Why have a ‘joining-up-the-dots’ conference?

Faith based groups often contribute to community cohesion as well as towards such communities' social and economic development. But, unfortunately, these groups often feel that they are small insignificant dots on the landscape. Some are well connected but working or co-operating with an even wider range of organisations might well improve their effectiveness.

FbRN UK believes that this needs to happen in a more ‘joined-up’ way, and so this conference was convened to facilitate joining up the dots. The conference encouraged faith based groups to find out about what different types of organisation are doing and how their own work can benefit from linking in to it. The conference also enabled organisations that are aiming to increase their work with faith groups to: build their profile with faith groups; achieve greater understanding about faith groups' needs and establish links with them.

This ‘joining of the dots’ is a part of FbRN UK’s key purposes which are:

• to assist the development of good practice in faith based social action, community development and community regeneration by linking practitioners for sharing good practice and mutual encouragement

• to act as a means of communication and contact between practitioners in communities, and those who make and implement public policy, in order to improve the context in which faith based social action, community development and regeneration takes place.

FbRN UK has been working along these lines since it was established by practitioners in 2002. The positive response to FbRN UK, by practitioners and policy makers alike, tells us that the work of ‘joining up the dots’ continues to be much needed and appreciated. If the enthusiasm and keenness displayed to talk to each other, share ideas and concerns as well as making connections is a good guide then the conference was tremendously successful in achieving our purposes.

Who came and what did they do?

140 participants came to the conference at the welcoming and well-organised environment of the Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London. Most were from faith based groups working at community level, and they were from a wide range of religions and from all regions of England, with a few from other parts of the UK. Participants also came from faith and belief based organisations. There were participants from other parts of the Voluntary and Community Sector, the Public Sector (including local and national government officers) and the Private Sector.

The networking room with its lively stands was a buzz of activity, with people taking advantage of the opportunity to find out more about the resources available and the organisations that they could work with. The stands were provided by:

• FbRN UK
• The Inter Faith Network of the UK
• The Development Trusts Association (DTA)
• The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
• The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA)
• The Regional Faith Forums
• The Community Development Foundation (CDF)
• Charity Bank
• Unity Trust Bank
• CCLA Investment Management Ltd
• Triodos Bank

Many other organisations took advantage of the extra space provided to display and distribute information about their work.

We were very grateful for the financial sponsorship of many of the above. Their contributions enabled us to offer a large number of free places so that many more people from faith based organisations could come.

 

Speeches: SADIQ KHAN

SADIQ KHAN

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG)  
(this link enables you to access video highlights and to download the full text)

Summary

FbRN, which is an important partner of CLG, undertook substantial background research on the regional picture that informed the Face-to-Face-and-Side-by-Side framework for partnership in our multi faith society (issued by CLG in July 2008). It also helps to bring the faith voice into the CLG’s thinking about policies and programmes.

Government is becoming increasingly aware that all relevant governmental and non-governmental bodies at national, regional and local levels need to be involved to create a better, more effective, society; a “joining up of the dots” 

The Faiths in Action Fund of £4 million will support local inter-faith projects and was part of a Government initiative to coordinate its policies and programmes with faith communities.

Starting in April 2009, each of the nine regional forums of faiths have been allocated up to £70,000 annually to help them build the capacity to support local inter faith structures and relate to regional governance.

An English Regions Faith Forums Network, convened jointly by the Inter Faith Network and FbRN, helps facilitate communication from national to local levels

The Community Development Foundation (CDF), as a major national community development infrastructure organisation, is helping to deliver Government programmes for faith communities, including the Faiths in Action Fund, and strategically positioning faith communities within the Third Sector.

Faith groups play a vital role in communities, delivering services and supporting community cohesion, contributing to social capital and social justice.

The Government has recently published a paper on Churches and Faith Buildings: Realising the Potential:

• listing relevant Government funding streams and capacity building resources,
• setting out guidance about local partnership working.
• identifying the valuable, and often unrecognised, role of faith communities and their buildings as part of the local third sector
• encouraging local partnership working.

Inter Faith Week which will run from 15th to 21st November 2009 has recently been announced.

Current tasks for CLG include:

• updating the Faith & Community guidance, originally published by the Local Government Association in 2002.

• supporting the development, by a multi faith group, of a programme of religious literacy training for the public sector

 

Speeches: DR MUHAMMAD ABDUL BARI

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)

(this link enables you to access video highlights and to download the full version of Dr Bari’s speech)

Summary

Muslim Community Involvement
One of the main roles for MCB is to help Muslims to participate more fully in all aspects of communal and political life in Britain. MCB believes that the Muslim interest lies in working with all the main political parties. It has been actively engaged in the issues around climate change, anti-terror laws, discrimination, racism and Islamophobia.

Dr Bari is also the Chair of the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre which provides a wide range of services to the local community, both Muslims and others. It works on issues of education, health, training and inter faith work.

Of particular current concern is the Government’s Preventing Violent Extremism strategy, which undermines the confidence of the Muslim community and creates division rather than social cohesion.

Faith as social capital
People of faith can help shape the future by developing social capital that will help to create a more humane, just, equitable and  sustainable global economic order. For example, by sharing and exchanging individual and communities' experiences, local successes, such as the micro-credit system originating in Chittagong in Bangladesh and now spreading in many countries including the USA, can be replicated elsewhere.

Islamophobia and social harmony

Since the 7 July bombings in London in 2005, the Muslim community has received disproportionate attention and been portrayed negatively. This is eroding the confidence of the Muslim community. Combined with racism, Islamophobia, and historic under-achievement, it is making young Muslims more vulnerable.

Islam's universal message
Islam believes in unity in diversity, for diversity in humanity is an essential message in the Qur’an.  People from all faiths should get to know one another and support one another when our basic religious beliefs or practices are threatened. Faiths can contribute to solutions rather than problems. There are important Muslim teachings about this for example:



• it is incumbent on Muslims to care for their neighbours, irrespective of their faith 


• marriage-based family life is the bedrock of civilization and it is being weakened by the strain of modern life


• the duty to look after elderly weak and vulnerable


• Khidmah or service to human beings requires the abler ones to have a social responsibility towards the disadvantaged


• faith should continue to speak about the custodianship of our environment 
  a need for a spiritual equilibrium that has been eroded

The way forward
Religions should continue to:

   

• emphasise the value of life, foster a culture of peace and build a partnership aiming to promote equality of opportunity for all in society 

    
• combat racism, discrimination, inequality, injustice and climate change
• present a spiritual message encouraging societies to address human suffering and protect religion from the perversion of cruel fanaticism 
• foster a culture of peace and together promote equality of opportunity and justice for all

Together we strive towards a Britain where all are at peace and ease with one another, where our differences are respected and we all have an equal opportunity to excel and contribute to the common good of our nation and of humanity at large. 

Speeches: STUART ETHERINGTON

Stuart Etherington

Chief Executive National Council for Voluntary Organisations
(this link enables you to access video highlights and to download the full version of Stuart Etherington’s speech)

Summary

Conferences like this are a valuable opportunity for us to get together, to celebrate our achievements, to share our experiences, to learn from each other, to inspire each other. That is also what FbRN does on a daily basis, bringing people together to share and learn.

The value of faith based organisations
In 2007 the Charity Commission registered more than 10,000 faith based charities with a combined income of nearly £3.5 billion

Religious buildings have always been a centre of, and for, the community.

Faith based organisations are rooted in their communities, reaching and caring for vulnerable groups and individuals. Many campaign, for example, on  action to address climate change and Make Poverty History.

Faith based organisations have much in common with the rest of the Voluntary and Community Sector and we need to consider how to learn from and support each other, without losing our distinctiveness. Faith Based Organisations can use the resources and capacity building support offered by NCVO and other mainstream infrastructure bodies. We should co-operate to build capacity and strengthen grass root organisations and communities.

Looking to the future
We should work together to address issues such as recession, climate change, street crime and anti-social behaviour. We need to continue to focus on regenerating and revitalising local areas, promoting the long term financial security of local people and the grass roots organisations/networks that sustain them, ensuring that such challenges are not divisive but are opportunities to work together to shape our common futures.

Civil Society Framework
NCVO’s Civil Society Framework for Action was launched in April 2009.
It sets out a vision of a strong and vibrant civil society, where people were inspired to make a positive difference to their communities. Key issues are:

• building a more cohesive society enabling people from different communities and faiths to engage with each other; and, for civil society to flourish, people need to be able to influence decisions that affect them
• the future of welfare; partnership is the only way forward to transform public services
• encouraging civil society organisations to play a crucial role in ensuring that climate change becomes a social, economic and political issue, as well as an environmental one

• helping communities and the organisations that work with them to become, and stay, financially secure

This is an ambitious agenda, and we want to work with all who share our vision so that we can create a fairer and more sustainable world where economic prosperity goes hand-in-hand with social justice.

Panel session

The panel session attracted much favourable comment from participants and most people wished that it could have been longer as the panellists had a great deal of experience and insight to share.

The purpose of the session was to enable the conference participants to engage with people who, between them, had a wide range of expertise and experience. We summarise a varied, fruitful and stimulating exchange of views and ideas.

The broad issue of engagement with Third Sector spans party political lines and there is broad agreement on the value of the Third Sector and the need to engage. The public sector and politicians can’t make the changes that are needed without the Third Sector. Politicians want to change society for the better, and for most this is their inspiration for entering public life.

Faith based groups connect the dots, but this, and all that they do is underpinned by their values and beliefs about how human beings should treat each other and the environment. Faith based organisations create cohesion and social capital in communities and this is why governments are interested in them.  For us, it’s part of our values and we should be working in partnership with them and others where we can.

What matters is people, partnerships and participation and also connections, communication and creativity. We need to speak out for people who are at the sharp end; to do this we need to listen to them and to people outside the faith sector.

One worrying factor is that support for the far right is growing – people from diverse faiths and cultures are seen as outsiders. Increasingly it is young people from disadvantaged white communities that are becoming disaffected. We need to reach out and have a debate with them. This will be tough and things will be said that we don’t agree with. The question for us is ‘what are we doing to build the confidence in our communities to engage with this?’ We need to move beyond our safe spaces to do this.

The values of faith groups are reflected in their interest in ethical investment. There is a larger proportion of faith people engaged in voluntary activity and they should not to be embarrassed about what motivates them. One of the problems is the prejudice of local authority officers. Faith communities have many assets for social action, notably, cash, land and volunteers. They are part of the Third Sector, which is the only sector that has free assets because it is largely self financing and in fact this gives it potentially great power for social change. If the faith sector could think about working together through their investments they would have the power to achieve significant change in society. Now is the right time to do this and take a lead.

There is no point in our organisations unless we can model different and moral ways of working. Now is the time when this is particularly important. The Development Trusts that are doing well have 2 main characteristics, firstly, a clear deeply felt social mission and secondly, a good quality business model. Faith based organisations can take this route, particularly in these challenging economic times. But, there is not enough connection between faith based groups and the other organisations in the wider Voluntary and Community Sector that can help them – we need to make better connections. Let’s step this up!

The transfer of community assets and land from public and local authorities to the Voluntary and Community Sector was discussed. There is much helpful information on this on the DTA website.

The relationships between different faith groups are getting stronger and it is important that we maintain this in good times as well as when we are challenged by adversity.

When many in the statutory sector encounter faith they see it, in terms of equality and diversity, as presenting a set of problems. This misses out the social capital argument. To get the best from the partnerships that we have been talking about, officials need to acquire a different set of reflexes when dealing with people of faith. To achieve this we need faith literacy, including understanding of values, and faith needs to be mainstreamed in the local authority agenda. Participants gave some positive examples of where this is happening including Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Pendle. They all demonstrate that, though this has taken a great deal of work and time to achieve, the end results more than justify the effort.

Workshops: SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS

The workshops, at the end of the day, were well attended and focused on the practical tools for working with organisations in other sectors.

Successful Partnerships:
local authorities engaging with the faith sector.

Led by Rauf Bashir from Building Bridges, Pendle

Rauf Bashir talked about the Pendle Forum of Faiths (PFF) and how they have  representation on the LSP (Local Sector Partnership) Board. 

The group talked about the relevance that one vote on the LSP has on influencing decision-making or whether it is just a talking shop and a momentary goodwill gesture to include a faith representative.

In response, workshop attendees felt that one vote can be crucial and is better than no vote.  Also at the grass roots level it’s about building relationships and not a faith representation issue.  It’s not about policies it’s about affecting positive change.  There has to be openness to discussion on issues that affect interfaith relationships and this has to be an objective discussion.  The interfaith forums structure and executive committee needs constant monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the focus and momentum towards impacting change and shaping policy is happening.  This ensures that the forum remains purposeful and is not just a talking shop, which was the concern of some workshop attendees.

It was asked if interests raised are always reflective of community views. And what mechanisms are in place to ensure that community views are represented.  PFF has a mutually beneficial relationship with the Pendle Neighbourhood Management structure and in turn these both have good links with the LSP.  There is thus, a constant flow of information and feedback that occurs between the representative structures and the community.

It was asked how the LSP view PFF involvement as it is a third sector medium for third sector organisations.  Rauf Bashir said it was the ability and proactiveness of the PFF to grasp the opportunity to be involved on the LSP at the very early stages of the development of the LSP.

An example of faith organisations playing an active relationship with the statutory sector has been DWP using places of worship for the job centre to tackle Worklessness in a region.  Workshop attendees felt this is all about trust with faith communities and maintaining that, even during radical new ventures like assisting job search in a faith building.  It is about educating faith communities that exploring faith literacy/interfaith relationships is not a compromise on faith and that this takes time.

It was mentioned that “Branding” is not an issue and that faith as an agenda should not be pushed all the time.

The group talked about examples of positive faith projects:

• Friends of the Earth involved faith organisations in the climate change agenda as it is a universal issue.  Details of the project can be found at: http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/ClimateandFaith/index.htm Telephone: 0121 5513161
• Diversity training and diversity experiences in communities.
• Wiltshire PCT has done some community walks with women from poorer Muslim communities.  These have been organised to combat mild depression and anxiety.  There are approximately 40 women that attend.
• Herefordshire Diocese worked with the LSP and local authorities.  The result has been the development of positive relationships between services.  The area is fortunate in that it boasts a good Local Authority.
• Integration of new migrant faith communities.  This was done in the 1960s.  It involved Muslim and Christian elderly women -they had baked cakes together.
• Involving schools in interfaith discussion and dialogue. 
• Cultural barriers can cause issues as there is unequal representation
• Difference has to be appreciated as all individuals are not the same and all faith organisations (individual capacities) are not the same.
• Building on and attaining Trust is central to the success of organisations
• The involvement of all faiths and those of no faith in sharing each other’s poetry and story telling.  This was bringing people together on common interest - it was done at the Preston forum of faiths.
• Through sport.  A very positive example being the Luxemburg interfaith relay marathon.

Parting thoughts were Victory is: Value your Volunteers

Workshops: COLLABORATIVE WORKING

Collaborative working; shared needs and common goals.

Led by Gareth Coles from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations

With increasing external pressure for the voluntary and community sector to form partnerships, greater numbers of organisations are exploring the opportunities offered by joint working.

Collaborative working can take many forms and bring huge benefits but is not right in all cases. It can be all too easy to overlook the potential pitfalls.

NCVO's Collaborative Working Team can support you with this process, helping you to decide whether to work collaboratively and assisting the development of your partnership.

Support

We can offer support in a range of areas:

• facilitating meetings between partners
• developing written joint working agreements
• advising on structures for consortium delivery of public services
• exploring the initial stages of merger
• considering other collaborative working arrangements

We provide:

• independent, impartial advice, information and guidance
• bespoke training workshops
• seminars and speakers at events
• dedicated one-to-one support
• signposting to other specialist agencies

Gareth Coles
Gareth has been the Development Officer in NCVO’s Collaborative Working Team since 2006, where he has gained a thorough understanding of many different types of collaboration. He has delivered training and provided consultancy support for various collaborations. Amongst other guidance, Gareth is the author of Collaborative working to generate income and co-author of Campaigning in Collaboration.

He previously worked in the Big Lottery Fund and the Community Fund, as a Grants Officer on the voluntary and community sector programme.


Top tips to deal with economic uncertainty

• Diversify income streams
• Strengthen key relationships
• Focus on your mission
• Tighten up financial systems
• Plan for the future

Workshop objectives

• To understand the context and drivers of collaborative working
• To identify the benefits and obstacles
• To explore the potential for collaboration between faith-based organisations, and between faith-based organisations and other civil society groups
• To enable you to make informed decisions about whether collaboration is right for you

Joint working drivers

• Government
• Public opinion
• Charity Commission
• Funders
• Beneficiaries

Faith and voluntary action – key findings

• Collaboration between faith-based and mainstream organisations needs further impetus, in order to build community cohesion.
• Faith-based organisations feel excluded from policy or funding discussions; affecting the potential for collaboration between faith and secular organisations.
• Faith-based and secular organisations should build on what makes them distinctive, but should not lapse into practices and identities of separateness and, ultimately, isolation.

Benefits of joint working

• New or improved services
• Knowledge & information sharing
• More efficient use of resources
• Sharing risk in new projects
• Stronger, united voice
• Better co-ordination of activities
• Enabling a better service for beneficiaries

Collaborative advantage
will be achieved

•  when an objective is met that no organisation could have produced on its own, and
•  when each organisation is able to achieve its own objectives better that it could alone

What would society look like in 2020 if we were collaborating?

• More social entrepreneurship
• Back into society
• Extension of state?
• Increased liberalism / increased orthodoxy
• Positive perception of faith groups
• Secularisation
• 2nd tier organisations out of a job
• Bringing diverse groups together

Obstacles

• Different values
• Different objectives
• Who’s accountable?
• Loopholes and bureaucracy
• Voluntary / professional
• Language differences
• Support from outside agencies needed
• Achieving full cost recovery
• Cultural differences
• Personalities
• Lack of resources
• Competition
• Cultural difference
• Lack of information and experience
• Resistance to change

Things that can help

• Personal relationships
• Compatible cultures
• Written agreements
• Leadership
• Vision
• Resources
• Big picture
• Collaborative advantage
• Planning
• Clarity of roles & aims
• Communication
• ICT

Structures

• New legal body
• Lead organisation
• External non-delivering lead

Joint working agreements – why?

• Clarify the project
• Define roles and commitments
• Process of writing
• Reference document

Resources

• Bassac – Collaboration Benefits www.bassac.org.uk
• Hact – ‘Collaborate’ resources www.hact.org.uk
• Office of the Third Sector – Working in a Consortium www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector.aspx
• Charity Commission www.charitycommission.gov.uk

Next steps
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/collaborate
collaborate@ncvo-vol.org.uk
020 7520 2440

Workshops: EMBRACING SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Embracing social enterprise.

Led by Uday Thakar from Red Ochre

Uday founded and leads the innovative and highly respected social enterprise Red Ochre. Well regarded and established as a consultancy and training specialist Red Ochre has a growing reputation for its enterprise and job creation support programmes and research capabilities.. www.redochre.org.uk

Social enterprise
Faith bodies have delivered community service and benefit through the use of the social enterprise model for thousands of years. The demand from society for more help from moral and ethically led organisations is increasing. Social enterprise is an important social phenomenon and delivery mechanism that all faith bodies need to understand and possibly create.

Aim is to make social enterprises financially self-sustaining. However some 90% of such enterprises in the UK relied on external funding or trading to survive. Uday identified key areas that such enterprises needed to address.

• Need to be clear about what you want to do ie fulfil charitable purposeful and what that entails
• Need clear identifiable role as funds can be difficult to access     particularly for faith-based organisations
• There is the potential trap of becoming grant dependent as generally cannot generate a surplus that enables re-investment.

Strategy: break away from this cycle aiming at increasing trade organically
There is currently a major Governmental initiative with Department of Health allocating some £60m for such enterprises with CLG being responsible for some of this funding

Restrictions to trading amounts (£50,000 per annum) for charitable organizations, so could make sense to hive off trading into a subsidiary

Need to be clear about Legal structure and permission to trade

The key elements which needed to be in place are:

• a business plan to cover areas such as -
  vision
  a mission method of delivery
  value statements (which have to be compatible with the vision)
  long term strategy
  a project idea
  resources to deliver the project
• methods of income generation
• marketing or review of others in this field
• ensuring that a significant social or communal need is being met and that a market profile can be developed, be clear about what is being marketed
• assessment of staff skills, systems and procedures resources

Then a clear action plan can be devised, a funding strategy prepared, resource requirements identified and then proposals drawn up.

Workshops: EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH GOVERNMENT

Faith based organisations and local government in effective partnerships and joint working.

Led by: Rose Doran of the Improvement and Development Agency for local government, and Rachel Clarke Policy Officer, Leicester City Council

Rose Doran – Community Cohesion Adviser
Rose Doran is responsible for developing and managing the agency’s programmes of work on community cohesion and preventing violent extremism.  As part of her wider role on community cohesion she leads the IDeA’s work with local authorities on ‘faith, community and the public sector’.

Rachel Clarke, Policy Officer, Partnership Executive Team, Leicester City Council
Rachel represents the City Council on the Holocaust Memorial Day organising committee, working with the Leicester Council of Faiths and other key partners on delivering Leicester’s HMD event. She has collaborated with the Leicester Council of Faiths on responses to central government consultations on inter faith dialogue.

Rachel Clarke talked about significant faiths in Leicester, changing faith patterns, and the importance of faith partnerships and how the City Council built its links through the Council of Faiths, involvement on the Bishop’s Faith Forum and working with the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO). The work included capacity building with a specific remit to increase the participation of women and young people; safeguarding children in madrassas (e.g. health and safety, child protection, work with imams) and addressing the Prevent agenda – Mainstreaming Moderation. Positive aspects of partnership in Leicester include the ability to secure access into communities; recognition of faith groups’ role in social justice activities, inclusive activities & involvement; the support of faith leaders in making things happen, and having a forum for dialogue and reconciliation important when tensions arise. 

The workshop split into two groups and identified the following areas where local government could support faith based partnerships.

Faith literacy
Increased literacy for local authorities and understanding diversity within faiths is important, including complexities that might be present (e.g. faith & ethnicity), changing faith patterns (e.g. influx of new communities) and practical needs that might impact on service provision. 

Capacity building
Acknowledging differences in the level of faith communities’ understanding of local authority processes and structures (e.g. Local Strategic Partnerships, Local Area Agreements etc) and overcoming barriers through clear and transparent communication. There is an opportunity for this when Community Plans and supporting structures are being ‘refreshed’.
Faith communities need to familiarise themselves with local structures to enable them to participate effectively.

Good communication
Avoid jargon/acronyms wherever possible.
Aim for transparency when seeking faiths’ involvement in programmes. Explain why involvement is desirable and the purpose of a faiths/multifaith perspective and collaborate on outcomes.   

Connecting up and seeking wider engagement
Help to promote sharing understanding across faiths, bringing single faiths together and link  them with appropriate organisations such as  faith-based and secular such as local ‘umbrella’ groups. Note, the need to work not just talk together, and to encourage involvement of young people in interfaith/multi faith forums 

Workshops: LET'S NOT REINVENT THE WHEEL

Let’s not reinvent the wheel: making sense of what we already know about funding and community development.

Led by Anna Allen and Tansy Miller, the Community Development Foundation

Trying to makes sense of community development?
Lost in the maze of funding streams?

Anna Allen
Anna Allen is a Head of the Faiths in Action programme at Community Development Foundation (CDF). She has also been managing the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund and Connecting Communities Plus (Community Grants) which to date have distributed over £13 million to more than 1,000 organisations across the UK. These Funds support the cross-Government strategy for Race Equality and Community Cohesion: ‘Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society’.

Tansy Miller
Tansy is the Regional Manager, Faiths in Action with the Community Development Foundation. She joined CDF in December 2008, and prior to this worked for the Department for Work and Pensions as a stakeholder manager for the eastern region, managing a funding stream for local third sector organisations and delivering capacity-building initiatives in the most deprived and financially excluded communities.

You are not alone. At any given moment, somewhere, another organisation will be facing the same challenges or even will have has solved the problem you have. It`s time to take full advantage of the wealth of existing VCS experiences and practices!

Outline of CDF
CDF would like to know :

• How well are VCS resources and training used by faith communities?
• Are there sufficient links between VCS and faith sector locally and regionally?
• What do faith communities think of existing community development resources?
• Where do faith communities go for funding.

A pack of resources was provided for each participant to view.

• Putting the fun into fundraising, Martin Shaw 2008
• The CDF fundraising factsheets [3]
• Churches and Faith Buildings – realising the potential, CLG et al
• Resource Directory, CDF 2009
• Community Development Paper 1: How Can it Help? & Paper 2 Resources
• Trustees Guide to Fundraising, Institute of Fundraising
• Volunteering England – website / publications

How do you find out about funding? Website; e-alerts; word of mouth; range of conferences; newsletters

Scenario: A newly established local interfaith group has contacted you for advice.  They would like to know how to get some funding for a local project.  They also want to know where they can access help with running their project and getting started as a community group.
What advice would you give them?

Workshop feedback

• It would be good to have a development worker who worked across several small groups sharing offices and overheads
• There can be a problem in setting up a new project with short term project funding [eg 12 months]
• Important to have a portfolio of funding sources for sustainability
• Capacity building needs to be long term as a project evolves, not just at the beginning
• There may be challenges in developing sustainability for new organisations
• Funding applications are very time consuming to complete.  This is a strain on the capacity of volunteers
• CVSs also only open Mon-Fri 9-5 so not accessible to volunteers who are working full time
• There is a need for more infrastructure support with a faith perspective to signpost, and provide, advice to faith based groups.

Advice from Anna re Scenario

• Approach local CVS
• Look at the new organisation’s goals and make sure that they are realistic
• Look to see what they can do without funds
• Identify one member to develop expertise to research funding and application
• Make sure the group understands what the funder needs
• Check this is not a duplication – if similar group exists – encourage a join up
• Find out exactly what the project will do
• Refer the group to the local faiths forum
• Talk to local council
• Help the group develop a business plan
• Make sure that the group is fully briefed in how to manage and monitor funds

 

Workshops: NEW OPPORTUNITIES

New Opportunities.

Led by: Robert Beard, National Association for Voluntary and Community Action

Robert Beard
Robert is Policy Adviser for the Improving Local Partnerships Unit at the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA), and a member of the Faith and Community steering group at the Department for Communities and Local Government.  He also offers freelance equalities and diversity training, especially around Religion or Belief.

The workshop 'unpacked' the government’s agenda to shift decision-making power from Whitehall to local areas, through local strategic partnerships (LSPs), local area agreements (LAAs) and comprehensive area assessment (CAA). Faith communities and faith-based organisations have a particular and historic commitment to marginalised and excluded people – the workshop explored how they could draw on this to contribute to the design and delivery of local public services.

The workshop:

• looked  at the positive implications of the current economic recession
• explained Comprehensive Area Assessment and showed how the new assessment process offered faith communities opportunities to feed into the service design and delivery process, even where they have not been involved in LSPs and LAAs
• showcased user-friendly resources for further exploration of the issues raised.

Policy context – localisation

• Government policy is to shift power to make decisions about local issues from Westminster to local areas
• Government wants local decisions to be informed by the local experience, knowledge and expertise of third sector organisations (TSOs), including faith-based organisations (FBOs)
• Local strategic partnerships (LSPs) have been set up in every local authority area, to bring together the public, private and third sectors
• Each LSP has negotiated a local area agreement (LAA) with its regional Government Office, setting out local priorities

Opportunities for FBOs

• FBOs can work with other TSOs, through local infrastructure organisations (LIOs), to contribute to the localisation of service design and delivery
• FBOs and their members have knowledge, experience, expertise and track-record in providing services to ‘need to reach’ groups, plus commitment to their areas
• FBOs can contribute to local democracy, facilitate councillors’ access to ‘need to reach’ groups and empower those furthest from decision making to ensure their voices are heard
• The economic downturn may offer FBOs an opportunity to present themselves as the best value option for delivering services

Comprehensive area assessment

• CAA is a single assessment process, undertaken by the Audit Commission and six partner inspectorates, replacing Comprehensive Performance Assessment
• Designed to put citizens at the centre of the assessment process, reduce inequalities and address discrimination
• Local councils and public bodies expected to demonstrate increasing partnership working to tackle local challenges in which FBOs are stakeholders
• CAA focuses on effective delivery of local services and on experience and perceptions of whether they are the right services, meeting the needs of the disadvantaged
• CAA will use green flags to indicate exceptional or innovative achievements, and red flags to indicate concerns about poor performance or prospects
• Faith leaders, FBO officers and faith reps need to engage with CAA, to maximise the sector’s involvement in and influence on local public services

New opportunities
Faith-based organisations and local involvement

Robert Beard
Improving Local Partnerships Policy Adviser
NAVCA, The Tower, 2 Furnival Square, SHEFFIELD S1 4QL
( +(0)114 289 3984
robert.beard@navca.org.uk