What Next For Politics And Charities?
With the election on the horizon do you want to know what the major parties are thinking about their relationship with charities and social enterprises?
ACEVO and CAF are publishing three books – the Red, Blue and Yellow Books of the Voluntary Sector which will feature articles by leading thinker sin each party. To be launched at each party conference the “The Red Book of the Voluntary Sector” and “The Blue Book of the Voluntary Sector” are already available to download, with the Yellow Book coming shortly.
The Lobbying Act ‘Regulated Period’ came into force on 19th September. NCVO and Homeless Link both have useful blogs and NCVO have produced a template for Board discussions which can be downloaded here.
Bank of England on the social value of volunteering. We often proclaim the value of volunteering and we know that faith based groups are amongst the most effective organisations for channelling volunteer power. So, it is interesting to read perspectives from quite different sectors – in this case the Chief Economist of the Bank of England who estimates the economic value alone of volunteering in the UK to be worth around £50bn a year.
Still on volunteering nfp Synergy have produced the first two of a multi-part report on volunteering. Called The New Alchemy the first part is subtitled, “how volunteering turns donations of time and talent into human gold” and the second focuses on trends and motivations. Download these reports directly from here.
How involved are you in local neighbourhood and community democracy? Have you missed out on community budgeting or planning? This article from Birmingham City University points out the rising tide of local democracy – but also the very low turnout. Faith groups can play a crucial role in encouraging more active participation in these local schemes.
Thousands of faith groups up and down the country are giving direct and day-to-day assistance to people living in poverty. What are our strategies for ending poverty altogether? The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have worked in this field for many decades and their latest report “A UK Without Poverty” aims to focus on what needs to happen now if we are serious about abolishing poverty.
