How we’re working to get better banking services for our volunteers

We know that banking can be a real challenge for lots of volunteers, and banking services don’t always work well for charities.

In 2024, over 1000 of you responded to a survey that the NCVO held on charity banking challenges. It’s now been published, and you can read it online if you’re interested.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Not only does this help to make your voice heard, but it also shows the scale of the problems volunteers face. So rest assured, if you’ve ever had problems with your bank – you’re not alone.

What we’ve been doing 

We’ve been aware of this for some time, and we’ve been working behind the scenes to address these issues and get a better service for you.

We responded to the NCVO’s (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) first charity banking survey in 2022, giving an overview of some of the issues our volunteers had faced.

Following this, Girlguiding, other charities and community groups were invited to work on a project by UK Finance (a trade association representing 300 firms in the finance sector) about charity banking to help inform their voluntary organisation banking guide. This allowed us to work with various high street banks and share the experiences of our volunteers. 2 volunteer finance trainers also gave feedback on drafts of the guide, which helped shape the final version.

We know it’s a real issue for volunteers when banks ask them for things they can’t, or don’t need to, supply.

We made it clear that most Girlguiding units are ‘excepted charities’. This means that whilst they are charities in their own right, they don’t need to register with the charity commission.

This also helped us learn more about things from the banks’ perspective. From this, we’ve updated our finance policy and procedure with advice on how best to avoid these sticking points – for example, making sure that people are removed as a bank account signatory before they leave Girlguiding.

Using UK Finance’s voluntary organisation banking guide

If you’re currently in the process of setting up or swapping your Girlguiding banking provider, the guide is a helpful place to start.

The guide contains simple, step-by-step questions which help you think about the type of account you might need. It will help you reflect on what you need, what’s important to you, and what kind of accounts might be best suited.