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GMCVO Action Plan 2012 - 15
outline December 2011
Alex Whinnom
Director
0161 277 1004
VALUES, VISION AND MISSION
Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO) is the voluntary sector (VS) support organisation covering the Greater Manchester (GM) city region.
Our priority values are Locality, Equality and Collaboration: our primary loyalty is to the people of Greater Manchester; we are predisposed towards those who are disadvantaged or discriminated against; and we believe in working with others in a spirit of trust.
Our vision is a strong, diverse and influential VS in GM. Our aim is to strengthen the VS, build bridges with other sectors, and influence local and national policy.
Our activities are providing support, knowledge, voice, infrastructure and innovation, working in partnership with other support organisations and with the public and private sectors.
ACTIVITIES
1. Support: Helping and developing local voluntary organisations – building the strength, capacity and diversity of organisations and their people, focusing on providing specialist and innovative services best offered at GM level. These currently include accredited management and specialist training provided by GMCVO or brought in from outside GM; social enterprise mentors; consultancy on partnerships and mergers; help with constitutions; trustees network; assisting organisations to measure their impact; support for community hubs through the Combine network; support to Community Transport Operators; database development based on affordable, sustainable open source systems; Market Place (VS purchasing). We also manage the St Thomas Centre.
2. Knowledge: Building intelligence and understanding of and for the VS – carrying out research, collecting and disseminating information and ideas and promoting the local VS and its contribution to Greater Manchester. This includes websites (www.gmcvo.org.uk, www.gmvss.net, www.voluntarysectorhealth.org.uk, www.volunteering-gm.org.uk); a range of newsletters and policy networks; a policy journal; conferences, events and lectures; hosting the cross sector GM Third Sector Research Network and linking with the national Third Sector Research Centre; relationships with policy think tanks; publishing original research and detailed information about the GM VS.
3. Voice: Enabling GM voluntary organisations to be heard and to influence – helping views and knowledge to be expressed and shared widely and to influence policy and practice. This includes formal and informal representation and advocacy of the interests, strengths, insights and needs of the VS and its clients with a wide range of forums and organisations especially at GM level; responding to consultation and/or enabling relevant VS organisations to respond; campaigning and lobbying (especially national government) about the needs of GM VS; hosting the Greater Manchester Equalities and Human Rights Parliament.
4. Infrastructure: Coordinating and developing support services for voluntary organisations – working with existing support organisations and providers, and developing new kinds of infrastructure to meet new needs. This includes leadership of the Voluntary Sector Support Partnership of GM infrastructure providers; leadership of Volunteering GM; support for local CVSs; alliances with important national infrastructure organisations. We act as prime contractor for the GM Learning Partnership, and host the hub of the new GM Health and Wellbeing Consortium which we set up. We intend to establish another new organisation, AddVentures, to support community enterprise
5. Innovation: Trying new ideas and exploring new opportunities. We work to identify emerging trends, opportunities and threats, and prepare the GM VS and its infrastructure to respond. Not all ideas come to anything, but we have a national reputation for being ahead of the pack, and our work has national influence.
PRIORITIES 2011
Support
1. To ensure all local groups can access income from public service and government commissioning and contracting
2. To provide support for fundraising, trading and enterprise
3. To help groups to save on costs
Knowledge
4. To educate a wide audience about the nature and value of Greater Manchester voluntary groups
5. To stimulate new approaches to voluntary action to meet new circumstances
6. To continue to provide quality information through websites, publications, events, training and presentations
Voice
7. To ensure the interests of the voluntary sector are represented within city region, AGMA and Combined Authority structures at every level as appropriate
8. To maintain transparent dialogue with a large and diverse range of voluntary organizations
9. To maintain communications channels for groups addressing specific inequalities
Infrastructure
10. To maintain essential support services for the VS across all Greater Manchester districts through collaboration and co-ordination
11. To understand which support interventions are most important in helping voluntary organisations to achieve their visions
12. To develop new support services and structures to meet new needs
PROGRAMMES 2011>
Programmes are focused around nine themes. Brief details of planned activities are given.
1. Voluntary sector Leadership, Co-ordination and Communications at GM level:
GMCVO’s unique and most significant role is to provide collaborative leadership for the voluntary sector in Greater Manchester, working in partnership with local public, private and voluntary organisations and advocating for Greater Manchester at national level. We will:-
· Provide information and knowledge for and about the sector – through databases, websites, newsletters, publications, and networks
· Support local infrastructure and volunteering services - peer networks, NewsShare, ORCA database, advocacy, and connection to city region
· Lead the Voluntary Sector Support Partnership, enabling collaboration to deliver accessible, high quality, relevant support to frontline organisations including:- on-line directory of support; portfolio of toolkits; funding portal; Market Place
· Host the Equalities and Human Rights Parliament, enabling expert advocates to campaign and to scrutinise GM / national policy
To support our leadership role we will also:-
· Continue to build our membership and develop our relationships
· Continue to build the evidence base for the value and impact of local voluntary groups and to disseminate this widely
2. Support Public Service Reform and Community Budgets by enabling local voluntary organisations to contribute to public service delivery on a large scale:
GMCVO believes that in the context of reducing public spending, there is a need to radically reconsider how public services are delivered, and that part of the solution to achieving more for less and shifting the emphasis further towards prevention is to commission much more from the local voluntary sector. Essential to this is our development of “trading spaces” where commissioners or individual personalised budget holders can easily see and buy what is on offer. We will:-
· Work with commissioners especially AGMA members and other GM-level public sector organisations; prime contractors; government departments.
· Publish evidence of voluntary organisations’ strengths and map scaleable / replicable services against relevant dependence > independence > active citizen pathway(s).
· Support the GM Wellbeing Consortium as an independent special purpose vehicle that allows large numbers of quality assured organisations jointly to deliver big, complex contracts at low cost; align funding streams; offer packages / pathways of support to communities, families and individuals; handle social impact bonds /payment by results.
· Act as prime contractor where this is the preferred delivery model
· Support the development of ad hoc partnerships, district consortia and similar as appropriate
To support public service delivery on these lines we will also:-
· Remain heavily involved with the Greater Manchester Whole Place Community Budget pilot and similar or related initiatives
· Continue to build the contract-ready supply chain
3. Increase Volunteering across all voluntary and public sectors:
GMCVO understands that in the new economic context there will be a need to increase volunteering and find a way to place the large numbers of people wishing to volunteer, in order to meet a growing need for help. Systematic deployment of professional and practical voluntary support into our sector would enable it to continue to grow and meet needs; meanwhile volunteering for company, confidence or skills can turn people “in need” into community assets. We will:-
· Host a single placement system with multiple entry points for all GM volunteering, linked to local and national databases
· Train additional volunteer managers and volunteer mentors
· Support all sectors to embed volunteering into new and existing work
· Continue to strengthen and co-ordinate volunteering infrastructure
To support increased, meaningful volunteering we will also:-
· Develop our relationships with private sector volunteering initiatives
· Build volunteering systematically into our other programmes of work
4. Support Economic Regeneration and the Localism agenda by inspiring a new wave of community enterprise:
GMCVO proposes an alternative “sector blind” approach to regeneration and the long term resilience and sustainability of local communities / micro-economies, by making it easier and much cheaper for people with ideas to start a project (whether charitable, non-profit or low profit). Building on US “fiscal shield” models developed in a similar environment, we will enable local investment in local projects and help to re-develop voluntary action and enterprise in underdeveloped areas such as financial inclusion, food and energy. We will:-
· Maintain the delivery partnership comprising key players in private, voluntary and faith sectors.
· Develop a new structure “GM AddVentures” to host projects
· Align existing support given by social enterprise, business and faith infrastructure
· Co-ordinate and target Corporate Social Responsibility and pro bono initiatives
· Attract and deploy new types of investment and financing
To support the development of the community enterprise sector we will also:-
· Work with our Private Sector Liaison Group to identify a range of ways in which GM businesses could support “prosperity for all”
5. Support the delivery of the Community Transport element of the TfGM’s bid to Sustainable Transport Fund (if successful):
GMCVO is supporting Greater Manchester’s bid to government’s Sustainable Transport Fund. With our encouragement there has been built into it a substantial component for community transport as both a specific and a cross-cutting theme. We consider that travel needs cannot be fully met through a purely commercial model. We will:-
· Continue to support the Community Transport Operators Forum and deliver the quality standard
· Identify and support other scaleable / replicable community transport initiatives
6. Co-ordinate and develop initiatives to address financial inclusion, food and fuel poverty.
GMCVO observes that in the current economic climate both absolute and relative poverty are increasing in many areas of Greater Manchester, with people and communities that are already disadvantaged affected most immediately. There is a need to develop and co-ordinate initiatives both to alleviate current need and to reduce the drivers of increasing inequality. We intend to focus on access to basic financial services, and inclusion in programmes to combat food and fuel poverty - to achieve some quick results but also to build a more sustainable future. We will:-
· Build on our work to develop credit unions in GM
· Develop our relationships with the financial sector
· Encourage participation in the GM Green Deal Housing Retrofit (linking with our work with community hubs)
· Identify existing schemes and best practice in reducing food poverty and build on these systematically, working across all sectors
7. Support the GM Climate Change Strategy, Low Carbon Challenge and Green Deal by undertaking large scale retrofit of community and faith buildings (hubs):
GMCVO plans to develop a robust model for a “green energy” social enterprise based on community / faith buildings (community hubs) and linked to the AGMA Low Carbon Challenge with a view to launching in 2012-13. We will:-
· Continue proof of concept work and national research; recruiting hubs; securing finance; selecting manufacturing partner(s); establish a new jointly owned business, generating income through sales to national grid
· Use hubs to educate communities about low carbon
8. Run St Thomas Centre as a successful social enterprise; a hub and showcase for the GM voluntary sector:
GMCVO holds a long term lease at a peppercorn rent. Conveniently situated and well known as a venue, St Thomas Centre also provides a base for GMCVO and other support organisations. We will:-
· Provide / host a programme of conferences, seminars, accredited / non-accredited training, workshops and events, bringing in the best local, regional and national voluntary sector resources
· Work towards extending the building to make it commercially viable and more fit for purpose
9. Further develop our successful ICT Enterprise, constituting it as a subsidiary business:
GMCVO considers that open source software is the most affordable, adaptable option available to voluntary groups, and is seeking to remove the barriers which currently lead them to overlook it in favour of commercial products. We will:-
· Promote CiviCRM to the voluntary sector
· Offer a menu of development and support options for databases and websites
· Work with partners to build market share across the UK
· Continue to provide hosting, technical support and training to organisations already using CiviCRM