National Survey of the Third Sector
The Office of the Third Sector (in the Cabinet Office) is to ask third sector organisations to share their experiences. This will help give local government the information it needs to ensure an environment for a thriving third sector - a new national performance target on which Local Authorities will be assessed. In Manchester, MACC and others are campaigning to have this target included in the Local Area Agreement as a commitment by the Manchester Partnership. In order to put together a picture of the starting position nationally (i.e. "baseline data"), from 22 September, 104000 charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises will receive the National Survey of Third Sector Organisations (NSTSO) questionnaire from Ipsos MORI. This will be the biggest ever survey of the sector and will ask about local and national funding relationships, advice and support services and the state of relations with local government. MACC has receieved notification that we will be included in the survey - so if you want to send us your views to feed in, please do so.
Third Sector Survey
The Office of the Third Sector is carrying out a Third Sector Flexibility Survey addressed to third sector organisations that are currently delivering public services or have been involved in their delivery in the last 12 months. The survey is a follow up to the Cabinet Office publication “Excellence and Fairness: Achieving world class public services”. Through it the Office for the Third Sector aims to improve its understanding of what supports and drives innovation in Third Sector public service delivery. If your organisation is currently involved or has been involved in public service delivery in the last 12 months, please take the time to complete the survey and return it by 8 September 2008. Click here to complete the survey. Please return this survey even if it is incomplete. All answers are valuable.
Manchester Infrastructure Support Survey
Manchester City Council has launched a consultation survey on the support services currently available for voluntary and community sector organisations. These are currently being provided by Novas Scarman Trust The information provided will identify how the current service is being used and gaps in provision - which will shape the tender for the new contrct for this work. MACC strongly encourages all local voluntary sector organisations to take part in this survey: there is a clear need to develop the range of support available to the sector and this is the big opportunity to communicate that message to the people who commission the service. Follow the link below to take part. The deadline is 30th September 2008.
A hard copy of the questionnaire can be downloaded from the City Council website or is available from: The Third Sector Team, Corporate Performance Group, Manchester City Council, PO Box 532, Manchester M60 2LA tel: 0161 234 3141.
Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care
"Consultation Workshops” at the Gujarat Centre (GHS Enterprise Ltd), Preston on the 8th September 2008. The Department of Health recognises that volunteering plays a huge potential role in the context of more flexible, responsive and patient-focused health and social care services. This consultation exercise is designed to discuss and debate the five key elements of the “Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care document”
- Support for individual volunteers
- Effective management within organisations
- Commissioning environment and infrastructure
- Promoting partnership
- Leadership
This is one of nine regional workshops being held across England by the Department of Health in conjunction with CSIP NW. The consultation will end on 30th September 2008. To access the consultation on line click on the link below. If you are able to attend please complete the attached booking form and returning to philip.jones@csip.org.uk Alternatively, you can fax the form to 0161 351 4936.
Introduction to Advocacy
Action for Advocacy are holding a training day on advocacy in Manchester on 21st of August. It will focus on defining what advocacy is, different models of advocacy and what constitutes effective practice. The day is aimed at:
- people who are newly working or volunteering in advocacy
- people who are interested in working in the advocacy sector either on a voluntary or paid basis and want to find out more about what it is
- people who work in advocacy services who want to gain a common understanding of what ‘advocacy’ means to everyone in the organisation.
Cost: £75 for the voluntary sector, £105 for the statutory sector, which includes lunch and refreshments. Please book online by clicking on the link or via Action for Advocacy's website:
Is your Organisation Commission-ready?
The way in which local authorities commission children’s services is changing. VCS Engage are running free training courses which will enable you to enter the new commissioning process with confidence, equipped with the tools to understand what commissioners want and how you can deliver. The training will:
- Examine the differences between grant funding and commissioning
- Identify the key skills, characteristics and standards that VCS organisations need to demonstrate
- Provide the tools to effectively evidence them
- Provide a checklist for writing a successful tender
This day provides the opportunity for VCS organisations to attend fit-for-purpose training that is uniquely tailored to meet the specific needs of the sector.
The training is designed for strategic managers and infrastructure support organisations and is suitable for organisations of all sizes, working within all sectors of the children, young people and families VCS.
- Warrington on 11th December 2007
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Manchester 6th February 2008
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Leeds 12th February 2008
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Liverpool 19th February 2008
For more information and to book a place go the VCS Engage Website
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Department of Health Funding news
The Department of Health has recently released news of two new funding streams which will be of interest to voluntary sector organisations.
- >User-led Organisations Development Fund<
This is about supporting shared learning between organisations which are demonstrably led by service users (such as having a majority of service users on its Management Committee).
- >Social Enterprise Development Fund<
This is to help new or existing social enterprises or organisations which are moving towards a social enterprise model - the aim of the fund is to help such groups develop and increase capacity to delivery health and social care services. The funds are seen as an investment and come in various forms such as loans, grants and equity capital.
Successful Parenting Fund Projects for 2006 in Manchester
The following organisations have been successful in receiving Parenting Fund money to provide projects in Manchester. You can download details of the projects they will be delivering <here>
- Contact a Family
- National Childbirth Trust and Sowing Seeds
- Barnardos Health through Action
- Henshaws Society for Blind People
- Salford Foundation
- Depaul Trust
