Ode to changing times

By Ethel Bangwayo
Strategic Engagement Officer, Herts CVS Group


First came LAA1
And before that was even done
LAA2 was upon us
With the promise of a small bonus.


Along came NI7
Some swore it was a piece of heaven.
I shall forever remember
‘Environment for a Thriving Third Sector’.


Voluntary, Statutory, working in unity,
Young people and Stronger Communities.
Jobs, Health, green infrastructure,
Brain cells in danger of rupture!


And now the tide has turned
Big Society’s emerged round the bend.
Big Society and Social Enterprise
Are now on a slow and steady rise.


They say parting is sweet sorrow
Hope to see some of you on the morrow.
But if we never meet again,
Farewell. I’ll catch you on memory lane!

Want to volunteer? Go to Poundland!

By Ethel Bangwayo
Strategic Engagement Officer, Herts CVS

It has emerged that some Jobseekers have been ‘volunteering’ at their local Poundland after Job Centre (JC) staff informed them that they may lose their jobseekers allowance if they do not do voluntary work. My first instinct was to tut at the incompetence of said JC staff, until I discovered that the Department of Work and Pensions suggests that volunteering could take place in the private sector. The Job Centre staff were therefore well within the (misguided!)guidelines. The DWP has, of course, said that it is possible that their guidance was misinterpreted...

Just like those ‘give-me-your-bank-details-and-address-for-safe-keeping-even-though-you’ve-never-met-me’ scams, there is something about ‘volunteering’ in the private sector that feels like a rip-off. I am not suggesting that business as a sector, is less ‘worthy’ (whatever that means) but I can imagine how soul-destroying a task it is, to offer your time free of charge to an organisation that made a profit of £22 million (from a turnover of £509million*) last year and was able to afford to pay one of its Directors a salary of £748,000* over the same period.

If you are reading this and you work at the Job Centre or are involved in any way with volunteer support, here is a list of worthier, oops, needier places to refer your clients to:

• Volunteer Transport schemes: Driving elderly and disabled people to health and social appointments through a hospital or CVS-run scheme.
• Start-up (and established) VCS groups. You could donate your skills (Accounting, Marketing, Website building, Admin, Communications etc) to a local charity or community group.
• Charity shops. There’s one on almost every street corner.
• Hospitals. Why not become a hospital visitor and put a smile on someone’s face?
• Domestic Violence Helplines. They always need someone to lend an ear and/or a shoulder.
• Befriending schemes. There is no shortage of elderly and isolated people who would be most grateful for some human interaction.
• Youth groups. Recapture your youth. Churches and other organisations are always on the lookout for people to help with youth activities.
• The list goes on …

Let's be clear: I am not suggesting that you keep away from your local Poundland. By all means, go there to do some shopping or for a bit of work experience. If a job is what you are after, Poundland has plans to expand this year and they will even pay you for stacking shelves but only on condition that you drop the title 'Volunteer' and replace it with 'Sales Assistant', 'Merchandiser' or something along those lines.

For those looking to volunteer, your local Volunteer Centre is more than happy to help. For further details about Hertfordshire Volunteer Centres, please see the Volunteering Herts website. For a list of volunteering opportunities, see http://www.do-it.org.uk/ .

*Source: Work Smart and the BBC

Is 'pear' a shape?

By Ethel Bangwayo
Strategic Engagement Officer, Herts CVS Group.

When the Prime Minister announced that 2011 was going to be a difficult year, I don’t think even he imagined just how challenging it would be. Paul Twivy, the founder of the Big Society Network and a Big Society adviser to the government, has admitted that while the fundamental ideas of the Big Society are sound, the concept is "divisive within the Cabinet" and "increasingly loathed by the public". As if that wasn’t enough, Liverpool, one of the four ‘pioneers’ of Big Society, has withdrawn its vanguard status citing the cuts as an impediment to success. Said Joe Anderson, the Liverpool council leader "How can the city council support the Big Society and its aim to help communities do more for themselves when we will have to cut the lifeline to hundreds of vital and worthwhile groups?" The words ‘pear’ and ‘shape’ come to mind...

Big Society is not the only concept that has not taken off as expected. Communities and Local Government Minister Nick Hurd has announced that the take up of the Transition Fund, which was set up to help charities that are facing cuts in public funding, has been lower than expected. This, at a time when VCS organisations across the country are being forced to cut services, make staff redundant and in some cases close down altogether. The tight application deadlines and the stringent qualification criteria may have something to do with it. Let’s play ‘spot the irony’…

In other news, according to the latest Citizens Survey published by the Communities and Local Government department, volunteering has fallen for the fifth consecutive year, dropping 7 percentage points between 2005 and 2010. Fortunately, the government recognises the importance of volunteering and is proposing, in the recently published Giving Green Paper, a volunteering match fund worth £10m per annum and an infrastructure programme of £42.5m over four years. Hopefully these will bear fruit, particularly with the Olympics on the horizon. Some sections of society are not entirely convinced, however. Retiring Executive Director of Community Service Volunteers believes that spending cuts and the government’s approach to Big Society are undermining volunteering and has said as much at her retirement do.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year unfolds ...

What came first, the roses or the thorns?

Prime Minister David Cameron, in his new year’s message, has warned that 2011 is going to be a "difficult" year with a lot of “heavy lifting” preceding the "really bright future" of the country. In other words, we will have to endure the thorns before we see the roses.

Although, we were already aware of the impending difficulties, these words have met with a combination of panic and anger given the implication on people’s lives and livelihoods, but should we have known? Boom and bust. It’s a cycle, isn’t it? Should we have expected that a downturn was inevitable? Or did a sense of entitlement creep in somewhere along the line, fuelled by the euphoria of the 'good times'? If it is indeed a cycle, what are we doing now to prepare for the roses? GP Commissioning, LSDPs, Big Society, Outsourcing of services, Personalisation. Words that have had the badge ‘opportunity’ attached to them. Are we viewing them as such?


The Prime Minister was not the only one looking ahead. The Guardian asked a panel of social entrepreneurs and sector experts to give their predictions for the year ahead. This is what they said about opportunities and challenges for 2011:

• CEO of a web-based charity: …But it was always a hard trick to turn policy to one's own ends – even one as warm and woolly as the big society. Especially in the absence of money. So, my best bet for 2011 is to look to where our competitive advantage lies.

• CEO of a Social Enterprise support agency: This means that 2011 will be all about message. What do we do? Why does it count? How will social enterprise build a stronger and more affluent society? We must have the answers, quickly, succinctly, and in such a way that everyone gets it.

• MD of a social innovations development company: ..[small organisations] will have to get out of their silos and embrace networking with the big guys. This will probably mean more mentoring, more networking, more investment in coaching and communications, in order to find a common language.

• Manager of a social enterprise start up support agency: I think the challenge will be to tell the difference between opportunities and poisoned chalices. There will be real opportunities as the state retreats to deliver services in different ways with less money. But there will also be lots of situations where, without sufficient income from the state, it will be pretty impossible to deliver any kind of service.

• MD of a social inclusion organisation: Out with the mentors, in with the patrons. The only mentoring support I've ever seen to work is having a patron. Someone who is inspired by you, champions you and opens doors for you. Someone who will invite you to that dinner party where you happen to sit next to an investor. Someone who will encourage her own contacts to buy from you – someone, basically, who is not a state-appointed objective voice, but a genuinely resourceful and immersed person.

• MD of a social enterprise design and communications agency: One thing we can be certain of is that the state is going be smaller in 2011. This offers both an opportunity for social enterprise to fill some of the gaps, and the challenge of finding the resources to do so.

• Policy and Communications Director of a school for Social Entrepreneurship: Keep the antennae up, the radar on and the networks live: there are opportunities out there, and your best bet for 2011 is among them.

• CEO of a support foundation for social entrepreneurs: My hunch is there will be four growth opportunities. Social ventures that can scale up and deliver quickly, reliably and adding immediate value for money to public services. Expansion for public retailing, social ventures that give customers confidence of ethical quality. Hybrid corporate/social partnerships. And right at the other end of the spectrum, community level entrepreneurship, often more people-powered than money-powered, as anger motivates action.
  

What are the challenges and opportunities for your organisation and what are you doing about them? Do roses have thorns? Or do thorns that have roses? Depends which way you look at it, I suppose.

Happy new year!