nicva annual report 2007-2008

NICVA Annual Report 2007-2008, page 25

Enhancing engagementANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008

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contents

chair’s report 1chief executive’s report 2enhancing policy through engagement 3enhancing research through engagement 6enhancing governance through engagement 8enhancing training through engagement 10enhancing funding advice through engagement 12enhancing communications through engagement 14link awards 17engaging with the private sector 19engaging with members 20thank you to supporters 21finances 22

VisionNICVA’s vision is of an effective, vibrant voluntary and

community sector which helps build a fair and equal society.

MissionNICVA’s mission is to represent and promote the voluntary

and community sector in Northern Ireland and to provide support and leadership to it.

ValuesNICVA is committed to equality, justice and promoting

diversity and opposes discrimination of any sort.NICVA is committed to positive social change to address

poverty and exclusion.NICVA is committed to partnership working and adopts a

community development approach.NICVA values its staff and volunteers as the key resource

of the organisation.NICVA is committed to pursuing social, environmental and

economic sustainability.NICVA is an independent organisation and is non party

political.NICVA strives for excellence in all that it does in order to

provide high quality services.NICVA conducts its business in an open, honest,

transparent and accountable way to its members and stakeholders.



chair’s reportI am delighted to present our Annual Report on behalf of NICVA’s Executive Committee. The year 2007/2008 has been an important one for our sector and the community at large in Northern Ireland, not least because we saw the return of devolution and the establishment of a new Northern Ireland Executive.

NICVA and many organisations within the voluntary and community sector have long supported devolution as a way of enhancing democracy and making government ultimately more responsive to ordinary people here. People want to have some influence over the decisions that affect their lives and they want to be governed by ministers who are in touch with their electors’ day-to-day lives. Voluntary and community groups or

associations are the vehicles that people can use to get their views across. We believe in a participative democracy where the people are engaged, interested and connected to their government. The thousands of free associations across Northern Ireland are a reflection of ordinary

people’s commitment to taking responsibility for their neighbours, their community and those they do not even know, just to do some good for others. A sense of social solidarity and the idea that life for many can be improved motivates those who get involved.

At NICVA it is our mission to try and support all those organisations engaged in voluntary action in local communities or across the region. Our policy work touches on many of the big themes like poverty, the economy, education and charity law for example. But behind the scenes much of NICVA’s work as articulated in this Annual Report is about providing specialist support in a whole host of areas like fundraising advice, extensive training programmes, information delivery and other development support.

As chair of NICVA I am proud of our record, the continually expanding membership base and the results that the organisation has produced within the resources that it has been able to attract. I thank my fellow Executive Committee members and the staff of NICVA for their support, dedication and ability to deliver to a high standard as exemplified by the contents of this report.

Bob Stronge, chair



in visitor numbers and the sheer breadth and scale of information available. On a sad note we took the decision to cease publication of SCOPE magazine after 33 years. In its last few years SCOPE was doing well but pressure on resources, always prevalent, moved us to stop publication. We think we can fill some of the gap left: through non-NICVA publications; NICVA’s family of websites; and NICVA News.

Another key area of work is our representational one as the voice of the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland making sure the health and well-being of the sector are looked after. Again, in attempting to strengthen the policy development capacity of organisations, we have created a number of policy fora for people to exchange ideas and take part in peer learning. Devolution provides an opportunity and organisations must be equipped and have the ability to offer advice and potential solutions to the difficulties that face our region.

Finally, I would like to join with the chair Bob Stronge and thank NICVA’s Executive Committee and staff for their unstinting efforts during the year - not least Bob’s commitment and time which is substantial.

Seamus McAleavey, chief executive

chief executive’s reportThis Annual Report gives a flavour of the year’s work for NICVA, where we place our energies and resources. Most of NICVA’s resources are devoted to providing support to our members, from the near 1,000 organisations which used the conference facilities for their own events to the thousands who attend NICVA organised events throughout the year.

Much of our focus is on providing support to other organisations to help them achieve their own goals or priorities. Increasingly we have concentrated on the good governance of organisations in our sector because as citizens’ organisations they need to be open and democratic and as expertly organised as any other body in the public or private sector.

NICVA has always been an information organisation keeping members up to date on government, EU issues, funding sources and sharing information on what other organisations are doing. The report notes that our websites, principally nicva.org and communityni.org, continue their phenomenal growth both



Much of NICVA’s policy work in the year focused on enhancing voluntary and community sector organisations’ ability and capacity to engage with decision makers and those with influence. In doing so, NICVA has delivered a wide variety of services to meet the many differing needs and demands of the organisations.

To enhance engagement with the Northern Ireland Assembly, NICVA provided a comprehensive directory of information on contacts of key people in the Assembly and political parties, delivered training entitled ‘Get to know the Northern Ireland Assembly’ to 110 people and produced its Assembly Monitor, which enabled over 200 organisations to follow the relevant work of the NI Assembly on a weekly basis via email.

enhancing policy through engagement

Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont



NICVA also facilitated voluntary and community organisations to engage with each other to discuss their policy issues in a number of policy fora, including those focused on women, arts, older people, the environment, men, and local and global poverty. It established a new forum to bring together people from voluntary and community organisations interested in improving their lobbying and campaigning skills. This group of 80 members met three times during the year.

NICVA provided opportunities for its members and the sector to engage with government through the year. A series of roundtable meetings was organised with eight key government departments to discuss plans under the Comprehensive Spending Review; information sessions on how government departments get and spend money were held and consultation meetings were organised in Belfast, Cookstown and Derry on the Budget and Programme for Government from the new

Executive. 285 people attended these three sets of events.

The European Commission established a special Taskforce to map how Northern Ireland was engaging with the EU. NICVA carried out a similar exercise in the voluntary and community sector and hosted a Making the Most of the European Union seminar.

Europe Direct point at NICVA offices



The new Executive took some time out to assess the recommendations from the Review of Public Administration and NICVA used this extra time to develop the debate around community planning. A paper outlining the challenges of community planning for the voluntary and community sector was developed in

conjunction with Community Technical Aid (CTA) and the Rural Community Network (RCN). Over 100 people attended a conference which discussed the issues raised in the paper.

NICVA staff reviewed a total of 117 consultation documents in the period and responded in full to 18 of these, including those on:

• theUnclaimedAssetsFund;• healthandsocialcarereform;• theProgrammeforGovernmentand

Budget;• careersstrategy;• theRatesReview;• theAssemblycodeofconduct.

Group working at NICVA



The relationship between government, funders and the voluntary and community sector is constantly evolving and is a key determinant in how they engage with each other. The work of the Research Unit during the year was reflective of this changing environment.

This was most evident in NICVA’s ongoing relationship with the Supporting People team in the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. The work commissioned by Supporting People focused on identifying organisational and training development issues amongst a number of service providers. The project identified the need for a greater understanding of the impact of public service delivery on organisations and the importance of governance and strategic planning. A

major conference highlighting the impact of this work was held on 30 January 2008.

The Northern Ireland Audit Office commissioned NICVA to produce a scoping paper to examine the prevalence of policies and their impact on the voluntary and community sector in relation to the delivery of public services.

A key theme of both pieces of work was the inability of voluntary and community organisations to fully participate and engage in the delivery of public services. This has often been attributed to the lack of necessary skills

enhancing research through engagement

Launch of the Northern Ireland Voluntary and Community Sector Skills Survey 2008



within organisations, particularly in the areas of contract management and negotiation skills. The lack of contract management and negotiation skills was one of the key issues that emerged from a unique piece of research conducted by NICVA in partnership with a consortium of nine Sector Skills Councils. The report examined the nature, scope and impact of skills shortages and skills gaps in the paid workforce of the sector.

The Research Unit was involved in some important collaborative work during the year with ARK (the Northern Ireland Political Archive) at Queen’s University and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). NICVA has continued to engage with ARK to provide capacity building sessions for voluntary and community organisations wanting to undertake research.

A total of 121 participants attended the four sessions held throughout the year and feedback was extremely positive.

In an exciting link up with the ESRC, a series of three public policy seminars were held between January and March 2008. The seminars examined a range of important issues in relation to ‘soft’ activities that offer a platform for economic progress. The seminars covered public participation; volunteering and its unintended consequences; and community relations and the voluntary and community sector.

Finally NICVA continued to monitor the progress of Positive Steps, the government’s strategy in supporting the sector. On a biannual basis NICVA asks its members about their opinions in relation to the impact that Positive Steps is having on the voluntary and community sector, which is then used to feed back to government and members.



This year saw NICVA continuing to support its members and the sector to improve governance both at an organisational and sector wide level.

The governance and charity advice team has handled over 4,000 enquiries on a plethora of governance issues. Practical help and advice were provided to organisations to assist them in drafting or amending their governing documents, applying for charitable status, and in matters relating to operating a charity and running a voluntary organisation.

Again at an organisational level, NICVA delivered 43 governance training sessions to 353 participants. Thanks to the Modernisation Fund, established by DSD, a substantial part of this training was delivered to organisations

free of charge in their own premises. Also, small to medium sized organisations were able to benefit from an in-depth governance health check by availing of NICVA’s new Governance Review Service which has proved to be very successful. The service allows organisations to engage NICVA, as an external organisation, to examine their governance systems - a much more productive and better method of organisational review.

On governance issues that affect the whole sector, work continued on the Charities Bill which was introduced into the Assembly in December. NICVA gave written and oral evidence on it at Stormont and kept the sector informed via the dedicated charity law reform web pages and other communications.

The Developing Governance Group, which is a group of representatives from various sector support organisations, continued its work on improving governance practice within the sector. In recognition of the need for the

enhancing governance through engagement



sector to take responsibility for standards of governance in voluntary and community organisations, it produced a draft Code of Good Governance.

The draft Code was launched for consultation in April. Having engaged with the sector and having received a very enthusiastic response, the Group was able to proceed with finalising

the Code and secured funding for its production and development from Lloyds TSB Foundation.

Launch of the Code of Good Governance

guide



Through its engagement with members and the sector via the membership survey and ongoing evaluation, NICVA builds up a picture of needs and demands in relation to skills and training requirements. In response to the needs and demands of these organisations, NICVA produced a training calendar in September 2007, the aim of which was to identify and plan for training to suit their individual needs.

In turn, NICVA provided high quality training sessions in a range of areas at affordable prices. Areas covered included fundraising, policy, governance, human resources, finance, research, media skills and general management. 1,269 participants availed of the training in the year.

In addition bespoke training courses and programmes for individuals were delivered by specialists in the field and tailored to organisations’ specific needs. These met the needs of 48 groups and were delivered to 383 participants.

At the sector level, NICVA established a formal relationship with the Sector Skills Councils with a footprint in the voluntary and community sector to enable it to engage with the issues, developments and initiatives facing our sector.

NICVA and the Sector Skills Councils ran an event in February 2008 focused on improving individuals’ management skills.

Also in 2007, NICVA initiated a project with the Big Lottery Fund to develop and support groups under the Reaching Communities Programme. Commencing with an organisational training needs analysis, a

enhancing training through engagement



training programme was developed to meet their needs both on a group and individual basis.

15 organisations have successfully completed this training process with 139 participants attending a range of training programmes covering monitoring and evaluation, finance, managing and motivating volunteers, recruitment and selection, and first line management.

In addition, 24 tailored sessions were held with individual organisations.

Training session at NICVA



NICVA continued to maximise the use of its Grant Tracker website to engage with those who are interested in improving their knowledge and capacity in fundraising. 320 people and organisations subscribed to access the full benefits of the site, whose page views reached a staggering 142,000 in the year.

Further support was provided to enhance knowledge via 1,109 enquiries on funding issues and 1,294 enquiries for general information, and the delivery of 27 formal training sessions to 442 participants.

Towards the end of the year NICVA began work with The Wheel to provide Grant

Tracker in the Republic of Ireland – a project successfully completed early in the 2008/2009 financial year. The project is ongoing and will seek to develop funding information services on an all-island basis in the coming years.

enhancing funding advice through engagement

Grant Tracker website



The funding advice team contributed significantly to the consultation on the proposed HM Treasury’s dormant accounts scheme and the review of Gift Aid, which will undoubtedly create future funding opportunities.

NICVA continued to engage with other networks and organisations including facilitating the Funding Advice Network and Institute of Fundraising (NI) lunchtime calendar of events. The Funding Advice Network is a grouping of funding advisers, information officers and development workers who meet relevant funders and grant makers on a monthly basis. This ensures funding advisors are regularly informed of current and proposed funding schemes and the criteria and application processes, therefore enabling them to disseminate this information among their networks. The Funding Advice Network has met with the Big Lottery Fund, Lloyds TSB Foundation,

Children in Need, International Fund for Ireland, Community Relations Council, CFNI, Bombardier and the Ulster Bank.

“Being a member of the NICVA’s Funding Advice Network since its beginning has been an extremely useful support to Voluntary Arts Ireland’s information provision on funding for voluntary arts activities. Meeting funders face-to-face has helped us to clarify criteria and priorities of funding programmes so we can better inform our clients about suitability and fit of those programmes. It is also a means by which we have been able to establish a link between local funders and requirements of our client groups.”

Olive Broderick, Voluntary Arts Ireland

Other resources to members include the NICVA Library, which saw the introduction of a full online catalogue for the first time. Available from the www.communityni.org or www.nicva.org websites, users can browse the full library contents before organising a visit.



NICVA continued to consider how it engages with its members and wider audiences. The year saw the final issue of SCOPE printed in March, having run for over 33 years. The magazine covered thousands of hot topics during its time in print, encouraging debate and positive change.

The growth of the NICVA family of websites, NICVA News and the weekly email

newsletters (eNews) has taken up some of the space SCOPE left behind. NICVA News was printed ten times in the year, and circulated to 1,200 members and associate members, while eNews was circulated weekly to over 1,400 individuals. The latter service has grown around 16% over the past two years.

NICVA’s websites have grown hugely over the last year, both in terms of the content they carry and also the number of visitors they received. As an example, Community NI’s monthly visitors increased by 30% in a year. Over the same period the NICVA website saw a 70% increase in monthly visitors.

The graph overleaf demonstrates the growth of all the websites within the NICVA portfolio with peak periods in October/November time and February/March, and a dip in December over the Christmas period.

enhancing communications through engagement



In recognition of voluntary and community organisations in the field of communications and in their efforts to engage with their audiences, NICVA rewarded outstanding achievements through the Communication Awards.

Last year over 70 organisations entered more than 95 items, with Help the Aged winning the overall award in the larger organisation category and New Lodge Forum winning in

the smaller organisation category. Sponsoring organisations this year were GPS Colour Graphics, ICONI Software and Weber Shandwick.

Annual conferenceLast year NICVA began engaging with members on a brand new subject - sustainable development and climate change. As this is closely linked to the social justice agenda and is an issue that concerns everyone, NICVA made the theme of its annual conference ‘Building tomorrow’s world today’.

Speakers demonstrated how voluntary and community organisations can contribute to change by making sustainability part of how they do business. Keynote speaker Jerry Greenfield, one half of the celebrated Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand, told the story, as he put it, of a friendship between the ‘two slowest, fattest kids in the class’ which led to the creation of a globally renowned social economy enterprise. He explained how

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P eriod (Month)

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Grant Tracker

Community Skills

DIY Committee Guide

Community Buyer

Unique visitors by month to NICVA family of websites



community benefit was made tangible by such things as creating an ice cream using brownies produced by a local bakery that is run by people with social, drug and alcohol problems, producing ‘Peace Pops’ with wrappers promoting a group called 1% for Peace and the development of a ‘Climate Change College’.

Alice Owen, a UK Sustainable Development Commissioner, brought a simple but vital message about consumption: “reduce the amount of material produced and you reduce the amount of energy used.” Other speakers described how their own local organisations were already actively making a difference. Delegates had a chance to debate the issues, eat ice cream, make a smoothie in

a machine powered by cycling and watch the film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. They were also asked to sign up to a climate change pledge, which NICVA is still encouraging members to do on its website at http://www.nicva.org/index.cfm/section/news/key/pledge_for_action.

Members of the Climate Change Coalition



This year NICVA Link Awards celebrated its 21st birthday. It was a key milestone in the Awards history, which is widely acknowledged as the ‘Charity Oscars’. Established to promote and encourage private and statutory partnerships within the voluntary and community sector, the Link Awards ethos is about working together and not solely about making a financial donation.

This year’s awards were launched by

link awards

Launch of Link Awards by Kenneth Branagh, NICVA’s President



Kenneth Branagh, NICVA’s President, in November 2007. Over 500 guests attended the Awards Gala in the Ramada Hotel, Belfast in 2008. They enjoyed the entertainment provided by ‘Incognito’ and welcomed the opportunity to meet TV actor Alan Halsall from Coronation Street.

A special word of thanks to the NICVA Link judges who had the difficult task of judging the awards. They were Maeve Bell OBE; Anne Hailes, Journalist and Broadcaster; Peter Johnston, Controller, BBC NI; Martin Lindsay, Editor, The Belfast Telegraph; Seamus Murray, Department for Social Development and; Dr Jeremy Harbison, NI Social Care Council, Honorary Vice President of NICVA and chair of the judging panel.

Taking account of the ever evolving environment in which the Northern Ireland voluntary and community sector finds itself, NICVA took the decision to bring the current format of the Link Awards to a

close with a view to launching a new all-Ireland Awards scheme in the near future.

NICVA would like to thank all those who have entered or attended a Link event over the past years. In addition many thanks to Paul Clark of UTV for his long-term support of the Link Awards. Finally, NICVA would like to acknowledge the support of the Link Awards’ sponsors, its main sponsors BT and the Belfast Telegraph, and its category sponsors First Trust, Allianz and Marsh.

Paul Clark congratulates Des Keenan of Kildress Plumbing Supplies, Link winner



In 2007 NICVA launched a dedicated discounted services website called ‘communitybuyer.org’. One key aim of the site is to enhance engagement between suppliers and the voluntary and community sector.

The site provides a directory of products and services relevant to the sector’s needs. It is a vehicle to allow the sector’s organisations, as customers, to rate their experience with suppliers, and it is a place where people can post guidance to assist others in purchasing. It also offers a unique advertising opportunity for suppliers.

NICVA continued to provide its membership with negotiated private sector deals throughout the year. The most successful and widely used being the insurance scheme

which NICVA delivers with Marsh. Over 360 members signed up to the scheme and NICVA continued to deliver a wider package of relevant information and training around insurance and risk management.

engaging with the private sector



As noted throughout this report, NICVA engages with its members directly and with others on its members’ behalf. It works to support members through a variety of ways and on numerous subject matters.

NICVA complements its enquiry and training services for members with the delivery of two free information days. The subjects addressed on the days are requested by you and this year 134 participants attended ‘Communicating effectively online’ and ‘Running an effective organisation’. The positive feedback received has helped NICVA in its planning for future training.

Thank you for your continued support.

“The speakers’ own experiences and simple presentations were very good.”

Denise Kennedy African Schools Trust

“Both morning and afternoon were excellent. I especially found the session on the Media most useful to my present position.”

Mahin GornallAssociation of Bahai Women NI

engaging with members



thank you to supporters

NICVA would like to pay special thanks to the Department for Social Development Voluntary and Community Unit, which is the organisation’s key funder and which supports most of NICVA’s governance work through the Unit’s Modernisation Fund.

NICVA would like to thank the Big Lottery Fund, without which NICVA could not offer support services to many groups within the sector.

NICVA is grateful to the Charities Aid Foundation for its support towards the promotion of the Give as You Earn scheme.

NICVA would like to thank a range of organisations which have contributed

to its work in the year, including Atlantic Philanthropies, Sector Skills Development Agency and Europe Direct.

Finally, NICVA is very grateful for the support it received from the private sector, including Marsh and Allianz, Claremont, Phoenix Software, Canon, GPS Colour Graphics, Iconi Software and Weber Shandwick.



NICVA’s income for the year ended 31 March 2008 was £1,791,695 with expenditure of £1,918,888, which included expenditure of £168,079 from restricted funds received in prior years.

The graphs show a summary of income and expenditure. Graph 1 shows restricted and unrestricted funds separately.

Graph 2 overleaf combines restricted and unrestricted funds and shows total expenditure.

Graph 3 also overleaf shows income for the year ending 31 March 2008.

NICVA’s accounts are audited by registered auditors Goldblatt McGuigan. For copies of

full accounts 2007-2008 , published in accordance with the Statement Of Recommended Practice, please contact Eamonn McKee, finance manager, at [email protected].

finances

Graph 1

£0

£200,000

£400,000

£600,000

£800,000

£1,000,000

£1,200,000

£1,400,000

£1,600,000

Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds

Resources expended for year ended 31 March 2008

Cost of generating fundsGovernance costsSupport costsCharitable activites



Graph 2

NICVA income 2008 (£1,791,695)

£66,840

£877,119

£847,736

Donations and grants

Investment income

Charitable activities

Graph 3

NICVA expenditure 2008 (£1,918,888)

£4,116

£308,163 £4,779

£1,601,830

Charitable activities

Cost of generating funds

Support costs

Governance costs


Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action61 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast BT15 2GBTel: 028 9087 7777 Fax: 028 9087 7799www.nicva.org | www.communityni.org | www.grant-tracker.org | www.communitybuyer.org

A charity registered with Inland Revenue: No XN 47024Company limited by guarantee (No 1792)


nicva annual report 2007-2008

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