Plaza’s Charity News Alert reports that the Charity Commission would look kindly on charities striving to reduce their environmental impacts even if this is not specifically stated in their objects, according to their legal adviser at the Commission’s recent discussion event on environmental responsibility.

Emma Knuckey said that “Although there are legal constraints we would encourage flexibility and innovation” and pointed to examples of religious charities as stakeholders in a God-created environment. http://www.plazapublishing.co.uk/enviromental.html.

Unite, Britain’s biggest union, has launched a campaign to combat bullying in the not-for-profit sector, following union representatives reporting that they have to deal with bullying related cases more than any other issue.

The union (which includes the old Amicus) believes that a lack of training for managers, coupled with the increasing pressures that workers are put under in the sector, exacerbates the bullying.

A dedicated email address has been set up to report incidents. News release at http://www.amicustheunion.org/default.aspx?page=7298.

A report on the results of the first phase of Carnegie UK’s ‘Inquiry into the future of civil society in UK and Ireland’ has been published. It explores the possible future threats to or opportunities for civil society, in 20 years time.

An article by inquiry chair Geoff Mulgan in Society Guardian (http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,2197394,00.html) gives an overview, but acknowledges that ‘most organisations have to live hand to mouth’ and have limited time to look at the bigger picture. A ‘Toolkit -Using scenarios and futures thinking’ provides a short guide to the subject with some useful ideas and is worth a read, as is ‘Futures for civil society - Summary’, if the full documents are too much. All downloadable in pdf format via http://democracy.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/civil_society.

For a sample, a diagram of drivers of change gives four Uncertainties Drivers: Limits of economics (such as growing socio-economic divides and pressure on global resources), Personal values (such as rising individualism and shifting identities), Shifting activism (such as disengagement with formal politics and the rise of ‘digital natives’), State and individual (such as the visibility of the security state and the regulation of civil life).

The definition of civil society used draws from Michael Edwards (see http://www.infed.org/association/civil_society.htm), with three dimensions - civil society as associational life, as the good society and as arenas for public deliberation.

The premier strategic technology event for trustees, chief executives, senior managers in finance, and IT & Fundraising executives.  Discover the full spectrum of strategic IT issues together with expert experience & solutions.  The conference takes place on the 7th November at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London.

The Charity IT Conference is an annual conference and exhibition targeted at Finance Directors and IT specialists from the not-for-profit sector. The event investigates key industry trends and offers practical insights into the most effective ways of utilising technology to maximise efficiency. Three programme streams offer delegates ample opportunity to select the most appropriate topics, with sessions tailored specifically for small, medium and large charities.

The conference will explore specific trends and technological advances in the not-for-profit sector. Aimed at Finance Directors and IT specialists, the format of the day will be a combination of plenary and streamed sessions, as well as interactive break-out workshops, giving delegates an opportunity to ‘Ask the Experts’ or to trial new technology products. London - 7 November 2007 at The QEII Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3EE.  Please call 0207 819 1200 to book or visit www.itconference.co.uk for further details.

The Department for International Development, which runs a number of funding programmes aimed at organisations that support international development and poverty reduction, has recently agreed to provide information on http://www.governmentfunding.org.uk (managed by Directoy of Social Change).

A web-based resource and podcast about online volunteering has been launched by Macdonald Youth Services in Canada for non-profit organisations entitled.

‘About Online Volunteering: Information Non-Profit Organizations Can Use’ is at http://www.mys.ca/aov/.

The House of Commons debate on the government’s Third Sector Review last Thursday (18th October) covered some interesting points in its five hour ramble. The Hansard record is here.

There was some argument between Labour and Conservatives on the issue of campaigning by charities. Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband appeared to rule out a change in the law that would allow charities to dedicate all their resources to political campaigning, although the government supported Charity Commission guidance that “charities can dedicate all of their resources to political campaigning for a period of time”. See Third Sector news item at
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/754056/ (registration required).

Former third sector minister Fiona Mactaggart raised the issue of the Community Champions Fund, set up in 2000 to give grants of up to £2,000 to help people start projects in their communities (in England), which is to be scrapped by Department for Children, Schools and Families. More on this in Plaza Charity News Alert at http://www.plazapublishing.co.uk/champion.html. Phil Hope, charities minister, gave assurances on trying to get new Communities Department community grant schemes in place by next April.

Phil Hope also said, when summing up the debate, that he expects to publish summary of responses on the Gift Aid review later this autumn and “to discuss any proposals arising from the consultation with the sector ahead of next year’s Budget”.

The government funded Digital Dialogues Project, run by the Hansard Society, is a review of how central government can use information and communication technology to enable and enhance public engagement.

The second phase report is based around evaluations of 12 case studies and has come up with 10 recommendations. See http://www.digitaldialogues.org.uk/secondreport.

A “resource for non-profits and socially-progressive political organizations who use the internet to advocate for their cause” is the description of the online version of The Internet Advocacy Book. The intended audience is non-profit executives, cause marketing consultants and political campaign professionals.

While some of the references are specifically American, its not overwhelmingly USA specific: http://www.issuemarketing.com.

(Source: Village Vibes)

VolunteerGenie (http://www.volunteergenie.org.uk) is a new web site to help charities use the media to recruit more volunteers, produced by Voluntary Action Media Unit.

There’s a wealth of material, much of which is applicable to any charity or campaign promotional activity, but has a volunteering slant.

The web site at Project Management for Development Organizations is what you might expect from such a name.

We haven’t delved in yet, but project management disciplines can apply elsewhere too. http://www.pm4dev.com/english/home.htm.

(Source: NGO Manager newsletter)

‘Meeting the Standards’ is a guide from the Governance Hub to help trustees attain the competences set out in the Trustee and Management Committee National Occupational Standards. It gives starting points for the individual unit aims of the standards, and list of resource documents and web sites which have some relevance.

The pdf, 455kb, can be downloaded from http://www.governancehub.org.uk/docs/Meeting_the_Standards_FINAL.pdf.