3VA annual report 2015-16

Annual Report 2015–16

Leading and enabling a strong local voluntary sector

CEO’s Introduction 3VA has a vital role to play. As a local ‘Council for Voluntary Service,’ we are the champions of our local voluntary sector – the charities, social enterprises and communities making such a difference to people’s lives. We play a unique role as an organisation with a trusted relationship with many voluntary organisations.

In this report, we set out a summary of our work supporting the sector in this period. In this year, there has been a real focus upon techniques and methods that strengthen communities and community wellbeing.

Examples of these include: l Asset

based approaches to community development – an approach that takes the strengths and assets of local people and communities as a starting point, and builds on these. The success of our Chances for Change project shows what this approach can achieve.

l Enabling

stronger personal resilience, for example through our Health and Wellbeing project, providing information and support to older people that supports independent living as well as achieving savings for the public purse.

We are the champions of our local voluntary sector

l Working

alongside local communities and supporting their development. Our Devonshire West Big Local project is enabling residents from this part of Eastbourne to get involved in what is happening in their local area and have a say in how it is developed.

l We

have continued to help the local sector have a voice – with our representation and engagement project SpeakUp going from strength to strength.

l So

much local voluntary action needs people – volunteers – to make it happen. We are lucky enough to work in an area where there are so many people willing to give their time, energy and talents to make a difference. Our Volunteer Centre has played a crucial role in providing free quality advice to individuals and organisations and in enabling partnership, collaboration and the development of shared good practice.

l All

this work is underpinned by our core support services, providing information, advice, guidance and training to local voluntary groups, and being a true friend to those involved.

These all go to show that we continue to develop and update our methods to remain a key partner for our local communities in East Sussex. I’d like to thank all the staff and volunteers involved in these successes for all they have contributed in the year.

Adam Chugg, Chief Executive Officer, 3VA

Core support for the sector Our key mission is supporting our local voluntary sector and in this year we have certainly provided a lot of support and development to a lot of local voluntary organisations. Some key stats for the year include: l Weekly

e-bulletin was sent out to more than 2,000 stakeholders.

l 45

new groups were supported.

l 302

groups received 121 support.

4 We attend regular meetings with Sussex

Community Foundation, Southdowns National Park Authority and Big Lottery through the East Sussex Funding Advisers Groups and facilitate two-way sharing of information on both the needs of the local community and the priorities of funders.

5 We have sat on a number of Sussex

Community Foundation grant panels, representing VCOs and advocating local community needs.

l 33

6 In response to needs identified by Groups

l Providing

7 The most successful courses in terms of skills

training courses were delivered. In total, 153 individual groups participated in 3VA training out of which 144 were voluntary/community groups, seven statutory organisations and two private companies. 321 participants attended 33 courses with and average skills increase of 42% and overall satisfaction of 90%. a community meeting space used 1545 times throughout the year.

Some examples of how we made a difference:

1 The Dementia Action Alliances in

High Weald Lewes and Havens CCG and Eastbourne Seaford and Hailsham CCG have resulted in more organisations being aware of the needs of people with dementia and the range of ways in which their needs can be addressed. In Eastbourne an action plan has been developed to address these needs.

2 Continuing the work started in 2014/15 on

Access to Services in Heathfield, 3VA has worked with AiRS, Heathfield & Waldron Parish Council, the Heathfield Partnership, VCES and voluntary organisations in the area to develop an access point in Heathfield.

A pilot study was conducted on Heathfield and Waldron parish work, a parish meeting was held and information from a survey has led to a community hub proposal.

3

Following on from the EVA survey carried out last year, individual briefing sheets were produced for Lewes, Wealden and Eastbourne highlighting the key characteristics of each area and its community/voluntary sector.

Support officers from members’ feedback, 3VA developed and delivered the following training courses during 2015/15: Impact evaluation, Demystifying social capital and Demonstrating the difference you are making.

increase were: a new course Demystifying Social Capital, Writing a Fundraising Bid, both 56% skills increase, Trustee Essentials (54%), Emergency First Aid at Work (51%) and Lone Working (50%); the first three courses were delivered by 3VA staff.

8 The Covering Your Costs course reached

99% overall satisfaction (the highest yet and delivered by 3VA staff), Trustee Essentials and Safeguarding Adults achieved (96%), Demystifying Social Capital (95%) and both Treasurer’s Essentials and Emergency First Aid at Work scored (94%).

9 3VA run a successful Awards for All Funding Fair in September 2015. It was held in Wealden and attracted 42 participants from 31 groups. The fair focused on Awards for All, Big Lottery Fund’s small grants programme and addressed practical issues relating to writing a funding proposal as well as explained the different types of lottery funding and their requirements.

10 We have put in place a robust architecture about informing local VCOs and where possible we have means to involve people around planning structures, consultations, development, etc. An example is “East Sussex Better Together” where local involvement is being made possible.

Supporting personal resilience Health & Wellbeing Visits Project The Health and Wellbeing (HWB) visits initiative is a three-year project funded by the Department of Health run by 3VA in collaboration with East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. It’s an exciting and crucial development for 3VA, as we have never received such national funding before, and also of huge relevance to a wide range of stakeholders, as finding ways of increasing personal resilience and developing wellbeing.

It provides support to vulnerable older people via trained volunteer champions, and achieves the following: l Increased

independence

l Reduced

social isolation

l Stronger

health and wellbeing

l Saving

public money

l A

replicable, tested and evaluated model that can be developed further.

Find

Overall the project is accessing its target communities and allows for prevention and early intervention. The project was seen as innovative at the time of its inception and sits with the general movement around the UK for ‘social prescribing Based on the research we have carried out, a range of scenarios reveals potential return on investment calculations of up to £5.15 for every £1 spent during 2016–17 as opposed to up to £2.09 for every £1 spent during the initial development period of the project – showing the great potential for this approach to achieve real savings for the public purse.

There are also a number of qualitative returns on investment in relation to beneficiary outcomes including saving time and emotional energy in finding solutions to issues and having a trusted contact which may aid in reducing anxiety levels The HWB project can be seen as a forerunner, or trail blazer, for the concept of social prescribing, and as successfully developing a model of practice that can help sector colleagues and other stakeholders develop good practice.

ing w incre ays of asing pers onal deve resilienc lopin e an g we d llbein g

Community resilience and asset based approachees Chances4Change (Eastbourne) This project delivers improvements in health and wellbeing of groups at greatest risk of poor health outcomes by identifying and using community assets to develop sustainable approaches. The asset-based approaches we are using are making a real difference and developing local, communityled projects that improve health and wellbeing for local people.

At the beginning of this period Chances4Change was reaching the end of its Big Lottery funding. Interventions to help improve physical activity, mental wellbeing and healthy eating continued to be delivered.

These included the support and delivery wide range of projects with partner organisations.

Seedcorn grants were made available as a means for delivery of projects to be continued.

From September 2015 C4C became an ESCC funded project, with a new focus of asset based community development and associated methodology, to support and develop community led initiatives to improve wellbeing. For the first six months the priority was extensive asset mapping of the seven communities that C4C was working within.

This included the collection of statistical data, physical mapping, meeting local groups and organisations, and undertaking participatory events and consultations to meet local residents to discuss local assets and priorities.

Devonshire West Big Local Devonshire West Big Local is a resident run, lottery funded organisation which aims to make Devonshire West a better place to live and work In 2012 the Lottery provided Devonshire West Big Local with £1 million to spend over 10 years to better our community.

Devonshire West Big Local offers community groups and local people grants of between £200 and £60,000 to run community projects in the area. Since 2012 Devonshire West Big Local has supported 32 community groups, funded 52 projects and spend spent almost £331,000 on making Devonshire West a better place to live.

As the ‘Locally Trusted Organisation,’ 3VA is playing a vital role in helping to make this happen and supporting this community to develop.

This includes holding funds, providing financial administration, supporting the planning group, and advising on local fund distribution. In addition, we were asked to employ a Community Development Worker to help develop the local action plan and enable groups to help develop and deliver this.

Countywide projects As well as locally based support, we work in partnership with the other Councils for Voluntary Service in the county, Hastings Voluntary Action and Rother Voluntary Action as a CVS Partnership. On behalf of this partnership, we manage two projects supporting the voluntary sector across the county, supporting the sector to have a voice, and to share and develop good practice in volunteering.

SpeakUp SpeakUp Forum’s continued work with the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) during this year ensured the VCS was involved in the development of the Building Better Opportunities funding programme, and that local voluntary/ community organisations were empowered to form partnerships and submit project applications to the fund. SpeakUp Forum played a critical role in the Adult Social Care savings consultation with statutory partners, and consolidated its engagement with the East Sussex Better Together (ESBT) programme. SpeakUp representatives were appointed to chair both the East Sussex Strategic Partnership and the ESBT Communications and Engagement Advisory Group.

By enabling local voluntary organisations to work together to have a voice, its members reported the following benefits in 2015/6: • Increased knowledge regarding issues affecting the sector (93%) • More confidence in representing issues to the public sector (80%) • Improved ability to have a voice (73%) • Improved ability to exchange information (67%).

Volunteer Centre East Sussex One of the core strengths of 3VA is being a ‘onestop shop’ for voluntary organisations needing support, and our support for volunteering is a key element of this.

Key successes for the year included: • Volunteer Forums • In depth support • Materials and good practice around recruitment, retention and support of volunteers.

In one quarter alone, we provided all of the following: • 24 organisations received 1-to-1 support • 59 individuals received support • 390 ‘Your Guide’ booklets were distributed to all 24 libraries in East Sussex.

• Volunteer Forums attended by 53 participants, looking together at key barriers to volunteering and how to overcome them. As well as being well-attended, our Forums receive excellent feedback from the participants. Comments included:

“ “ “

Brilliant opportunity to meet other volunteering organisations and share ideas, practices and issues.

A lovely community feel.”

VCES is supporting my volunteer led and run project to run, grow and adapt to the needs of group users.”

I always find the Forums valuable – great to use a community venue.”

Finance

Statement of financial activities including income and expenditure account for the year ended 31st March 2016 During the year, our level of income was relatively stable and consolidated the increase from successful bidding from new grant funding the previous year.

the previous financial year for project activity happening in this financial year.

Our expenditure has risen. This is in part from timing differences i.e. income received in

Note: As noted in our statutory accounts, our level of Unrestricted Funds has risen from £34,997 to £46,603.

Incoming resources 2015–16

Resources expended 2015–16

(Income investment is too small a figure to be visible in the pie chart)

Incoming resources

2015–16

2014–15

Activities for generating income

28119

23707

Donations and legacies

31844

1070

834

625

644698

714400

9508

7823

£ 715003

£ 747625

2015–16

2014–15

839235

650801

Governance costs and other expenses 14687

4649

Income investment From charitable activities Other Total Resources expended Direct charitable expenditure Total

£ 853922

£ 655450

Please note: The summary financial information is not the statutory financial statements, but a summary relating to the income and expenditure, to give an overview of 3VA’s finances.

The full financial statements have been audited and are available (alongside the Trustees’ Annual Report and Auditors’ Report) at www.3va.org.uk

Where we work…

Rother District

Wealden District Lewes District

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Hastings

We work directly in Eastbourne Lewes and Wealden – to support local voluntary action, strengthen volunteering and community development We work across East Sussex – in partnership – to enhance volunteering, the voice of the voluntary sector and the strategic role of the voluntary sector

www.3va.org.uk

@3VAsupportVCS

t: 01323 639373 3VA

e: info@3va.org.uk

Registered Office: 8 Saffrons Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21 1DG