A Community Buildings programme with fifty million pounds to invest in physical hubs for communities, such as community centres and village halls, has been launched by the Big Lottery Fund. Grants of between £50,000 and £500,000 are available to improve, replace or introduce a building into a community that provides services and activities to meet the needs of a range of people, in England.

Press release, or start at http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/apply-uk. (Note: BLF site requires cookies to be on.)

The new CTXchange programme from Charity Technology Trust enables UK-based registered charities to request a wide range of Microsoft product donations for a small administrative fee.

This is an enhancement of Microsoft’s existing donation programme and CTXchange combines it with one from networking equipment company Cisco. http://www.ctxchange.org.

‘Five Steps to Risk Assessment’, from the Health and Safety Executive, has been revised and simplified to make it easier for ordinary people, not just health and safety experts, to undertake assessments and put them into practice.

In plain English with examples. http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/fivesteps.htm.

Following the Charity Commission’s report highlighting the need for complaints procedures, the Directory of Social Change has put together some simple templates to help time-pressed charities get going on this. These should be treated as a starting point rather than definitive.

http://www.dsc.org.uk/charityexchange/complaints0706.html.

A finance preview facility for the online database of charities run by GuideStar has finished a successful trial period. It is now available to any (England and Wales) registered charity to check the accuracy of the latest financial data entered onto the system before it is made available to the public, with an automatic email alert sent to the charity to notify them when new data is received.

See press release at http://www.guidestar.org.uk/press.aspx.

The Charity Commission has produced a ’start to finish’ guide to help charities recruit new trustees effectively and increase the range of skills and experience on their board.

‘Finding New Trustees - What charities need to know’, http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc30.asp.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has begun the process to remove charitable status from organisations that cannot be traced. This is part of its work to establish a comprehensive and accurate charity register. Third Sector reports that, in addition to the 2,150 on the current list of untraceable groups, another 6,000 are still trying to be contacted and could also be stripped of their status.

While undoubtedly many of those listed will be defunct, from a cursory look at the list (in Excel spreadsheet form, 893kb) it seems unlikely that all are, and some ‘parent’ bodies such as Age Concern and DIAL ought to check against their own records. There is 21 days (from 5th July in this case) to appeal against the removal decision.

See OSCR news item at http://www.oscr.org.uk/NewsItem.aspx?ID=b326fa0b-8c1c-4a44-abde-2a393b2fab77.

An online database of records relating to non-governmental organisations and pressure groups active in the UK since 1945 is the aim of a project of the University of Birmingham, to facilitate future historical research.

DANGO (Database of Archives of Non-Governmental Organisations) will include information already in the public domain as well as new material generated through contacts with current NGOs. See http://www.dango.bham.ac.uk.

(Source: VSSN)

Third Sector reports that a former investigator from the RSPCA has set up a company (Ruadan) to provide training to charities in undercover surveillance. Ruadan: http://www.ruadan.co.uk, Third Sector item.

Government plans to introduce ‘double devolution’ – giving people more say in their local areas – will not succeed unless people are supported in developing the skills they need to get involved, according to a new report from NCVO, ‘Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis 2006/07′.

http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/press/releases/index.asp?id=2939.

A new report into volunteering in later life is based on research by Age Concern Newcastle and Newcastle University. They say that the study offers important new insights into how and why older people choose to volunteer.

News item, or download ‘Volunteering, Self-Help and Citizenship in Later Life’ (pdf, 572kb) from http://www.acnewcastle.org/about/campaigns/.

How the new Department for Communities and Local Government (based on the old Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) is to be reshaped to drive social mobility and promote economic inclusion is explained at http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&PressNoticeID=2199.

Secretary of State Ruth Kelly has also replied to the Prime Minister’s remit letter at the time of the cabinet reshuffle in May, outlining key priorities - http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1501559.