English umbrella body NCVO has published its response to the consultation on unclaimed assets that are held by banks and building societies.

The four principles for investment of these funds in society, of independence, sustainability, responsive and reunification, are summarised in their press release at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/press/releases/?id=3823 - there are links to the full position statement.

Last week (17th January) saw the formal announcement of government proposals to form a new agency to deliver regeneration and housing in England.

Communities England will bring together the functions of English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation, and a range of work carried out by the Department of Communities and Local Government, “including delivery in the areas of decent homes, housing market renewal, housing PFI, housing growth and urban regeneration”.

English Partnership’s Baroness Ford will lead the transition team - press release.

Local People Leading, an alliance campaigning for community-led regeneration in Scotland, was due to be launched last week.

New Start magazine news item.

Volunteering England’s board has agreed the merger with Student Volunteering England (subject to due diligence), which had already received SVE’s seal of approval.

Volunteering England is also to close the Birmingham office which came with the merger which created the current organisation, with effect from 31st March. Staff will have the option to relocate to the single-site office in London or take voluntary redundancy. http://www.volunteering.org.uk/aboutus/mediacentre/changes.htm.

The latest annual Charity Rewards survey compiled by consultancy Croner Reward shows that charity pay is up to 20% below other sectors with up to 26% less in London. This is based on 8,097 job records provided by 348 charities.

Online recruitment news story at http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/14838.asp.

The Charity Commission has reviewed a sample of 130 of the Summary Information Returns submitted by charities with a gross annual income greater than £1 million for the first year of this requirement. The SIR is not a regulatory tool, but intended for ‘the interested public’, so the report doesn’t focus on individual shortcomings but does include samples of the different approaches adopted.

The exercise will also improve the Guidance Notes and the SIR form, and feed into a review of the whole SIR process later in 2007 (not the consultation mentioned above).

In web or pdf format from http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/rs14.asp.

The ‘VoIP-4D Primer’ is available in four major languages, aimed at disseminating the use of telephony over the Internet (Voice over internet) in developing regions. Likely to be of use here too.

http://www.it46.se/voip4d/voip4d.php.

(Source: Nonprofit Online News)

Even with the scaling up powers of new technology making it easier to speak to a larger number of people, listening is still often more effective than talking.

Michael Gilbert, from Nonprofit Online News, explores the HIMS Matrix: A Tool for Assessing Listening. That’s a 2×2 grid of Heard, Spied upon, Misunderstood and Ignored.

http://news.gilbert.org/2006HIMSMatrix.

South Wales Volunteering Forum Conference, Novotel, Cardiff

A day for Volunteer Managers from across South Wales to network with their counterparts, hear from inspiring speakers who are renowned for their global, national and local impact; and access a toolkit of techniques to enable the management of multiple agendas, tackling of global issues and National Assembly agendas whilst keeping volunteers happy - the role of the Volunteer Manager! A charge of £65 includes all refreshments and a seated 2 course lunch.

For further details and a booking form, see SCVS info or contact David Bater at SCVS on 01792 544000.

Idealware’s monthly eNewsletter is a great way to keep on top of both the reviews and features they produce on technology for non-profits and round-ups of other sector software resources.

December’s edition mentions
their ‘Power from the People: Assessing the New Online Participatory Tools for Your Organization’, at http://www.idealware.org/articles/participatory_tools.php and ‘A Few Good RSVP Tools: Online Registration Options for Free Events’, http://www.idealware.org/articles/fgt_online_rsvp.php, where its American origin does limit its usefulness a little. Sign up to their newsletter from either of those links.

Also see Sandy Adirondack’s Legal Update re adding social networking sites (as well as blogging) to employer’s internet use policies: http://www.sandy-a.co.uk/managing.htm#socialnetworkpolicy.

The ‘Complete A - Z for Carers’ is a guide for informal carers living in Northern Ireland covering where you can access information, support and services relevant to carers.

We had difficulty finding this government publication on the web when published a few months ago, but get it in pdf format (1MB) at http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/ec-carers-guidance.

‘Together we can make it happen’ is a booklet from Age Concern England as an “introduction to intergenerational practice and the value of using an intergenerational approach” - bringing generations together in a purposeful and mutually beneficial way, involving them in activities which promote greater understanding and respect between generations, challenging stereotypes and addressing age discrimination.

Download in pdf format (1.28MB) via http://www.ageconcern.org.uk/AgeConcern/intergeneration.asp.

(Age Concern Information Bulletin via Voluntary Arts Network)