People Powered Conference Hits the Right Notes

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48 people from across Huntingdonshire’s voluntary sector gathered at St Ives Corn Exchange on 19 April 2018 for the People Powered conference. Co-hosted by Hunts Forum and Living Sport and funded by Huntingdonshire District Council, the event was a chance for volunteer managers and community leaders to get together to explore fresh approaches to recruiting, supporting and celebrating volunteers in our communities.

Guest speaker Shaun Delaney, Volunteering Development Manager at NCVO, kicked off proceedings with a presentation on the changing volunteering landscape: who volunteers, how, when and why? How have their demographics and their expectations changed, and what can community groups do to respond to these changes? His talk drew on the NCVO report, Getting Involved: How people make a difference, which you can read here.

Attendees were then invited to participate in workshop discussions on various aspects of volunteering. Keith Smith, Founder & Director of Ferry Project, led a workshop on recruitment and marketing, looking at the various routes people might take into volunteering roles. Mark Strivens, Director of Cambridge Street Pastors, explored what organisations can do to protect volunteers – and the organisation itself – from risks, and covered how policies, procedures and processes need to work together. Susie Willis, Chief Officer at Care Network Cambridgeshire, led a workshop on rewarding volunteers and celebrating success, and reflected on how the biggest reward is to ensure that experiences live up to volunteers’ expectations. Lucy Bird, Coordinator of Somersham and Pidley Time Bank, explained the concept of Time Banking and micro-volunteering, and examined how this model might fit into existing organisations. The conference was closed by Rebecca Evans, Relationship Manager at Living Sport who spoke about how volunteers had helped her in her youth to become a gold medallist swimmer. Follow-up notes and further reading for attendees are available here.

Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. One commented, “Brilliant workshops with lots of ideas to use.” Another wrote, “A thoroughly enjoyable event. A great download of information and ideas in a relaxed manner. A well put together event. I went away with a spring in my step.”

Hunts Forum provides ongoing support for voluntary organisations throughout the year. Please get in touch on 01480 420601, email info@huntsforum.org.uk or visit www.huntsforum.org.uk for more information.

People Powered: Follow-up information

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Links, contacts and further reading for the People Powered conference, 19 April 2018

The People Powered conference was co-hosted by Living Sport and Hunts Forum, and funded by Huntingdonshire District Council.

Training

Click here for the upcoming training workshops hosted by Support Cambridgeshire and its partner organisations, Hunts Forum and Cambridge CVS. Most training is free for Hunts Forum and CCVS members. See CCVS’s full programme of training for volunteer managers here, and further resources here.

National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)

Our keynote speaker was Shaun Delaney, Volunteering Development Manager at NCVO. They champion the voluntary sector by connecting, representing and supporting voluntary organisations, and work to help voluntary organisations and volunteers make the biggest difference they can. Find out more here.

Read the NCVO Getting Involved 2017 report here. This includes lots of fascinating statistics on who, where, why and how people volunteer in the UK.

Recruiting volunteers

This workshop was led by Keith Smith, Founder & Director of Ferry Project.

The Do-it website connects volunteers with volunteering opportunities, based on location, availability and activity type.

Read NCVO’s guide to recruiting volunteers here.

Supporting volunteers

This workshop was led by Mark Strivens, Director, Street Pastors Cambridge.

Read the Charity Commission’s advice on managing risks here.

Cambridgeshire County Council’s guidance on adult safeguarding is here, with a straightforward introduction here.

Model policies for volunteering (including recruitment, volunteer agreement and complaints policies) are available here.

NCVO’s guide to managing and retaining volunteers is here and includes a section on dealing with problems or issues with volunteers.

Rewarding volunteers

This workshop was led by Susie Willis, Chief Executive Officer, Care Network.

See the flip-chart notes from the conference here.

NCVO’s guide to managing and retaining volunteers is here and includes a section on recognition and reward.

Find out about Cambridgeshire’s Spice Credits volunteer reward scheme.

Find out more about Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) here.

Micro-volunteering

This workshop was led by Lucy Bird, Somersham and Pidley Time Bank Coordinator.

Read Support Cambridgeshire’s introduction to Time Banks here.

Read NCVO’s guide to micro-volunteering here.

Living Sport

Our final speaker was Rebecca Evans, Relationship Manager at Living Sport.

Here’s what people are saying about People Powered:

It reinforced the importance of keeping in contact with our wonderful volunteers. Brilliant workshops with lots of ideas to use.

Good crowd, and an excellent keynote speaker. 

Excellent insight provided into how to recruit volunteers.

We had an enjoyable & interesting day. No matter how much one has learnt over the years, there is always more to learn!

Hot Desk at the Maple Centre

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Hunts Forum now has a FREE hot desk available for use by members or partner agencies.

To book your hot desk space please contact info@huntsforum.org.uk or contact 01480 420601.

The desk is situated within the Community Development room, and is available between 9am and 5pm weekdays.

The Maple Centre

6 Oak Drive

Huntingdon

PE29 7HN

Car Parking is available opposite the Maple Centre off Nene Road and can be accessed by the bridged walk-way.

www.huntsforum.org.uk

The Big Lottery Partnership Funding Programme

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The Big Lottery’s new Partnership Funding programme offers grants in excess of 10K for organisations that work together with a shared set of aims and goals.

Grants are awarded for up to five years and can fund project activities, operating costs, organisational development and capital costs.

What kind of partnerships?

Partnerships funding is specifically designed to support generous leadership and increased collaborative working, which starts with shared goals and values between different organisations and an understanding of the bigger picture.

Funding can support organisations to develop and grow existing partnerships and encourage new types of partnership which build on a range of differing skills and strengths.

Partnerships can include:

  • cross-sector partnerships
  • local place-based collaboration
  • local and national organisations working together around a particular theme.

The funding priorities

The Big Lottery supports ideas that meet their three funding priorities.

  • Bringing people together and build strong relationships in and across communities
  • improving the places and spaces that matter to communities
  • enabling more people to fulfil their potential by working to address issues at the earliest possible stage.

What they want to see

  • You developed your idea by involving the people who will benefit.
  • You have spoken to people and listened to what they have to say.
  • You will use your knowledge of the skills and experience people already have and explore how you can build on it.

The Big Lottery is interested in original and creative ideas for achieving a mission, and are keen to share what you learn with others.

For more information visit click here

NPC launches a new Social Impact Website

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New Philanthropy Capital has just launched its new impact support website which has been co-designed through a partnership of over 100 charities and social enterprises.

It’s part of NPC’S Impact Management Programme and it has a wealth of free tools & guidance to help charities improve their impact management.

Organisations can:

  • Spend 5 minutes taking the data diagnostic to get your personalised report about what data you could collect and how to do it based on your services and users.
  • Use their planning templates to get your team thinking about your long-term goals, your target users, and how you want to achieve change.
  • Pick and choose from their data tips and tools on how to collect data, how to analyse it and how to use it.
  • Use their culture guidance to develop your impact management culture with everyone from front-line staff to your board of trustees.

Organisations can also sign up to one of their free interactive peer learning events, designed to help organisations learn more about impact management and collaborate with others.

New Philanthropy Capital pay a £100 contribution towards travel and time.

 

Small Charities Week June 2018

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Small Charities Week commences on the 18th June 2018.

The week celebrates small charities and even smaller community based organisations that make a difference.

Between the 18th and the 23rd June, Support Cambridgeshire will be recognising those organisations by posting daily news items.

We want to find out more about what you do and why you do it, who you help and how you overcome your challenges.

So send us some snippets about your organisation and we will do the rest. We will even upload your details to the Small Charities Website to increase your profile and reputation.

Send your details to russell@huntsforum.org.uk by June 15th at the latest.

 

Innovate and Cultivate Fund Update

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The clock is ticking..!!

1st May 2018 is the application deadline for small ‘Cultivate’ grants of between £2,000-£10,000.

Can your organisation help to strengthen communities in Cambridgeshire and reduce pressure on County Council services?

Cambridgeshire County Council is seeking to invest in projects that will offer a return on investment and help to achieve the Council’s seven priority outcomes for Cambridgeshire:

The priorities are:

  1. Older people living well independently.
  2. People with disabilities living well independently.
  3. Adults and children at risk of harm are kept safe.
  4. Places that work with children help them to reach their potential.
  5. The Cambridgeshire economy prospers to the benefit of all residents.
  6. People live in a safe environment.
  7. People lead a healthy lifestyle and stay healthy for longer.

How to apply

Council services that are inviting applications include adult social care, children and families services, and the waste service.

The fund is open to voluntary, community and social enterprise sector organisations based in and outside of Cambridgeshire, and public sector organisations in Cambridgeshire.

Applications and further information about the fund may be found on the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation website.

 

National Lottery Changes the way it funds.

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The National Lottery has announced changes to the way it provides funds in a bid to make the process easier and more effective.

They have nearly tripled the number of staff they have across England, and they will be working more closely with communities that they support.

This means that organisations applying for funds will have the same local point of contact throughout their application.

They are also moving away from standardised application forms so that they can best focus on supporting the best ideas, not the people who are best at completing forms.

Ideas can be submitted online, by phone or in person.

3 types of funding is being offered:

National Lottery Awards for All:

The National Lottery Awards for All scheme offers funding from £300 to £10,000 to support what matters to people and communities.

Find out more about National Lottery Awards for All funding

Reaching Communities:

Reaching Communities offers grants of over £10,000 to support single organisations with great ideas that enable communities to thrive.

Find out more about Reaching Communities funding

Partnerships:

The Partnerships funding provides grants of over £10,000 for groups or organisations who have great ideas to do amazing things together.

Find out more about Partnerships funding

A new number for PALS

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A new number for the PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) was launched on 3 April 2018, covering all services across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Luton, Norfolk, Peterborough and Suffolk.

The new number is:  0300 131 1000.

The PALS service provided by Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust offers a point of contact within the organisation for patients, their families and carers.

How can PALS help?

PALS assist patients /service users, their relatives, friends, carers and advocates by:

Liaising with services and responding to concerns or issues regarding the care that we provide; we act independently when handling concerns, liaising with staff, managers and, where appropriate, relevant organisations, to negotiate prompt solutions.

Working to resolve problems as quickly as possible in order to reach a positive outcome.

Helping to improve services by receiving patient feedback and sharing with managers.

Providing information about the NHS Complaints procedure and how patients can receive independent advice and support.

Signposting service users to other NHS and social service organisations.

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