Regional Grant Holder Events
Over the Autumn period Capacitybuilders are inviting a range of grant holders from across their programmes to a series of networking events. The sessions are being held across England and will enable grant holders to link up and share learning.
Through a mixture of networking and information exchange, grant holders will be able to make contact with other funded groups who might share similar objectives or support their work. Spaces at these events are limited and will be allocated on an invitation only basis.
The East Midlands event will be on 28 October in Nottingham Albert Hall, accommodating up to 60 person. The time and agenda are yet to be arranged.
New Chief Executive at Capacitybuilders
Matt Leach, currently Director of Policy and Communications at the Housing Corporation, will be joining Capacitybuilders as Chief Executive. He brings a wealth of experience working within and beyond Government, including as a Senior Civil Servant in Cabinet Office and then the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Commenting on the appointment, Chris Pond said: “Matt is a high calibre and very experienced leader who will bring substantial energy and integrity to the job of leading the organisation and developing its role as a strategic funder and influential partner to the third sector and Government. He shares our commitment that, through its investments, Capacitybuilders should make a real difference to the effectiveness of the Third Sector and in the communities it serves.”
Matt is charged with leading the organisation in its management of the £88.5million Government ChangeUp investment programme, building on the challenges and commitments set out in the Third Sector Review – from developing the evidence base, to ensuring reach across the third sector.
£6M for Social Enterprise Support Services
Capacitybuilders new £6 million investment to improve business support services for social enterprises will be distributed over the next three years.
Working closely with regional social enterprise networks and other local partners including regional development agencies, Capacitybuilders will identify the best ways to meet local needs. The money will fund improvements like new mentoring schemes, more accredited advisers and work to develop emerging markets.
More about the social enterprise programme on Capacitybuilders website.
Evaluation of ChangeUp
Capacitybuilders has begun the process of commissioning the evaluation of ChangeUp by calling for expressions of interest from people with experience of the third sector, support services, grant making, policy analysis and research experience / academic credentials.
The evaluation will focus primarily on the impact ChangeUp has had on support services and the subsequent impact on frontline organisations at local, regional and national levels.
More on Capacitybuilders website.
Collation of ChangeUp Resources
Capacitybuilders is developing work which will bring together all historical and current ChangeUp funded activity into one place via an online, searchable database. At the end of 2007, ChangeUp Consortia in each of the nine regions began compiling asset logs detailing ChangeUp funded material that had been developed across the regions since the beginning of the ChangeUp programme in 2004.
Capacitybuilders has appointed a consultant to work at a national level – bringing together work developed through the six national Hubs of expertise (now replaced by the nine workstreams of the National Support Service programme) and other nationally funded work. This consultant will amalgamate and assess the local, regional, sub-regional and national assets with a view to getting them ready to load onto a searchable online database alongside any new resources produced under the programme. The database will be part of the new ‘national communications web portal’ which is currently under development. More about this....
Transition from Hubs to National Support Services
From April 2008, Capacitybuilders' investment at a national level was refocused from the six National Hubs to nine National Support Service workstreams. The programme provides support providers across England with resources, evidence and good practice that will improve the support services offered to frontline organisations. Work is underway with the Hubs to ensure that the valuable resources and assets funded through the ChangeUp programme remain available to the sector in the future.
Further details on the Capacitybuilders website.
and on the new National Support Services website
Engaging Regional and Local Support Providers with NSS
On 22 January, representatives from the lead bodies of the nine National Support Services (NSS) workstreams gathered in Birmingham to engage with regional and local ChangeUp consortium and Improving Reach grant recipients. The event will help shape the development of the new National Support Services, ensuring they work effectively alongside a range of sector support providers, especially those working at local and regional level.
Further details, and downloads of the presentation and summary of proposals, are available from the Capacitybuilders site.
Investment in Workforce and ICT Projects
Capacitybuilders has decided the priority for investment in new work programmes on workforce development and ICT in the third sector, to begin on 1 July 2008.
For Workforce Development there will be: 1) a three year investment, of £550k in NAVCA’s SKILD programme, to ensure the continued development of professional standards and training for sector support providers; 2) investment of £112k for 2008/9 in supporting the national strategic ‘voice’ for third sector skills; 3) an independent review of the need for further investment in third sector leadership; 4) £550k for the development of HR services.
For ICT there will be: 1) a three-year investment in regional ICT champions through NAVCA, totalling £1.1M - the work will focus on ‘hands-on’ advice and networking between ICT support providers, working closely with ChangeUp consortia and other support providers; 2) initial investment of £150k in 2008/9 in the work of ruralnet to continue to develop the net:gain centres.
Capacitybuilders is making a £6 million investment over the next three years with the specific aim of strengthening social enterprise support.
Destination 2014 - Online Delivery Plan
An up-to-date version of the Destination 2014 delivery plan is now available on the Capacitybuilders website. There are three phases to the Capacitybuilders strategic framework - 2007/08, 1008/11, 2011/14. The delivery plan sets out the principal activities that will be undertaken in each of these phases in relation to our objectives and vision for the future.
Activity for 2007/08 is underway and is detailed in the 'Current Challenges' section of the existing plan.
Scoping the Evaluation of ChangeUp
A report has been released from the consultants scoping the evaluation of ChangeUp:
Scoping the evaluation of ChangeUp - Overview (Oct 2007) 
124k
This research involved over 100 interviews and 4 feedback workshops. The work included: a review of existing research on ChangeUp and the third sector support services; a review of the policy, operating and evaluation environment; and a review of systems to communicate ChangeUp achievements and share information and learning.
The report recommends: the development of evaluation templates; a set of quality standards; an online searchable database of evaluation findings; and methods for dissemination of outcomes and achievements through existing news bulletins and events.
Capacitybuilders will now develop a tender for the evaluation work.
Investment in Strategic Change
Capacitybuilders has announced the roll-out a new three-year funding investment programme to support strategic change and modernisation in the way support for third sector organisations is delivered at local and regional levels.
The £30 million fund for 2008-11 has two principle strands, both of which will commence in April 2008:
- £12m in consortium development grants to local and regional consortia, tied to agreement of delivery of core roles and strategic outcomes, and a clearer relationship with Capacitybuilders.
- £18m modernisation project fund, to help achieve a step change in the way third sector support services are delivered locally and regionally.
The Strategic Change programme, is only open to local and regional consortia. A range of projects highlighted in consortia business plans are expected to be funded under the programme. Resources are more limited that in previous years, and Capacitybuilders will only be able to support a limited number of projects in each region.
Further information on Capacitybuilders website.
At the beginning of February Capacitybuilders issued an update document to consortia about the new Local and Regional Strategic Change programme from April 2008. The document reiterates their commitment to working with local and regional consortia and the expectations of Consortia Development grant holders.
Improving Reach Funding Programme Launched
Capacitybuilders have announced the details of its Improving Reach investment programme - a new £18m three-year grant scheme to run from 1st April 2008 as a key element of the continuing ChangeUp investment programme. This builds on the momentum of the pilot programme for Improving Reach, launched in 2006, which runs until March 2008.
The priorities reflect those of the pilot programme, and include organisations developed by and working with:
- Black and minority ethnic communities
- Refugee and migrant communities
- Faith communities
- Isolated rural communities
The deadline for Improving Reach applications has now passed. In total, over 1700 organisations registered for the programme, with around 930 of these completing the application process in full and submitting a proposal.
Up to the end of February, a team of 21 independent grant assessors will be busy reviewing all submitted applications. Funding decisions will be made in March 2008, with the programme up and running on 1st April.
