Kirklees VCSE Investment Strategy Overview
Jointly commissioned by Kirklees Council and Third Sector Leaders, the Kirklees VCSE Investment Strategy focuses on investing in time, skills, assets, and understanding to support local communities. Working alongside various partners, the strategy emphasizes shared values and collaborative efforts to enhance local places. The approach involves co-producing with VCS organizations and Council teams to address priority areas and potential impact.
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Presentation Transcript
Kirklees VCSE Investment Strategy Jonathan Nunn Helen Orlic
Background Jointly commissioned by Kirklees Council and Third Sector Leaders Building on the Coordinated Community Response work during the Covid pandemic VCSE working alongside Kirklees Council, Health partners and local business Kirklees Council recognise and value the strengths of the sector, and where the VCSE are best placed to support and enable local communities This Strategy is about more than just funding the sector, its about investing in: - Time - Skills - Assets - Understanding
Working alongside working alongside is our way of describing how the VCS, Kirklees Council and health partners want to work together to make our local places even better. We co-produced a collaborative statement of The way we want to do things around here prior to developing the Strategy, based on our experiences of working together during Covid-19 so far. This statement of our shared values is designed to influence and encourage more productive and trusting relationships. Both the way that we developed the Strategy, and the content of the Strategy, strongly reflect the working alongside shared values.
Working alongside Kirklees Council, our partners and citizens are working together to make the local places where we live, work and play better. Here s how we re working alongside each other in our local places, including our values, our stories and practical ideas to help you and others to get involved. We are . coming from a different place learning by doing working on trust growing confidence taking courage from kindness sharing with each other listening with curiosity open and honest involving others early recognising everyone
Locality Keep It Local Award Winners 2021 Place partnerships Led by councillors Engaging with local people and organisations
Approach Co-produced through a mixture of one to one conversations and focus groups with over 30 VCS organisations and 14 different Council teams/officers Set questions, guided by the discussion, included: Stock take of current situation of the organisation Overview on the aims of the work including areas such as grants programmes, commissioning, working with local business, asset transfers, specialist support needs, skills and capacity sharing Other ideas Priority areas and potential impact
Key Themes Building trust and working together Building on existing work How we can work together to attract more non-council funding development work, partnerships, bid/grant writers Funding principles multi year, stop circular/repetitive conversations. Encourage transparency, help build capacity and resilience Communication what's happening locally, sharing our stories Asset transfers respond to community need and aren t liability transfers Focus for increasing social enterprise start up and support
What this strategy is about Partners working together to make our local places even better building an equitable partnership. It is about the Council relinquishing power and bringing about cultural change. It is about partners and the Council building trust and transparency, being honest and open in our conversations so that the Council becomes an enabler for the VCSE. It is about the whole system and those within it working together Kirklees Council, Health, and 3rd Sector (and business) Ensuring that whoever is best placed to provide a service is providing it the right people are doing the right things . It is about being community led, linking to local people and plans and recognising the need for equity - some communities need more support than others What it isn t about Kirklees Council being paternalistic, doing to the VCSE Kirklees Council giving the VCSE things/services to do on the cheap Creating a VCSE that are grant/contract dependent on Kirklees Council. Enabling VCSE organisations to help themselves to attract more external funding to be able to invest to develop resources and resilience. It is about supporting the VCSE to access and develop a diversity of grant and income streams (grants, contracts, enterprise, fundraising) Quick wins and short term funding Building community capacity and resilience in the VCSE to enable longer term planning and time to address increasingly complex/entrenched issues in communities. It is about being able to support a wide range of activity to help local people, creating impact and real long term outcomes that support residents of Kirklees, whilst recognising the need to be accountable for the use of public funds One size/approach fitting all Recognising and maintaining the diversity of VCSE organisations and the communities they work with It is about enabling local organisations, local assets, services and projects to respond to needs of local people (place) or the communities they serve (communities of interest). Generating action, testing out new ways of working and new ideas, and not being frightened of getting things wrong Sometimes - we will still gain insight and learning. Being a piece of paper that sits on a shelf. Blame when new ideas don t work. Ignoring the opportunity to learn Just investing money Kirklees Council, along with other stakeholders, investing time, skills, assets and money into the VCSE Building on the foundations of whats already begun to happen All new ideas
8 Shared Outcomes for Kirklees Our shared values - Working alongside Priority 3 Priority 2 Priority 1 Invest to increase VCSE capacity, resilience and sustainability: empowering the VCSE to help themselves Invest in whoever is best placed to provide the service or support: recognising & valuing each other s strengths Invest to build trust and transparency: creating an environment for partners to work alongside each other Objectives Objectives Objectives Create more opportunities to get to know each other better, listening and sharing skills, resources and knowledge with each other Develop a joint understanding of what funds are available to the VCSE in Kirklees and identify the best way to maximise impact Collaborate more and compete less. Start the conversations early and keep them going Jointly assess social value within the VCSE Jointly agree the best process or organisations to mange funding, moving funding closer to the community Invest in further development of VCSE infrastructure support Don t divest assets, invest in communities work together to develop a needs led approach to community asset transfers Look within Kirklees first Recognise the value of, and create conditions for, more Kirklees based community business (social enterprises, enterprise activity and cooperatives) Develop a commitment to a set of funding principles to help improve VCSE capacity and resilience Invest in resource within the VCSE to enable the VCSE to attract more non Council funds. Measures of success Effective grants programme with no duplication More active community buildings meeting community needs case studies Examples of Kirklees Council and partners using local social enterprises for support and services Measures of success Number of new and sustained community businesses - social value achieved Value of non-council funding secured + social value of businesses working with VCSE Implement principles + evidence of impact Measures of success Evidence of improved working together New partnerships and alliances Clear view of total funding available to VCSE Social value demonstrated by VCSE Partners know what s happening in their areas
Kirklees VCS Investment Strategy High Level Action Plan 6 workstreams (DRAFT) Pt1 Enablers Community Businesses Community Assets Data agree data capture requirements for all workstreams. Initiate project to capture. Link to WYHHP work Quantify measures of success Agree and action approach for Health involvement Plan for Business involvement Finalise prog Steering Group Identify links to other partnership/ strategic boards Draft role profile, identify and agree joint funding for dedicated post to support development of community business (social enterprises / coops) Re-establish Social Enterprise working group to help identify and promote existing social enterprises, and support with re- start funding if needed TSL and Business & Skills to work together to identify routes into business support Arrange meeting of Community Buildings network gain understanding of current issues and support needed Link to Place Based Working identify current community assets and gaps Develop plan to address gaps Infrastructure Identify and agree funding for resource linked to: Devt and bid writers Business Connector role Give Local Fundraising Campaign
Kirklees VCS Investment Strategy High Level Action Plan 6 workstreams (DRAFT) Pt2 Infrastructure cont d Communication Commissioning / Procurement (inc social value) Joint workshops to develop joint understanding of different finance models for commissioning, being contract ready and routes to do this Jointly assess need for strategic procurement vehicle Develop joint understanding of Social Value Portal, and improve local VCSE knowledge of how to assess social impact VCSE involved in tender assessment for large capital / corporate tenders Arrange meeting of infrastructure orgs and teams to agree ways of working. Agree roadmap of infrastructure support work to include: Devt of meaningful interfaces between Council and VCSE Funding Principles and protocols to include any transfer of resources to support VCSE hubs in North & South Kirklees New workstreams re infrastructure support for eg specific BAME groups Links to other workstreams Develop joint Comms plans TSL and Council which aims to - Share the strategy, linking to shared outcomes and shared values - Promote VCSE across Kirklees - Link to Community Asset Transfer and Community Business workstream - Encourage Council staff to work differently with the VCSE Link to Place Based Working and coordination of local communication.
Progress to Date Progressing jointly identified priority areas: Community Buildings Survey issued to all known Community buildings/spaces in Kirklees to develop clear understanding of current situation and support needs with a view to further action planning. Deadline for responses 12/11/21. 75 responses received so far. Social Enterprises Sounding Board of local experts and social enterprises developed to help guide the work to encourage more social enterprises in Kirklees. Initial meeting held, and scope of further work being developed. Social Value Meetings held to develop understanding of how Social Value is being measured by Kirklees Procurement and how this will impact VCSE as part of the commissioning process.
Whats next? Complete community group surveys to extend engagement for specific areas/topics Agree data needed in order to quantify the measures of success Development of a detailed Action Plan and identifying additional resource requirements to deliver Ongoing Engagement and Communication
