January, 2010 News

The Charities Evaluation Service (CES) are returning to the North West with four courses to help guide groups through quality, outcomes and strategy. CES have trained 600 support providers across England, helping them increase their knowledge and confidence in performance management.

Designed for infrastructure organisations, the courses combine an introduction to performance management concepts with practical ideas to develop your facilitation skills.

A new vacancy has arisen at NEET Futures CIC for a part time Placement Office for the Wirral area.

The Placement Officer will be responsible for sourcing candidates to participate in a NEET 17 - 19 Internship programme and placing them with employers in the local area.

The contract available is for 16 hours per week and will involve completing IAP's with candidates and also finding what types of placement a candidate would like (though a strong emphasis will be placed on Sport & Fitness, Hospitality, Security and Admin).

The launch of 'The Philanthrocapitalist Manifesto', has led to calls for a number of initiatives to fulfil the potential of social investment and philanthropy as a means of tackling social problems.

Julie Pybus socialenterpriselive.com

The Social Investment Task Force should be reconvened so the enormous potential of social investment can be realised to tackle deprivation, according to a new manifesto.

UnLtd, a charity which is dedicated to supporting social entrepreneurs and enterprises, currently have a Trustee position available.

The trustees, acting together, must govern the charity, safeguarding its assets and applying them as efficiently and effectively as possible to further the charity's objects as set out in its governing document.

In order to carry out their duty as trustees board members must:

One of the first social enterprises to be set up within the NHS under the 'Right to Request' scheme has stalled following a staff revolt against the enterprise. The PCT in question may have to scrap the idea following a staff ballot.

Gemma Hampson socialenterpriselive.com

A primary care trust selected as one of the first 20 to set up a social enterprise through the government's 'right to request' initiative may have to scrap its plans following a staff revolt.

Conservative Party plans that would allow communities to buy shops, post offices and pubs have been criticized after it was revealed that communities would only be given one month to raise cash for this purpose.

Chrisanthi Giotis socialenterpriselive.com

The Conservative Party's proposal to give villagers the right to buy their shops and pubs came under scrutiny this morning with claims that a one-month window to raise cash amounts to an empty promise.

The Liverpool Academy for Sustainable Enterprise, based at Blackburne House, is currently offering a series of FREE short courses and workshops throughout January and February.

The courses cover topics from budgeting and accounts, right through to commissioning and procurement. View the complete listings below:

January

Understanding Budgeting and Accounts- 29th January 10.00-12.30

February

Confederation of Social Entrepreneurs-Updates from the work of the COSE Commissioning and Procurement focus group- POSTPONED

The Consortia Action Team (CAT) is a CapacityBuilders funded project which Social Enterprise Lancashire Network (SELNET) is delivering across the Northwest region. The aim of the CAT is to assist social enterprises in the formation of consortia.

The Commission for the Compact is looking for an Implementation Advisor to help it promote greater use of the Compact at local and national level.

The Implementation Advisor will work with public bodies and third sector organisations to identify barriers to Compact implementation and provide support, advice and guidance to overcome those barriers.

You should be educated to degree level or equivalent and have significant experience of developing and delivering support and training.

Pay scale rising from £32,820 (min) to £35,525 (target).

Ethical bank Triodos UK has announced a large increase in its lending for 2009. An indication that the social economy in the UK continues to grow, with increasing demand for finance coming from social, cultural and green businesses.

Chrisanthi Giotis socialenterpriselive.com

Ethical bank Triodos UK increased its lending by 73 per cent in 2009- paying out new loans worth £60m to its customers and agreeing a further £150m-worth.

The new Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, Peter Holbrook, has voiced support for the new Mark, set to be unveiled at next weeks Voice10 conference, telling reports that he 'expects big things from the Mark'.

David Ainsworth thirdsector.co.uk

The social enterprise sector can expect great things from the social enterprise mark, which will be launched during the keynote speech at next week's Voice10 social enterprise conference, according to the new chief executive of the sector's umbrella organisation.

The Manual for Developing Social Enterprises has been updated and re-published and is available now.

The Manual can be used by business advisors, social entrepreneurs and community groups to help plan and establish either wholly new social enterprises or new social enterprise activities.

The Department of Health have announced the allocation of £16m to be dispersed as capital grants for groups delivering health and social care outcomes who may need an injection of capital.

The fund is set to be launched within the next week, but will open be open for an extremely limited amount of time.

The fund is set to provide:

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership has awarded Liverpool social enterprise, Fusion21, £264,000 to research green technology for use in social housing schemes. This comes at a time when social housing is coming under increasing pressure from rising fuel costs and the need to cut carbon emissions.

Jade Wright liverpoolecho.co.uk

A social enterprise in Huyton has been awarded £264,000 to research green technology for landlords.

Business Link Northwest have announced the launch of a new 'Tendering Portal' on their website, aiming to assist businesses with various aspects of tendering and procurement.

This new section of the website provides detailed guidance around the process, how to deal with public sector bodies, as well as providing access to local, regional, national and international procurement opportunities.

The tendering section covers four areas:

Co-operatives North West is delighted to announce that more free business consultancy is now available to co-operatives in the region. Two days of free, direct, tailored consultancy is available to at least seven co-operatives.

The School for Social Entrepreneurs Liverpool is currently recruiting for its Social Innovators in Health Programme.

Do you have an idea to set up a health organisation or business that will benefit your local community? Are you running a health project that you want to develop and sustain? Would you benefit from tailored personal support?

If so, the SSE could be for you. The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Liverpool is a place for people which promotes and encourages entrepreneurial capacity amongst people working for social benefit.

The Ethical Enterprise and Employment (3xE) Network is a project run by national charity Off the Streets and into Work (OSW), which brings together and supports social enterprises working with unemployed people who are homeless or at risk.

3xE funds a a variety of support services specially tailored to the needs of homelessness sector organisations to enable them to start or further develop social enterprises.

Voice10 is the UK's landmark conference for social enterprise, and is this year being hosted in Wales for the first time thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government. The conference will be located at the Cardiff International Arena, 1-2 February.

socialenterprise.org.uk 

Voice10 is now less than two weeks away and excitement is building in anticipation of what is set to be a landmark event for social enterprise. 

As part of the Liverpool Guild of Students 'Carbon Ambassadors' programme, Liverpool students who have been specially trained in energy efficiency audits, are now offering social and community enterprises across Merseyside the opportunity to undertake a free 'Energy Audit'.

The scheme offers an opportunity to raise awareness of energy saving amongst Liverpool students and also offer advice on energy use and cost savings for stakeholder partners and local organisations.

Striding Out delivers enterprise, employment and training programmes across the UK for public, private and third sector organisations. They are currently seeking a project manager to help execute and manage a number of these contracts.

The role of the Project Manager is to plan, execute and finalize projects according to strict deadlines and within budget. This includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of team members and third-party contractors or consultants in order to deliver projects according to plan.

In an attempt to produce energy in an environmentally friendly and sustainable fashion, as well as securing a better deal for farmers, social enterprise CoRE have begun work on a new £2m 'energy farm' in Cumbria.

Chrisanthi Giotis socialenterpriselive.com

Cumbrian farmers working with social enterprise CoRE have begun work on a £2m 'energy farm'.

The Kirkbride Energy Farm in west Cumbria plans to generate energy from farm muck and grow energy crops. At the same time it will create five jobs and boost farmer income.

Community Interest Companies (CIC) should be more 'predatory' during the current economic downturn and take over struggling businesses, or even other third sector organisations, if they are in a position to do so, according to David Cox, founder of Humantics CIC.

Gemma Hampson socialenterpriselive.com

Community Interest Companies (CICs) could be more 'predatory' and seek to acquire businesses that are struggling in the current economic climate.

Former Dragons Den panellist, Doug Richard, who has previously chaired the Conservatives' small business task force has called for a complete overhaul of the Governments small and medium business support programmes.

Kamal Ahmed telegraph.co.uk