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JUNE 2008
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Community Change Staff Team
Margaret Ferguson - Director If you have any queries or comments you can also email us info@communitychange-ni.org |
Disability Networking Event
In response to requests from members at previous Disability Networking events Community Change has organised an ‘Information Event.’ The event will be attended by representatives of Mencap and Disability Action — the two main disability campaigning organisations.
When: Thursday 25th Sept 2008
Time: 11am-1pm (followed by lunch)
Where: Community Change Offices, Unit 8a Weavers Court Business Park, Belfast
This session is free of charge but numbers are limited so please book early. To register for the event contact Áine on 028-90232587 or e-mail Aine.Maguire@communitychange-ni.org
COMMUNITY CHANGE COMBINED AGM AND CONFERENCE
DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
Friday 14th November 2008
Theme & Venue will be confirmed in our next newsletter
Get the date in your diary now.......
‘Did you know ??’
• The Voluntary and Community Unit in DSD has a new Director. Her name is Maeve Walls and she took up the post in Mid-March;
• Employers Liability certificates must be kept for 40 years;
• The average person in N.I lives a lifestyle that requires over three planets to sustain it;
• The Labour Relations Agency provides a range of ’FREE’ advisory workshops to make employees aware of their legal responsibilities and assist them prepare standard employment documents. For more information log on to www.lra.org.uk
• C.F.N.I. have a range of small grants open at present. These include Community Arts, Difference Makers, Telecommunity and The Turkington Fund;
• Community Technical Aid has changed its name to Community Places;
• The national minimum wage will increase from 1st October 2008. Anyone aged 22 years & above will be entitled to £5.73 per hour. Workers aged 18-21 will be entitled to £4.77 per hour and those aged 16 and 17 will be entitled to £3.53 per hour.
• The local Councils are now responsible for allocating the Community Festivals Fund so if you are planning a festival contact your local Council for information about possible funding assistance;
• The Code of Governance was launched on Friday 6th June by Margaret Ritchie the Minister for Social Development. The code highlights key principles for Management Committees & Boards to promote good governance in their group/organisation;
• www.bank.org.uk provides reviews of all the major banks looking at a general overview of the bank, their products, services and their
internet banking service;
• Community Change provides training and facilitation on Strategic Planning. We can provide a general overview of strategic planning for groups or we can facilitate a group, organisation or partnership through their own
Strategic Planning process;
‘Getting to know you….’
This month we feature the Carrickfergus Community Drug & Alcohol Advisory Group who have been working with Community Change through a Strategic Planning process for their group.
Carrickfergus Community Drug & Alcohol Advisory Group (CCDAAG) is a local initiative formed in 2001 by a group of parents concerned about the issue of drug & alcohol misuse within the Borough. Through its work CCDAAG aim to provide the community with information, advice and support in relation to drug & alcohol related issues.
We Provide:
• Counselling Service;
• Complementary Therapies;
• Family Support Group;
• Support Group;
(for those experiencing difficulties with their own drug/alcohol use)
• Signposting & referrals to other specialist services
• Parents/Carers Programmes;
• Schools Education Programmes;
• Confidential Advice and Support;
• Drug Awareness Programmes;
• Website;
We aim to provide a confidential service, respecting the privacy of clients and ensuring they have a safe environment in which to discuss their concerns. We strive to educate and empower people within our community to support and help them recognize and fulfill their potential to live healthy, meaningful lives.
If you would like further information about the services we provide please contact us on:
Carrickfergus Community Drug & Alcohol Advisory Group, 4 Cheston Street, Carrickfergus, BT38 7BH
Tel: 028 93 351562
E-mail: office@ccdaag.org
Full Cost Recovery
Covering full costs of running community groups and organisations continues to ‘challenge’ us all. With some funders not allowing full cost recovery securing these costs can be difficult. Thankfully more and more funders and agencies are now implementing full cost recovery measures. It is therefore important groups & organisations know what it actually costs to carry out their work inclusive of admin, management, salary costs etc. Niamh Goggin this month focuses on the issue of full cost recovery & suggests a website where you can get some help and advice.
A short article can’t provide a complete guide to full cost recovery for voluntary and community groups. What I aim to do in this piece is to explain:
• Why full cost recovery is important to your group?
• What full cost recovery is?
• Where you can find good information to help you use it?
Many funders prefer to fund projects rather than organisations and have refused to fund overheads or core costs. This is very damaging to groups as it leads to underinvestment in management, systems, governance and strategic development. It results in the permanent stress of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” and makes organisations and the services they provide fundamentally unsustainable.
Full cost recovery ensures that grants and contracts reflect the full costs of
delivery of services including overhead costs such as premises costs and core management costs. The “Positive Steps” report and HM Treasury guidance spell out that voluntary and community organisations must be able to include full overhead costs relating to delivering a contracted service. This guidance has been issued to all Northern Ireland departments. If your funder objects to covering full costs, don’t be nervous about explaining that this is good practice and point them towards “Positive Steps”.
Your organisation needs to show that they are allocating relevant overhead costs in a simple, proportionate and equitable manner and that costs are recovered only once. A free toolkit to help you calculate your full costs has been developed by New Philanthropy Capital and ACEVO and can be downloaded at
www.philanthropycapital.org/toolsforcharities/availabletools/fullcostrecovery.aspx.
In addition, NICVA provides some guidance on its websites and sometimes runs courses on full cost recovery. You can search for information on full cost recovery and updates on how widespread its acceptance is, on www.communityni.org
Niamh Goggin
Charity Bank
T: 028 90244179
W: www.charitybank.org
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