Lasting impact: Transforming for the future
Annual Review 2012 - 2013 Kingston Voluntary Action is dedicated to providing the right advice, support and training at the right time to the diverse voluntary and community sector in Kingston upon Thames. Over the last year our Transforming Kingston’s Infrastructure Project has increased and diversified access to sources of funding, modernised support for the local sector and forged lasting partnerships for a brighter, more secure future. We look back at the lasting impact of the project and celebrate our achievements in supporting local communities to reach their goals.
Our impact: growth beyond grants One of only 72 projects in the country to be funded by the Office for Civil Society, Transforming Kingston’s Infrastructure (TKI) Project has maximised scarce resources in a time of austerity and created new funding opportunities for organisations in the borough of Kingston upon Thames.
Almost
£90,000 raised so far
Our flagship fundraising campaign, Love Kingston, has established lasting relationships with local businesses, individuals, local government, local media and community organisations to build a strong foundation of local philanthropic support for the voluntary and community sector. Almost £90,000 of vital funds have been raised in only ten months and this figure continues to rise. Funds are being divided between five local projects committed to ‘pathways out of poverty’ and the Kingston Legacy Fund. The annual income from this endowed fund will be used to provide a longlasting source of funding for local charitable and community activity. Kingston Voluntary Action will continue to develop Love Kingston in the next year in our enduring partnership with London Community Foundation. As part of our commitment to increase and diversify access to funding sources we have supported local organisations to receive online individual donations through Localgiving.com, a popular fundraising website. 38 groups now have their own webpage on the website to engage with individual donors, accept Gift Aid no matter what their size and promote their volunteering roles. www.love-kingston.org.uk
Love Kingston Day Inaugural Love Kingston Day held 14 Feb 2013
New online fundraising and social media courses have further increased skills and knowledge of the motivational factors and tools available for online giving.
Chosen Charity 2013 Kingston Chamber of Commerce
Founding patrons Edward Bentall and Shiraz Mirza
In addition Kingston Voluntary Action has provided one-to-one support sessions through our capacity building programme and in the last year advised organisations on funding applications that raised more than £215,000.
Founding donors Banquet Records, CNM Estates, Kingston Grammar, One Percent Scheme, CNM Estates, Shiraz Mirza Trust
Localgiving.com
We got double the amount of money during the match fund which in itself encouraged people to donate...a double whammy! Femina Makkar, Learn English at Home It really does make a difference when you look at the end of the month at who’s donated and how much has gone into the bank. You then start to realise why it’s all worthwhile Charles Kounoupias, Kingston Greek School
Amount raised in Kingston
£34, 234.43 www.facebook.com/LoveKingstonDay
Donations received
893
@LvKingston
Our impact: business skills for a bright future Transforming Kingston’s Infrastructure (TKI) Project has supported local voluntary sector managers to develop their organisations to thrive in the current demanding economic and funding environment through collaboration with The Cranfield Trust. Twenty-one organisations in Kingston have benefitted from committed, long-term strategic advice and mentoring from a well-developed network of highly skilled and experienced commercial sector professionals, who offer their experience to local charities. Consultants have delivered business mentoring to ten organisations to advise them on major pieces of work, develop business plans and act as a strategic sounding board. Six projects have been guided through the process of becoming ’commissioning ready’ and a further five projects supported to consider the option of becoming a social enterprise or develop trading activities.
1,000 That’s worth a staggering
consultancy hours given by Cranfield Trust experts
£500,000
In the last year, TKI has funded a further seven voluntary and community sector managers to gain the Chartered Management Institute Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership in partnership with Kingston College. All managers report improved ability to run their organisations as a result of this prestigious accredited course.
The content of the course has helped foster a real appreciation of my organisation's strategic direction and how this will shape our future in the market place. It has also provided exposure and visibility into financial control and management. It has provided me with a generic framework of management disciplines which can underpin our processes as we continue to grow
Kingston Voluntary Action has delivered two training programmes to enable staff and volunteers of local organisations to offer effective, efficient and sustainable services to their beneficiaries.
Our 59 courses have been attended by nearly 500 participants, exceeding the target set out in our TKI project. Next year, in collaboration with South London CVS Partnership, we will be enabling local organisations to access low-cost, accessible training on Learning Pool, an online learning resource, ensuring organisations can continue to develop their workforce on limited budgets.
Visit www.kva.org.uk for our latest training opportunities
Number of participants on training
participants agreed that our courses are useful for their work
500
3 3 times more
courses delivered than the TKI target
Number of organisations supported by Cranfield Trust business experts
21
Number of training courses run
59
Number of training participants
500
Number of one-to-one capacity 100 building sessions funded by City Bridge
Our impact: developing digital capability Kingston Voluntary Action and its project Superhighways have worked to support local organisations to develop their digital capability to deliver improved services to local communities. During the life of the Transforming Kingston Infrastructure (TKI) Project we have continued to develop the Kingston E-Voice web portal, offering training, technical support and advice to organisations in the borough that use this free web publishing platform. We are the only organisation in the UK to offer E-Voice training and have also delivered beginners and advanced sessions to organisations in South London and Surrey. Kingston Voluntary Action, in collaboration with Superhighways and South London CVS Partnership, has been identifying the needs of organisations considering moving their ICT systems to the cloud and carrying out ICT and back office services appraisal options. Kingston Voluntary Action has moved its own IT systems to Office 365 which will ensure we can remotely access our data. This will help us with remote access technical support, on-site visits with local organisations, events, data storage and much more. Kingston Voluntary Action has designed and delivered a new beginners Twitter course to enable organisations to reach out to new beneficiaries and potential supporters. In addition we have delivered social media for fundraising training to help organisations understand how to recruit donors who are interested in their cause, and convert them into active supporters and volunteers. We have further developed and modernised information and communications resources internally and for the sector as a whole. We have @Kingston VA and @SuperhighwaysUK
introduced additional database modules which will enable organisations to update their details, sign up for e-bulletins and book and pay for training courses online. Our Twitter account, monthly ebulletin and website have also been developed, with numbers receiving news and information doubling in the last year.
Superhighways has continued to generate income to sustain its services via a membership package and consultancy services. It is working with a number of groups to implement new databases to improve monitoring and evaluation processes. Further new courses developed include Google Analytics, Digital Storytelling and E-Campaigns Using Mailchimp. Number of organisations supported with ICT needs
110
Number of Kingston Voice websites
88
Number of website visitors July 2013
1419
Number of Superhighways members
45
Number of organisations receiving KVA monthly e-bulletin
423
Although we have limited resources, the help that we have received from Superhighways has made us realise that the costs we incur on ICT is an investment which makes our organisation more efficient. Matt Hatton, KCAH It was just my cup of tea – excellent! Tina Brook, WWAG, E-Voice for Beginners The trainer was very clear and helpful and went out of her way to assist. Very impressed! Rona Odle, Kingston First, Twitter for Beginners
Our impact: connecting communities Kingston Voluntary Action’s community based projects enable communities to connect, work and learn together, driving forward social change and increasing access to life-chances, goods and services many take for granted. Superhighways popular local project Community Connected works hard to bridge the digital divide for those cut off from the virtual world. Technology Thursday sessions on the Cambridge Road Estate provide training, technical support and refurbished PCs for residents. An inaugural Pride of Place event was held in March 2013 for Cambridge Road Estate residents to reminisce and capture memories digitally, scanning photos and taking audio recordings to create an online archive. Our Online Basics training for beginners, delivered in partnership with Kingston Carers Network, enabled participants to learn practical skills from using a mouse to sending an email or posting on Facebook. Sessions were informal, encouraging carers to relax, talk to each other and enjoy themselves whilst they learnt. Kingston Community Furniture (KCF) offers quality used and recycled furniture to families throughout Surrey who are in need and waste collection services, including bulk waste removal and a dedicated removal service for local companies and individuals. It has continued to diversify its portfolio of services over the last year and achieved revenue growth of 4% during challenging economic times. In May 2012 KCF achieved Approved Reuse Centre accreditation from the Furniture Reuse Network and in March the following year successfully concluded negotiations with the Royal Borough of Kingston to deliver aspects of the revised Social Fund. KCF continues to offer work placements to
support local people back into employment. Kingston Eco-op offers supported employment skills and training for disabled people and those at risk of social exclusion. Our packing workshop delivers a quality service to local companies including Arrow Plastics and the British Legion. A mix of hands-on practical work and supported social interaction make a real difference in fighting stigma, isolation and poor self esteem. Two new mechanics joined the Bicycle Refurbishment Workshop, increasing training opportunities and reconditioning more bicycles to be sold to members of the public, many of whom are on a low income. Working in partnership has enabled us to hold craft workshops at Hampton Court, bicycle sales at Kingston University, certificated training at the Skills Centre and sponsored coach trips to Hayling Island.
Visit http://audioboo.fm/Superhighways to listen to the experiences of carers
I’d never used a computer in my whole life but I’d always wanted to get one...I was a bit nervous the first time. Now I’m happy and it makes me want to do more Peter at Technology Thursdays
25 X 30
Refurbished computers given to local communities in Kingston
Carers trained in basic computer skills and using the internet Residents helped by collection and distribution of furniture and electrical goods by KCF.
Our impact: representing the sector Kingston Voluntary Action has a significant role to play in supporting voluntary sector involvement in the Kingston Strategic Partnership, planning and commissioning arrangements for health, wellbeing and social care services and creating opportunities for two way engagement between the statutory sector and voluntary and community organisations. Kingston Voluntary Action held its inaugural Annual Health Conference in January 2013, to inform the voluntary and community sector of significant changes to local services that followed the passing of the Health and Social Care Bill of March 2012. A further conference is planned for early 2014. We continued to provide up-to-date information on government and local health and social care policy to organisations in the last year and remained an active member of a wide range of ongoing steering groups and partnerships. This has enabled us to contribute a voluntary sector perspective to service planning and support for health promoting initiatives in the borough. The Kingston Voluntary Action Involvement Review and Partnership Arrangements for Health and Social Care was completed in January 2012 and presented to the Voluntary Sector Forum in June for further consultation. Kingston Voluntary Action reinstated Community Development Network meetings this year, with a focus on health improvement and community development. We have also reinstated the Children and Young People’s Network, which brings together colleagues across the sector three times per year. Child poverty has been a key focus of the Sign up for e-news at www.kva.org.uk
Children and Young People First Project over the course of the last year. Voluntary and community organisations in Kingston are facing increasing demands for help from families who are struggling to pay their bills. Kingston Voluntary Action has contributed to the Royal Borough of Kingston’s Child Poverty Strategy, and brought together voluntary and community organisations with colleagues in the statutory sector, to come up with practical
strategies for helping families who are in financial difficulty. The project has also helped to establish and coordinate the new Children, Young People and Families’ Consortium. With the move towards commissioning services, the project is helping children and young people groups to prepare to be ‘contract ready’. X 95
Number of attendees at the KVA Annual Health Conference 2013
Our year ahead A key role of Kingston Voluntary Action is to ensure that voluntary and community organisations are included in strategic decision-making and developments in the borough, can work collaboratively and have access to good channels of communication. In the last year we have had a crucial role in developing a Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Strategy, a refreshed Compact, Strategic Partners Group and Voluntary Sector Board. The VCS Strategy, built by cross-sector collaboration, shows how we can all ‘work better together’ for the benefit of local communities. A refreshed and embedded local compact sets out a way of working between statutory and voluntary organisations, contributing to changing attitudes and culture in a realistic way. In the coming year we will support the Strategic Partners Group with their key responsibilities, such as representation and influencing. The Voluntary Sector Board will promote partnership work and inter-agency cooperation between the local VCS and the Partners of the Kingston Strategic Partnership in service design and delivery and in community development and engagement activities. For twenty years Kingston Voluntary Action has been keen to establish a voluntary and community sector hub (building) in the borough. This year, through our TKI Project, we have had the capacity to make this aim a reality. Together with the Royal Borough of Kingston we are making real progress in identifying a suitable building and have worked closely with local organisations interested in moving to the Hub to identify potential shared back office services and cloud-based IT solutions. This is a very exciting development for the voluntary sector in Kingston and in the year ahead we and our partners will be working extremely hard on developing a vibrant Kingston Community Hub.
Our year in numbers
Contact us Kingston Voluntary Action Siddeley House, 50 Canbury Park Road Kingston upon Thames KT2 6LX 020 8255 3335 info@kva.org.uk www.kva.org.uk https://twitter.com/KingstonVA @KingstonVA
In the last year Kingston Voluntary Action has received overwhelming support from individuals, businesses, media, community groups and local government to fundraise for our project Love Kingston. In addition, many local people volunteered with us for the RideLondon cycling festival, bringing the spirit of the Olympics back to the streets of Kingston this summer. We’d like to thank everyone that has given their time, energy and commitment to our projects and shown their love for Kingston’s communities.
We are extremely grateful to all our funders for their support
Superhighways 020 8255 8040 www.superhighways.org.uk @SuperhighwaysUK www.communityconnected.org.uk
Go Kingston Volunteering 020 8255 8685 www.gokingstonvolunteering.org.uk Kingston Community Furniture Adams House, Dickerage Lane, New Malden KT3 3SF 020 8942 5500 www.kingstoncommunityfurniture.org.uk Kingston Eco-op 020 8942 5503 www.kingstoneco-op.org.uk www.facebook.com/KingstonEcoop