Investment Readiness Programme Nov12

7/30/2019 Investment Readiness Programme Nov12

1/3

nicva news November 2012

events/training

18

Investment readiness: What does it mean? Whyshould I care?We often read and hear the words investmentready, but many organisations struggle withthe idea, let alone understand what it takesto become investment ready. For years thesector was flooded with grants from various

sources. Although the word sustainability hasbeen used for more than a decade, there waspreviously no requirement to prove this whenapplying to funders. Social investment was acompletely different world, which many thirdsector organisations did not feel was relevantto them.

This is no longer the case, the world of fundraising has changed. Furthermore, it

has changed at an unparalleled rate. Withunprecedented cuts the need to diversify your income stream has become the key to growthand survival. There is a clear shift to impactinvestment, whether via grants, social financeor public sector commissioning.

Funders and social investors are demandingthat third sector organisations demonstrate thecapability of becoming investment ready.

So, what does this mean for your organisation? Are you looking to reduce your dependencyon grants and move to a mix of sources of finance for your activities? In your drive for sustainability do you have plans to diversifyyour income sources or expand your activities?Either way, Charity Bank can provide you withthe support to make sure that you are in goodshape to make the most of opportunities asthey arise. It helps charities, social enterprises

and community organisations to access thefinancial tools and knowledge they need in

order to maximise their mission impact.Charity Bank is unique. It is the only regulatedbank in the UK that that was set up to usedepositors money to provide financial supportand advice to the third sector.

Charity Bank has a mission: to tacklemarginalisation, social injustice and exclusionthrough investment. It is passionate abouttransforming peoples lives by harnessing thenations wealth and using it as a positive forcefor change. We want to see more of the 2,000billion sitting in deposit and savings accounts inthe UK reinvested for the common good.

Through its business support and financeservices, Charity Banks purpose is to help totransform the future for those charities, socialenterprises and community organisations thatwant to maximise their own mission impact.

In Northern Ireland, it goes one step further.Thanks to Atlantic Philanthropies and BuildingChange Trust, it is able to offer an accreditedpractical programme of Investment Readinessthrough the University of Ulster.

The Advanced Diploma in SustainableInvestment for the Third Sector is designed tohelp you to build on your knowledge base of financial and investment management, socialenterprise and contracting. It will also increaseyour skills-set and allow your organisation toachieve economies of scale.

Charity Bank can help your organisation

improve performance and take advantageof new opportunities in service delivery,


2/3

events/training

19nicva news November 2012

fundraising andadvocacy. You willalso be able to shareexperiences in incomegeneration and strategicdirection with others onthe programme.

At the end of theacademic journey, youand your organisationwill understand whatneeds to be done tobecome resilient, evenin these very difficulteconomic conditions.Ultimately you canbecome investmentready and gain aqualification along theway.

Dermot McCluskey, Director of Finance atDisability Action, who has taken part on theprogramme says

Investment readiness is a strategic themewhich will become increasingly important inlight of the challenges facing the third sector over the next few years.

What I particularly liked about the programmewas its emphasis on the practical rather thanthe academic, and the emphasis on using the modules to help find real solutions to real organisational issues.

In the case of my own organisation, the programme brought significant added valuein the areas of business planning, financial

and social impact measurement and risk

management. Learning from the experiencesof other programme participants was also very beneficial and helped me get a much better understanding of the shared issues facing thethird sector.

Azlina Bulmer, Programmes and DevelopmentManager from Charity Bank says Often we

hear that investment readiness is the barrier togrowth for many organisations. The Advanced Diploma in Sustainable Investment for the Third Sector offers a comprehensive and practical

programme of learning to equip organisationswith the skills they need to overcome barriersand build strong financial management capability.

For more information on the programme,please visit www.ulster.ac.uk/sits

The first cohort of participants in the Investment Readiness Programme


3/3

advertising

20 nicva news November 2012

University of Ulster Advanced Diploma in SustainableInvestment for the Third Sector

Are you a Chief Executive, Finance Manager, SeniorManager, Trustee or Director in a Northern Ireland charity,voluntary or community organisation, or social enterprise?

Public funding is under threat at the same time as therecession is impacting social enterprise activity and fundraising. Change is therefore in the air and the third sectorneeds to respond to the new environment. We are looking for third sector senior managers who have the mind setand the ambition to learn new skills and to engage withthe new realities.

Applications are now invited for a practically orientatedmanagement development programme that is speci callygeared towards those practicing managers who want tomake change happen within the third sector. In doing so,they will play a key role in taking the sector to the nextlevel in terms of enhanced strategic nancial managementcapability as well as making their organisations investment-ready.

The programme, commissioned by Charity Bank anddelivered by the Ulster Business School, University of Ulster in collaboration with Ortus, and CIPFA, will run fromJanuary 201 3 until end of April 201 4 . Workshops willbe held on the Jordanstown campus on a part-time basis(two days per month during term-time) and will involveelements of theory, case studies and benchmarking, aswell as a high degree of class participation and interaction.

Youll gain knowledge and understanding of how youcan make your organisation investment-ready throughenhanced nancial management capability and nancial/business planning techniques. Youll also considerareas such as making an effective marketing pitch topotential investors. Areas such as risk management andprocurement will also be covered.

The programme is structured around eight modules:

Strategic and Business Planning Sources of Finance Financial and Social Impact Measurement Risk Management Financial Stakeholder Marketing The Procurement Process Embedding the Plan Advocacy

Applicants should:

Be either a Chief Executive, Finance Manager, SeniorManager, Trustee or Director within a Northern Ireland

charity, voluntary or community organisation, or socialenterprise

Have decision making responsibility for sourcing nance and/or managing funding once it has beensecured

Have a high level of input into the strategic nancialmanagement process within the organisation

Have a working knowledge of Excel, Word, PowerPoint,Email, the internet and social media websites

Be committed to actively participating during classroom sessions

Assessment is primarily assignment based, with successfulcompletion leading to the award of the Advanced Diplomain Sustainable Investment for the Third Sector.

The programme cost is 500 per participant.

If you are interested in nding out more, please visitwww.ulster.ac.uk/sits

The Advanced Diploma in Sustainable Investment

Documents

Investment Readiness Programme Nov12