The election of VCS reps on the LSP is now underway. There are 5 places available.

The election is to choose which 5 organisations (not individuals) should represent the voluntary & community sector at the LSP for the next 3 years. It is the responsibility of the elected organisations to choose a member of their committee, staff or volunteers to carry out this responsibility on their behalf, and to make the necessary arrangements to receive and give relevant information from/to the wider sector, in particular the organisations with whom they are networked.

In the nomination process, 9 organisations were nominated: 

• African Welfare Organisation
• Contact-A-Family
•  Deptford Community Forum
•  Lewisham Education Arts Network
•  Lewisham Ethnic Minority Partnership
•  Lewisham Refugee Network
• Quo Vadis Trust
•  Voluntary Action Lewisham
•  Volunteer Centre Lewisham 

Voting papers have been distributed with the July/August edition of Grapevine, and must be returned by noon on Wednesday 20th July, using the envelope supplied.

In order to vote in the election you must be either an Associate Member or Full (paid-up) Member of VAL. Each member organisation is eligible to return one voting form indicating their five preferences.

The five organisations receiving the most votes will be elected. To ensure impartiality (particularly given that VAL is one of the organisations standing for election) the voting papers will be opened and counted by a member of the LSP team.

If you require any further information about the election, please speak to Martin or Sheila at VAL.

Martin: 020 8314 8876, martin@valewisham.org.uk

Sheila: 020 8314 9411, sheila@valewisham.org.uk

The  LVP Project in conjunction with Chapter One Promotions presents a one day workshop on the link between writing and recovery in mental health on 7th July at 9.15am - 4pm at Seniors, 260 Stanstead Road, London, SE23 1DD.

Facilitated by Jason Pegler, Author and CEO of Chipmunka - The Mental Health Publisher  

Insights into getting published by Johanna Bertie from Chapter One Promotions

• Open discussions lead by Errol Hall
• Learn more about Writing and Recovery in Mental Health
• Sharing Creative Work
• Question & Answer sessions

Lunch will be provided alongside the chance to relax and network at the Coffee and Cake Networking session.

Opportunities to purchase signed copies of Jason Pegler’s books:

‘A Can of Madness’, ‘Curing Madness’ and ‘The Ultimate Guide To Well Being.’

Booking is essential for this event. To reserve your FREE place contact 

Errol Hall on 0208 694 6519 or email: errol.hall@slam.nhs.uk

Buses: 75 & 185 * Nearest train stations: Catford Bridge & Forest Hill * Venue has full disability access with lavatory suitable for smaller wheelchairs only.  

The use of Social Media within the Voluntary and Community Sector is just beginning. For many organisations and people this is a worrying time with a real concern that organisations will lose control of their identity.

There is a danger that organisations, or individuals within organisations leap in without any planning and that the entry into social media is disjointed and fails.

As part of the ICT Champion role, funded by NAVCA, a series of publications and workshops have been developed to support organisations as they start to consider using social media.

For more information: http://www.wmictchampion.org.uk/comms_strategy

Alongside the rest of the voluntary sector, we are preparing for the impact of public sector spending cuts as they start to come through.

Working with over 200 non profit organisations a year the Cranfield Trust have already seen a wide range of problems as a result of the recession and know that many voluntary sector organisations will face tough challenges as spending cuts start to bite.

The Cranfield Trust has 20 years' experience in providing free management and consultancy services to the charity and not-for-profit sector. They can help act decisively to manage key areas of concern and ensure you still reach the people that need you most.

Highly skilled business volunteers bring a fresh perspective and seasoned eye to tackling short term issues that will help provide long term stability. From cash flow analysis to staff restructuring a pool of over 600 experienced volunteers have the expertise to provide creative solutions where and when you need them most.

If you are struggling with any of the following:

• Managing cash flow
• Forecasting and scenario planning
• Setting appropriate performance indicators
• Reviewing strategy and business plans
• Retaining and managing staff resources
• Facilitating merger or collaboration talks

Then call now to arrange for free, professional support on: 0844 8003390

The Council will be moving its servers to a new data centre.  As a result no Council IT services or systems will be available from midnight on Wednesday 16 February until 8am Monday 21 February.

 The Council’s website will be affected with only a limited number of pages available.  It is also likely that e-mails will not be received by the Council during this period.  Anyone visiting the Council’s website at this time will however be able to see telephone numbers for the Council’s main services.  Telephone systems will not be affected.

The change to a new centre follows negotiation of a new service provider and contract. The new contract will result in a saving to the Council of £250,000 a year.

At the Shaping our Future conference, organised by the Stronger Communities Partnership, held on September 24th, Karl Wilding from NCVO gave the following presentation on the Big Society

More of Karl's presentations can be found on the Prezi site. A similar powerpoint based presentation entitled "Surviving or thriving in the Big Society?" can be found on the slideshare website.

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NCVO have published a briefing on the Big Society which can be downloaded from their website. They are also asking for the views of their members to inform their policy work with regard to the Big Society.

There is also an ongoing discussion on their website on what the Big Society will mean for the voluntary sector.

It is also the subject of a discussion on the Third Sector Foresight website.

Some announcements that have already been made:

• A Parliamentary Select Committee will be set up for the Voluntary Sector
• A timetable for the Big Society Bank has been announced
• A taskforce to investigate regulatory burdens on charities has been promised
• Capacitybuilders and v are both to be reviewed.

Related Stories: Understanding the Big Society

The Charity Commission has issued a warning that some people have been telephoned by individuals claiming to be from the Charity Commission and demanding payment for services or outstanding debts. They warn:

It is important to be clear that:

• Any call from someone claiming to work with or on behalf of the Charity Commission, and claiming any payment in a threatening way, is clearly bogus;
• The Charity Commission does not charge for any of its services to charities; it does not get involved in debt collection either directly or through contracting third parties to do so, and nor does it collect debt on behalf of charities;
• You should immediately report these sorts of incidents to the police, and the Charity Commission would also like to be informed where its name is being used for suspected fraudulent purposes.

They go on to say:

Our advice to charities is:

• When you speak to any member of staff from the Commission they will always be prepared to give their name, telephone number and email address;
• Commission email addresses always end with the domain name @charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk;
• Check the number of any suspect caller against the direct dial telephone codes for our offices; these are London 0207 674…, Liverpool 0151 703…, Taunton 01823 345… , Newport 01633 2255…

The Big Society

The concept of the "Big Society" - which was a Conservative Party manifesto promise - has been adopted by the Coalition Government and included in their manifesto. A paper issued by the Cabinet Office gives more details of this.

The aim of the Big Society is to transform relationships between individuals and society, and the state. As such it is both ambitious and wide-ranging. However, because it is so wide-ranging it is a challenging concept to communicate. Indeed, the Conservative Party have admitted that it proved to be a difficult concept to get across during the election.

It is perhaps easiest to understand as being made up of a number of strands. The five strands shown in the table below are taken from the Cabinet Office document (although it is important to note that there does not appear to be five formal strands in the policy). To simplify things some of the individual items have been moved into different strands in the table.

The introduction of the Big Society will be overseen largely by Nick Hurd and Greg Clark. Nick Hurd is the new Minister for Civil Society, but as an Under Secretary of State this is a more junior post that the post previously occupied by Angela Clarke. Greg Clark is Minister of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government and has been given the task of handing decentralisation.

For the Labour Party, Tessa Jowell as shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office will cover the voluntary sector until the election of a new leader. This follows Angela Smith's loss of her seat at the general election.

At the moment there are few details available to flesh out some of the above policies. Some details are available in the Conservative Party manifesto and while much of this has been adopted, it isn't clear if any of the details have changed.

However it is clear that the Big Society is likely to have a big impact on the work of voluntary and community groups. Many of these promises are likely to be welcomed. This seems to have been the reaction of many large national Charities and Umbrella Bodies. However, as other commentators have indicated that there are still questions to be answered, not least about the availability of funding.

In addition to the introduction of the Big Society, David Cameron has indicated his support for the Compact and his wish to renew it. However, his call for lottery distributors to limit their administrative costs to 5% of total income has led to fears being expressed that this will reduce the number of Big Lottery Awards. New Philanthropy Capital have also criticised this as being too simplistic, as measuring overheads is not an accurate indicator of performance.

More details:

• Third Sector - Coalition outlines plans for big society programme
• Cabinet Office Press Release
• Conservative Party manifesto - Building a Big Society
• NCVO Blog Report - The Numbers behind the Big Society
• Power to the people? The Big Society Agenda - Third Sector Foresight

The Government has announced that the Government Office for London is to close.

The announcement is included in the manifesto agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. Few details are available yet and no date has been set for its closure.

The Government for London's role includes:

• Cohesion
• Equalities
• Housing
• Neighbourhood Renewal
• Sustainable Communities and the Third Sector

Is your organisation interested in working with local residents at a neighbourhood level to develop community based approaches to the support of vulnerable people and improvement of health and well being for all?

Lewisham Council is inviting proposals from two community based organisations to work on a 12 month pilot project in two separate neighbourhoods within the following wards  Catford South, Crofton Park, Ladywell, Lee Green, Lewisham Central, and Rushey Green

A maximum total budget of £25,000 is available for each organisation to undertake this work to cover staffing and project costs.  Deadline for receipt of proposals is 19 April 2010 at 12:00.

If you would like a full project brief, more information about this initiative or support in putting a proposal together please contact Andy Thomas on 8314 9996 or at andy.thomas@lewisham.gov.uk

A meeting will take place on 6 April 2010 at  7.30 pm where more information will be available and there will be an opportunity for questions and answers.  If you would like to attend, please let Andy know.

Funding of up to £10,000 a year for three years is available to organisations working with young people

Deadlines: 15 April, 15 July and 15 October 2010

Any not-for-profit organisation working with children and young people under the age of 18 can apply, with some exclusions such as projects carrying out medical research or promoting religion. Decisions are expected to be made within 14 weeks of the closing date of each round.

For more information http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/grants/smallgrants.shtml

LVSC is having a learning and networking event to help Trustees, Managers, Advisors and HR officers implement better HR practice in the voluntary and community sector.

This event aims to help trustees, management committee members, chief executives, managers, development workers and advisors  implement better HR practice in the voluntary and community sector.

Hear from experts in employment law, HR and management

Benefit from practical workshops on topics ranging from employment status and tax, supporting and managing employees with mental health problems, recruitment, developing your skills as a manager, to avoiding redundancy

Speakers and workshop leaders include Victoria Cook of Bates Wells & Braithwaite, Cathy Busani of Happy Ltd, Helen Elliott of Sayer Vincent, Shirley Briggs and Clare Knights of the PEACe advice service .

One-to-one advice surgeries with the PEACe team are also available (bookable in advance, subject to availability)

Share experiences and network with colleagues from other frontline and second tier organisations.  For more details contact 020 3349 8911 www.lvsc.org.uk/peaceconference