Poole Council for Voluntary Service & Volunteer Centre A charity helping those who help others

Annual Report 2013-2014

Introduction from our Chair

T

his year has been one of significant success; we have launched new projects like the job hubs whilst also adapting to a new structure for the staff team. What does not change are the ingredients which are required to ensure success; the expertise and commitment of our volunteers, trustees and staff and effective partnership work with a range of voluntary, statutory and private sector colleagues. Like all organisations Poole CVS is defined by the people who are associated with it. The past year has seen two colleagues who did a lot to shape the organisation move on; Monique Munroe and Carrie Smith. Monique was with Poole CVS from 1999 and was the driving force behind reestablishing the volunteer centre, then editing our newsletter and finishing with developing the We Need That! project. Monique not only brought creativity to all her roles, but she was a key figure in bringing together the emerging Poole CVS from 1999 onwards.

Liz Callister Carrie who joined us in 2005 took on the management of the volunteer centre Chair and has left a great legacy in the job hubs. All of us at Poole CVS wish Monique and Carrie all the best with their new careers and projects. Unfortunately we were saddened to hear of the death of Moira Taylor. Moira worked for Poole CVS between 2002 and 2008 as a very effective administrator ensuring that the organisation was well run. The news was tempered by what we think is a first for Poole CVS, with the birth of Jasmine Wilcox on 30 October 2013, the daughter of Sam, our organisational development advisor.

Staff and Trustees Poole CVS: Christopher Beale, chief executive; Evelyn Price, administrative co-ordinator; Samantha Wilcox, organisational development advisor; Kevin Eaton, accounts administrator , Monique Munroe, We Need That! co-ordinator, plus volunteers Sue Stevens, Elizabeth Peters and Tricia Creamer. Volunteer Centre: Carrie Smith, jobs hub and probation volunteering programme co-ordinator; Gill Harris, volunteer centre broker, plus volunteers Mavis Whiting and Sandra Taylor; Andrea Bennett, jobs hub coordinator; plus job hub volunteers John Allen, Jane Emmett, Paul Thompson, Clive Dupont, Caroline Papp, Jim Adams, Peter Davies, Shay Foley and Sophie Fooks Trustees: Liz Callister, chair; Richard Bristow; Paul Barnard; Juli Brown, Karen Sherman and Pauline Sharp. Front cover shows from top, left to right: Jean Blackmore, long-time supporter, with Chris Beale Poole CVS; Gaby Sanger-Stevens Routes to Roots and Alison Dalton Bridging Communities; Sarah Peters and Martyn Webster, Healthwatch Dorset 2

The aims of Poole CVS As a CVS we have the following nationally recognised aims. This annual report highlights some of the ways in which we have achieved these aims during 2013/14:  Poole CVS supports the identification of needs in the community and facilitates innovation and improvements in service provision to meet those needs.  Poole CVS supports voluntary organisations and community groups to fulfil their missions more effectively. This includes ensuring that voluntary organisations and community groups have effective practices to recruit and support volunteers.  Poole CVS facilitates effective communication and collaboration amongst voluntary organisations and between different sectors.  Poole CVS supports voluntary organisations to influence policies, plans and practices that have an impact on their organisations and beneficiaries.

Give and Receive Project We are always looking for new ways to support the voluntary sector. Between 2012 and 2014, with Bournemouth CVS we managed a project linking businesses to voluntary organisations and commissioned Alex Wiggins, a local business woman, to organise the support of 33 businesses, from IT specialists to hoteliers, PR companies to banks. The impact was significant and varied:  25 voluntary organisations received extensive one-to-one support.  45 advice surgeries were provided to 30 voluntary organisations on specific issues e.g. accountancy, human resources and IT.  Two training workshops were organised on presentation skills, employment law respectively for 32 organisations.  The feedback from participants was consistently positive e.g: “I got useful and considered answers to two specific areas which gave me the confidence and knowledge to tackle them. Both situations are now resolved. The team as a whole has benefitted from the action taken as a result of attending the surgery and my confidence has increased. The charity functions more effectively and it has had a positive impact on staff and service users.” Of the voluntary organisations participating in the project: 80% agreed that it had helped them to improve their business organisational skills. 86% said it had helped them to provide more effective services to the community. 93% agreed that the project had helped them to become more enterprising. Just as importantly, 94% of the participating businesses agreed that their involvement improved their ability to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. 3

Advice and Support During 2013/14 Sam Wilcox, our organisational development advisor, and Daniel Biggs, a community development worker for the Borough of Poole, who covered for Sam whilst on her maternity leave, provided advice and support of over an hour’s time to 71 voluntary organisations. Some received a substantial amount of support from between one day to, at least in one case, a week of our time. The organisations encompass a wide breadth of interests and sizes; some are just starting off whilst others are more established. Our approach is demand led; if an organisation wants support we will strive to meet it. We receive very high satisfaction ratings and positive feedback from the organisations we support.

Sam Wilcox

“I didn’t feel rushed. I felt I was guided to where more specific help was available.” “Very helpful and friendly advisor who had prepared and was very knowledgeable.” “Poole CVS provides an invaluable service to the third sector locally. They are always willing to help – no matter what the request!” “Incredibly responsive - even though I know they must have a load of other things to do and have a

Daniel Biggs

very small team.” We consider that through the advice and support we provide, local voluntary organisations function more effectively and deliver better services, specifically that the organisations: 1. Have access to a range of funding sources; for example, we help groups search and apply to funders and advise on how to locally fundraise. “I would certainly not hesitate to contact Poole CVS if I need any help or advice on fund raising or volunteer workers. The advice given helped me to tailor my funding letters. “ 2. Have increased their knowledge of how to improve the governance and management of their organisations; for example we advise on charitable and company registration, the role of directors and trustees, policy development, the employment of staff and the recruitment of volunteers. “Sam Wilcox is ever the professional.” “Good advice on governance issues as well as asking pertinent questions to make the group really understand what they are trying to achieve together.” 3. Know about other sources of support. To ensure that the organisations receive the best possible support, we also seek the involvement at times of pro bono legal and tax advice, the input of accountants and insurance experts, as well as advice from our national umbrella organisations on such issues as procurement and issues relating to the community centres we support like licensing. “I was guided towards more detailed help after the problem had been analysed.” 4

Collaborative Working Poole CVS has been working with six local charities in setting up the Poole Well-being Collaborative, which is being funded by a grant from the Borough of Poole. Our partners are Autism Wessex, Diverse Abilities Plus, Dorset Advocacy, Faithworks Wessex, Help and Care and Prama. The aim of the Collaborative is to provide more services for adults with additional needs, to promote their independence and improve their health and well-being. Poole CVS took the lead in recruiting the staff team in June 2013; a co-ordinator and three resource workers, who developed and implemented the following activities: An information network, to ensure that adults understand the benefits of and have access to locally available services. For example a monthly e-bulletin goes out to over 400 contacts, each bulletin highlights six key topical items about local services for adults in Poole. The team also organised a series of Safe and Independent Living events across Poole in partnership with Dorset Fire and Rescue and Dorset POPP’s for people who are 50+. A network of community projects, to reduce social isolation and promote health and well-being. For example, in partnership with a variety of organisations, the staff team set up or supported new community groups, across Poole, helping adults including, Sew Over It, Creative and Crafty and games groups in Canford Heath and Poole Town. We are confident that the Collaborative is developing effectively; however there is still a lot more work to be done. The Collaborative is now focusing its efforts on developing a social prescription service for Poole with the NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group and the Borough of Poole. This service will support people with long-term health conditions with non-clinical solutions to their needs, e.g. walking groups to help with exercise.

We Need That! One of the many strengths of the voluntary sector is the way it makes use of available resources. This is illustrated in the We Need That! directory Monique Munroe developed with the support of Borough of Poole and the Dorset Community Foundation. The directory lists the needs of 20 local charities, community groups, churches, schools, playgroups and individuals for items which they can recycle to help them with their service delivery or fundraising. The directory lists 56 items needed; the top 10 most popular are: wool, bubble wrap, cardboard tubes, broken jewellery, flower pots, ribbon, printer ink cartridges, scraps of material, egg boxes and mobile phones. This was also the final project Monique undertook for Poole CVS; we will miss her creativity, drive and commitment to the voluntary sector.

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Poole CVS News

Evelyn Price

Poole CVS News is published every two months and is sent to over 300 member organisations and statutory sector colleagues, with the intention of providing up-to-date information on topics of both local and national interest to the sector. We provide links to various reports which readers often download and keep for reference. Typical of the comments received are: “Interesting and informative newsletter with lots of useful stuff and some great links” “Great newsletter, very informative” “Very interesting articles, well written, informative and concise.”

Our thanks to Evelyn for the creative way she has written and designed the newsletter.

Representing the voluntary sector and influencing local policy Again with Bournemouth CVS we support a network of 13 voluntary sector representatives who participate in a variety of local planning forums on health, adult social care, children’s issues, safeguarding and community safety. Poole CVS and Bournemouth CVS also led on a well-received development session for the Health and Well-being Board concerning preventative work. This has led to the two CVSs working with Public Health on a project which will involve the voluntary sector in helping to maintain the health of the community. Both CVSs have now been replaced on the board by elected representatives from the voluntary sector. With Dorset Community Action and Bournemouth CVS we also drafted a major report for the Dorset Local Economic Partnership (LEP) on the economic impact of the voluntary sector and its role in supporting people who are furthest from the jobs market. During 2014/15 we will be undertaking further work with the LEP to secure funding for the voluntary sector particularly for its support of unemployed people.

Networking During 2013/14 we organised the following network meetings with Bournemouth CVS: three Criminal Justice Forums, two Health and Care Forums and one Tendering Network meeting. 168 people attended these meetings and feedback from them has been positive, indicating that the participants are benefiting from meeting and communicating with each other. Poole CVS also supported the Dorset Race Equality Council in organising meetings of the Equality and Diversity Forum.

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The past year has been one of change for the Volunteer Centre as we had to cope with less resources, however one thing which has not changed is the quality achieved by Gill Harris and her team of volunteers. They helped 1,002 people with information and support about volGill Harris unteering opportunities, whilst maintaining at any one time a database of approximately 480 placements. Support to individuals can include identifying which placements can help them to develop their skills or helping them address specific barriers to volunteering, for example disclosing previous offending behaviour. We support placement organisations with their practice, principally through the volunteer co-ordinators meetings we organise. We also promote volunteering by organising displays at specific locations in Poole e.g. the central library, maintaining an online database of opportunities on our website www.poolevolunteercentre.org.uk and by printing our popular Voluntary Vacancies booklet. As with all our services we only know that these efforts are a success by asking the voluntary organisations who we support what they think. The following quotes come from a survey when we asked the organisations we refer volunteers onto how many have been actually recruited. The responses highlight the importance of our work and also some of the challenges of monitoring it: “I have a good number of volunteers that come via you. This year probably five? I am very grateful for all you do.” “In the past year we have had three volunteers from you but only one has joined us. However this one volunteer has been brill!! Thank you! “ “Yes we have had a few - a handful over a couple of years I would say. Some of them real assets, some were with us for just a short time before moving on to a 'real' job, and some just weren't right for us or the other way round.” “Yes, I would say about five. One of them is going to take over our bookkeeping next month so absolutely invaluable! Thanks.” “Yes you have signposted about six people to me which has been invaluable, so a big thank you. Yes I am still always looking for volunteers. Many thanks for all you do.”

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Job Hubs There is nothing more satisfying…... ……..than when a project goes right from the start - as you have planned it - and with immediate impact. This is what has happened with the job hub Carrie Smith developed with the Bourne Valley Action Group, the council’s library service and Sylvia Webster, the neighbourhood manager for the Bourne Estate. The Bourne Estate job hub was launched on 11 April 2013 at Rossmore Library, helping people who are unemployed to develop their job-hunting skills so that they can apply for jobs and confidently attend interviews. Support provided includes help with their CVs, identifying job opportunities, writing job applications, help with IT and preparation for interviews. We work side by side with the participants—at their pace, building on their strengths and aspirations. A key aim is to make best use of existing community assets, like the libraries and community networks developed by our partners to promote the service, so that the hub is an effective but low-cost solution to local unemployment. We have been supported in this by a skilled and committed team of volunteers, ensuring that we can treat each participant as an individual.

Andrea Bennett

The hub has been very successful. By March 2014, 117 people had been helped; approximately half had been unemployed for less than a year and a third for more than a year, with the remaining participants either looking for work for the first time or aiming to return to work after caring responsibilities.

Crucially, 47 people have gone on to employment. However, just as important, many of the participants are now more confident in using IT and others have developed their skills by finding voluntary work. The feedback we have received has been inspiring: “I am very glad I came here, I was feeling rather stressed looking for work as I had no knowledge of using computers... the staff are extremely helpful and gave friendly advice.” “The people who help you are friendly and helpful and nothing seems too much trouble. It’s a shame that after I have completed everything I need, we won’t see each other again.” “You’re the only people that will take the time to support me to complete an application online, no one else will do that.” “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Building on this success, and after being invited to do so by the local community group, the Beacon Project and Dorset Community Action, we launched a hub for Upton in January 2014, followed by a new hub in Poole Town in April 2014. By January 2014, Carrie had left us for a new job with the MacMillan volunteers and had been replaced by Andrea Bennett. We all miss Carrie; but we have been fortunate in recruiting Andrea who is now taking the hubs to new levels of success. 8

Volunteering and the Dorset Probation Trust In 2013 we began working with our partners, the Dorset Volunteer Centre and the Probation Trust, to recruit a team of volunteers who could help probation officers in their work. We have worked with the Probation Trust for a number of years and they have recognised for a long while that volunteers could bring value and expertise in delivering their services to offenders. This year they had an opportunity to access funding so, with the support of the two volunteer centres, they set about recruiting their own team of volunteers. The key aim is to ensure that probation officers have the support to reduce re-offending and protect the public. Our role was to help the Probation Trust identify roles volunteers could undertake for them, to develop policies and procedures to support the volunteers and to assist with their recruitment, induction and ongoing support. By March 2014, 19 volunteers had been recruited in a variety of roles including helping probation officers to deliver specific learning and education programmes. These can cover money management, independent living, victim awareness and healthy living as well as literacy and numeracy skills. Volunteers provide important one-to-one support to ensure that participants in these programmes can progress. To assist the volunteers with their roles, they are provided with a detailed induction, which covers such issues as an overview of the criminal justice system, offender management and restorative justice. We have been very fortunate to have recruited such a high calibre team of volunteers, with a lot of commitment and skills. Our work with the Probation Trust will continue in 2014/15 with the aim to recruit further volunteers and explore how we can effectively monitor and evaluate this work. 9

Summary Financial Report

Kevin Eaton

Following is a summary of our accounts which are independently examined by Schofields Chartered Accountants. The accounts comply with the current statutory requirements and with the current Statement of Recommended Practice-Accounting and Reporting by Charities. A set of the full accounts is available on request from Poole CVS. We would like to thank Kevin Eaton for all his hard work in managing our accounts. For 2014/15 we have the following aims to manage our finances:  Continue exploring how we can diversify our income.  Maintain sufficient reserves to manage any risks Poole CVS could be potentially exposed to e.g. a loss of funding.  Continue managing our expenditure effectively to maximise the funding and resources we have without affecting the quality of our services. Unrestricted Funds £

Restricted Funds £

Total £ 31.03.14

Total £ 31.03.13

Total Incoming Resources

116,029

48,627

164,656

134,332

Resources Expended

Unrestricted Funds £

Restricted Funds £

Total £ 31.03.14

Total £ 31.03.13

Total Resources Expended

104,092

38,396

142,488

206,084

Net incoming (outgoing) resources

11,937

10,231

22,168

(71,752)

Total Funds brought forward

89,066

10,828

99,894

171,646

Total Funds carried forward

101,003

21,059

122,062

99,894

Incoming Resources

Balance sheet as of 31st March 2014 Current Assets

2014£

2013 £

Debtors

39,251

29,535

Cash at Bank and in hand

115,734

140,985

Total

154,985

170,520

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

(32,923)

(70,626)

Net assets

122,062

99,894

Unrestricted funds

101,003

89,066

Restricted funds

21,059

10,828

Total

122,062

99,894

Liabilities

Funds

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Future Operational Plans For 2014/15, Poole CVS is specifically seeking to: 

Enhance the role of the voluntary sector in the development and delivery of local Public Health programmes.



Develop support for the voluntary sector so it can participate in the forthcoming European Funding programme managed by the Dorset Local Economic Partnership, particularly in the planning and delivery of services for unemployed people.



Support the implementation of the Community Organisers programme in Poole.

AGM 2013 Front row from left: Councillor Leslie Burden enjoying conversation with Bryan Evans from Poole Sea Cadets and Councillor Chris Wilson.

Our thanks go to our partners for their support: ACE Office Environments Ltd; Allied Office Machines; Borough of Poole; Bournemouth CVS; Diskovery; Dorset Community Action; Dorset REC; NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group; Poole CAB; Poole Housing Partnership; Schofields Chartered Accountants; Tennyson Insurance; Bournemouth & Poole Pro Bono Group; The Beacon Project; Bourne Valley Action Group; Dorset Probation Trust; Synergy Housing; Spectrum Housing; Raglan Housing; Dorset Community Foundation

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Is your organisation a member of Poole CVS? If not, we invite you to join us. As a membership organisation we:       

help develop a thriving voluntary sector to enable Poole become a better place for all lead engagement with local partners and stakeholders champion the important role our diverse sector plays in responding effectively to local needs arrange opportunities for networking organise training days, often in partnership with Bournemouth CVS support you with any issues related to the setting up or running or your organisation refer on potential volunteers for your organisation

Some of our Partners

Sue Mottram, Headway Dorset; David Leighton Age UK Bournemouth; Wendy Staples Homestart

Floor 3 Beech House. 28-30 Wimborne Road, Poole BH15 2BU Tel: 01202 682046 Email: [email protected] Registered Charity Number: 1128227 Registered Company Number: 6805489 12