Highlights of some key project developments and achievements at GMCVO over recent months
No.4 SUMMER 2010
Getting fit for the futureA healthcheck for assessing whether your organisation is at risk has been devised by GMCVO.Against the background of an ever-changing political and economic environment, the healthcheck serves as a ‘wake-up’ to a sector that faces the prospect of deep funding cuts and the loss of public sector contracts in the months and years ahead. Organisations need to plan now and to look at how fit they are before deciding on what strategy to adopt. Such strategies could include restructuring of services, collaborative working or merger, growth, downsizing or closure.The healthcheck consists of a series of questions which seeks to establish organisations' risk factors in relation to governance and leadership, the chief executive’s role, reach and profile, quality and satisfaction, and finance and resources. The Are you at risk? healthcheck can be completed at: www.gmcvo.org.uk/node/2026
Transport and volunteering research
Findings from a recent GMCVO research report suggest that a failure to address volunteers’ transport problems may reduce the impact of volunteer-involving organisations on social exclusion.
Transport is frequently mentioned as one of the practical barriers to volunteering. However, so far there had been no studies that look into the problem in more detail. GMCVO’s researcher worked with the GMCVO-based Transport Resource Unit and Greater Manchester Volunteering Champion to report on how volunteering infrastructure and volunteer-involving organisations currently deal with the transport dimension of volunteering.
The report also says that in the current climate of debate, in which volunteering is seen as a way of reducing worklessness, not addressing transport problems of potential volunteers prevents volunteer organisations from tapping into a more diverse pool of volunteers.
Mobilising Volunteers: Transport to Involvement and Opportunity shows that despite the significance of transport for volunteer-led service delivery, it is not formally acknowledged by organisations as a factor and there is no consensus on whose role it should be to address volunteers’ transport problems.
The report can be downloaded from: www.gmcvo.org.uk/node/2190
Contact: David Campbell, 0161 277 1014,
From consumerism to sustainability
In February 2010, GMCVO worked with the US-based environmental research organisation Worldwatch Institute and MERCI to host the first-ever Manchester launch event of State of the World.
This year’s theme of the institute’s annual publication, which The Guardian referred to as “the most authoritative guide to the state of the planet,” was the cultural shift that is needed to transform our consumerist culture into a sustainable one. At the event one of the book’s authors, Erik Assadourian, explored the need for a cultural transformation that has the potential for making sustainable thinking feel as natural as consumerist thinking has been. Nearly 60 participants from the voluntary sector, academia and public bodies across Greater Manchester engaged in a critical debate with Erik to share their own views and experiences of trying to bring about change.
Contact: Susanne Martikke, 0161 277 1031,
Training boost for volunteer managers
Volunteering Greater Manchester ran two training courses during Volunteers Week in June.
The courses were led by Rick Lynch, one of the leading international trainers in volunteer management and co-author of the bestselling bookin this field, Essential Volunteer Management. The sessions – on Motivating and Retaining Volunteers andHow to Develop and Market Volunteering Opportunities – were greatly appreciated by the 40-plus volunteer managers who attended each course.
VGM, which is hosted by GMCVO, has also offered tailor-made training and capacity-building support to volunteering infrastructure organisations across Greater Manchester – mainly Volunteer Centres and vinvolved teams – in response to an initial mapping exercise and in line with our project aims and objectives.
Our new website gives information about the VGM project and contact details for the volunteering infrastructure organisations across the sub-region.It will shortly include details of future activities and events, particularly relating to the 2011 European Year of Volunteering and the 2012 Olympic Games, along with the latest local, sub-regional and national news about volunteering.
www.volunteering-gm.org.uk
Contact: Lynne Kent, 0161 277 1027,
Research network launches website
The Greater Manchester Third Sector Research Network now has a web presence that serves as a permanent source of information about its work and membership.
The website will provide updates on scheduled meetings, notes from past meetings, brief information about who is on the network and their affiliation, as well as presentations that have been delivered at meetings.
The Network aims to bring together those who are gathering information on and within the third sector in the sub-region. Hosted jointly by GMCVO and Manchester Business School, it is open to practitioners and academics with an active interest in voluntary sector research in Greater Manchester. In addition to themed sessions, members have the opportunity to exchange information, discuss issues of concern to their area of work, as well as obtain feedback on ideas, thoughts and projects.
www.gmcvo.org.uk/researchnetwork
Contact: Susanne Martikke, 0161 277 1031,
Learning to lead
The first half of 2010 was a busy time in the GMCVO Training Centre, with over 90 individual learners enrolling on both our accredited and non-accredited courses.
In January, GMCVO expanded its portfolio of accredited training to include the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Level 4 Award in Management, with 34 learners from 30 different VCS organisations taking up the opportunity to participate in the award.
Working in partnership with Tameside Third Sector Coalition and their innovative iLearn project, GMCVO has made a positive contribution by further expanding its portfolio to include the ILM Level 3 Award in Workplace Coaching and Mentoring for Team Leaders and First Line Managers. So far eight learners have taken up the award, with a further nine learners enrolled for September.
Together with hosting non-accredited training in budgeting and finance, counselling skills, plus several bespoke courses for external organisations such as the Greater Manchester BME Network, the GMCVO Training Centre has enjoyed a particularly productive 2010.
Contact: Andy Rawling, 0161 277 1009,