LCVS Strategic framework – our roadmap for the next 5 years

November 2014Summary version – draft for consultation

Introduction

• We operate in an environment of substantial societal change, and where the pace of that change is increasing vastly. At the same time, there remains huge need, poverty and inequality in the city.

• Therefore, against this backdrop there is a need for us to consider our role and how we go about delivering it: to ensure that we continue to be relevant, respected and add value – for LCVS to be ‘great’ again.

• Our strategic framework is designed to provide us with a roadmap for the next 3 to 5 years (towards the general election in 2020). This document sets out the context that LCVS is operating in, our high level ambition and key programmes of work over the next 5 years.

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Developing our strategic framework

• To inform the development of this strategic framework for LCVS, we have undertaken a number of activities, including:– Understanding our stakeholders views, needs and aspiration, through:– 150+ 1-2-1 meetings with partners and stakeholders since January

2014– A formal Stakeholder survey (summer 2014), which received over 170

responses– Survey of Welfare Organisations Committee (WOC) members and

follow up development activity– An extensive programme of ‘round table’ stakeholder / community

conversations in September 2014– in total we spoke with over 100 key stakeholders

– Engagement programme with LCVS staff– Commissioning a small series of thought pieces on key subject areas– Strategy development sessions with LCVS board members– Use of recognized business planning tools - SWOT analysis; PEST;

GOOD

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Making sense of it all

• A key message from our engagement activity over the last few months, with both external stakeholders and staff, was that we need to provide greater clarity about our purpose – about why we exist and what we are trying to change.

• Secondly, the vast majority of our stakeholders are not aware of the extent of the work we undertake – they tended to see LCVS from a narrow perspective in terms of the services that they received.

• As a result, we have considered and now restate our purpose:

We work to improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities in Liverpool

We do this through:

Supporting, encouraging and developing voluntary action and charitable giving and bringing people, organisations and resources together.

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Where I think we’re going

Diagram

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Our priorities: Education, Health, Income

• To achieve improved wellbeing of individuals and communities, we believe that there are some things which are vital, and we see a world where all individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income and healthy lives. These were also recognised within the UN Millennium development goals as thebuilding blocks to a good life, and all aim to address poverty of:

– Education – Helping children and young people achieve their potential

– Income – Reducing inequality and supporting financial stability and independence, economic growth and initiatives which tackle or reduce poverty

– Health – Improving People’s Health and wellbeing

• We want to create long-lasting change by addressing the underlying causes of these problems as we know that these will have the maximum impact on improving the wellbeing of individuals and communities in Liverpool.

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Our priorities: Education, Health, Income

• Whilst we have used the shorthand of ‘income’, we recognize that this encompasses a wider sphere of work – work towards financial resilience / access to opportunities / reducing barriers to employment / increasing aspirations to help achieve (economic) potential / promoting and encouraging the living wage.

• We believe that supporting, encouraging and developing voluntary action and charitable giving and bringing people, organisations and resources together will help us achieve this. All of our activities, combined and individually, seek to create positive community impact – whether that be through our programmes, supporting and encouraging voluntary action or charitable giving, and through our enabling activities.

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Cross cutting themes

Working together• LCVS believes that collaboration between organisations is important.

We will help other organisations to collaborate, and apply a clear set of rules or tests which we can apply in considering which collaborations to pursue or when approached by other organisations to collaborate formally.

Thought leadership and our role as a place shaper• A consistent theme in developing this strategic framework was

disappointment that we have been less visible, and provided less ‘leadership’, views and representation in the last 3-5 years than previously - a crucial time for the city and VCS organisations given the reductions in funding, and changes in national policy. Put simply, we are seen as having ‘withdrawn’ (both by public and VCS organisations) and been passive in presenting our views and the views of the sector.

• Feedback has also indicated that this is a legitimate role for LCVS, and part of our role as a ‘place shaper’ – more than simply providing a range of ‘transactional’ services to individual organisations.

• It is part of our uniqueness and a key attribute of a successful VCS infrastructure organisation. 8

Our programmes

• LCVS has never been an organisation that directly delivers ‘frontline’ services – instead, we generally support, empower, work with and through (and in some cases fund) other not for profit organisations.

• However, there are times when we will take a lead in bringing together partnerships to meet an identified need or to help change the conditions that create the need in the first instance.

In developing this strategic framework, we have reviewed our position and reaffirm our stance:

that LCVS will not seek to become an organisation that delivers frontline services.

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Our programmes

• We already work with partners and co-ordinate a small number of key programmes that work in the 3 pillars of health – education – income stability.

• These programmes have had significant impact in the last three years, and demonstrate the positive impact of our collaborative approach

• Going forward, our programmes will always work within the three pillars but will, over time, change according to our assessment of priorities and where we can make most difference.

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During the lifetime of this strategic framework we will seek out and consider how we can grow our programmes, particularly focusing on interventions that disrupt the cycle of poverty. In doing so, we will work with a range of delivery partners.

Supporting and encouraging charitable giving

• LCVS has a rich heritage of supporting philanthropic and charitable activities in Liverpool since 1909, before there was any significant form of state funding of charities and voluntary sector organisations.

• Currently, we help donors spend £4m per year – of which approximately 25% stays in the city and the wider Merseyside area.

• We know that people want to give locally, and increasingly want to see the positive impact from their giving.

• We believe that this continues to be a legitimate area of work for LCVS, and that we have an important role to play to help people give locally.

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To support this, we will:• Consider the development of a separate ‘giving’ brand, to raise

awareness and make it easier for people to give locally.• Increase our work in demonstrating local need and provide solutions

(such as Positive about Play) where people can invest.

Services to charities & voluntary organisations

• We provide a range of services that help voluntary organisations (and those that work in them, in either a paid or voluntary capacity) to start, grow, develop and thrive.

• These services include:

– Capacity building – a range of development services, delivered through group training, facilitation and 1-2-1, with voluntary and community groups in the city.

– Community accountancy and payroll– financial management, independent examination of accounts and payroll administration for charities and social enterprises

– 151 Dale Street – our building provides office space and conference facilities to other charities and social enterprises locally.

– IT and telephony – to building tenants

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Services to charities & voluntary organisations

Capacity building• In our stakeholder survey, where over three quarters of respondents had use the

service, 84% of respondents ranked the quality of the service as excellent (61%) or good (23%). This area of our work has a tangible impact, and we believe that it should remain a core part of our offer going forward.

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• Going forward, our service needs to be more forward looking, advising and helping organisations adjust to a changing future landscape and new issues and needs. For example:• We will widen the range of funding support we offer, to include trading, fundraising,

contracts and social finance. • We will increase the support we offer to organisations to collaborate, both thematically

and geographically. This may include, where the sector agrees, LCVS developing and leading supply chains and consortia arrangements.

• We will consider ways to differentiate our costs, based on ability of organisations to pay, and continue to seek public sector (and potentially private sector / individual) investment to support our work with organsiations least able to pay themselves.

• To enable us to focus our time on those organisations who most need our support, we will develop a ‘self-service’ offer, enabling organisatons to access a range of simple advice digitally.

Services to charities & voluntary organisations

151 Dale Street – the home to Liverpool’s charities and voluntary organisations

• LCVS purchased 151 Dale Street in 2008, and completely refurbished the building. It is now a vibrant hub for a wide range of voluntary community and social enterprise organisations, and a very visible ‘symbol’ of LCVS and the wider sector.

• We will continue to ensure that the building provides good quality office space, and conferencing facilities, and we will consider ways in which we can maximise our experience of being ‘a landlord’ in other settings.

Community accountancy and payroll adminstration

• LCVSs community accountancy service was reestablished in 2004, and initially funded through Big Lottery BASIS. It provides a range of services to small voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises

• Our strategy is to increase the range of services provided and client numbers, as well as building on increased responsiveness. To date we have not undertaken any proactive publicity of this area of work, and doing so from 15/16 onwards will be a key step in increasing the portfolio of clients and income.

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Voluntary sector infrastructure ‘enablers’ to help thriving communities• There are a range of activities – we’ve called them enablers – which are vital to support

our role in improving the wellbeing of individuals and communities in Liverpool through supporting, encouraging and developing voluntary action and charitable giving and bringing people, organisations and resources together. Examples of these enablers include providing networking opportunities and bringing people together to address problems; developing an evidence and research base and providing a policy function so we know where to put our efforts and we can encourage others.

Our strategy, based on the evidence above, clearly recognises the importance of getting the ‘enablers’ right. In summary:• Networking and facilitating networks should be a central part, but delivered in a more

flexible way, based on demand. We should focus on bringing people together, across sectors and within the voluntary sector, where there is ‘common purpose’ – our vital role as a convenor. In some cases this may lead to formal partnerships, and where appropriate LCVS could be the ‘supply chain manager’

• We need to deploy online tools / provide feedback etc to enable groups to feel connected even if they are unable to attend meetings

• We should provide a policy function, to enable VCS organisations to understand public policy issues and help shape them, and should provide produce regular thought pieces,

• We have an important role to play in helping and supporting representation from the sector• This has to be underpinned by a stronger research and evidence base, which itself informs

and drives both our support to encouraging giving and the programmes we get involved in developing and delivering

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Solid and strong foundations

• Finally, to be effective, we need to be a strong, healthy organisation ourselves – and so we can’t forget to focus on strong foundations, ensuring we are fit for purpose going forward.

• Our focus on strong foundations will include a number of areas, for example:

Clarity of purpose• Ensuring that we are clear about our role, and how the

activities that we deliver support this. • The development of this new strategic framework, and

the operational plan that will sit alongside this, is a significant step in meeting this.

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Solid and strong foundations

Governance

• As a registered charity, we have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that our affairs are well governed. As a support / umbrella organization to other charities, often advising them on governance matters, and as the custodian and trustee of a large amount of funds on behalf of beneficiaries and settlors, this is even more important.

• During the lifetime of this strategic framework, we will therefore continue to ensure focus and reflect on our own governance to ensure that it remains appropriate and robust.

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Solid and strong foundations

Staff support and development

• Our people are LCVS’ biggest asset. We know we need to build on this to create a positive culture across the organisation, and provide the correct support to bring to life the passion that our staff have for our work.

Measuring and demonstrating impact

• Ensuring we have robust tools to measure, demonstrate and communicate the positive difference our work makes.

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Finally…..

• Thank you to everyone who helped to contribute so far to the development of our strategic framework – our roadmap.

• This document is the short summary of the draft.

• For LCVS to be valuable and valued, we need to have your help in getting it right.

• So, we want to know what you think, before we finalise it. Tell us what we’ve got right, what we’ve got wrong, and what we’ve missed. Connect with us:

– info@lcvs.org.uk

– Tel: 0151 227 5177

– Twitter.com/@lcvsuw

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