Voluntary Arts Network has a new Briefings sheet on ‘Voluntary and community sector jargon’, explaining some of the most common terms and acronyms used.

Pdf, 171KB, http://www.voluntaryarts.org/uploaded/map7823.pdf.

Volunteering England has brought together a range of “influential figures spanning the private, public and voluntary sectors” to lead on implementing ‘Manifesto for Change’ from The Commission on the Future of Volunteering. The organisations include the National Trust, Institute of Directors, Department of Health, Time Banking UK and Yorkshire Water.

Six Action Groups, aiming to integrate volunteering so it becomes part of the DNA of society, cover Promotion, Modernising the Infrastructure, Public Sector Action, Skills for Volunteers, Skills and empowerment for volunteer managers and Employer Action.

Third Sector news item at http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/849893/ (registration required) or see press release.

A new web site from NCVO aims to give a friendly introduction to strategic thinking and planning, and how to know where you are going and how well you are doing.

Fairly basic but some useful stuff tucked away (although one or two missing links and it’s slightly messy when browsing using our standard font size). http://www.strategy-impact.org.uk.

Compact Voice, the body charged with representing the voluntary and community sector in England on the agreement with government, has produced a pack to support participation in the debate on the Compact. ‘Framing the debate on the future of the Compact’ is in pdf, 76KB, at http://www.compactvoice.org.uk/module_images/Framing%20the%20Debate2.pdf, and an online questionnaire is at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/compactquestionnaire. Respond by 10th November.

The Commission for the Compact’s discussion document (pdf, 47kb) is at http://www.thecompact.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID=101783. It has also just published research findings, ‘The State of Independence: A research study into independence and the Compact’. This finds that while The Compact has created an environment which encourages and supports central government departments to respect the independence of the third sector, there are still challenges ahead. News item.

voluntaryskills.com, the web site providing information on third sector skills and training in North East England, has expanded its area to include the North West, http://www.voluntaryskills.com.

With the next general election possibly creeping into sight, England’s umbrella body NCVO is considering what the voluntary and community sector wants to ask for from the next government. It has already produced an initial response to the Conservative’s Green Paper, ‘A stronger society, voluntary action into the 21st century’ at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/policy/index.asp?id=9554.

The interest appears to be reflected in greater attendance at the party conferences this month - see Third Sector news item at http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/844807/ (registration required).

The Charities Consortium, a grouping of senior finance staff at major charities, is to become the Large Charities Special Interest Group of Charity Finance Directors’ Group, http://www.cfdg.org.uk/cfdg/prdetail.asp?presscode=CFDG010908.

Two founders of community interest companies (CICs) are in the first stages of setting up a CIC association, reports Social Enterprise magazine. It would provide support, resources, increase awareness and lobby on issues such as tax.

News item at http://www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/sem/news/detail/index.asp?id=601, also see Charity Finance news item at http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=2197.

Third Sector magazine has reported that a Volunteer Rights Group, to protect volunteer rights, has been set up by twelve former volunteers who walked out from York CAB in protest over the treatment of a colleague.

See http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/839804/ (registration required).

The Compact, a voluntary partnership agreement between the government and the voluntary and community sector setting out principles for how the two sectors will work together, was originally agreed in 1998.

Following a request from Minister for the Third Sector Phil Hope, the Commission for the Compact has started a debate on its future. A discussion document (pdf, 47kb) is at http://www.thecompact.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID=101783 - respond by 10th November.

Umbrella body NCVO has its own consultation questionnaire and briefing on the issues at http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/policy/index.asp?id=9958.

Sector umbrella NCVO has launched a web page specifically for smaller organisations, bringing together their information on areas such as funding and finance, employment, health and safety, ICT and governance. http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/smallorganisations.

The Baring Foundation is building on previous work around environmental audits for voluntary organisations to explore the wider impacts of climate change on voluntary organisations and their beneficiaries.

They have published a report from a round-table meeting on the links between climate change and the charitable purposes of non-environmental organisations and are also inviting tenders for a project on this. It will connect up experts in climate change with experts in non-environmental areas of the voluntary sector to generate new perspectives on the urgency for action.

News item with tender link at http://www.baringfoundation.org.uk/News.htm, meeting report (pdf, 23KB) with some examples of action, at http://www.baringfoundation.org.uk/Primarypurposemeeting.pdf.

Meanwhile, Charity Finance Directors’ Group has made public commitments to sustainability with a web page detailing their approach, declaring that “the threat of climate change is a real and present concern to every individual and every organisation”. This could well give some practical inspiration to other organisations, and CFDG is also working on sustainability reporting guidance for charity finance directors, hopefully to be available spring 2009, http://www.cfdg.org.uk/cfdg/influencing_sustainability.asp.

And don’t forget the green office guide from Every Action Counts (actual title ‘Changing the Way We Work’) downloadable at http://www.everyactioncounts.org.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=230&n2=281 (reminder courtesy of bassac).