The Scottish charity regulator, OSCR, has a number of publications just out, including an overview of the new charity law north of the border, interim guidance on transitionary provisions for accounting regulations, and a leaflet on Becoming a Charity in Scotland.

All in pdf format via this link.

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) is going to open up its E-Guides programme, helping workers to develop the use of e-learning, to the voluntary sector. The 3 day course is designed to enable participants to become E-Guides to their colleagues, cascading skills to enable the use of technology in teaching and learning.

NIACE would like input from the sector to enable them to match specific needs. http://www.niace.org.uk/Conferences/Eguides.htm for background, then email: sonia.best@niace.org.uk on the consultation.

(Source: UKRiders)

The work of the government’s social exclusion unit is transferring to a smaller taskforce in the Cabinet Office reporting to Hilary Armstrong as Social Exclusion Minister. An Action Plan is expected for the autumn.

News release at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2006/060613_se.asp, or read New Start’s news item at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news969.html.

The new self-regulatory scheme for fundraising by UK charities launches on 21st June, when fundraising organisations will be able to join the scheme. The Fundraising Standards Board web site is at http://www.fsboard.org.uk, although only basic information is available for the moment. It will launch to the public in the autumn. Institute of Fundraising news item at http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/news_detail.cfm?item=256.

The IoF has published ‘Making Giving Go Further’ - a guide for charities on tax-effective giving (news item at http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/news_detail.cfm?item=255). This can be ordered at no charge by email: taxback@institute-of-fundraising.org.uk

A new one year course in Charity Finance and Accounting, starting this autumn, is designed to lead to both Affiliate membership of Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and a post-graduate Certificate from London South Bank University. It can also be seen as a foundation for the LSBU MSc in Charity Finance and Accounting.

Potential applicants for the course should contact Nigel Scott at LSBU’s charity faculty, email: cipfacharenq@lsbu.ac.uk, or see http://www.cipfa.org.uk/press/press_show.cfm?news_id=27716.

Draft charities legislation in Northern Ireland, following last year’s consultation on the Review of Charities Administration in NI, is now expected to be published by the end of July. It is likely to include the establishment of an NI Charity Commission, a Register of Charities and a new definition of charity.

Sector umbrella body NICVA will run consultation events with the Department for Social Development, provisionally planned for early September.

(Source: NICVA eNews)

Ed Miliband, the first government minister to have specific responsibility for the third sector, made his first major sector speech last week at Acevo’s Summer Forum.

Reproduced on their web site, it’s fairly long and detailed, and so rather difficult to summarise, although volunteering, social entrepreneurs and environmental issues all get a good look in, along with the phrase from Beveridge’s 1948 Voluntary Action report, “the driving power of social conscience”.

Worth a read as it does give a useful insight into his initial thinking: http://www.acevo.org.uk/main/index.php?content=newsitem&news_id=236.

A statement in the recent official ‘A Guide to Volunteering While on Benefits’ (from Department of Work and Pensions), stating that lunch expenses are not a legitimate expense to be reimbursed to benefit claimants, is being attacked by various volunteer-involving organisations.

A news item on Volunteering England says “Apart from the obvious injustice of this, this contradicts a recent NHS publication that was cleared by the Department for Work and Pensions/Jobcentre Plus.” Participants in the UKVPM online forum are encouraging organisations to raise concerns with MPs and DWP ministers.

http://www.volunteering.org.uk/campaignsandpolicies/whatsinthenews.htm.

This appeared spring 2005, but it shouldn’t date that quickly. The Invisible World of Association looks at the confusion created in the United States (but largely applies elsewhere too) by varying ways of labelling the sector.

It argues that ‘Association’ is the best label, and goes on to create a matrix of 4 types: Activist, Protection, Benefit and Mutual. http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/l2l/spring2005/mintzberg.html.

Guidelines for creating web sites suitable for users with low bandwidth which is aimed at those working in developing countries may be of wider interest. As they say, other groups, such as users with small screens, physical disabilities, hearing or visual impairments, can also benefit.

http://www.aidworld.org/Wiki.jsp?page=LowBandwidthGuidelines.

The Business Statement for the House of Commons just issued says that the second reading of the Charities Bill starts on 26th June. Timetabling is always provisional, and can be knocked out of sync by urgent government matters. However, it looks certain that it should now become law by the autumn (although not all provisions would come in immediately).

This is the news update we promised in today’s newsletter, which goes out at about the same time as the Business statement.
Leader of House of Commons Charities Bill update page.

The UK’s first suite of management qualifications for the voluntary sector has been launched by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM). Designed specifically for individuals who manage volunteers, the new qualifications will equip managers to effectively plan, organise and monitor voluntary workers. Other key elements include providing guidance on evaluating volunteers’ contribution to organisational goals and good practice on inspiring workers who are not motivated by pay cheques.

The recent study Improving Our Skills by the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation (VSNTO) found a sector specific skills shortage in management training for those managing volunteers and deemed the area a priority in terms of development needs. ILM is the first awarding body to meet the leadership and management needs of the voluntary sector directly.

With 59% of the voluntary sector earning an income of less than £10,000 per year, managers can struggle to maintain productive working environments in which their teams feel valued, happy and motivated. ILM’s new NVQ’s have been created with input from across the voluntary sector to equip the managers with the core competences needed to address issues like this.

June Hawkins, Head of Development at ILM said: “This exciting new suite of qualifications underlines ILM’s increasing commitment to the ‘third sector’. ILM is proud to have worked with the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation (UK Workforce Hub) to develop these NVQs which will allow organisations to improve the skills of their staff who manage volunteers.”
Andy Winter, Director of Learning & Consultancy for YMCA England which represents over 10,000 staff and volunteers also welcomed the new qualifications: “These new qualifications from ILM are a timely potential solution to those managers across the voluntary sector who are tasked with managing, motivating and involving volunteers in their organisation’s work.”

At all levels, candidates may take further optional units for their continuing professional development. The multi-level structure of these NVQs enables participants to progress from one level to the next as their career develops. ILM’s range of NVQs in generic management is also available for team leaders, first line, middle and senior managers and can be used to ‘widen’ a candidate’s qualification.
Find out where your nearest ILM Centre offering the new NVQ’s call: 01543 266867 or contact: customer@i-l-m.com.

Additional Info:

Management of Volunteers NVQs: The new suite of qualifications starts at level 3 for those who manage individual volunteers, or groups of volunteers directly on a day-to-day basis. Level 4 is for those who, whilst they may also be involved in day-to-day volunteer management, normally supervise others who directly manage volunteers in their organisation or area of authority. Level 5 is for senior managers who have the overall responsibility for developing and implementing the strategy for involving volunteers in their organisation’s work rather than the day-to-day volunteer management responsibility. All ILM NVQs are work-based and participants must provide evidence which demonstrates that they perform consistently and effectively to the national standards.

ILM: (http://www.i-l-m.com/) The Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) is the management arm of City & Guilds. ILM is the leading UK awarding body for leadership and management qualifications at individual, team and organisational levels. 80,000 managers each year achieve flexible and practical management development skills through ILM’s network of 2,000 approved centres that include colleges, universities and in house training programmes run by companies.

City & Guilds: (http://www.cityandguilds.com/) The UK’s leading awarding body for work-related qualifications. In total, the charity awards over 1.3 million certificates to learners each year on over 500 subjects ranging from IT and business administration to catering and manufacturing.