After relinquishing the full-time position, Rennard continued to contribute to some party election campaigns on a constituency-by-constituency basis. However, Lib Dem President and future Party Leader Tim Farron insisted that "Under no circumstances" would Rennard have a future campaigning role. Rennard was appointed to chair a Commission on the Big Society set up by the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) to articulate a civil society vision of what charities wanted to achieve through the Big Society agenda. He was formerly a trustee of the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).