Blogs

Recently, the NCVO public affairs consultancy team hosted a breakfast briefing on lobbying the Lords. The aim was to throw a spotlight on the role of the second chamber as an under-used and overlooked campaigning channel.

Article by Zeina Whalley

So what’s a society lottery?

This week's roundup includes the release of Counting the Cuts and the Volunteer Centre Survey.

With Government spending plans for 2015-16 due to be announced next month, NCVO has been looking at what the sector can expect.

Our latest Counting the Cuts report shows that further cuts are on the cards. Where these cuts will fall is the main topic of political debate. Will councils be expected to make further sizeable cuts? Will welfare budgets or un-ringfenced departments be squeezed further?

A common misconception about Sustainable Funding is that it is just about bringing in more income. But outgoings have a huge influence on an organisation's long-term financial health, and our new Almanac shows managing these costs is getting much harder.

Today NCVO publishes an update to our 2011 Counting the Cuts report, looking at the scale of cuts so far and those still to come.

The Voluntary Sector Workforce Almanac has been updated and now has its own website. Produced by Skills Third Sector, NCVO and TSRC the website provides data on fifteen workforce related themes ranging from state of pay to training opportunities.

We've selected below one fact from each theme to whet your appetite. Unless otherwise stated all the figures are for 2011.

When I was a child I remember having a book of poetry about school; you opened the book from one side to see poems from the point of view of the girls and turned the book over to jump over the wall to the other side of the playground for the point of view of boys. Sometimes I think some organisations could write a manual in the same way - staff and trustees with a virtual brick wall between them. In particular, some sustainable funding problems I see again and again:

NCVO is the partner of the Japanese Center for International Youth Exchange for the Young Core Leaders of Civil Society programme, a project supported by the Cabinet Office of Japan. This project enables emerging leaders of civil society to learn from each other’s practical experience and develop their professional skills.

It is admittedly a strange affair. Confusing and archaic to some and a jewel in our constitutional crown to others, the Queen's Speech marks an opportunity for the Government to set out their legislative priorities for the forthcoming session.