How to Network a Room

Date: 13.02.08
End Date: 13.02.08
Event Time: 18:00 - 21:00
Event Type: Skills Development/Training
Event Location: LONDON

Members Price: £45.00
Non Member member rate: £65.00

For more information please visit or to book please visit www.acevo.org.uk/events or email events@acevo.org.uk

Charities Evaluation Services is recruiting people within the voluntary and community sector who would like to become PQASSO Quality Mark peer reviewers, assessing organisations against the PQASSO standards.

For more information, see http://www.pqassoqualitymark.org.uk.

A web site for the review of the ‘thirty year rule’ has been launched at http://www.30yearrulereview.org.uk.

The Prime Minister announced this in October: “It is time to look again at whether historical records can be made available for public inspection much more swiftly than under the current arrangements.”

Respond by 29th February.

As part of its ‘Aiming high for young people’ strategy, the government is consulting “those working for the benefit of young people about how to improve the capacity, coherence and quality of support arrangements for youth sector professionals, volunteers and organisations”.

To 9th April - http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/conDetails.cfm?consultationId=1525. (News item: http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=345473&NewsAreaID=2.)

The Office of the Third Sector would like to hear from social enterprises or other third sector organisations that have carried out evaluations using the Social Return on Investment approach.

The OTS is scoping the interest in and usage of SROI as an impact measurement tool. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/080111_sroi.aspx.

The Committee Stage for Northern Ireland’s charities legislation has started, and organisations or individuals can submit written evidence to the Assembly Committee for Social Development by 5th February.

This should be structured to address specific clauses of the Bill, be in Word format and emailed to: committee.socialdevelopment@niassembly.gov.uk. Details of the Charities Bill can be found at http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/legislation/primary/2007/nia9_07.htm.

(Source: NICVA)

The use of mobile phones in cars isn’t the only ‘driver distraction’ danger covered in a fact sheet produced by safety charity RoSPA.

Research is revealing the contribution to road accidents of other forms of driver multi-tasking, and while this focuses on driver distraction, it can apply to other road users such as cyclists and even pedestrians. Organisations may also be held liable for the actions of employees in working hours.

See http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/advice/driving/distraction.htm.

James Caan, entrepreneur and ‘dragon’ on BBC 2’s Dragons’ Den,
is backing a new competition for health groups supporting their local community. The Dragons’ Den style scheme, PITCH YOUR PROJECT, is looking for organisations that benefit the health, wellbeing and fitness of their community with the support of volunteers. Whether it’s running a sports club, befriending scheme, or patient support group, if the project has an unusual idea for making a difference with volunteers, they could win £1000 cash when they pitch their project to a panel of experts.

James Caan, who listens to innovative ideas on the BBC show, said:

“We have so many people on Dragons’ Den who pitch a variety of business ideas, so this project
is an interesting opportunity to learn about ideas for improving people’s health and wellbeing. My advice to organisations pitching
is to prepare by putting yourself in the shoes of the Dragons and thinking about the sort of questions they might ask. Nothing can compare to the challenge of pitching your idea to a panel of experts in front of a camera. It really sorts the wheat from the chaff.”

Five shortlisted projects will be given £500 to develop a pitch as well as receiving face to face advice from a panel of experts under the watchful eye of the camera.

Project Manager Jane Dawson says:

“This project
is all about discovering new ways of making the most of volunteers’ time in the delivery of health and wellbeing services. The panellists are looking for innovative, effective ideas. The charities and community groups will have support from the Dragons and a fantastic opportunity to develop and grow.”

PITCH YOUR PROJECT
is run by national volunteering charity, TimeBank, in partnership with the NHS Foundation Trust Network. The projects may be either inside or outside of the health system and can be based in the community or within an institution. The competition
is initially running in Northumbria and
Sheffield Healthcare Trust regions.

To find out more or apply please go to www.journeystohealth.org or you can ring Jane Dawson on 0845 456 1668 or email her at j.dawson@timebank.org.uk

Leaders Together is a new mentoring scheme matching senior professionals in the voluntary sector with leaders of Refugee Community Organisations.

The TimeBank project aims to increase the capacity of grassroots Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) by tapping into the different knowledge and skills of mainstream voluntary sector organisations.

Leaders from London based RCOs are matched in one to one mentoring relationships for a total of 24 hours over a six month period. Mentors share their own professional experience with their mentee, supporting them with specific work-related goals.

The project needs mentors who are working at a senior level within the voluntary sector. They can be working in areas such as fundraising, finance, human resources, senior management, development, communications or policy. Mentors should have leadership skills and management experience which they can draw on to offer their support.

Andy Gregg, chief executive of London Advice Services Alliance has just registered to be a mentor. He says:

“I would like to become a mentor with Leaders Together because I am interested in working with refugees and their community organisations. Having worked in the voluntary sector at a senior level for over 20 years, I have substantial experience and knowledge of all aspects of governance and management which could be useful to the leader of an RCO. I know the guidance I have received throughout my career has had a huge impact on my personal development, so I hope my insights will contribute to my mentee’s development of their potential and their organisation. I’m also looking forward to meeting new people from a different part of the sector and gaining fresh perspectives.”

Leaders Together is running in London. To find out more and to register to become a volunteer mentor or mentee on the Leaders Together project, please contact Sophie Walrafen on 0207 700 8130 or visit www.leaderstogether.org.uk

Scotland’s charity regulator OSCR has invited comments on its guidance for meeting the charity test under the Charities and Trustee Investment Scotland Act 2005. OSCR intends to update the guidance in light of its experience over the two years since the legislation came into force.

http://www.oscr.org.uk/OpenConsultations.stm - to 7th April. Analysis of responses will be published by 30th April with final guidance being produced in the summer.

The latest Charity Commission News (January 2008) mainly focuses on implementing the Charities Act and the Public Benefit test in particular (see news item below).

Read on the web at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/tcc/ccnews27.asp or download as pdf, 452kb, http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/tcc/pdfs/ccnews27.pdf.

An American study involving 360-degree evaluations, produced by a nonprofit social-change consulting firm with a consulting firm specialising in leadership and organisational assessment, gave nonprofit leaders higher ratings than for-profit leaders.

Nonprofit Quarterly, which reckons this is the first study of its kind, has made its in-depth article on this openly available at http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/content/view/165/1/. (NPQ news release at http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/content/view/253/54/).