, whilst benefitting from the efficiency of a centralised support team through its membership of the Social Enterprise Kent group (SEK). Find out more about our EKVAS partners at http://ekvas.co.uk/.

CaDVAS is an  infrastructure organisation providing support and development services to Voluntary and Community Organisations (VCOs) across the Canterbury district.

These services include:

• Training  for staff, volunteers and trustees
• Monthly newsletter
• Directory of local VCOs, managed in partnership with Canterbury City Council via its community portal
• Advice and information about a range of issues including setting up and registering a charity,  sample policy documents, funding, governance
• Organisational health checks
• Representation and promotion of the VCO sector

In addition to these core services, CaDVAS has delivered a year-long Trustee Development Programme, funded by a Big Lottery Fund Awards for All grant, and has also facilitated the establishment of CantAbility, the disability forum for the Canterbury district, which it continues to support. (Find out more about CantAbility at www.cantability.co.uk.)

CaDVAS is keen to continue to develop services in line with the needs of the local Voluntary and Community Sector, as they are identified by the sector, and so we encourage you to give us your ideas, news and feedback. To do this, or for further information about CaDVAS, please contact us on 01227 772248  or info@cadvas.org