I was pleased to be invited to the grand opening of Wall Heath Tennis Club’s brand new clubhouse recently, the culmination of hard work by a group of volunteer directors who’ve dedicated more than 2 years to making it happen!
good practice
Giving to charity: a survey of public attitudes by nfpSynergy
Photo credit: jovike via Foter.com / CC BY-NC
Recent survey results of public attitudes towards giving to charity make interesting reading and could help you to plan better, more transparent fundraising campaigns.
The research was undertaken by research consultancy nfpSynergy, which also released results of its survey into what puts people off giving to charity.
Based on 1,000 respondents aged 16+, it reveals that the top factors that encourage people to give to a particular charity are:
- The charity is clear about what donations are spent on (56%)
- Learning about the impact the charity has (47%)
- Positive stories about the charity in the media (37%)
- Case studies / stories about individuals that have been helped (33%)
Interestingly, the results suggest that people aged 55 and over were more likely to want a charity to be clear about what donations are spent on and information about the charity’s impact. People under 35 preferred case studies more than older age groups and they wanted to be able to take part in fundraising events, receive thanks yous and have volunteering opportunities.
Dudley groups that got involved in Small Charity Week
I just wanted to say a big ‘THANK YOU!’ to everyone who got involved in Small Charity Week in Dudley borough and to highlight the organisations that joined in our conversations.
We had quite a few conversations online and some busy activities that I really hope were useful and stimulating for everyone that joined in.
Working Together for Change
One of the highlights of my time with Dudley CVS has been the opportunity to help develop and support Dudley Parent Carer Forum – Working Together for Change. Not just because they are a group of awesome people with such amazing strength, that are giving, insightful and bundles of fun, but because they are completely committed to influencing decisions that affect their lives and the lives of other parents with children who have disabilities or additional needs. It has been a privilege to see their confidence and relationships with professionals develop and to see the real tangible outcomes of these collaborations. I truly believe that this has been possible partly because of the liberating leadership model of governance that they have chosen to use.
Strong foundations
The forum formed just over 2 years ago now and is made up from six organisations, all with three seats each, and a number of independent parent carers and grandparents. The steering group is large in comparison to some organisations but it really works for WTFC; as parent carers have complex lives, having a large steering group removes pressure to have to be at meetings but still gives us solid representation to make decisions and move work forward.
The steering group is working to a liberating leadership style which makes the best use of people’s strengths, skills and experiences. Roles, tasks and groups are allocated based on interest and skills.
The forum spent the first few meetings really getting to know each other, forming a solid team with a collective understanding and vision. The purpose of the first session was to come together and collectively agree what the forum stood for and agree a way to move forward together. It was also an opportunity to agree how we want the forum to be seen. The session was designed to have an interactive and creative focus.
Box of postcards
To start the process the group was asked to look through a selection of postcards and pick one that they were particularly drawn to and one that they were not sure about. It was interesting to hear the reasons why different postcards were selected and different perspectives.
Drawing with eyes closed
Each member of the group was given a piece of blank paper and a pen. They were then asked to draw a flower with their eyes closed and hand the drawing in without looking at their own or each others. Incredibly everyone identified their own drawing even though they had not seen what they had drawn!
The group again with eyes closed were asked to draw something they liked. They then had to identify who had drawn what. We learnt a lot about each other through these activities as well as identifying some ideas of what our visual identity should be.
The group began to think about the importance of how they put their message across, and about the key elements that deliver that message such as a logo, the images we use, and our title. It was agreed that as a forum they need to be clear and say ‘this is what we do, and this is what we don’t do!’
After this session a clear vision was formulated which is to “Empowering Dudley Parent Carers to have their voices heard in a way that influences change & service design”
Having solid foundations and a clear vision has enabled the forum to work together, giving over 850 hours of volunteer time to collaborate with professionals, to influence policies, develop statutory organisations’ publicity materials and websites, encouraged partnerships working and discouraged silos and helped to shape new services!
They have achieved all this whilst still offering support, friendship and fun to all parent carers across Dudley borough, communicating and sharing with over 800 parent carers within the network.
You can find out more about Working Together for Change and their incredible journey by visiting the website or following them on Twitter.
Coming together is a beginning; Keeping together is progress; Working together is success!
Henry Ford
How can we improve the diversity of trustee boards?
The Trustees’ Week website has lots of useful information about becoming a trustee, recruiting trustees and topics related to running a charity.
Amongst its posts is one piece about trustee facts and figures, which says:
- There are over 1,000,000 trustee positions in England and Wales;
- Estimates suggest that almost half of charities have at least one vacancy on their board;
- Just 0.5% of trustees in England and Wales are aged between 18 and 24, (compared with 12% of the population as a whole);
- The average age of trustees in England and Wales is 57, two thirds are aged 50 and over.
- 43.4% of trustees are female, and 56% are male. (Each trustee is counted only once, though some are trustees for more than one charity. The figure for female trustees should be treated as a minimum as only those whose titles are certainly female are included).
Join us during Trustees Week
“Trustees are the people in charge of a charity. They play a vital role, volunteering their time and working together to make important decisions about the charity’s work. Trustees’ Week is an annual event to showcase the great work that trustees do and highlight opportunities for people from all walks of life to get involved and make a difference.”
From the Trustees’ Week website
Building groups, building friendships: Black Country Integration Project
On Friday evening I had the pleasure of visiting the Mayor of Dudley’ parlour to celebrate the launch of one of my groups, Black Country Integration Project.
Our work gets recognised in high places!
Our work in partnership with the local authority to guide communities through the process of taking on, developing and managing buildings has been held up as an example to be replicated across the whole country in a national paper given to the CLG (Communities and Local Government) Select Committee earlier this week.
Supporting leaders all year round!
“Trustees are the people in charge of a charity. They play a vital role, volunteering their time and working together to make important decisions about the charity’s work. Trustees’ Week is an annual event to showcase the great work that trustees do and highlight opportunities for people from all walks of life to get involved and make a difference.”
From the Trustees’ Week website
A year of… Celebrating how we’ve supported the sector 2013-14
It’s a busy and exciting time here at Dudley CVS as we’re gearing up for our AGM and Volunteer Awards, which will be held on Thursday evening. Within all this preparation and planning, we’ve been working on a new style of annual report that celebrates what we’ve been doing to support our sector and the wonderful people within it and we’re so happy to share it now.
Dudley CVS blog 
