Bulletin Contents - 19 December 2007

Training for Children and Young People's Service Providers

Environmental Impact of Community Buildings

Defending Childcare Costs for Volunteers

Supporting Social Change

Direct Line for Charity Whistleblowing and Complaints

New Community Grants Fund Rolls Forward

Good Governance for Social Enterprises

Leadership Forums

Book Your Group a Free Climate Change Talk

Training for Children and Young People's Service Providers

Participation Works enables organisations to effectively involve children and young people in the development, delivery and evaluation of services which affect their lives.

We are currently delivering an England-wide training programme to help support organisations embed the active involvement of children and young people within the organisation.  Courses are FREE for Voluntary, Community and other Third Sector organisations. These courses are suitable for all those who work directly or indirectly with children and young people.

The following course will be delivered in the East Midlands region:

Hear by Right Workshop: Tuesday 29th January at the National Youth Agency Offices, Leicester
This course assists you on how to map and plan for the effective engagement of children and young people.

(1 person per organisation). Places are limited so book early!

Environmental Impact of Community Buildings

The Every Action Counts programme, getting voluntary groups to improve their environmental impact, has published 'Your community building counts: helping community buildings lead the way to a better future'.

It gives five building blocks: Save energy, Travel wisely, Shop ethically, Save our resources, Care for your area. In Acrobat pdf format, a large 2.78MB, at www.communitymatters.org.uk/membership/members/docs/BASSAC-CommunityBook.pdf.

Defending Childcare Costs for Volunteers

The Association of Volunteer Managers has launched a campaign to defend the right of volunteers to be reimbursed childcare costs, after the alarming statement from the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform that they would "represent a significant benefit in kind”.

AVM believes that BERR has got it wrong, and is out of line with other government departments, and that this should be pointed out to them. A sample letter and contact details are given at www.volunteermanagers.org.uk/save-childcare-expenses-volunteers

Supporting Social Change

The Council on Social Action, created and chaired by the Prime Minister, has held its first meeting. Set up to advise the government on "new initiatives to celebrate, connect and inspire those working for social good", Gordon Brown has asked it to start by focusing on how to expand the numbers of people having the opportunity to give and receive support on a one-to-one basis. The idea of a social action day ("24/7") was also discussed. See official news item.

Direct Line for Charity Whistleblowing and Complaints

A new complaints handling unit is to start operating as part of Charity Commission Direct in spring 2008, which will also handle reports from auditors and others on potential problems within charities, according to Plaza Publishing news alert (www.plazapublishing.co.uk/whistleblowing.html). This follows a pilot this year centred on complaints about large charities.

New Community Grants Fund Rolls Forward

More details of the new small grants fund for community organisations provided by the Office of the Third Sector have been released. 'Grassroots Grants' will be managed nationally by Community Development Foundation, who will invite applications in January for local funders to deliver the scheme locally. As well as £80 million small grants fund, a £50 million endowments programme is designed to enable local foundations to generate additional donations from the private sector. See OTS news item.

Good Governance for Social Enterprises

'For Love and Money: Governance and Social Enterprise', a report commissioned by the Governance Hub and the Social Enterprise Coalition, makes a number of recommendations on how to provide better support in this area. It also identifies a range of challenges, such as founder syndrome and the demands of different stakeholders. A summary can be downloaded (pdf, 1.23MB) via the Hub news item, or read Third Sector news at www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/772732/ (registration required).

Leadership Forums

A series of regional Leadership Forums from Third Sector Leadership Centre with the Governance Hub are being run from January to April 2008, covering topics such as governance and how it affects leadership within organisations.

These include:

22nd Jan 2008 In partnership with the East Midlands Learning and Skills Consortium.
Venue: Empower Conference services, Nottingham.
Information about this forum is available here. 

8th April 2008: In partnership with RAWM and BVSC. 
Venue:BVSC,The Centre for Voluntary Action,138 Digbeth Birmingham.
Information about this forum is available here.

www.thirdsectorleadership.org.uk/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=10956.

Book Your Group a Free Climate Change Talk

People in your area are getting together to tackle climate change.  Join in with the ‘Everybody’s talking about climate change’ project, delivered locally by Groundwork Derby and Derbyshire, and pledge to do your bit.

Between now and the end of February, Groundwork is offering talks of 20-30 minutes to Derby and Derbyshire Community organisations keen to find out more about the issue and what groups and individuals can do to help.  Groundwork can also attend existing community events and meetings to promote the issue.  To find out more, book a talk or obtain a pledge form, please phone Rosalind Allen on 01773 539433 or email rallen@groundwork.org.uk, stating ‘Climate Change Talk’ as the subject.

‘Everbody’s talking about climate change’ is a joint effort between all 19 local authorities in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and is funded by DEFRA (The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs).  For more information see www.everybodys-talking.org