VCD and CAN have worked alongside one another for many years, each bringing strong local knowledge, relationships and expertise. VCD works primarily across the Dorset Council area, while CAN works primarily across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. By working more closely together, we can connect these strengths and create greater opportunities for collaboration across the whole county.

Our ambition is simple: to make it easier for communities and voluntary and community organisations to access the support, connections and opportunities they need to thrive.

Through our closer partnership, we will share knowledge and expertise, connect our networks, identify opportunities for joint working and develop more coordinated approaches where this adds value. We will also work together to champion volunteering and the voluntary and community sector, ensuring its experience, knowledge and contribution are recognised in conversations about the future of Dorset.

This is particularly important as communities and organisations face increasing pressures and increasingly complex challenges. Neither communities nor the organisations supporting them operate neatly within organisational or geographical boundaries. Working together gives us an opportunity to think more broadly, connect people and organisations more effectively and make the best use of the expertise and resources available across Dorset.

The partnership will also create a stronger platform for working with Dorset’s wider public sector and strategic partners. By bringing together intelligence and insight from communities across Dorset and BCP, we can help ensure that the voluntary and community sector is involved early in conversations about services, prevention, health and wellbeing, and the needs of our communities.

Both VCD and CAN will remain independent charities, with our own identities, governance and local relationships. Our closer partnership is about building on those individual strengths – not replacing them.

Most importantly, this is about what we can achieve together.

We want to create more opportunities for volunteering, help voluntary and community organisations become stronger and more sustainable, encourage collaboration, amplify community voices and contribute to healthier, more connected and resilient communities.

We are excited about this next chapter and about the opportunities it creates for our organisations, our sector and, most importantly, the communities we are here to support.