Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) Scrutiny Report... · Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) Report to Partnership, Contract Performance and Third Sector Overview

Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC)

Report to Partnership, Contract Performance and Third Sector Overview & Scrutiny Committee

October 2013

1

Contents INTRODUCTION and OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................. 2

BVSC’S Vision and Mission .............................................................................................................. 2

BVSC’S Strategic Goals .................................................................................................................... 2

Some of our support services: ........................................................................................................ 3

BVSC and the THIRD SECTOR SUPPORT CONTRACT: .................................................................................. 5

OUTCOME (A) PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO MAKE A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION WITH THE TIME AND RESOURCES THEY WISH TO VOLUNTEER. ....................................................................................... 5

Where Volunteer Centre enquirers come from: ............................................................................ 6

What organisations want: .............................................................................................................. 6

Funding the Volunteer Centre: ....................................................................................................... 7

The Value of Volunteering .............................................................................................................. 7

Volunteering Outreach Hubs .......................................................................................................... 8

Volunteers’ Week ........................................................................................................................... 8

Corporate Volunteering and Social Responsibility ......................................................................... 8

OUTCOME (B) : SOCIAL ACTION CONTINUES TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF COMMUNITIES AND VULNERABLE PEOPLE. ..................................................................................................................... 9

Supporting the Sector ..................................................................................................................... 9

Training the Sector........................................................................................................................ 10

OUTCOME (C) TWO WAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE THIRD SECTOR AND THE COUNCIL LEADS TO EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING. .................................................................................... 11

Third Sector Assembly .................................................................................................................. 11

Communications and Contacts ..................................................................................................... 11

OUTCOME (D) : A TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COUNCIL AND THE THIRD SECTOR CONTINUES TO DEVELOP BASED ON HONESTY, RESPECT AND GOOD PRACTICE. ...................... 12

OUTCOME (E) THE VALUE OF BIRMINGHAM’S THIRD SECTOR IS UNDERSTOOD IN ALL ARENAS. ...................................................................................................................................................... 12

Organisational Membership by District ........................................................................................ 13

Organisational Membership by Service Area ............................................................................... 14

Organisational Membership by Income Level .............................................................................. 15

SUMMARY INFORMATION ........................................................................................................................ 16

How BVSC’s Infrastructure Support Services are Funded: ........................................................... 16

Local Councils for Voluntary Service - how Birmingham compares: ............................................ 16

QUALITY ASSURANCE ................................................................................................................................ 17



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INTRODUCTION and OVERVIEW

Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) is the

leading voluntary sector support body in Birmingham.

We provide information and guidance to charities and community groups. We also promote volunteering by finding individuals appropriate unpaid work and helping organisations to find volunteers.

Crucially, BVSC acts as a conduit between the voluntary sector and the public and private sectors in the city. We seek to collaborate with partners to place voluntary action at the heart of the city. With national

finances stretched, our work to safeguard the breadth and depth of community action in Birmingham is more vital than ever before.

BVSC’S Vision and Mission

BVSC’s vision is that everybody benefits from and contributes to an inclusive, empowering

and vibrant Birmingham.

Our mission is to unleash the power of voluntary action to deliver sustained benefits for

Birmingham and its diverse communities.

BVSC’S Strategic Goals

We aim to ensure that:

Active and empowered citizens have diverse opportunities to make a positive difference

Independent, effective and sustainable third sector organisations have the skills, knowledge and resources to achieve their aims

The voluntary sector is influential as a force for positive change in Birmingham and beyond



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BVSC is an independent, effective, inclusive and sustainable organisation

Some of our support services:

Volunteer Centre Birmingham

Public-access drop-in and appointments service with skilled expert volunteering advisers and

large database of citywide volunteering opportunities. The Volunteer Centre also provides

training to voluntary and public bodies in good practice in volunteer recruitment, training and

support. Local Volunteer Centre hubs are currently being launched.

http://www.bvsc.org/volunteering

Sector Development & Capacity Building

A range of project-based support services including business development support and

funding advice with signposting and referral to appropriate specialist services. Transform

Portal – an online gateway to support (including pro-bono help for small groups) – has just

launched.

http://www.bvsc.org/supporting-your-organisation

BVSC4Community Funding Information

Online access to wide range of funding opportunities in the UK.

http://www.bvsc.org/find-funding

AskBVSC Helpline

Helpline for groups and individuals requiring support, advice or signposting.

0121 678 8888 http://www.bvsc.org/ask-bvsc

Third Sector Assembly

http://www.bvsc.org/volunteering

http://www.bvsc.org/supporting-your-organisation

http://www.bvsc.org/find-funding

http://www.bvsc.org/ask-bvsc



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Collective of thematic networks of front-line voluntary sector groups throughout Birmingham.

Membership stands at 1300+ with wider contact list of around 3000.

http://www.bvsc.org/assembly-networks

Third Sector Database

Largest source of voluntary sector information in Birmingham, searchable by postcode and

service area.

http://www.bvscthirdsectordatabase.org/

Training, Coaching & Consultancy

Combination of free and paid-for services offering bespoke support based on needs.

http://www.bvsc.org/all-events-and-training

Finance, HR & Accountancy and Payroll Bureau

Range of expert back office services for (particularly small) voluntary sector groups. BVSC’s

professionally qualified staff also provide payroll services, HR advice, preparation of accounts

and independent examinations, for around 200 community groups at highly competitive rates.

http://www.bvsc.org/services

Accountable Body Function

BVSC is lead partner – chosen by the voluntary sector – for a number of major investment

programmes for Birmingham including the Big Lottery Fund’s Talent Match (youth

unemployment), Multiple and Complex Needs programmes and Ageing Better programmes.

http://www.bvsc.org/birmingham-and-solihull-talent-match

http://www.bvsc.org/complex-needs

Public and Private Sector Support

http://www.bvsc.org/assembly-networks

http://www.bvscthirdsectordatabase.org/

http://www.bvsc.org/all-events-and-training

http://www.bvsc.org/services

http://www.bvsc.org/birmingham-and-solihull-talent-match

http://www.bvsc.org/complex-needs



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Increasingly, BVSC provides support to public and private sector bodies wishing to engage

more effectively with voluntary groups, including SkillsXChange - a growing Corporate Social

Responsibility support service matching local businesses with voluntary sector groups.

http://www.bvsc.org/transform/skillsxchange

BVSC and the THIRD SECTOR SUPPORT CONTRACT:

OUTCOME (A) PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO MAKE A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION WITH THE TIME AND RESOURCES THEY WISH TO VOLUNTEER.

Our Volunteer Centre supports one of the largest local authority areas in Europe, serving over one million people and thousands of third sector organisations.

Our Volunteer Centre is an increasingly busy service which provides a high level of support to a client group whose needs have changed considerably in the last five years. In the last 18 months we have introduced a three-tier support service where the customer decides which level of support they need from us. 50% of citizens using our Volunteer Service require the highest level of support

which includes using a computer, registering for volunteering opportunities, applying for volunteering opportunities and contacting organisations.

After an initial assessment we are able to provide a brokerage service with over 2,000

volunteering opportunities, or place them on one of our many supported volunteering projects which aim to improve employability, increase self-confidence and mental wellbeing, reduce re-offending rates and enjoy cross-cultural exchanges with European partners.

Each high-quality intervention with a citizen costs approximately £27 per hour.

Since April 2012 we've supported just under 9,000 citizens in our Volunteer Centre and through our Do-It website, over half of whom had never used our Centre before.

The comprehensive monitoring and evaluation

Volunteer Centre Birmingham provides a wide variety of services to citizens. Since April 2012,

we:-

received over 6325 telephone enquiries (86 per week) and 1,714 email enquiries;

processed 24,356 volunteering applications (an average of 4 per volunteer);

added 2,088 new volunteering opportunities;

advertised 247 volunteering opportunities via our Twitter feed (since its launch in December

2012);

attended an average of 2 events per month to promote volunteering around the city.

http://www.bvsc.org/transform/skillsxchange



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processes underpinning our Centre show that:-

Unemployed people were twice as likely to register at our Volunteer Centre than online. We believe this is due to the additional projects and programmes we offer at the Centre.

Disabled people were twice as likely to register at our Volunteer Centre than online, due to the additional support that in-person advisers are able to give.

Where Volunteer Centre enquirers come from:



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The Value of Volunteering

Over a period of a year the top ranked volunteering opportunities in the Table below equated to a net value of just over £101,810,0001

Top Ranked Job Type NO % Avg wage Per week Per Year

Administration 231 11% £7.50 £262.50 £13,650.00

Community Work 223 11% 12.97 £453.95 £23,605.40 Advice, Information and Support 205 10% £7.50 £262.50 £13,650.00

General and Helping 201 10% £7.50 £262.50 £13,650.00

Fundraising 125 6% 12.97 £453.95 £23,605.40

Local Events 125 6% £7.50 £262.50 £13,650.00

£55.94 £1,957.90 £101,810.80

If all our volunteers were employed their salaries would equate to around £145,186,229 per

year full time or £66,370,847 part-time 1

What organisations want:

We advertised volunteering opportunities for just over 600 organisations during this period. Each organisation was quality checked for legal, financial and health and safety compliance and given further support and guidance where we felt improvements were needed. This provided 692 brand new

quality assured volunteering opportunities which ranged from shaking collection tins to becoming a Trustee for an organisation. This is the equivalent of 2 new opportunities uploaded to the volunteering database every single day

Funding the Volunteer Centre:

It costs approximately £211k per year to run the Volunteer Centre, of which £72.8k comes from our Contract with Birmingham City Council. This represents an investment of 34%. The remainder is funded through BVSC’s trading activities (e.g. our Conference Centre at 138 Digbeth) and our other volunteering-related project contracts with the National Careers Service, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Horner Foundation and Grundtvig European funding for overseas volunteers.



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Volunteering Outreach Hubs

Through the BVSC-led Transforming Local Infrastructure Programme, we've set up two (north and south) volunteering outreach hubs and are working towards six more around the city. Trained, quality assured and supported by our Volunteer Centre staff, Hubs will provide the same quality and level of volunteer brokerage services to citizens who are unable to travel into the city centre. This initiative, by

bringing volunteering support to communities, will significantly

increase interest and provide routes to volunteering to underrepresented groups.

Volunteers’ Week

BVSC led on and co-ordinate the city's Volunteers’ Week, an annual national event which urges citizens to undertake volunteering activities from 1 to 7 June.

This year's theme was ‘Do Something Different’ and we recruited over 800 volunteers who logged over 9,000

volunteering hours of activities. This amounted to an approximate net salary value of £116,814.

Our Volunteer Market Place, held in our Volunteer Centre and main foyer, had 41organisations with stands and we held mobile Volunteer Centre sessions in Aston, Small Heath and Hodge Hill.

City council staff also benefited from Volunteer Week through a Market Place we facilitated at the city's Woodcock Street premises.

Corporate Volunteering and Social Responsibility

Our Team Challenge initiative, delivered in partnership with Deutsche Bank, builds partnership initiatives between the private and voluntary sector.

- Working in partnership with four partners from the banking, professional services and accountancy professions we co-ordinated 200 volunteers, 44% of whom had never volunteered before.

- Eleven host organisations received 1,196 volunteering hours for projects which involved decorating unused offices and play space, clearing land at the side of a canal for community use, landscaping a community park, restoring a dilapidated community allotment, gardening and creating new features for a junior school and building a shelter for an inner city community garden.

- Beneficiaries included Women’s Help Centre, Balsall Heath Park, Action for Children’s Ladywood Centre, Canal and Rivers Trust and Edible Eastside , Birmingham Women's Hospital and Wychall Primary School.

“The whole day was so enjoyable, from the time the employee volunteers

arrived their enthusiasm and willingness to get started was evident.

They all worked so hard and with a 100% commitment. There was such

camaraderie too. It was lovely.”

- Team Challenge host feedback



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OUTCOME (B) : SOCIAL ACTION CONTINUES TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF COMMUNITIES AND VULNERABLE PEOPLE.

Supporting the Sector

Our Ask BVSC! service provides a high standard of capacity building services to organisations in the city, including guidance on setting up an organisation, healthy governance, funding and income generation, quality standards and policies and procedures. During the past 18 months we have:

supported 2169 organisations – that’s 29 per week – by telephone, email and drop-in service;

provided 258 individualised one to one support sessions - that's around 4 per week and a third of sessions were provided to new and emerging organisations.

About 7% of support enquiries came from public and statutory bodies, most particularly the City Council, schools and hospitals (seeking advice on supporting volunteers).

Our Open 4 Community Funding Portal gives free access to a huge variety of grants and funds across the country. During this period we received:-

1032 new registrations, 36% of which came from individuals or organisations in the 11 Priority Wards. This is equal to around 14 new registrations every day.

728 visits from existing registered users, 35% of which were from individuals or organisations in the Priority Wards.

over 10,000 logins, or 136 per week - 43% of which came from priority wards. An average of 80% of funding searches were conducted by community or voluntary groups, and 18% came from social enterprises. A quarter of searches came from brand new groups or organisations who were less than one year old. The type of organisation undertaking the most searches are shown in the table below.

Organisation Type %

Community 22%

Education and Training 14%

Young People and Youth Issues 10%

Disability 6%

Crime Reduction, Rehabilitation and Victim Support 5%

Unemployment and Worklessness 5%

Healthcare 5%



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Training the Sector

We provided 21 training events to 187 delegates in HR management, social media, bid writing, the Compact, project development, marketing and volunteers. There was an 88% attendance rate and satisfaction rate of 95%

95%

0%

5%

Would recommend training

yes

no

no response

54%42%

2%2%

Training will aid role

strongly agree

agree

neither

no response

56%

40%

3% 1%

Training will be used in role

strongly agree

agree

neither

no response



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Our Assembly Champions and Representatives are drawn from local voluntary groups and present the views of the sector on over 30 strategic panels in city. These include:-

City Housing Partnership

The Green Commission

Community Safety Partnership Exec Board

City Housing Partnership Executive Board

Children’s Strategic Board

BCC Corporate Third Sector group

Formal responses were delivered to the City Council regarding Devolution, Welfare Reform, Health of the Sector and Closing the Skills Gap.

We publish regular blogs to our website which summarise meetings and events and, more importantly, how local, regional and national policy changes can impact the sector.

OUTCOME (C) TWO WAY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE THIRD SECTOR AND THE COUNCIL LEADS TO EFFECTIVE DECISION MAKING.

Third Sector Assembly

In an uncertain world the Assembly is proving to be more essential than ever. Our developing dialogue and relationships with the public sector has resulted in the Assembly being their first point of contact for consultations and third sector opinions. The Assembly has also given voluntary sector groups a vital and respected forum to express their concerns regarding the impact of public sector cuts. Consultations and workshops during this period have included:-

Birmingham Budget 2013/14;

NHS Structures;

Welfare Reform;

Personalisation;

Children & Young People priorities;

Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012;

Key speakers have included Sir Albert Bore, Councillor John Cotton, Councillor Stewart Stacey, Councillor James McKay. Peter Hay, (BCC) and Denise McClellan (CE B’ham & Solihull NHS Clusters).

Communications and Contacts

Social media and electronic communications now play a crucial part in the way we distribute information to the sector.

Our Twitter base expands at an average of 103 new followers a month, adding to our large following of over 2,300.

Our regular Friday eBulletins - which contain information and links to commissioning opportunities, local and national policy changes, training and resources - are sent to just under

3,000 recipients every week. In addition, we distribute themed email bulletins to members of our Assembly networks, totalling 6 comprehensive email bulletins every month.

Our website receives 12,000 hits on average per month, the most popular pages by far being Jobs and Volunteering.

Over distribution list receives a copy of our printed Update magazine every month, and we now encourage the download of the PDF version to improve our environmental sustainability.



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OUTCOME (D) : A TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COUNCIL AND THE THIRD SECTOR CONTINUES TO DEVELOP BASED ON HONESTY, RESPECT AND GOOD PRACTICE.

We provided six training events for BCC staff regarding The Compact and implementing Compact principles. The successful round of training resulted in greater awareness and a determination to adopt and implement Compact principles within their Directorates - as seen from this selection of feedback. Further liaison with Lorna White at BCC has led to the planned incorporation of Compact principles into BCC Directorate Business Plans.

OUTCOME (E) THE VALUE OF BIRMINGHAM’S THIRD SECTOR IS UNDERSTOOD IN ALL ARENAS.

Our Third Sector Database is undergoing a massive

redevelopment. We have commissioned developers to

create a comprehensive system to act as a client contact,

client management and training booking system. Each

contact, whether it be a new membership, a telephone

enquiry, an email, a training booking form, will allow us to

track organisations and individuals from first contact,

through interventions to exit interview. This new data

management system will give us the capability to provide detailed reports and intelligence to

commissioners, and give us a clear audit trail of activities.

We currently have over 1300 organisations registered on the Third Sector Database, of which:

42% have an income of less than £50,000 and 20% having incomes of under £10,000

44% employ fewer than 10 paid staff.

36% are based in Ladywood

A geographical breakdown of BVSC members/contacts by district, service area and income level

follows.

“I will promote the Compact, use the Compact to support more effective partnerships in commissioning.”

“I will ensure the 12 week Compact consultancy process is adhered to.”

“I will challenge funding decisions

when I feel they are not Compact

compliant.”

“I will challenge Birmingham policy that conflicts with the Compact.”

- City Council delegates: 'Getting to Grips with the Compact'



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Organisational Membership by District



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Organisational Membership by Service Area



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Organisational Membership by Income Level



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SUMMARY INFORMATION

How BVSC’s Infrastructure Support Services are Funded:

Local Councils for Voluntary Service - how Birmingham compares:

Chart shows local authority investment in city’s Council for Voluntary Service per head of population

per year.



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QUALITY ASSURANCE

Funders of BVSC can be assured that they are purchasing a high quality service for their beneficiaries.

BVSC is the only organisation in Birmingham to hold a specific infrastructure support quality assurance

standard: the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) Quality Award. We

were also one of the first West Midlands organisations to gain the Investors in People GOLD Standard.

We are also a recognised Investor in Volunteers. We hold the Governance Assurance Process (GAP)

Award for good practice in voluntary sector governance, and the Practical Quality Assurance Standard

for Small Organisations (PQASSO) at Level 2.

BVSC 138 Digbeth Birmingham B5 6DR T: 0121 643 4343 F: 0121 643 4541 E: [email protected]

Volunteer Centre Birmingham T: 0121 678 8839 E: [email protected]

BVSC is a registered charity no. 218795 and Company Limited by Guarantee No 421688

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) Scrutiny Report... · Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) Report to Partnership, Contract Performance and Third Sector Overview