Financial returns and beyond - how does your organisations money work
Our friends at Civil Society Media quite often send us advertising features. It helps keeps their news service affordable (enabling VSNW membership to remain free) and, frankly, we ignore much of what is sent. However, just occasionally something that is useful arrives. One such is below.
Within the constraints of not offering financial advice we do note that this is one of the main bodies used by Charities (they are the second C in the company name) for investing reserves.
For some of our members a financial year end has just happened. For many it maybe that the year end is March. In either event trustees need to think about investment policies. This thinking needs to be beyond a financial return. How do investments, that we may have, align with our mission and core purpose? Can our investments be used to influence those whom we would like to influence? There will be many other questions.
Thank you to Civil Society media for prompting a ponder around investment policies
https://www.ccla.co.uk/
How charities/not for profits recruit
The day after VSNW held it’s unconscious bias in recruitment training day the website Charity Job published the results of a survey which looked at recruitment in general. With a sample of well over 300 it has value, despite the limitations observed by the CEO of the company. A link to the survey can be found here.
How UK Charities Recruit - CharityJob Recruiter Blog
One third of charity respondents to the survey said they engaged managers in equality, diversity and inclusion efforts when it came to recruiting and just over 32% arranged for an employee to undertake diversity or bias training. Some 37% of respondents said that their recruitment processes had been audited since the start of 2020. The report suggests: “At just more than one in three, this seems low given the importance of recruitment and of diversity, fairness, and effectiveness, and how much the world has changed since the start of 2020. However, it could reflect other priorities and the need to concentrate limited resources elsewhere”
Before finalising a job advert, 9% of those surveyed had an equality, diversity and inclusion expert assess it. To make judging candidates fairer, 59% of respondents had an interview panel with a diverse member of the panel present. Notably, just under 3% of the respondents admitted to positive discrimination by recruiting someone because they had a protected characteristic, such as being part of an ethnic minority, a woman, someone who is LGBTQ+ or someone with a disability.
The report reads: “Some argue that treating all candidates equally, removing identifying information to focus just on skills, is fair. Others argue that focusing on skills without considering the context in which those skills were developed is unfair. For many jobs, making a hiring decision irrespective of gender is fair, but for some jobs it is necessary that someone with certain protected characteristics is appointed”.
CharityJob concludes “there is no single step that will ensure fairness in recruitment” but many things that could be done to increase it. One of these is advertising a job publicly so it has a wider reach and can be seen by all rather than only accessed by a select few. Anonymous recruitment may also be effective in making charity recruitment fairer, the report said. This is where CV and cover letters have the candidate’s personal details removed so no conscious or unconscious bias can affect a judging panels decision.
VSNW would be interested to hear of your recent experiences, and processes, of recruitment.
Tackling homelessness & rough sleeping - speakers: Lord Kerslake, OHID, & Centre for Homelessness Impact - WSPF policy conference - 28th March 2022
For those working in Homelessness and Rough Sleeping this may be an interesting conference to attend. The email, below, sets out speakers and the agenda for a very full morning.
At £210.00 + VAT it is not cheap but somewhat cheaper than having to travel to London to hear such a panel of speakers. The event will be recorded and sent out to delegates.
However, to get the best value it may be an idea for you to gather a team together so that you can view in relay, under one registration. That way the “zoom myopic torpor” won’t take over and you are all on form to maximise information assimilation. (in other words you won’t be drifting so will hear what is being said and able to take sensible notes!)
Next steps for tackling homelessness and rough sleeping
Morning, Monday, 28th March 2022
Westminster Social Policy Forum keynote seminar:
This full-scale conference is easily accessed online for full participation
with
Lord Kerslake, Chair, Peabody; and Chair, Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
Dr Lígia Teixeira, Chief Executive, Centre for Homelessness Impact
Paul Dennett, Mayor of Salford; and Portfolio Holder for Housing, Planning and Homelessness, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
and
Rachel Johns, Deputy Regional Director, North East & Yorkshire, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Department of Health and Social Care
Gill Leng, Health and homelessness adviser, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Department of Health and Social Care
Osama Bhutta, Director of Campaigns, Policy and Communications, Shelter
Dr Sarah Marwick, Associate Medical Director, NHS Midlands; and GP, Homeless Health Exchange, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
and
Michelle Binfield, London Councils; Emma Cookson, St Mungos; Cym D’Souza, Arawak Walton Housing Association; and BMENational;
Neil Munslow, Newcastle City Council; and Councillor Sharon Thompson, Birmingham City Council
How to protect your mental well-being online - from a Gen-Zer
Whether you have one follower or a million, we've all witnessed nastiness and hate speech on social media. YouTube content creator and mental well-being motivator Peachy Liv advocates for a kinder, more respectful digital world -- and urges us all to reflect before we share our thoughts online. Hear her tips for dealing with cyberbullying and personal insights on how we can all make the internet a safer place.
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.