Bulletin Contents - 13 July 2009 3-Minute Poetry Slam at Buxton Fringe Over 50 £1,000 Modernisation Fund Bursaries Awarded Across East Midlands Reducing Your Community Carbon Footprint Strengthening Relations between Volunteers and Paid Staff Voluntary Sector Apprenticeships on the Cards Rethink on Community Allowance Pilot Chance to Swap Jobs for a Day with Central Government Benefits of Independence for Third Sector and Government Professional Volunteers Making Charity Awareness Films Improving National Support Resources Site Code on Engaging with Offenders Approaches to HR in the Third Sector Exploring Blurring of Boundaries between Sectors Capacitybuilders: Managing Volunteers Professional Help 3-Minute Poetry Slam at Buxton Fringe 7.30pm Tue 21st July at Grove Hotel, Buxton. Booking info - 01298 77362 / 0781 3289358 or email PoetryslamUK@... If people can`t get tothis event, there is an open poetry slam on the last Tuesday of every month at the Grove Hotel, Buxton. Over 50 £1,000 Modernisation Fund Bursaries Awarded Across the East Midlands Over 50 frontline third sector organisations across the East Midlands will benefit from £1,000 bursary awards made under the Government's £16.5m Real Help for Communities: Modernisation Fund, which is being delivered by Capacitybuilders.  The awards will help groups delivering services that benefit people affected by the recession, to become more resilient to the impact of the economic downturn.  Organisations have until 17 July to apply.  A second phase of the programme due to launch in the Autumn will allow bursary holders from phase one to access additional funding of up to £10,000 to take further significant steps towards collaboration or merger.  Within the region, this could result in the third sector receiving a further £500,000 by the end of the year. Each £1,000 bursary buys at least two days of professional advice and support to explore how organisations can increase their impact, by working more closely with others, including through collaboration and merger. Speaking about the awards, Matt Leach, Capacitybuilders' Chief Executive said: "Across the East Midlands, we are seeing a particularly high level of interest from organisations providing training and employment support, debt, housing and legal advice and those working to support social cohesion. “Groups working with young adults and those dealing with mental health issues also rank highly. “Across the programme as a whole, almost one in five of applicants have a partner identified who they would like to work more closely with.  In addition, anecdotal evidence suggests to us that the smaller to medium sized frontline organisations targeted to benefit from the fund, are looking to work more closely together to compete for service delivery contracts." To find out more about the Modernisation Fund Grants Programme, please visit www.modernisationfund.org.uk Reducing Your Community Carbon Footprint The Energy Saving Trust has re-launched its Community Action for Energy programme as Green Communities, a new hub to help UK communities reduce their carbon footprint, www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/community  Community groups are invited to register to access tools and advice, including an award-winning Carbon Footprint measurement Tool (developed by the East of England Development Agency) – although this doesn't seem to have been linked up yet it is at www.greencommunitiescc.org.uk  Community Newswire item at www.communitynewswire.press.net/article.jsp?id=5939306 Strengthening Relations between Volunteers and Paid Staff Volunteering England and the Trades Union Congress have published 'A Charter for Strengthening Relations between Paid Staff and Volunteers' which is out for consultation to Volunteering England's membership and its partners.  The current "Drain Guidelines" were developed in 1979 and revised in 1990.  See VE item, deadline 31 July. Voluntary Sector Apprenticeships on the Cards A ‘Group Training Association’ which would provide voluntary organisations with the opportunity to benefit from funding for apprenticeships and other programmes designed to improve the skills of their workforce and volunteers has taken a step forward.  The National Apprenticeship Service has approved a submission for development funding to go forward to the next stage.  See Workforce Development news. Rethink on Community Allowance Pilot A proposal to pilot a community allowance scheme which would allow community organisations to pay local people on benefits to carry out part time work in their neighbourhoods has been rejected by the Department for Work and Pensions.  However, Create Consortium has been asked to put forward another, scaled-back, bid.  The original proposal was for 15 pilot projects across the UK.  See New Start news item at www.newstartmag.co.uk/news/article/dwp-keen-to-test-community-allowance/. Chance to Swap Jobs for a Day with Central Government 'A Day in the Life' is a work shadowing scheme that provides a chance for staff in central government and the voluntary and community sector to step into each other's shoes for a day and learn about how the ‘other side’ operates.  Organised by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the NCVO Policy Forum and Compact Voice, it is open to all voluntary and community sector staff in England.  Apply by 7 Aug, details at www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/campaigningeffectiveness/projects/index.asp?id=14614 Benefits of Independence for Third Sector and Government The Commission for the Compact has published 'Independence Matters', a guide to the Compact and the independence of the third sector.  It aims to increase understanding in both the public and third sectors about the importance and benefits of independence and how it can be threatened.  It looks at five 'dilemmas', such as How far can a third sector organisation go in criticising its public sector funder? and When does demonstrating accountability become excessive bureaucracy?  Compact news item, or download (pdf, 3.12MB). Professional Volunteers Making Charity Awareness Films Volunteer Films, a Media Trust project where short charity awareness films are made by volunteers from the TV, film and video production industry, is now in its fifth year.  They are looking for 25 charities with turnover below two million pounds to take advantage of this scheme, which need to provide a £1,000 production fee.  Apply by 31 July, www.mediatrust.org/media-trust-productions/volunteer-films Improving National Support Resources Site Improving Support, the website funded by Capacitybuilders to bring together the resources created by various programmes to provide support to third sector organisations, has had a 'soft launch' for its new features, www.improvingsupport.org.uk  Some areas may not yet be complete, but there is already a facility to register as an individual or organisation, the latter giving options to promote services and resources. Code on Engaging with Offenders A Code of Practice 'Engaging the perspectives of offenders and former offenders' has been produced by a coalition of organisations including Clinks, Revolving Doors Agency, Nacro and the Howard League for Penal Reform.  It provides guidance involving offenders appropriately and safely in your work.  Pdf, 355KB.  (Source: Volunteering and Mentoring e-bulletin) Approaches to HR in the Third Sector An interesting response on Third Sector Forums on the subject of Human Resource Policies/Management discusses the level of grievances in the voluntary sector, and concludes that "dispute handling in the non-profit sector is particularly good".  The author from Sheffield Business School also argues that it is important that the HRM function reports to a governing body (preferably elected) and not directly to senior managers.  Second item at www.thirdsectorforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1998 Exploring Blurring of Boundaries between Sectors 'Blurring Boundaries' is a summary of an NCVO/ESRC seminar in January which asked "How is the blurring of boundaries between sectors impacting on civil society organisations in the UK and internationally?", with a particular focus on the boundaries between the governmental sector and the voluntary sector, with the increase in delivery of public services by the latter.  Download Blurring Boundaries (pdf, 839KB) from www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/research/index.asp?id=3696 Capacitybuilders: Managing Volunteers Capacitybuilders is developing a new £3m programme to boost the support available to people managing volunteers. The programme was launched in June and is part of a £6.6m boost for volunteering announced by the Office of the Third Sector on 6 May. The programme will include three key strands: Grant funded local projects to further increase the reach and quality of support for local people managing volunteers, especially through outreach. Work to raise the profile of volunteer management at a national level. Bursaries to increase access to training relevant to the management and co-ordination of volunteers (from 2010). Peer networking and evaluation – In addition, peer networking and evaluation components will connect grant recipients across the programme and enable the identification and rapid dissemination of learning. Sign up to their e-bulletin to receive further information as the programme is developed.  Website: capacitybuilders.org.uk Professional Help ProHelp is group of professionals firms who have formed to provide free professional services to voluntary and community organisations in their local area. The professional firms undertake one-off projects, which could include feasibility studies, structural surveys, developing PR & marketing strategies and business plans, legal and accountancy advice and property valuations. Members of ProHelp approach the work in the same way as they would any other fee-paying customer. The only difference is that the community client is not charged for the work undertaken. If you are a community based, not-for-profit group working for the social regeneration of your local area and need some professional help. Please call Ann Hilton at Business in the Community on 0115 924 7408 for an application form or see web site www.prohelp.org.uk eNews Bulletin from High Peak CVS Visit highpeakcvs.org.uk/enews for past bulletins Contact High Peak CVS to subscribe / unsubscribe or to send in news items for the eNews Bulletin