FREE DSC Zoom Talk: Becoming a Charity Trustee - Tuesday 25 January 2022
Have you ever thought about joining a charity as a trustee?
Many people working in the charity sector sooner or later think about joining a charity board – but how do you actually go about making it happen? There seem to be plenty of openings out there but knowing where to start and how to go about applying to become a trustee can be overwhelming at the beginning. In this Zoom Talk, we’ll help you make sense of it all!
Join us to find out more about:
How to find trustee openings
Is a trusteeship a good fit for you?
What skillsets are charities looking for when they recruit?
How to craft an application and prepare for an interview
Format: Panel discussion followed by Q&A with the attendees.
Book your place
Date & Time: Tuesday 25 January 2022, 16.30 – 17.30
Platform: Zoom
This Zoom Talk is free to attend. Book your place below, and don’t forget to click on the shopping basket (top right-hand corner) to check out at the end.
You will receive an instant booking acknowledgement email. Later, you will receive the login details in your confirmation email from our Customer Services team (please allow at least 24 hours for your booking to be processed).
Training schedule
16.30-17.3025 Jan 2022
Click for booking info
Peter Pushes Forward
Peter Holbrook, CEO Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) was one of two opening speakers at the recent VSNW Festival of North West Thinking (FNWT). Undertaking his under graduate studies in Preston - the location of the event - and still maintaining strong links with a Social Enterprise in Oldham he qualified on grounds of both connection and expertise. And what an expert he was.
With access to statistics such as a 6,000 increase in the number of Social Enterprises since the start of the pandemic (a 15% increase) and an observation that
47% of CEO's in social enterprises are women compared with
18% in the wider SME sector
3% in listed companies.
he was able to show an increasing and diverse sector. Nevertheless he tempered his observation with the comment that in "the other areas of protected characteristics" the position is not as good - but still better than mainstream business.
He then challenged communities to "come together to build opportunities that the government will not do" - and then issued the supplementary challenge of "how does the VCFSE sector do more and more with less and less"? The answer, as one would expect, was proposed as greater entrepreneurship.
Peter out this into the context of residential social care where 80% of UK residential social care is provided by Private Equity Funded businesses - all of whom are expected to make returns to shareholders. Without a business plan that shows that this is possible then investment does not arrive. The return is made at the expense of people who need support. A social enterprise model, which can apply across almost all ectors of the wider economy, does not offer cheaper services. It does pay higher wages - as part of reducing the high rate of child birth poverty (currently, running at 1 in 3 - up from 1 in 4 a decade ago); the surplus can be used for local initiatives or even deliver a multi-faceted social return in terms of employment, service etc.
Delegates were enthused and challenged in equal measure.
Peter’s presentation slides can be viewed here.
Madison Maintains Momentum
Madison E. Kerr opened the proceedings at the Festival of North West Thinking Conference 2021. An economist with Pro Bono Economics (PBE) she drew comparisons between her upbringing in Massachusetts and the UK, where she has lived for six years. The audience forgave her choice of domicile - some one has to live in Yorkshire!
Her opening talk drew on PBE research that indicated a strong desire of people to see local control over spending decisions, with national bodies tapping into local knowledge. She then compared this to the current state of play which is a complete reversal of this position. She also referenced work that PBE has undertaken for You Gov where the top five people priorities for "Levelling Up" were:
Good jobs with decent pay
Health
Crime
Housing
Local infrastructure
where as the majority of awards under various "Levelling Up" schemes were on national infrastructure (HS2 etc)
Her engaging presentation concluded with a call for National Government to listen to local people.
Madison’s presentation slides can be viewed here.
Commission Opportunity – Cheshire & Merseyside VCFSE Carers’ Lead
Voluntary Sector North West, Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership and NHS North West would like to support the development of a draft VCFSE Carers Strategy for Cheshire and Merseyside. They have consulted with carer support organisations and are forming a Cheshire & Merseyside Carers Strategy Steering Group to feed into the planning and to provide guidance around this work.
Open to applications from organisations or individuals with relevant expertise in or beyond Cheshire and Merseyside. Partnership proposals also welcome.
The Commission Brief document covers the tasks, skills, knowledge and experience expected of whichever organisation or individual is appointed. Whilst partnership proposals will be considered, one main contact will need to be delegated for accountability and liaison with the steering group.
Budget: £24k inc VAT
Deadline: Expressions of interest must be submitted by COB Monday 6th December 2021
Interviews: w/c 13th December
Panel: proposals will be assessed by a panel consisting of a one public sector lead on workforce/carers, one CEO from a carer support organisation in Cheshire & Warrington, one CEO from a carer support organisation in Merseyside, VSNW CEO
Timeframe: Delivery expected between December 2021 and May 2022
Download the full Commission Brief
Download the Expressions of Interest Form
Cheshire and Warrington Survey Findings
Volunteering places are lower in July than they were in June – which, itself was only at 60% of prepandemic rate. Some areas are reporting a reduction in the number of volunteers whereas others are reporting a reduction in placements available as operations are struggling to “get up to speed”. NfP synergy have published an interesting report, exploring volunteer trends (and other matters). It can be found here Ten facts from our new report on the impact of Covid on charities and their work | nfpSynergy
Meanwhile food bank usage remains high and constant. During the past month an interactive food insecurity map has been produced by the University of Sheffield. It can be found here UK local food insecurity of Adults Jan 2021 (arcgis.com) and it is this information that caused an article to appear on Conservative Home – authored by the MP for High Wycombe who was shocked to discover the issue in his constituency. If such articles help get the government’s ear then it is all to the good. The comments, relating to the article, are perhaps less positive.
Citizen’s Advice report a consistent workload. Pressures remain and they are working at capacity. We breath a sigh of relief that employment levels remain higher than anticipated. There does seem to be a downward trend in numbers of people seeking advice relating to Universal Credit. This may show that, once people can get into the system at the right level of support it works reasonably well. The removal of the temporary supplement may well reverse the trend.
Customer Services
I read a variety of blogs and recently read one about poor customer service in the railway industry. The blog can be found here Committed to Customers? – BusAndTrainUser – journeys around Britain by bus and train and, in summary, highlights difficulty in making contact with customer services teams. The author, before retirement, ran a highly regarded bus company. Some of the comments, after the article are quite amusing. Of particular note is the one where some one sent a compliment and received a standard letter which apologised for the issue and enclosed a £25.00 voucher!
But, how do we deal with customer service? As the new normal emerges and blended working impacts many we do have to have systems in place. It need not be complicated – just some one to deal with customer comments as part of their job. And, they should have time scheduled to undertake the task.
When I was CEO of a Community Enterprise I kept reminding my team that we had customers who were service users; customers who were people visiting and customers who paid the bills. The distinction was made for a variety of reasons.
Service users are customers because they use the services provided. If they are not up to the mark they will complain and, if too many complaints reach the customer who pays the bills the service will be taken away from us. So, we treat service users as customers, provide excellent service and respond to comments quickly and appropriately. We don’t send out a £25.00 voucher and an apology when some one says that we have done well. We don’t hide when some one says that we have not done well.
People who were visiting were also customers – regardless of the visit. Treat them well and provide a good experience and they could buy from us in the future. It is well over a decade since I moved on from that organisation. A successor has successfully repositioned it as a venue hire operation – an action prompted by feedback from purchasers of services resulting from visits to other events. The operation was alert to market changes by focussing on customer service.
But, the operation paying the bill was the ultimate customer. How service users were treated was part of the future contract negotiations. Value is more than just price or cost. Good customer service, at all levels, can enable an enhanced price. Poor customer service has long term effects in a market where there is choice.
Andrew Rainsford
20th August 2021
Event: COVID Impacts – sharing lessons learnt hosted by NEBOSH
This NEBOSH seminar was attended by VSNW. Lasting two hours it takes a long time to view. There is a section that can be ignored – unless you want to know how the British Safety Council test Covid visors. This interesting, but not very useful, section takes place between 50 minutes and 75 minutes into the session. It did make for a little light relief when drinking a mug of decaff.
The first session, 45 minutes, dealt with office return. Much is obvious; much is already known. The most interesting comment (25 minutes in) is that visors are not PPE – they are Community Protective Equipment (CPE) which was a phrase I had not heard before.
The final session – Mental Health and Grief in the workplace has many useful bits and pieces of information within it. This is well worth watching. The “funding professional” in me had ears pricking up at the suggestion for community based services. Here we have an expert sating that we are needed – a lovely clip to put into a funding proposal (and 9.22 into this section). They also made the point that there is a lot of “odd” stuff on the internet and that legitimate sources of support should be used.
All in all a good use of time. The office return section may be useful to staff (re)induction as this takes place.
Download the presentation slides
Andrew Rainsford
VSNW
Aug 2021
20 Ways to be a Good Charity Trustee
The Charity Excellence Framework have developed an online toolkit based upon the Charity Commission guidance regarding how to excel at being a charity trustee.
Everything you need and everything is free
Choose wisely
Join the team well
Set boundaries
Think strategically
Keep up-to-date
Advocate
Support fundraising
Be prepared for meetings
Don’t have a personal agenda
Speak up wisely
Ask the questions that need to be asked
Be action focussed
Don’t blame people
Act collectively
Value each other
Support each other
Share your own skills/experiences
Develop your skills/experience
Say thank you
For a more detailed list, click here.
The Greater Manchester VCSE Mental Health Leadership Group
THe VCSE Mental Health Leadership Group is inviting expressions of interest to join the GM VCSE Mental Health Leadership Group.
During the pandemic, this group has played an integral role as a champion of the needs and issues of VCSE service users and a vital role in the development of the Community Mental Health Transformation bid.
There are currently 7 vacancies, which include:
Locality leads for Bolton, Mancheser, Rochdale, Tameside and Glossop & Trafford
Priority Leads for Equalities and System Change.
Applicants must currently hold a senior/executive position in a mental health and wellbeing organisation in the VCSE sector in Greater Manchester.
Deadline is 9am Monday 9th August.
Click here, for more info and how to apply.
