Supporting Voluntary & Community Action April & May 2010
Inside Voscur’s MagazineA Millionaire comes to town
Election Special – four candidates speak about their vision for the voluntary sector
What makes a good leader?
Making Bristol accessible to all
Bristol Children’s Trust and the role of the voluntary sector
Befriending opportunities with Time2Share
African Initiatives
Update on Big Lottery funding
Bristol e-procurement – are you signed up?
Lower your ICT power usage
Training and learning opportunities
The
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Mat
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Charity no. 1018963
TACT is a well respected fostering and adoption agency. TACT will offer you excellent training with 24hr support and a break from caring when you need it.
TACT pay between £322 & £574 per week per child as well as additional allowances for birthdays, festivals and holidays.
Although fostering can be challenging it can also be very rewarding. If you believe you have the capacity and commitment to support vulnerable children and young people between 10-16 years old, then we would like to hear from you. To make a difference give us a ring now on: 0117 927 7725 or email [email protected]
www.tactcare.org.uk
Shape a life. Be a foster carer.
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 3
Charity no. 1018963
TACT is a well respected fostering and adoption agency. TACT will offer you excellent training with 24hr support and a break from caring when you need it.
TACT pay between £322 & £574 per week per child as well as additional allowances for birthdays, festivals and holidays.
Although fostering can be challenging it can also be very rewarding. If you believe you have the capacity and commitment to support vulnerable children and young people between 10-16 years old, then we would like to hear from you. To make a difference give us a ring now on: 0117 927 7725 or email [email protected]
www.tactcare.org.uk
Shape a life. Be a foster carer. Contents
Thrive! is available on disc. Please contact the
office if you would like to receive your Thrive!
this way. The newsletter is also available online
as a pdf at www.voscur.org/magazine
Why not advertise?
Special discounts for Voscur members. Deadlines for June/July edition of Thrive!: Monday 3 May for ads and Monday 24 May for flyers. Details of prices at www.voscur.org/magazine or phone Polly Stewart on 0117 909 9949
Disclaimer: some of the views expressed in this publication are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily represent those of Voscur. Publications, events and services mentioned in Thrive! are not necessarily endorsed by Voscur.
Welcome
4 Editorial
5–6 Voscur News
7-8 Sector NewsThird Sector Commissioning Select CommitteeBristol Partnership – draft Third Sector Strategy
9-13 Election SpecialAdeela Shafi, ConservativePaul Smith, LabourGlenn Vowles, GreenPaul Harrod, Liberal Democrat
14 Voscur New members
15 Vox PopsFollow your leader
16–17 Leadership What makes a good leader?
18–19 Voscur Training and Learning
20-21 Have Your SayDi Robinson, New Service Director for Communities and NeighbourhoodsCommunity Buildings Network
22–23 Equalities – AccessBristol Physical Access Chain
24–25 Children and Young PeopleBristol Children’s Trust and the Role of the Voluntary and Community SectorProfile – Time2Share
26–27 Secret Millionaire Bristol projects given record amounts
28–29 How to – Funding and FinanceUpdate on Big Lottery FundingBristol e-Procurement System – have you signed up?Bristol City Council Development Fund
30 How to – Green ICTGet it down! How to lower your power usage
31 How to – Green Page10:10 Taking action on climate change
32 Volunteering BristolGetting people with extra support needs into volunteering
33 Voscur Member ProfileGo Global with African Initiatives
34 Public Benefit ReportingA brief guide
35 Constitution CornerKeep up to date on Charitable Incorporated Organisation status
36 DiaryVoscur Training and Events in May and June
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 104
I have been working with Marvin
Rees (the Bristol Partnership
Director) since January, to
co-ordinate a series of events
under the banner of the Bristol
Partnership’s 20:20 week.
My motivation for getting involved
was to ensure that the voluntary
and community sector was at the
heart of the events programme,
contributing to and leading
different events in different
parts of the city. I hope that if
you haven’t been involved in
organising an event, you’ve been
able to get along to one.
It did feel a little odd, being a
member of the Bristol Partnership
and helping to organise an events
programme which was about
launching the partnership’s 10
year plan, when we don’t know
whether Voscur will be here next
year or not to help deliver it.
Like many of you, I am leading an
organisation with an uncertain
future. The most important piece
of our funding jig-saw, the City
Council investment, is secure until
30 September 2010. The services
that we provide are under review
and the Council is looking at
different ways of providing the
kind of support that we offer. I am
cautiously optimistic that we will
be here in one form or another,
but we will have to wait and see.
It was heartening to be asked at
a meeting recently what Voscur
members can do to support us,
and many of you have contacted
us to send messages of support
during the infrastructure review.
So thank you all very much – we
do appreciate it.
Unfortunately, we are going
through this at the same time
as many of our member groups
are facing uncertain futures. We
will continue to provide whatever
support we can to our members,
and if we can’t help you we
probably know someone who can.
Anyway, during stressful times, it’s
important to keep fit, so as part
of the 20:20 week, I asked the
Cycling City team to help me with
a route to work. I used to cycle
everywhere, but have become
fearful of cycling lately, and
want to rebuild my confidence.
I certainly need to improve my
fitness and reduce my carbon
footprint, so I hope that the next
time you see me, I will be able to
tell you that I have arrived by bike!
Wendy Stephenson
Chief Executive Equalities Article
Training
Resources
Event
Key to symbols
Dear members and friends
Editorial
Wendy Stephenson
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 5
Voscur News
Job Seekers Delight – Recruiters get it RightThe Voscur website jobs section
is the most popular part of
our website with over 70,000
unique visitors a year.
We host adverts for Voscur
members and other local and
national organisations and
companies. An average of 60 new
jobs are advertised every month.
Jobs on Voscur’s website were
viewed 22,000 times by 7,000
people in February 2010. Our
top job in February for a
Development Worker post at
WECIL (West of England Centre
for Inclusive Living) was viewed by
1000 job hunters.
50% of visitors to our jobs section
are from outside Bristol, giving
advertised posts a national reach.
New jobs are highlighted in our
weekly ebulletin distributed to
Bristol’s Voluntary &
Community sector.
Voscur website jobs
page: www.voscur.org/
view/jobs
To subscribe to the ebulletin visit:
www.voscur.org/ebulletin
Voscur welcomes new Compact Liaison Officer
Date for your diary – Voscur’s Annual Conference
We’re pleased to announce that
Mark Hubbard will be joining
Voscur as the new Compact
Liaison Officer from the
beginning of April.
Mark Hubbard has worked in the
voluntary and statutory sectors
for many years. He has worked
for small, local community
groups as well as regional and
national charities and for several
local authorities. He has had
different roles – mostly under
the headings of marketing,
fundraising, strategic planning
and project management.
Mark says, “I am very excited
about joining the team at Voscur
and working with public sector
commissioners in these times of
change. I am looking forward to
working with Bristol’s charities
and community groups to
support their partnership
working and involvement in
commissioning processes.”
Whilst Mark settles into his new
role, if you have any enquiries
on issues relating to the Bristol
Compact please call the Voscur
office or visit the Voscur website:
www.voscur.org/compact
Make sure you have the date
for this year’s Voscur AGM and
annual event – Wednesday 20
October – in your diary.
To highlight that 2010 is the
European Year for Combating
Poverty and Social Exclusion, the
theme of this year’s annual event
will be around how the Voluntary
Community and Social Enterprise
Sector in Bristol is tackling
poverty. We will be showcasing
the work of our members – so
look out for more details in the
June / July edition of Thrive!
in Voscur’s weekly ebulletin and
on the Voscur website:
www.voscur.org
Mark Hubbard
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 106
Voscur News
Many Voices, Many Ears
Asset Transfer Consultation
Have you read something in
Thrive you want to ask Voscur
about, seen something in the
weekly ebulletin, read an item
on the website or just got
something you want to ask us?
Who do you call? How do you
contact us?
Of course you can phone
us on 0117 909 9949, our
knowledgeable admin team
who answer the phones will be
able to help or get you through
to someone on the team who
can. You can also contact any
Voscur staff member directly by
email. Visit: www.voscur.org/
contact#staffteam
We’re making increasing use of
Social Media so you can engage
with us better online if that’s
what you prefer:
You can follow us on Twitter:
twitter.com/voscur
Become a fan of Voscur on Facebook:
bit.ly/a2PKDG
Suscribe to our YouTube Channel:
www.youtube.com/voscur
Or comment on Voscur Media:
www.slideshare.net/voscur
To discuss how to use these or
other IT issues you can ask any
questions on our ICT Forum:
www.voscur.org/forum/342
or phone the Voscur office:
0117 909 9949
As Thrive! goes to press, Bristol
City Council has announced the
launch of he consultation on
its Community Asset Transfer
policy. This consultation will run
until Wednesday 9 June 2010.
The Council is seeking your
comments and suggestions on
the draft policy that will ultimately
lead to an agreed, transparent
process for transferring the
management and/or ownership of
a council-owned property to Third
Sector (Voluntary Community and
Social Enterprise) organisations.
Voscur will be working with
partners to arrange an
information event on the
Community Asset Transfer policy
– look out for more details on the
Voscur website: www.voscur.org/
news/communityassettransfer
Malcolm X Centre, St Pauls – one of Bristol’s pilot asset transfer projects.
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 7
Third Sector Commissioning Select Committee
What is a Select Committee?
The aims of a Select Committee
are to: ensure that the Council
is meeting the needs of local
people, improve performance
and achieve best value, check
whether desired results are
being achieved, seek out errors
in policy, implementation and
procedures, enable action to be
taken when things go wrong,
and enhance councillors’ and
public involvement in the
scrutiny process.
How will this Committee achieve this?
The learning from all of the
sessions of the Committee will
be put together into a report
that will inform the Council’s
commissioning practice.
The Committee commissioned a
survey so that local third sector
organisations could share their
experiences of commissioning
(good and bad). The results were
presented to the committee on
31 March 2010 and will form part
of the final report.
National Good Practice
At its meeting in February, Pauline
Cimantas from the National
Association of Voluntary and
Community Action’s (NAVCA)
tender support project gave a
presentation on examples of good
practice from around the country.
This meeting also looked at
examples of good practice in
Croydon, where commissioning
has achieved beacon status in
this area.
The Select Committee is due to
run until April 2010, and meetings
are open to the public.
To find out more and see papers
from the meetings visit:
tinyurl.com/ycz2usg
Bristol City Council has set up a Select Committee that is looking at how the
Council commissions services from voluntary, community and social enterprise
organisations in Bristol. Councillor Helen Holland (leader of the Labour group)
chairs this committee which started meeting in December 2009 and is made up of
councillors from all parties.
Sector News
Commissioners need to:
• Communicate their intentions
and plans
• Think about how
commissioning affects
third sector organisations
(particularly medium-sized
organisations)
• Use grants and contracts
appropriately
• Use competitive tendering
appropriately
• Think about other ways of
securing value for money
• And particularly relevant in
the current climate – are
they encouraging competition
and collaboration (at the
same time)? What impact will
that have?
Key points that Pauline raised were:
Next Meetings, both to be held
at 10am at The Council House,
College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR:
Monday 12 April
Thursday 29 April
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 108
Sector News
Draft Third Sector Strategy – Your Views Invited
The draft strategy talks about the
benefits of a strategy and the
challenges for the third sector.
It describes the local context,
the drivers for change and talks
about the value of the sector.
What should be in the strategy?
The document lists the strategic
priorities as:
• Achieve mutual understanding
and awareness within and
across the public sector and the
third sector.
• Support the third sector to
access and participate in
commissioning and increase its
role in public service delivery.
• Support the effective
representation and participation
of the third sector in cross-
sector and neighbourhood
partnerships.
• Ensure that the Compact is
championed and complied with
by all partners and that there
are high levels of awareness of
the Compact across all sectors.
• Ensure that the sector
has access to high quality
infrastructure services.
• Ensure that the Council’s
Enabling Commissioning
Transformation Programme
recognises the added value and
social benefits the third sector
brings to local communities.
• Ensure that the third sector
is engaged throughout the
commissioning cycle, including
early involvement in community
needs analysis, consultation and
service design.
• Implement Full Cost Recovery in
commissioning processes.
• Ensure that the council
complies fully with the Compact
and that their staff champion
the Compact throughout
partnership working – including
three-year funding agreements
being developed as standard.
• Ensure that communication
with the Third sector is open
and transparent and that
public sector partners provide
information, for example,
about commissioning that is
easily accessible on the web
and through BePS (Bristol
e-procurements Service).
• Promote the independence of
the sector and the right of the
sector to challenge partners
and act as a ‘critical friend’
without any implied or real
threat to funding.
• Develop an Asset Transfer Policy
that sets out the conditions
under which asset transfer
will happen for the benefit of
communities.
• Promote opportunities for
volunteering and increase
awareness of the benefits
of volunteering to local
communities.
If you agree with these, or
have more ideas, then please
make your comments on the
strategy by visiting: tinyurl.com/
Br3rdSSSurvey
The Bristol Partnership is seeking your views on its draft third sector strategy.
You can read the strategy in full here: tinyurl.com/Br3rdSS and comment on it here:
tinyurl.com/Br3rdSSSurvey until 10 May 2010.
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 9
Election Special
The X Factor
Each of the prospective
parliamentary candidates was
invited to write 400 words for
Thrive! with the option of up to
800 words on the Voscur website.
See each of the candidates’
contributions in full at:
www.voscur.org/haveyoursay/
election2010
Who’s my candidate?
At the time of going to press,
the date of the general election
has not been announced. When
it is available, and once the
deadlines for local and for general
election candidate’s nominations
has closed, full details of all the
candidates will be available on
the Bristol City Council website at
www.bristol.gov.uk/elections
A pre-election manifesto for the third sector
NAVCA have launched a pre-
election manifesto calling on the
public sector to support voluntary
groups amid expected spending
cuts. It calls for five policy pledges
from the next government:
Commit all local public bodies
to fund local infrastructure so
it can support communities
in influencing public decision-
making.
To read the full NAVCA pre-
election manifesto ‘Strong
Independent Roots’ visit:
tinyurl.com/ykgaoy3
No vote, No voice
Local elections will take place
in Bristol on Thursday 6 May,
and a General Election must also
take place before the end of
June 2010.
To be eligible to vote, your name
must be on the electoral register.
The deadline for your name to be
added to the electoral register
in time to vote in the May local
elections is 20 April 2010 (your
name would be added by
28 April 2010).
To find out more about
registering to vote call Bristol
City Council electoral services on
(0117) 922 3790 or visit:
www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/
content/Council-Democracy/
Democracy-Elections/register-to-
vote.en
Before June 2010 the Prime Minister will be required to call a general election. In
anticipation, Voscur asked four new Bristol prospective parliamentary candidates from the
leading parties for their views on the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector
(VCSE) in Bristol, and if elected, what they would do to ensure the local VCSE thrives?
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1010
A voluntary organisation is more
often than not the first port of
call for vulnerable individuals
and families, and it is only if
these organisations are able to
appropriately, signpost or work
with that person, that there is
any chance of an issue being
dealt with.
For this reason it is vital that
the Third Sector is appropriately
funded and listened to. All too
often it is the government that
dictates what is best funded in
the voluntary sector, usually at the
expense of the service user and
of the organisation providing that
service. The number of times I
have seen voluntary organisations
having to alter their service to fit
the funding criteria is countless.
It is demoralising and skews the
actual needs of the community
to reflect what the government
thinks a community needs. That
has to be wrong.
The Conservative Party has long
recognised the value of the Third
Sector, which, in its simplest
form is the community pulling
together to deal with issues
relevant and local to them. To
cut the bureaucratic burden on
smaller charities and ensure less
money is wasted on red tape,
the Conservatives would reform
the Gift Aid system of tax-free
charitable giving.
To help more needy groups benefit
from voluntary sector expertise,
we would let voluntary groups
play a major role in running local
services like Sure Start.
To encourage more people to
dedicate time to charity work,
we would lead by example in
Government, giving all central
government employees an annual
volunteering leave entitlement.
And to ensure voluntary groups
get the funding they need, we
would scrap the rules which
prevent them from making a profit
when working for the Government,
creating a level playing field
between voluntary sector and
private providers.
As someone who is committed
to the work of the voluntary
sector and the role of volunteers
I have signed the ‘Support the
Volunteering Pledge’.
Tel: 0117 9736812
Email: [email protected]
Election Special - Conservative
The First Sector (commonly known as the Third Sector)
As somebody who has always had close links with the voluntary
sector, both as a volunteer and as a Management Committee
Member in various posts, I am only too familiar with both the value
of the Third Sector as well as the challenges it faces.
Adeela ShafiProspective Conservative Party Candidate
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 11
Election Special - Labour
Having run two national charities,
both of which were involved
in supporting other charitable
organisations, I understand
the frustration with short term
initiatives and the ease with which,
when under pressure Government
departments and local authorities
cut funding to the sector.
I favour simplification of VAT
and other tax systems affecting
the sector and longer term
funding with a clearer link to
outputs and less focus on
overbearing monitoring systems.
The government has devolved
too many services to expensive
and bureaucratic QUANGOs;
I strongly support passing
more of this funding to third
sector organisations (and local
Government).
Under Labour, the voluntary
and community sectors have
experienced unprecedented
growth. I would hope this
would continue but would
want to preserve the creativity
and flexibility of the sector to
undertake work which adapts to
meet real needs in imaginative
and flexible ways. I would also
support funding for infrastructure
organisations with the capacity to
lead and develop the sector.
I am excited by the expansion of
genuine social enterprises and
having taken my organisation
through the Social Enterprise Mark,
I would be promoting the vital role
of this part of the sector.
Email: [email protected]
Website:
bristolwestlabourparty.org.uk
Blog: bristolwestpaul.
wordpress.com
Twitter: bristolwestpaul
Paul SmithProspective Labour Party Candidate
I have worked in the voluntary sector for 20 years and value its
ability to innovate, trailblaze and reach people in a way the private
and statutory sectors do not manage. It has also become a spiritual
home for me due to these qualities.
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1012
VCSEs compete against vastly
better-resourced competitors,
often on an unequal playing
field. Risk taking and innovation
is a key characteristic of many
VCSEs, putting them at the
cutting edge: building civil society;
strengthening democracy;
discussing and acting on issues;
contributing to the economy;
helping people transition into jobs;
creating jobs; developing skills;
researching, developing; linking
communities.
Our policies commit us to: reverse
centralisation and empower local
authorities and VCSEs to help each
other much more. Greens want
quality education and training
programmes which increase
sector capacity at all levels. We
would provide sustainable funding
to VCSEs and redesign the banking
system with more emphasis
on local communities and re-
circulating money throughout the
local economy.
We would lay the basis for a
cultural shift in favour of VCSEs
through a charter for volunteers
and carers, outlining the statutory
right to time off for education,
public service and voluntary
work. Greens would introduce a
minimum income level beneath
which no-one could fall, but
upon which people could live –
a Citizen’s Income – financially
underpinning volunteering.
We would ensure Government
policy across all departments
recognises the contribution of
volunteers, and fosters a culture
which promotes and supports
volunteering as a key part of
community life.
All elected Greens pressurise
statutory authorities to abide by
Compact guidelines. We want the
divisive past few decades reversed
so that there is no artificial
separation between large and
smaller VCSEs and no sacrifice of
distinctiveness to compete
for contracts.
Good funding, effective capacity
building, full cost recovery is
what VCSEs need. Full and proper
participation in decision-making
and proper use of the sector’s
expertise in shaping communities
and meeting needs is vital to the
sustainable society Greens aim for.
Website: http://
vowlesthegreen.blogspot.com
Glenn VowlesProspective Green Party Candidate for Bristol East
Green policies on the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE)Fighting for equality, sustainability, democracy, local community,
self-reliance and cooperation is inherent in being Green. We want:
fairness for all; to meet needs and provide plentiful opportunities
now and in the long term; openness and accountability; strong
and empowered local communities and economies; all people and
sectors working together.
Election Special - Green Party
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 13
Election Special - Liberal Democrat
Today I am a board member of
the Bristol Enterprise
Development Fund which has a
long history of supporting new
community organisations.
Nearly ten years ago I was on
the first steering group of the
Government’s Social Enterprise
Unit. So I have first-hand
knowledge of this Government’s
support to the sector.
However that has not been
accompanied by any commitment
to localism, nor any real innovation
in the way public services are
delivered or Councils are allowed
to operate.
In reality, this Government has
been more wedded to central
control from Whitehall than any
in living memory.
If VCSE organisations are to thrive
they need to have the freedom to
develop, to take risks and to invest
in new opportunities. They are
not just an outsourced arm of
the State.
Part of the answer lies in opening
up procurement rules – so that
Councils can contract with a local
social enterprise rather than having
always to go with the lowest cost
private sector alternative.
It also lies with giving Councils and
elected councillors, greater powers
to invest in and regenerate our
towns and cities. This would mean
that VCSEs can be integral parts
of a wider strategy for localised
public service delivery rather than
just having to seek out funding
opportunities from yet more arms-
length Government agencies few
may have even heard of.
I helped set up Aspire in 1999.
Since then the opportunities for
social enterprises have grown
exponentially. Yet they are still
kept in their box by a
Government machine that rules
from the centre and does not
trust in local autonomy.
It is time to build on what has been
achieved in the past decade, but
also to set VCSEs free – and with it
bring a revival of local Government
and greater democratic
accountability.
Email: [email protected]
Paul HarrodProspective Liberal Democrat Candidate for Bristol East
The voluntary, community and social enterprise sector is one of the jewels in Bristol’s crown.I am the co-founder of Aspire, a social enterprise that creates full-
time employment for ex-homeless people, and which is still going
strong today. We could have picked no better city to begin such an
ambitious project than Bristol!
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1014
New Voscur Members
Alive! (Alive Activities Limited):
Provides activity workshops for
people living in residential care
– older people, those living with
degenerative illnesses, physical
disabilities, learning difficulties or
more serious mental disorders.
To find out more visit:
www.aliveactivites.org
Bangladesh Association: General
advice agency which is open to
all. Main users are Bangladeshis
and advice is provided in Bangla,
Sylheti and English.
To find out more visit:
www.bangladesh-association.
org/association
Tel: 0117 951 1491
Address: 539 Stapleton Road,
Eastville, Bristol BS5 6PE
Bristol Hospital Education
Service: Provides education for
children who are too ill to attend
mainstream school.
To find out more visit:
www.bristol-cyps.org.
uk/schools/contacts/
bristolhospitaleducationservice
Bristol City Council – Arts,
Festival and Events Team:
Supports and organises events
across Bristol. Runs workshops
and other activities. Also provides
advice and funding to young
artists and Key Arts Providers in
Bristol, e.g. the Watershed.
To find out more visit:
www.bristol.gov.uk/arts
Tel: 0117 922 2000
Envision: An award-winning
national youth education and
empowerment charity which
works with 16-19 year olds in
schools and colleges to help them
realise their own capacity to make
a difference.
To find out more visit:
www.envision.org.uk
Tel: 0121 722 7685
Peacemakers, Prayer Patrols:
Aims to eliminate street crimes
through the Prayer Patrols.
Engages local residents,
empowering them through
training to identify the needs and
to be part of the solution. Also run
awareness sessions with schools
and work alongside the Police and
other community projects.
To find out more email: info@
prayerpatrol.org.uk or phone the
24 hour helpline: 07939 025724
What If – Youth Theatre:
Provides accessible community
arts facilities for teenagers
in Oldland Common and the
surrounding areas.
To find out more contact
Ben Searle, email:
Tel: 07910 668258
REalliance CIC: A partnership
of four networks: Community
Recycling Network UK, Furniture
Reuse Network, Community
Composting Network and London
Community Resource Network.
Provides development support,
guidance and information and
represents community sustainable
resource management groups.
To find out more visit:
www.realliance.org.uk
Tel: 0117 9071727
The Travel Foundation: The
leading resource for the travel
industry on sustainable tourism.
An independent charity, funding
and managing projects around the
world, showcasing best practice.
To find out more visit:
www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk
Tel: 0117 927 3049
The W.A.S.P.S. Estate
Improvements Committee:
A voluntary community group set
up to “work to improve the quality
of life, and the environment for
all residents of: Whitehall Road
and Avenue, Alder Drive, Sycamore
Close, Plummers Hill, St George.”
Represents about 100 elderly/
disabled residents of the new
pre-fab estate.
To find out more email:
Tel: 07706 678921
Who’s Joined Voscur Recently?
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 15
Vox Pops
Follow your leaderWith both a general and local election coming up Bristolians will be helping to choose
the people who will be leading our city and country.
During March, we asked three Third Sector leaders to tell us:
What makes a good leader?
As Chair of
Voscur, I think
the important
qualities
of a good
leader are to understand
and be committed to the
work of the voluntary and
community sector; including
the values, independence and
distinctiveness of the work we
all do.
I also think we need to work
even better and more closely
together and to do this we
need honesty and clarity. I
think leadership also involves
us all being brave, venturing
from our comfort zones to
ensure that the sector plays an
important and necessary role
alongside the people of Bristol.
www.bartonhillsettlement .org.uk
Joanna Holmes
Chair of Voscur’s Board of
Directors and Chief Executive,
Barton Hill Settlement
Kevin Curley
identified the
steps that a
new leader of
a voluntary or
community sector organisation
could take in order to be
effective in their work:
A good leader should invest
in their trustees so that they
understand the vision and are
there to give support. They
need to get to know their
members, users and funders
and build the confidence of
members by keeping them up
to date with developments
and ask for their feedback. Put
income generation into place,
being aware that it can take 12
months to bring a return.
www.navca.org.uk
Kevin Curley
Chief Executive, NAVCA
(National Association for
Voluntary and Community
Action)
I think you
have to believe
in your mission
and share your
passion; have
a clear long term direction
but be open to new ideas.
The object is to create the
trust and the space for your
collaborators to co-author
the future and share in the
achievement.
www.watershed.co.uk
Dick Penny
Chair of the Bristol Partnership
and Director of the Watershed
Media Centre
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1016
Leadership
Leadership
The role of a leader in a voluntary
or community sector organisation
is a tough one. It may be the Chair
of your management committee
that you look to for leadership,
or the chair may delegate the
leadership role to the paid
manager or director. The health of
your organisation will owe much
to the knowledge and skills of the
people in these roles.
What sort of knowledge contributes to the effective leadership of your organisation?
You need knowledge of the
group’s environment, in particular
the opportunities and threats
that the group is likely to face.
You will need an understanding of
the organisation’s strengths and
weaknesses, a knowledge of what
has worked well in the past and in
what circumstances.
Much of this knowledge will be
acquired through experience, and,
if your budget allows, through
management training.
There are some activities that
you can do in the shorter term,
such as environmental scanning
and networking which can
enhance your knowledge in ways
that will help you contribute to
the leadership of your group.
Knowledge alone is not enough
to be able to persuade – you
have to be able to communicate
knowledge skilfully. The art
of communication is another
important leadership skill.
As well as persuasion, you may
influence through being a role
model. This is another aspect of
leadership, particularly in terms
of establishing shared values
and standards of performance,
behaviour and interpersonal
relationships.
Leadership in difficult times
Any group will face anxieties,
conflict and tensions at different
times. As the recession begins to
bite, budget cuts have to be faced
and with increased demands on
our services, the role of the leader
is particularly important.
Another important leadership
skill is to help the group deal with
conflict and tensions and so keep
up the morale and commitment
of the group.
As a leader you will be a focus for
the expectations of the group
that you lead. When things are
going well, this is great, but when
things go wrong, the experience
may be uncomfortable. It is
common for a group to blame
its leader(s) if things go wrong.
You will need to be able to take
criticism and absorb some of
the anxieties and tensions of the
group without overreacting. If you
can realise that this is a natural
and inevitable process, then you
will be better prepared.
The leader’s behaviour is
important in maintaining cohesion
and morale. If you can keep a
sense of proportion about the
problems facing the group, and
maintain your own sense of
When the best leader’s work is done the people say, “We did it ourselves”
Lao Tzu
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 17
enthusiasm and humour you will
help the group cope positively
with its problems. Acknowledging
the anxieties and fears which will
arise from time to time, without
giving in to the attitude that
the situation is hopeless, will
help the group to see that every
problem also has new creative
opportunities.
The strategic function of
leadership is also important in
maintaining morale. A group
that has a clear sense of where
it is going and what it is trying to
achieve, and that believes this to
be important, is more likely to be
happy and motivated than a group
that does not.
The above article has been
adapted from the Open Business
School Voluntary Sector
Management Programme.
Voscur Summer Training – Focus on LeadershipOur summer training programme
aims to help local voluntary
and community sector leaders,
whether you are a manager of
staff or volunteers, or a volunteer
yourself on a trustee board.
There are courses in roles and
responsibilities of trustees, dealing
with difficult issues in volunteer
management, staff contracts and
handbooks, time management,
and understanding collaboration.
See over the page for more
information.
Leadership
Keep up to date
with sector news by
subscribing to:
Voscur: www.voscur.org/
ebulletin
Third Sector: www.thirdsector.
co.uk/bulletins
NCVO Foresight Drivers:
www.3s4.org.uk/drivers
And Thrive! of course.
Jargon buster:
Environmental scanning =
identifying and keeping up
to date with environmental
changes that could be relevant
to the strategy or tactics of your
group or organisation.
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1018
Voscur Training and Learning
Welcome to Voscur LearningLeading in the voluntary and community sector means that we need a range of skills – most of us don’t
have specialists to deal with human resources issues, or help us to think strategically. This term our
course programme aims to address some of the practical challenges of leadership. We are currently
planning sessions on supervision, and disciplinary and grievance procedures, so please check our
e-bulletin and website for more information. To find out more about any of the courses listed below or
to book on to any course please go to www.voscur.org/training
Voscur recognises that you may need courses tailored for your organisation. We can run in
house courses on many topics. Contact Sophie Bayley on 0117 909 9949 for details.
How to deal with difficult issues in volunteer management FULL
Thursday 1 April, 9:30am-1pm
The Greenway Centre, Doncaster Road, Southmead, Bristol, BS10 5PY
This session will help you to support your
volunteers and think about how to use effective
communication, problem solving and setting
boundaries to help you identity and manage
difficult issues in your role.
Trainers: Sophie Bayley – Voscur and Jenny Idle
– Volunteering Bristol
Trustee Series 1: Why am I on the committee? FULL
Wednesday 21 April, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX
This course will give anyone who has the role of
a trustee a basic overview of their legal duties
and responsibilities and is ideal if you have just
become a trustee or just want to brush up on
your skills.
Trainers: Sophie Bayley – Voscur and Graham
Partridge – Avon and bristol Law Centre
Time Management for Volunteer Managers
Friday 23 April, 9:30am-3:30pm
Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4EA
Volunteer managers often have difficulties with
balancing many tasks. This session will give you
hints and tips to help you manage your time
more effectively.
Trainer: Sophie Bayley – Voscur
Employment Practice Network Event: Staff contracts and handbooks (Voscur in partnership with NCVO)Wednesday 28 April, 2pm-5pm
Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX
Are you puzzled about staff contracts? What’s
the difference in status between an employee,
a worker and a consultant – what about
volunteers? Understand the documents you
need in place at work, with this whistle-stop
tour of staff contracts, agreements and
handbooks. To book on this course please go
to www.ncvo-vol.org.uk or call Emma Allford
on 020 7520 2496.
Trainer: Cornhill HR
NEW
– L
OW
CO
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Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 19
Voscur Training and Learning
Trustee Series 2: Good Governance – How to be a better TrusteeWednesday 28 April, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX
This session complements ‘Why am I on the
committee?’ and looks in greater detail at how
Trustees can be more effective in their role. The
session covers governance, skills of trustees, risk
and liabilities and effective meetings.
Trainers: Sophie Bayley – Voscur and Graham
Partridge – Avon and Bristol Law Centre
Financial Management for the Non-Financially MindedThursday 6 May, 9:30am-3:30pm
Withywood Centre, Queens Road, Withywood, Bristol, BS13 8QA
This practical course looks at example
accounts of voluntary organisations. It will help
participants to make sense of their year end
accounts, communicate more effectively with
their auditor or independent examiner, and to
know what questions to ask. The course will
also help participants to present accounting
information to others and to use financial
information more effectively.
Trainer: Chris Hickey – Phoenix Associates
Improving Diversity in your Volunteer workforceWednesday 12 May, 9:30am-3:30pm
Windmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4EA
This is for people who manage volunteers and
would like to diversify their volunteer workforce.
It will cover equalities and socially excluded
communities; looking at who you are reaching;
equalities Communities in Bristol; legislation
supporting equalities volunteers and the
benefits of a diverse team.
Trainers: Sophie Bayley and Ruth Pitter –
Voscur
Understanding Collaboration and your responsibilities – a session for TrusteesThursday 27 May, 10am-12:30pm
Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX
Voscur, in partnership with NCVO. Working in
collaboration with other voluntary organisations
can make your organisation more effective,
efficient and resilient. This session for people on
the board of voluntary, community and social
enterprise sector organisations will cover drivers
for collaboration; duties and responsibilities; and
different models of collaboration.
Trainer: NCVO’s Collaborative Working Team
First Aid in the WorkplaceWednesday 23 June, 9:30am-4pm
Venue to be confirmed
This accredited one day course will give you a
basic introduction to First Aid. By the end of
the course, candidates will be able to
demonstrate the essential knowledge and skills
needed when dealing with First Aid emergencies
in the workplace.
Trainer: Brian Hibbert - BHTS Ltd
ACCR
EDIT
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www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1020
Have Your Say
My new role as Service Director for
Communities and Neighbourhoods
will start at the end of March. I am
really looking forward to getting
back to Bristol and working in
my home city on an agenda so
close to my heart. I have spent
11 years of my public sector
career supporting and developing
community and neighbourhood
working in one way or another.
This role offers the opportunity
to build on the successful work
already happening across many of
Bristol’s communities and support
the delivery of some really exciting
developments.
Prior to this job I have been
working in Gloucester, most
recently as the lead for the
Customer Experience strand of a
large transformation programme
for Gloucestershire County
Council, and for the previous four
years as Neighbourhood Manager
for a Pathfinder programme in
Gloucester City.
Some people may know that
my first public sector job was
as a Community Development
worker, for Bristol City Council,
based in Knowle West – my first
real introduction to working
with communities on their issues
and priorities within their own
neighbourhoods – I was hooked!
From that point I worked
for Bristol in community or
neighbourhood related roles
for seven years, before being
appointed in Gloucester. I have
also worked in the voluntary and
community sector for four years
and a wide variety of private
sector roles before that.
I have been working with key
colleagues over the past couple
of months to get up to speed as
much as possible before starting
in Bristol, but I imagine my first
couple of months will be very
much focussed on getting to grips
with all the new responsibilities
of the new role, including getting
out to see the new Partnerships
in action, meeting local
councillors, communities and
community organisations to hear
about what is working well and
what isn’t so far.
An Opportunity to Build on Successful WorkWe asked Di Robinson, the new Service Director for Communities and Neighbourhoods
to tell us a little about herself and the opportunities of her new role
Di Robinson
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 21
Have Your Say
At the fourth meeting of the
Community Buildings Network
in February, two proposals were
discussed to help develop this
informal network into a clearer
and more organised body that
could help influence both practical
and policy issues relating to
community buildings in Bristol.
The first suggestion was for the
creation of a formal federation.
A number of existing community
organisations currently running
venues could create a Community
Buildings federation. By
establishing a new organisation
with its own trustees and staff, a
federation could work together
and be more coordinated. A
federation could take a lead
on issues such as negotiating
contracts for a group of buildings,
advising on HR issues and
coordinating responses to policy
such at the councils expected
Asset Transfer Policy.
The second suggestion is to
formalise the Community Buildings
Network (CBN). This could be led
by an infrastructure organisation
such as Voscur, or one or
more of the existing voluntary,
community or social enterprise
organisations that specialise in
supporting community buildings.
Formalising the network would
also require individual members to
sign up to being part of the CBN,
leading to the CBN having a more
representative role.
More than 35 people attended
the last meeting of the network
and there was strong support
to proceed with formalising the
CBN. Support for a federation
was not dismissed but it was felt
it may not be the right time to
proceed with this idea. Voscur will
be working with the Development
Trust Association, Ethical Property
Foundation and others to
develop details for a formalised
Community Buildings network,
and proposals will be presented
and discussed at the next meeting
in June.
Laying Firm Foundations for a Community Buildings NetworkOver the past year, Voscur has worked with John Bos, Bristol City Council’s Community
Buildings Manager to establish a regular network meeting for those involved in running
community buildings (large and small) across Bristol.
Find out more:
Community Buildings
Network meeting on
Thursday 17 June at
The Beechwood Club,
Beechwood Road, Fishponds,
Bristol, BS16 3TR
Visit: www.voscur.org/
networks/communitybuildings
Or contact: Matthew Symonds,
[email protected] or Tel:
0117 909 9949
Community Buildings come in all shapes and sizes. Young Bristol building on Harbourside.
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1022
Equalities - Access
Bristol Physical Access Chain
Bristol Physical Access Chain
(BPAC) is an independent advisory
body to Bristol City Council. All
its members are disabled people
who live or work in Bristol and are
voluntarily giving their time to the
work of the group. The emphasis
is on independent since this is
essential to maintain meaningful
two-way dialogue.
So what do BPAC advise on?
Their purpose is to ensure as
much as possible, that best
practice is used to deliver services
in buildings and places which are
fully accessible to disabled and
elderly people.
Over the 11 years of BPAC’s
existence they have been involved
in many of the schemes which
have changed the face of Bristol
today. Members have always
taken the view that they should
endeavour to offer solutions
rather than criticise without
trying for resolution of the issues.
Experience has shown that this
approach helps to deliver better
services but also builds trust in
the skills of the group and
increases their reputation as a
positive force.
Typically today BPAC have groups working on:
• Planning applications for public
buildings and sites
• Public toilets
• Taxi provision and accessibility
• Paths and Parks
• Public transport
• Training and advice for students
and schools
Using skills learned from training
in up to date research standards,
BPAC advise architects and
developers, as well as Bristol
City Council, to determine
achievable levels of access in
city wide schemes.
BPAC have liaised on the design
and operation of such schemes
as Cabot Circus, ss Great Britain,
the City Museum and Art Gallery
and new swimming pools and
leisure centres. They are currently
fully involved with advising the
Primary Care Trust on the new
hospital design for South Bristol
and the changes mooted for the
M Shed (new museum of Bristol)
development as well as many
other projects.
Risks – shared use pathways
However, as in life generally,
there are circumstances where
people cannot agree on the right
course of action and so it has
been with BPAC. There have been
times where schemes brought to
their attention have raised their
hackles. This is where they show
that they are not just a nodding
dog but one that can bark and
bite too if necessary.
A common area where BPAC’s
opinion differs from many
proposals is around the creation
of shared use pathways. Members
have made it clear that shared use
is to be considered only where
the alternative, segregated lanes
or paths, cannot be achieved.
This has now become a national
debate and BPAC has made sure
that minimum standards need
to be agreed and to be taken
seriously. It is their view that there
are very real risks for mobility and
sensory impaired people as well as
some older people.
Lobbying and publicity
BPAC can use their right to lobby
at a local or national level on these
issues and have featured in news
articles throughout the years
as well as speaking on radio and
writing to councillors and MPs to
make their case.
Challenging poor design
The main role of this organisation
is to bring areas of concern
relating to streets, spaces,
“Not just a nodding dog but one that can bark and bite too if necessary”
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 23
Equalities - Access
buildings the council owns or has
influence over and services that
are used by disabled or elderly
people, to the attention of those
best placed to make necessary
changes. This is not always easy
and sometimes requires diplomacy
though more often tenacity. BPAC
challenge departments within
the council directly and ask them
to meet with them and account
for perceived failings. They will
combine with other disability
organisations to campaign for
better services and to correct
poor design or mistakes. They ask
for consultation to be meaningful
and the results to reflect the
desires and concerns of those
consulted.
Successful formula
Members come from all walks of
life and use their combined life
skills to strengthen the whole
group. This is a successful formula
which will continue to be built on
to ensure that the council and
other statutory and commercial
concerns designing the living
environment take disabled
people’s views seriously when
designing the living environment.
Contact:
Eamon McClelland
Strategic Access Officer,
Bristol City Council
Tel: 0117 922 2315
Email: eamon.mcclelland@
bristol.gov.uk
Blaise Castle Estate signage. This sign is meant to be tactile as well as visual and needs to be easily reached from a wheelchair.
Celebrating the launch of the website identifying travel modes for disabled people in Bristol and beyond. BPAC were instrumental in advising on this. Visit: www.gettingaboutgreaterbristol.org
BPAC helped to design the new entrance to the City Museum which has been a great success
Job Shop car park: alternative uses for disabled parking bays when they are not occupied!
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1024
Children and Young People
Bristol Children’s Trust and the Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector
These presentations, including the
role of VCS representatives can
be viewed at: www.voscur.org/
meetingsebulletin#previous
The following is a summary of the
presentation by Alison Jackson.
Bristol Children & Young People’s Trust
The Children and Young People’s
Trust is a partnership, led by
the Local Authority, that brings
together key agencies to improve
all Children and Young People’s
well-being through integrated
planning and delivery of services.
The Trust’s priorities include
narrowing the gap in outcomes,
focusing on prevention and early
intervention, involving children,
young people and parents, and
planning and commissioning
services. These priorities will
inform the Bristol Children &
Young People’s Plan.
The Trust will be responsible for
writing the Children & Young
People’s Plan for 2011-2014.
Meanwhile, the Trust is completing
a ‘light-touch’ review of the
existing Plan for April 2010-2011.
The Trust Board includes senior
representatives of all key partners
including the voluntary and
community sector (VCS). VCS
representatives’ reports can be
viewed at: www.voscur.org/
networks/children/reps
The Trust Executive Group
supports the Board by ensuring
the Board’s priorities are
implemented and advising the
Board on planning, commissioning
and performance. The Trust has
three Workstream Groups:
• Prevention and Early
Intervention
• 14 – 19
• Raising Attainment
There are other strategic
partnerships that feed information
into the Trust. These all have VCS
representatives. There are also
ten locality partnerships which
develop a better picture of local
need and bring partners together
to plan and deliver local priorities
in response to the Children &
Young People’s Plan. They also aim
to maintain a relationship with
Neighbourhood Partnerships.
VCS representation and
involvement is essential to ensure
that local priorities are identified
and there are improved outcomes
for children and young people.
Alison Jackson from Bristol City Council spoke about the Children’s Trust arrangements
and Dom Wood from 1625 Independent People spoke of his experience as a Voluntary and
Community Sector representative, at the January Joint Children and Young People’s Network
Details of VCS
representatives,
including those on the
Locality Partnership Executive
Boards can be accessed at:
www.voscur.org/networks/
children/reps
Asma Ahmed
Children and Young People’s
Organisations Network worker.
0117 909 9949
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 25
Children and Young People
Fun and Friendship – befriend a local disabled child or young person
Time2Share, a small local charity,
was set up in 1972 to support
disabled children and their families
through a befriending scheme and
youth groups. For the befriending
scheme, local people are linked
with one disabled child who has
similar interests to them, and then
they meet up each week for a
couple of hours.
They visit regularly and spend
time doing something which
the child chooses to do. Current
activities include cycling, going
to the cinema, going for a walk,
visiting theme parks, going out
for a meal and going shopping.
The scheme is very flexible and
many parents say they appreciate
having someone around with
extra energy! It gives children
an opportunity to have an
independent social life and a sense
that they have someone who
comes to spend time just with
them. It also gives parents/carers
a chance to have a short break
and catch up with other things.
There are currently young people
living near you who are looking
for someone to befriend them.
For example, we are looking for
two friends or a couple to take
two brothers out in Bedminster.
Or perhaps you could share an
interest in all things Japanese with
a teenage boy in Avonmouth?
Time2Share covers travel expenses
and the families cover the cost of
activities (with some support from
Time2Share). The scheme is very
flexible and can fit around work
commitments. Friends or families
can also get involved together,
and it can work very well if families
or couples take a disabled child
out with them on trips out. They
also need help with other areas of
their work, such as youth groups
and babysitting.
Although more disabled children now attend mainstream schools they may still struggle
socially and need support to go out independently.
You can contact
Time2Share by visiting:
time2share.org.uk or
Tel: 0117 941 5868. The
Bristol Area Coordinator
is Jenny Lyus. You can
find out more and apply on
www.time2share.org.uk
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1026
Secret Millionaire
Hartcliffe and Withywood Teenage Parents ProjectChristmas 2009 at the Hartcliffe
and Withywood Teenage Parents
Project - redundancy notices were
being given out and the project
was on the verge of closing. The
day Dawn Gibbins knocked at their
door was a pivotal moment in
the organisation’s fortunes. Her
donation of £100,000 has saved
the project and given it a new
lease of life.
Deana Stone, Manager, said:
“What is really great is that
Dawn chose us because she was
impressed with our good practice
and sensed the enthusiasm and
positive spirit of the teenage
parents who volunteer at the
project. Despite the climate at
the time – the project was due to
close – there was no negativity;
people were still energised and
worked together. We are like a big
family. We envisage 2010 will be a
fantastic year.”
Teenage parents have ownership
of the service, from the day-to-
day running of the centre
through to decisions made at
trustee level. Dawn’s donation
will allow them to continue
delivering services for the next
year, as well as to set up a satellite
scheme in Easton. They are going
to roll out a best practice package
to other communities so that
teenage parents across the city
can benefit.
The organisation was both
shocked and exhilarated to find
out that the woman they thought
had come as a volunteer emerged
as a millionaire and a benefactor.
Deana added her gratitude to
Voscur for signposting Channel
4 to the project as a potential
participant in a programme that
Voscur thought was about the
voluntary sector in the recession.
Crisis Centre MinistriesDawn also volunteered at the
Wild Goose Café, one of the
services operated by Crisis Centre
Ministries, a Christian charity
which has provided services to
homeless and vulnerable people in
Bristol for 25 years. They operate
a person-centred approach to
give service users the support
they need to change their lives
when they are ready. Along with
the café, the charity also offer
a drop-in centre, counselling,
help people into rehab and
offers resettlement support
to people who have secured
accommodation.
Alan Goddard, Drop-in Centre
Manager, said “Dawn worked in
the café and outreach service,
in order to get information
about what it is like to be
homeless. Dawn worked closely
with the Assistant Manager, Lisa,
as the programme was focused
on women.”
At the end of the eight days,
Dawn surprised the staff at the
café with a cheque for £130,000,
the largest donation ever given
out on The Secret Millionaire.
Alan continued “Dawn asked
that £100,000 be spent on a
Secret MillionaireThe money awarded to three Bristol projects
recently is the highest ever given in Channel 4’s
‘The Secret Millionaire’
Left to right: One25 caseworker, Karen, with Dawn and Director, Gill Nowland
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 27
Secret Millionaire
new building, which we have
recently purchased. She also
gave us £20,000 for further
fundraising activities to help raise
the additional funds needed to
refurbish the new building. £5,000
was to refurbish the current
café and kitchen, which we did
in three weeks, without having
to close. The remaining £5,000 is
being managed on behalf of an
individual client, to help her find
and furnish a flat and enrol on
college courses.”
One25One25 supports women trapped
in street sex work, offering a
drop-in centre, activities,
outreach service, one-to-one
support and a residential mother-
and-baby safe house. These
services help the women to build
new lives away from violence,
poverty and addiction.
Dawn volunteered with One25’s
outreach service, accompanying
staff in their van which drives
around the streets of Bristol
at night distributing food and
condoms to street sex workers.
Gill Nowland, the Acting Director,
said “Working with Dawn was a
privilege as she was genuinely
interested and compassionate
from the start. She was
complimentary and positive about
the services we provide.”
Dawn presented One25 with a
cheque for £25,000. £5,000 was
to improve security of the
outreach service to protect the
workers, and the rest of the
money was to set up a trust fund
to support women in recovery.
Gill continues, “This money is
being used to pay for activities
such as driving lessons, singing
lessons and acting classes –
designed to prevent relapse which
often comes through boredom
and low self-esteem. These
activities will encourage them to
reach their potential.”
None of the groups involved
(including Voscur) were aware that
Dawn was a secret millionaire. All
were under the impression that
Channel 4 was making
a programme about women
volunteering in the recession.
For further information,
and to make donations
to any of the charities
involved, please visit their
websites:
www.teenageparents.org.uk
www.crisis-centre.org.uk
www.one25.org.uk
The Wild Goose CafeDawn with Deana Stone (left) and others at The Hartcliffe and Withywood Teenage Parents’ Project
“Dawn was...impressed with
our good practice and sensed
the enthusiasm and positive
spirit of the teenage parents
who volunteer at the project”
Deana Stone,
Hartcliffe and Withywood
Teenage Parents’ Project
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1028
How to – Funding and Finance
Reaching Communities will
continue to offer funding of
between £10,000 and £500,000,
and will also continue to fund for
up to five years. However, a major
difference to the programme will
be the introduction of a simple
application process as well as a
quicker decision-making process
for projects requesting under
£40,000. In particular this should
benefit smaller community groups
who have less time and resources
to undertake complicated
application processes. BIG has also
stated that applicants will receive
more support throughout the
application process.
Reaching Communities will
continue to operate a two-stage
application process. The original
outline proposal form will be
available to download from the
website until 13 April and must be
submitted by 30 April. Applicants
invited to proceed to the next
stage will have 6 months in which
to submit their full application.
From 14 April, the new and
improved outline proposal form
will be available to download.
Applicants will be told within 20
working days of BIG’s receipt of
this form whether they are invited
to submit a full application.
Applicants not invited to submit a
full application will be given more
detailed feedback on why their
outline proposal was rejected,
highlighting the areas which need
improving to increase their chance
of going forward.
Applicants will be able to submit a
new application whenever they are
ready. Those applicants which are
invited to submit a full application
will need to do so within four
months, and BIG has stated that
they will take less time to make
decisions on full applications.
BIG has also made a change to the
Awards for All application process,
in that it is no longer necessary
to supply a referee. Awards for
All can provide funding of up to
£10,000 to new projects.
BIG has announced that a new
funding stream for community
buildings will be launched later in
Update on Big Lottery Funding
Following its Big Thinking consultation last year, the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) has
announced some changes to its ever-popular Reaching Communities programme.
This programme funds a wide range of voluntary, community and social enterprise
sector (VCSE) organisations delivering projects which make a difference to the lives
of communities and individuals in need
the year. More information on this
programme will be available from
BIG’s website and e-bulletins as it
becomes available.
For further information
please visit www.
biglotteryfund.
org.uk/southwest.htm,
telephone 08454 102030,
or email generalenquiries@
biglotteryfund.org.uk
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 29
Capacitybuilders is offering
volunteer managers the
opportunity to apply for a skills
development bursary up to £1950.
Each bursary will fully fund an
approved skills development
package, delivered regionally by
experienced training providers
and aligned to the national
occupational standards in
volunteer management.
There are a limited number
of bursaries available, so early
application is advised.
To find out more please visit
www.capacitybuilders.org.uk/
vmpskills
Volunteer Manager courses
are also run by Voscur and
Volunteering Bristol. See the
centre pages, visit www.voscur.
org/training to find out more,
or Tel: 0117 909 9949
How to – Funding and Finance
the BePS system. Hywel continues,
“Voluntary and community
sector groups need to register
with the BePS system and sign
up to receive email alerts about
funding opportunities that they
are interested in. BePS is a good
way of empowering voluntary and
community groups to become
aware of opportunities available
to them.”
In partnership with the Black
Development Agency, Voscur will
be organising training on the BePS
system in neighbourhoods across
the city. All upcoming training will
be publicised through Thrive! and
other regular publicity, including
our website and e-bulletin.
You can register on BePS at
procurement.bristol.gov.uk
The Bristol e-Procurement System
(BePS) is the online system
used by Bristol City Council
(BCC) to advertise and manage
opportunities to tender to deliver
public service contracts. Some
BCC departments, such as Children
and Young People’s Services,
have already been commissioning
the Voluntary, Community and
Social Enterprise sector to deliver
contracts, and in the future this is
going to increase.
The Community Development
Investment and Grants Team will
also start using the system soon.
Hywel Caddy, Investment and
Grants Manager, said “Once we’ve
finalised our funding agreements
for the 2010-2011 financial year
they will be sent out through BePS
and all the grants monitoring
will also need to be submitted
through this system, so it’s really
important that voluntary and
community groups sign up to
the system.”
The Investment and Grants
Team has fully committed its
funding for the next financial
year so there won’t be a grants
round. However, in future all
opportunities for investment from
them will be advertised through
This popular fund, managed by
Quartet Community Foundation
on behalf of Bristol City Council
will be open again for applications,
as of 1 April 2010. This Fund
supports local community
activities, and is also for the
purpose of assisting organisational
development and to strengthen
the capacity of organisations.
This year, there have been some
changes to the eligibility criteria,
and groups are advised to check
Quartet’s website carefully
before applying.
Visit: www.quartetcf.org.uk
Support and inspire your Volunteers and enhance the impact of your organisation
Bristol e-Procurement System – have you signed up yet?
Bristol City Council Development Fund
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1030
How to – Green your ICT
Get it down! – Lower your power usage
These, and many other strategies
and ideas for greening your ICT
use can be found in the Green ICT
database Voscur has been training
members to use in our Green ICT
Surgeries. You can find discussions
and more on the Voscur ICT
forums, add your ideas yourself
or email Sean: [email protected]
to arrange a free visit to help you
address your IT energy wastage.
In the last issue of Thrive! we
looked at the energy waste in
the Voluntary Sector and what
resources were available for
planning how to tackle it. This
issue we’re looking at some of the
many practical activities that could
be used as standalone projects to
get your power usage down, or as
part of a wider Green ICT strategy
for your group.
• PecoBOO detects when you’re
looking, and when you’re not
looking. Using a webcam and
a face detecting program,
PecoBOO can tell when you
turn away from your computer
display, so turns it off for you.
When you return, PecoBOO
turns the display back on
instantly. PecoBOO helps you
save energy and help contribute
to making IT that little bit more
sustainable. www.pecoboo.
co.uk
• Buy desktops with Intel Atom
processors – from as little
as £99 drawing only 65W of
energy (a light bulb’s worth!).
Unfortunately they don’t run
the Windows operating system,
but here’s your chance to try
out Ubuntu www.ubuntu.com
(also a computer operating
system).
• Replace your Desktops with
Laptops wholesale – Laptops
draw between 55%-80% less
power than Desktop machines,
only one power supply is
needed plus they are designed
to be energy efficient for
mobile working. By using
effective power management
users can push savings all the
way to the upper limit
• Use Skype (or other VoIP
solutions) as your phone
connection. No longer have a
powered phone on your desk
and reduce physical face to
face meetings (travel time
and transport cost savings)
replacing them with Virtual
face-to-face ones.
• Share documents online –
Google docs provides powerful
collaborative working tools. It
can host documents of all types
and now stores documents
in their original formats
(read and download only) for
sharing with work colleagues
or making fully public. This
allows even the smallest
organisation to have a powerful
distribution mechanism for their
publications without having to
purchase expensive web hosting
space or learn how to use FTP
software – docs.google.com
Jargon Buster:
VoIP (Voice Over Internet
Protocol) – Technology used
to make telephone calls via the
Internet.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) –
For transferring files between
two computers over a network.
Bright Star – Docked Laptop
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 31
How to – Green Page
10:10 Taking action on climate change
In the past, few environmental
campaigns in the UK have
successfully united diverse
organisations in a national drive
to reduce the country’s
greenhouse gas emissions. 10:10
is confident they can succeed
where others have failed.
10:10 is a mass movement
that is signing up people and
organisations from every corner
of British life. From councils and
hospitals to faith groups and scout
troops, organisations across the
country are deciding to get on
board at the start of the journey
to a low-carbon society.
By signing up to 10:10 you commit
your organisation to support the
national drive to reduce Britain’s
emissions steeply in 2010. That
means urging your members, your
staff, your clients and suppliers –
everyone you work with – to sign
up to cut their own emissions
by 10%; helping to distribute the
10:10 campaign logo; and doing
everything you can to reduce your
own operational emissions.
What exactly do you have to do if you sign the 10:10 pledge?
Your organisation’s carbon
footprint can be measured in
different ways, but for 10:10
purposes, there are four key areas:
• electricity
• on-site fuel use (gas, for
most of us)
• road transport
• air travel
These are the four areas you’ll
be asked to report your progress
on at the end of your 10:10 year.
In addition, joining 10:10 means
trying to find ways to reduce
your other, harder to measure
emissions not covered above,
and doing what you can to
encourage staff, members and
clients to get involved.
Bristol based organisations who
have already signed up to the
10:10 pledge include the Centre
for Sustainable Energy, Forum for
the Future, NHS Bristol, University
of Bristol Students Union and
Bristol City Council.
Matthew Symonds
Tel: 0117 909 9949
Find out more about
the 10:10 campaign at
www.1010uk.org
Find out how Voscur can help
you reduce your ICT carbon
footprint at www.voscur.org/
ict/greencomputing
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1032
Getting people with extra support needs into volunteering
Management programme. It’s
about working with organisations
to look at how they can best
support their volunteers – with a
particular focus on volunteers with
additional support needs. There’s
a big demand from referral
organisations to get people with
additional support needs into
volunteering. I’m the link between
the people making referrals
and organisations recruiting
volunteers. I want to get the
message across that volunteering
can be for everybody.
What do you mean by additional support needs?
We’re interpreting it broadly.
It could be disabled people,
mental health issues, low levels
of English or literacy, people in
recovery – a range of things.
What are the issues that these people face?
People face a lot of stigma, and
there’s a feeling that providing
them with extra support is
going to be time consuming.
So for many small organisations
with scant resources, it’s
understandable that recruiting
volunteers with additional support
needs is off-putting.
But I’d challenge this. Investing
time in supporting any volunteer
is important; volunteers with
additional needs are no different.
Research shows that given
the right help, volunteers with
additional support needs will stay
with an organisation for longer. In
a world where organisations can
have problems holding on to their
volunteers, this is really important.
If you are interested in finding out
more about the project please
contact me on 0117 989 7734 or
email piers@bristolvolunteers.
org.uk.
Contact –
Volunteering Bristol
Tel: 0117 989 7733
Email: info@bristolvolunteers.
org.uk Or visit: www.
bristolvolunteers.org.uk
Royal Oak House, Royal Oak
Avenue, Bristol BS1 4BG
Volunteering Bristol
Piers Cardiff, the new Volunteer Support Adviser at Volunteering Bristol, explains what
attracted him to the role and how he hopes to change attitudes towards volunteers
with additional support needs
Piers, you’ve just started a new role at Volunteering Bristol. It’s a bit different from your previous job – what attracted you to it?
One of the things that attracted
me was the opportunity to work
in a more hands-on role. My last
job was with the charity VSO in
London, co-ordinating training for
volunteers going overseas. It was
great, but I always felt one step
removed from things. Now I’m
working directly with volunteers
and a really diverse range of
organisations.
What’s the new project all about?
The project is funded by
Capacitybuilders’ Volunteer
Piers Cardiff
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 33
Member Profile
Go Global with African Initiatives!Funded by the youth volunteering charity V and the Big Lottery, African Initiatives
has been training groups of young volunteers aged 16-25 to put on three Community
Action Days exploring local and global issues
Project Co-ordinator, Claire
Faithorn says, “The idea of the
project is to give young people the
opportunity to create an event
themselves and to inspire others
on the issues they care about. We
wanted to give young people a
volunteering experience in which
they were supported but ultimately
one where they led the project and
called the shots”.
A diverse group of young people
has been involved with the project
from different areas of Bristol
and with different motivations.
However, all the volunteers
have shared the desire to make
a positive contribution to the
community. Go Global volunteer,
Bilan Jama from Eastville says, “I
wanted to get involved as I think
it’s important to not only be a
responsible member of the local
community but of the international
community as well. It’s important
to be aware of what’s happening
in the world and share that
knowledge with others.”
Twenty-two volunteers have so
far received training in planning
and facilitating fun and effective
workshops. The first of the
action days was held at Easton
Community Centre in February
and offered activities ranging
from “The World in Easton Trail”,
to “Refugee Realities?” a drama
workshop about refugee and
asylum seeker issues. Local MP
Kerry McCarthy attended the event
and later received messages from
the community about local and
global concerns such as racism,
transport and safety on the
streets.
After the third community day
the project will move on to focus
on action days in schools before
offering more opportunities
for whole communities later
in the year. Go Global is one of
several Global Education projects
run by African Initiatives. The
organisation’s UK programmes
are dedicated to raising
awareness of development issues,
interdependence, sustainability and
promoting positive images of the
developing world.
For more information
on how to get involved
in Go Global, or any of
the other projects run by African
Initiatives visit:
www.african-initiatives.org.uk
or contact Claire Faithorn,
Tel: 0117 916 6452 or Email:
www.voscur.org April / May 2010 Issue 1034
Public benefit is central to the work of all charities
What is public benefit?
According to the Charity
Commission, there must be
an identifiable benefit to the
public, or a section of the public.
Different charitable aims will
involve different sorts of benefits.
How should organisations report on public benefit?
Since early in 2008, charity
trustees have a new requirement
to report on their charity’s public
benefit in their Trustees’ Annual
Report.
How is this different from how you have reported in the past?
This will affect how you present
information in your report but
will not necessarily change the
content.
Smaller Charities
Trustees of smaller charities
need to continue to explain
their charity’s activities and
achievements during the year,
but set them in the context of
the charity’s aims to explain how
they have been carried out for the
public benefit.
All charities must confirm that the
trustees have paid due regard to
the Charity Commission’s guidance
on public benefit in deciding
what activities the charity should
undertake.
Larger Charities
For trustees of larger charities,
the public benefit reporting
requirement is the same as for
smaller charities, except they
are required to provide a fuller
explanation in their Trustees’
Annual Report of the significant
activities undertaken in order to
carry out the charity’s aims for the
public benefit, as well as their aims
and strategies.
They are required to explain the
charity’s achievements measured
by reference to the charity’s aims
and to the objectives set by the
trustees.
All Charities
Within that general framework, it
is for charity trustees to decide
how best to report on their
charity’s public benefit, based
upon what they think is
appropriate in their particular
charity’s circumstances.
Will the Charity Commission let me know if we don’t do it correctly?
The Charity Commission states
that trustees are legally obliged
to report on public benefit.
However, it does not currently
have the capacity to oversee
that organisations are doing this
correctly.
How can I get further help?
This information has been taken
from the Charity Commission’s
guidance Charities and Public
Benefit which provides more
information and has clear
examples of how organisations
have reported on public benefit.
Visit the Charity Commission’s
website:
www.charity-commission.gov.
uk/publicbenefit.asp
Tel: 0845 3000 218
Sophie Bayley
For an organisation to be recognised or registered as a charity in England and Wales, it
is required to demonstrate that its aims are for the public benefit.
However, many organisations are still unclear about how to show and report on this.
Public Benefit reporting
Issue 10 April / May 2010 www.voscur.org 35
Constitutions Corner
Keep up to date with CIOs (Charitable Incorporated Organisations)
So what is happening now?
It is still planned to have two main
types of CIO: the “Foundation”
model (for charities with a small,
stand-alone governing body)
and an “Association” model for
charities with a wider membership.
Model constitutions for each type
will be published by the Charity
Commission, and groups will have
to stick strictly to the models
offered, or “as near to that as
circumstances permit”. This means
less scope for flexibility than
with a company structure or an
unincorporated association.
It is currently proposed that all
Trustees (management committee
members) will need to be at least
16 years old, but there will be
no minimum age for ordinary
members, nor will ordinary
members have to provide a
financial guarantee.
The key point is that the Trustees
of a CIO will not also be Company
Directors, and will therefore not
be subject to company law, as in
the Companies Act 2006. They
will, however, have wider general
duties than do ‘ordinary’
charity trustees.
One big difference with
companies is that the members
of a CIO will have “duties” to the
charity rather than the individual
legal “rights” that company
members have – for example,
to recall a Board member, or to
appoint a proxy to vote for them.
Another difference will be that
membership lists will not be open
to public scrutiny.
In theory, organisations will
be able to convert existing
incorporated forms into a CIO
with no loss of continuity of legal
personality, but unincorporated
charities will still need to convert
through setting up a new,
separate CIO.
However, the capacity of the
Charity Commission for this new
work will be limited, and it may be
that only NEW organisations will
be able to register as CIOs, at least
for a while.
CIOs will need new secondary
legislation, and, with the general
election due, we may not see the
first CIOs registered until well
into 2011.
So, the advice remains: if you have
a pressing reason to incorporate
your organisation, do NOT wait
until the CIO “bus” finally arrives!
Many readers will be aware that the Charities Act 2006 offered the prospect of new
ways for a charity to have its own legal identity – that of the Charitable Incorporated
Organisation (CIO). This would allow trustees to be protected from liability (by
incorporation), whilst remedying the current situation of incorporated charities having
to answer to, and report to, two different regulators.
Graham Partridge
Community Groups
Legal Advice Worker, Avon &
Bristol Law Centre
Tel: 0117 924 8662
Email: [email protected]
Voscur Ltd. The CREATE Centre Smeaton Road Bristol BS1 6XN
Tel: 0117 909 9949Fax: 0117 933 0501Email: [email protected]: www.voscur.org
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Voscur Diary — April / May 2010
AprilThursday 1 April How to deal with difficult issues in volunteer management
The Greenway Centre, Doncaster Road, Southmead, Bristol, BS10 5PY (9:30am-1pm)
Thursday 15 April Voscur Assembly, in partnership with Clinks. For VCSE and Statutory organisations involved in criminal justice.St Nicholas of Torentino, Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 0RE (10am-1pm)
Wednesday 21 April Trustee Series 1: Why am I on the Committee? FULL
Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX (6:30pm-9:30pm)
Friday 23 April Time Management for Volunteer ManagersWindmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4EA (9:30am-3:30pm)
Wednesday 28 April Teenage Pregnancy Beyond 2010 – an opportunity to influence national and local strategy. Joint Children and Young People’s Network meeting.The Vassall Centre, Gill Avenue, Bristol, BS16 2QQ
Wednesday 28 April Trustee Series 2: Good Governance – How to be a better trusteeBarton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX (6:30pm-9:30pm)
Wednesday 28 April Employment Practice Network Event: Staff contracts and handbooksBarton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX (2pm-5pm)
MayThursday 6 May Financial Management for the Non-Financially Minded
Withywood Centre, Queens Road, Withywood, Bristol, BS13 8QA (9:30am-3:30pm)
Wednesday 12 May Improving Diversity in your Volunteer WorkforceWindmill Hill City Farm, Philip Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4EA (9:30am-3:30pm)
Thursday 27 May Understanding Collaboration and your role – a session for TrusteesBarton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, BS5 0AX (10am-12:30pm)
Thursday 27 May Neighbourhood Partnership Residents ForumVenue to be confirmed (6pm-9pm)
For full details of the above training and events visit: www.voscur.org or phone the Voscur office on: 0117 909 9949