Last month Penny McLean and I spent a very enjoyable day with Shpetim Alimeta (Basis Project Organisational Development Officer for the East of England) visiting the Peterborough African Community Organisation.
They're a terrific group and, with Shpetim's help, managed to secure funding for a community radio station at the end of last year.
Here's the film we made about their work. (A transcript is available on the Basis Project website.)
Here's our latest video - about the West London Somaliland Community, who have been working with the Basis Project for the past year.
Id:
“My name is Id Hassan Muse , I’m the co-ordinator of West London Somaliland Community and we’re here today to take part in a tournament that a club has organised for the kids during the Easter holidays.”
Adam:
“My name’s Adam and I’m 13-years-old and I love going to the Somalilanders Community because it gives me a chance to play football and I love what I do. And it gives me a chance to meet all of my friends because they also go. I think it’s brilliant.
“Behind me there’s a football tournament going on. I normally play up front to score some goals and in the last game I scored the final goal and we’re top of our league table.”
Id:
“We have now more than 80 children registered with the club and 60 children come regularly every Saturday for ages 10 to 17. We have a very diverse group, with Asian children, White British, Somalilanders and other Somalis. And we are really proud of our team.”
Abdullahi Ali
“My name’s Abdullahi Ali. I’m the organiser of this event as well as the Chairman of West London Somaliland Community. In Somali we’d say ‘Ku soo dhawaada’ which is wide, open-handed welcome you here. This event is for the 18th anniversary of Somaliland regaining freedom from dictatorship and we’re hoping to get 600 people here. There will be playing, music, singing, dancing, poetry, speeches about the culture and history of the country to teach the younger people about what happened, why it happened and what we achieved from it.”
Id:
“This project is funded by the Football Foundation. It is a two year project and after the two years we hope to be able to sustain the project through the Football Foundation and to develop it more widely with the social outcomes.”
Liban:
“Hi, my name’s Liban, I’m 12-years-old, I play centre midfield and I like my team because they pass around, they do a lot of action and they come back all the time.”
More information: http://www.wlsomalilandcommunity.org.uk
Here's the transcript for the video we made last year about The Discovery Of The Talents project in Birmingham.
Caption: The Discovery of the Talents was founded in 2006 by Justin Nsiko Bankwa, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In 2008, with help from the Basis Project, they got funding from Trafford Hall for an allotment project in Birmingham.
Caption: David Hirst, the Basis Project Organisational Development Officer in the West Midlands.
“I’ve known Justin and his group probably for about a year and I’ve supported their willingness to get an allotment and encouraged them – I sent a few emails to the council when they lost their application and generally encouraged them.”
Caption: They plan to plant a range of fruit and vegetables, including some that also grow in DRC.
Justin:
“First of all we plant callaloo, which we are 100% sure will grow up here. And we will try other fruit and other vegetables like cabbage, beans and maize which we are 100% sure will grow.”
Caption: The Discovery of the Talents wants to encourage as many refugees as possible to work on and enjoy the allotment. They plan to expand the allotment to accommodate as many people as wish to join them.
Justin:
“It is a very good experience for us. When, one day, if I am back in the Congo, I can see which is the best place to do an allotment project.”
We're writing transcripts to go with all of our videos. Here's the first, for the video Financial Management - an introduction for refugee community organisations.
With John O’Brien, Chief Executive, Community Accounting Plus.
"I think the first thing to say about financial management is that by and large it’s common sense and if you do what you think is sensible you won't go far wrong. It's true that there are some skills and techniques you can learn that will make the job easier - and that's very important. But I also think it’s true to say that for a successful group, for a group to good work and to deliver good services, managing the finances well is essential.”
Caption: The secrets of good financial management are to: keep things simple, develop routines, and get into good habits.
“Think of it as managing your own finances – in a way you’re managing other people’s money so you need to be even more careful and be more accountable – but it’s really not as complicated as people might think.”
Caption: 1. Financial controls
“Financial controls are very important and it’s a good practice to agree what these controls are - or rules, or procedures, if you like – and actually get them written down so that the trustees or board or committee can agree that these are our rules. And they can be very simple things like who writes the cheques – you wouldn’t, for example, want a member of staff to be able to sign cheques for themselves. I’m not saying they’d steal the money but it’s good practice. So, who can sign the cheques, who approves expenditure – that kind of thing. What are the rules for petty cash? Do you have to get a receipt each time you buy some milk? And the answer is, you ought to!”
Caption: 2. Accounts
“A good general principle when you’re keeping accounts in a very simple way when you’re keeping track of receipts and payments is: if it happened, write it down. And if it doesn’t, don’t. It’s amazing how often people get that wrong and saying ‘let’s pretend this happened and pretend that happened’, and that usually ends in tears. So, as a basic principle: if it happened, write it down.”
Caption: 3. Budgets
“In its simplest form a budget is simply a plan expressed in terms of money. And the starting point for a budget is always that the organisation - the committee members, the staff, the volunteers, the beneficiaries sometimes – should agree what the plan is. What are we actually going to do in this period ahead – usually a year.
“Once the plan’s been set and we know what we’re going to do for a year, then someone, usually a finance person or a small group or a sub-committee, will get together to work out the budget for that. What are we going to spend on staff salaries, volunteer expenses? That kind of thing. What are the premises costs going to be? What are the administration costs going to be – telephone, rent, that kind of thing? And then any other activities, like conferences, training, that kind of thing.
“Normally you’d work out how much it’s going to cost you to do what you want to do and then the question is, well, how are we going to finance it. What income can we get? What grants can we get? What fundraising? And, of course, do we have anything in reserve? We may have money brought forward from the previous year that we haven’t spent yet. And the idea is that that financial plan – budget – will be presented to and approved by the board and then that becomes, if you like, the standard, that’s what we’re going to do – we’ve all agreed.”
Many Refugee Community Organisations (RCOs) deal with the consequences of UK government policy on refused asylum seekers as destitute people turn to them for support. This is one of many areas where RCOs are well-positioned to campaign. Why? Because they are working at a grassroots level and understand the issue.
We are therefore excited to offer a unique partnership opportunity: We are looking for 6-10 RCOs based in Barnet, Brent or Camden to work with us on a new one year campaigning project that aims to tackle the problem of destitution of asylum seekers. In a series of workshops delivered by campaigning specialists, you will build on your skills, look at different campaigning tools and techniques and learn together what works and what doesn’t. You will need to make a big commitment of time and energy but your RCO will be amply rewarded with experience of effective campaigning.
This is an exciting opportunity for you and other members of your RCO to develop your skills and experience, and potential employability; and to build the capacity of your RCO to campaign and affect policy change. You’ll get the chance to learn with other refugees, and receive expert training as well as to make a difference to the lives of destitute asylum seekers in your communities.
Costs: The workshops are free. Additionally, each RCO will receive between £1,000 and £3,000 to cover the costs of their involvement in the project.
For more information please contact Anna Musgrave:
email: anna.musgrave@refugeecouncil.org.uk
Tel: 020 7346 6744
By Penny McLean and May Macnair
Steve Wyler has been Director of the Development Trusts Association since 2000. The Development Trusts Association is a fast growing UK-wide movement, bringing together over 450 community-led organisations, which use self-help, social enterprise, and community asset ownership to bring about long-term social, economic and environmental renewal, and transform their communities for good. The DTA – in common with many of its members - generates over half its income from trading activities, and the rest from governmental and independent grant-makers
Over the last twenty years Steve has worked for voluntary and community agencies and funders. For example in the 1990s, working with homeless agencies, he ran a Homeless Network, co-ordinated the Rough Sleepers Initiative in London, and set up Off the Streets and into Work.
Recently Steve has been a member of various government advisory groups on social enterprise, community assets, and the third sector. Steve is vice-Chair of the Social Enterprise Coalition, Board member of the Adventure Capital Fund, and Board member of the Glass House Community Led Design.
Q: What is a development trust?
Development trusts are community owned and led. They use self-help, trading for social purpose and ownership of buildings and land, to bring about long-term social, economic and environmental benefits to transform their community for good.
Q: Where did the concept of the Development Trusts Association (DTA) originate, and how many currently operate across the UK?
15 years ago, a group of about 12 community activists from around the UK made contact with each other, and decided to develop a better way of making an impact within their communities. What made them distinct from other community groups/enterprises was their entrepreneurial streak; ploughing profits back into their local communities and social aims. They involved community groups, ownership of land and buildings, and local businesses - creating what we call a development trust. Since then, the number of development trusts across the UK has grown to 450.
The size of each development trust varies hugely; some trusts are voluntarily run and have few assets while most are more established and have paid staff.
Q: Can you explain the difference between a social enterprise and a development trust?
A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose profit is reinvested into its social aim, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners. Well-known examples include the Eden Project, Café Direct, Coin Street Community Builders. The social enterprise sector is extremely diverse, encompassing co-operatives, development trusts, community enterprises, housing associations, football supporter's trusts, and so on.
Development trusts are organisations which are set up to run and deliver an inclusive mix of services or facilities which respond to the needs of a community. For example one of our members, Tiger 11 in West Yorkshire, acquired and refurbished a former primary school, a Victorian Grade II listed building, for business and community use. Development trusts are about sustainable change. As independent organisations they avoid over-reliance on a single funder, and also aim to reduce dependence on grant-aid in the long term. To do so, they may create an income-earning asset base, and build up trading operations or contract income – this would be a social enterprise model.
We see development trusts as part of a community enterprise movement where organisations trade for a social purpose, within a defined community of place. Development Trusts are a model of community enterprise joining up the delivery of a range of local services to a wide ranging community.
Q: Many refugee community organisations (RCOs) haven’t heard of development trusts, can you explain how RCOs can find out about them, and how they would go about setting one up with support from the DTA?
Firstly I’d like to clarify that most development trusts are not grant funding organisations, as I don’t want to give misleading information. They can however support RCOs by providing business advice on setting up a social enterprise, which may lead to a development trust. And how can RCOs find out about development trusts? - by getting in touch with us and visiting our website where they can search for a development trust in their area.
Continue reading "Interview with Steve Wyler, Director of Development Trusts Association" »
A day in the life of an Organisational Development Officer, by May Macnair (Basis Project Assistant)
As the Basis Project Assistant my role is very varied – I’m the main contact for the national team, I work on areas of project development, send out Refugee Community Organisation (RCO) e-news, and so on.
To learn more about the work of our Organisational Development Officers (ODOs), I decided to shadow one of Beatriz Fernandez’s training events - she covers the South East region. So, I hopped on a train to Brighton for the day and arrived at the Friends Meeting House, where all sorts of workshops were taking place.
Flashing studio lights indicated a photography workshop, a boy liquidising what looked like beetroot and chocolate was a ‘raw food’ workshop, I later found out, and, of course, there was the ‘roles and responsibilities of the management committee’ training which was why I was there. I met the Oromo Community of Brighton, a local Ethiopian RCO, that run a women’s group, a youth group, and education and language classes. Coincidently I was wearing my blue and white striped Ethiopian scarf which, of course, they recognised straight away.
We started the session by throwing around balloons, believe it or not! Balloons don’t have an obvious link with learning about the roles and responsibilities of the management committee… but they are a great way of starting the day off joyfully, and making people relax.
We then went around the group, introducing our names, what they mean, where they come from, and whether we like them or not. Once everyone knew each other, with the help of an interpreter we discussed the expectations of the day and what each member of the group wanted to get out of it. Beatriz then introduced the background of charities and community organisations, their legal structures, and the pros and cons of being one. I learnt that all charities must register if they have an income of more than £5,000 a year. I also learnt about Members of organisations, and their role in representing the community.
This took us up to break time, when we had some young family visitors who popped by to say hello. After the break we moved on to the roles and responsibilities of the management committee, in particular the chair, the secretary and the treasurer. We brainstormed ideas in pairs, and then fed back to the rest of the group. Beatriz emphasised that everyone on the management committee has equal responsibilities to the organisation, not just the chair. To finish off we did a short ‘energiser’ which involved spelling out the word coconut with our bodies, getting faster each time. This certainly put our spelling and flexibility to the test!
I came back from the day feeling much more knowledgeable. The group was so eager to learn and really engaging, asking questions throughout. Everyone inputted to discussions and openly shared their experiences. And Beatriz was an inspiration; she’s a clear, informed and interactive trainer. Given that this was a Saturday. I’m looking forward to seeing her in action on a weekday!
At the end of last year we went to see the Leeds Afro-Latino Group – they’ve been working with Basis Project Organisational Development Officer, Mani Thapa, to try to access funding.
Run by Sam Miezi, the group has music and 3-D animation studios in a building renovated entirely by volunteers.
They set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2006 but found that many people, including some funders, didn’t know what a CIC is and therefore didn’t want to give funding. So, they’re now a registered charity.
They told us that they wanted to develop training programmes for local young people in music and animation.
And, the good news is… they’ve now been given a grant!
Jose, Filipe and Sam from Leeds Afro-Latino Group
Mani takes up the story:
The grant from Leeds Community Foundation's Grassroot Grants is meant to help set up a series of digital music making workshop for 17-35 years old disadvantaged young adults which will provide the opportunity to learn basics of music production. It aims to target disadvantaged people in providing training covering all aspects of digital music production from development in song writing, music beat making, singing, music editing, recording and music video production.
The project will not only provide a safe place to promote interaction between different groups but will also build up people's skills and confidence. Participants will learn an array of exciting creative skills to unlock their creative talent; providing a huge impact on their personal development by enriching their lives and accumulating practical hands-on experience.
This project will also help boost their confidence and develop social skills, such as active listening and communication, understanding of other people’s perspective, respecting each other, working in teams, creativity and other useful working habits etc.
We hope to be able to report back on their progress later in the year.
Since the Community Foundation for Greater Manchester was founded in 1989 more than £17 million has been distributed to over 7,000 community groups and projects, changing the lives of many people in Greater Manchester.
We spoke to Gill Green and Rob Malyan (pictured, below) about the funds available and what advice they would give to refugee community organisations (RCOs) that were thinking of applying.
Q: What’s the role of the Foundation?
Our vision is “Helping ordinary people do extraordinary things” and we work with many different partners including local business, individuals, local authorities and the government. We work across the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester and, though we’re not a development agency, we will offer support to organisations to help them make a funding application. If they need infrastructure development support we’ll signpost them elsewhere – to their local Council for Voluntary Services (CVS), for example.
Q: What funding is available?
We manage more than 50 grant streams including some that we administer for local councils and a small grants fund for locally-led community groups with an income of less than £50,000. As part of this small grants fund, we administer the government’s new Grassroots Grants programme on behalf of the Community Development Foundation. The Grassroots Grants is a £130million scheme which aims to provide much needed access to small grants for local community groups. The programme, will run from 2008-2011. Organisations thinking of applying should visit our website (www.communityfoundation.co.uk) for details of which fund best suits them. Or they can call us on 0161 214 0940.
Q: Who decides which applications are successful?
Our model is independent grant making by local people, so funds are overseen by panels of volunteers who make the final decisions. We try to ensure that these panels represent the local community, although we do need to get some more young people at the moment.
Q: Is there any particular advice you’d give to RCOs who might want to apply?
The key thing for any organisation is to make their case. They should explain as clearly as possible what they want money for and why. A one-off event might be fine, but funders want to see that there is a real community need. It’s also important that the management committee – not just the Chair - has been involved and supports the application.
Q: Can organisations claim for volunteer expenses?
Yes, absolutely. But they must be realistic and can’t contravene asylum law. We’d suggest that organisations go to their local Volunteer Centre or CVS for advice before completing their application.
Q: What about full cost recovery?
The Grassroots Grants scheme requires full cost recovery (i.e. claiming back for all overheads associated with a project) but, realistically, we can’t do it for other small grants. We encourage organisations to charge participants for services even if they get a grant to cover core costs. The panels like to see a contribution from members and it helps to develop a project’s sustainability.
Q: Can you tell us about your Quality Standard for Funding?
It’s a unique initiative we’ve developed that recognises good practice in grant management and reporting by voluntary and community groups. As well as helping groups to develop their practice relating to funding it also serves to identify those who complete the process as effective grant recipients – that should help them with other funding applications.
For more information visit: www.communityfoundation.co.uk
There have been important changes in the administration of two funds that many refugee community organisations (RCOs) have successfully applied to in the past.
1) The income threshold for groups applying to Grassroots Grants has increased from £20,000 to £30,000 per year.
2) Following a review of the Awards for All England programme, the small grants scheme’s existing format will change from 1 April 2009. Each of the lottery distributors supporting the scheme will have their own small grants programmes, which means that each distributor can better address the needs of their applicants. The programme will retain its current broad eligibility, covering a wide variety of projects.
Further details can be found on the Refugee Council's Fundraising information for RCOs group. If you sign up to join you will be emailed updates about the latest funding news relevant to RCOs and can also post your own comments, advice and questions.
By Penny McLean and Ezechias Ngendahayo
As Policy Manager for the Community Action & Campaigning Team at the Office of the Third Sector (OTS), Neil Smith is responsible for the government’s Grassroots Grants programme, Community Assets programme, Community Alliance support, Innovative Campaigning work and the Communitybuilder programme with Communities and Local Government (CLG). Neil’s background is varied – he has worked in the public and private sectors as well as being involved in the third sector. He is a Director at his local community association and supports small groups with internet services. He has worked with CLG and OTS for two years now, becoming a full-time civil servant in April 2008.
We asked him about the Government’s new Grassroots Grants programme and other OTS initiatives that could benefit refugee community organisations.
Q: What is the Grassroots Grants programme?
Neil Smith: The Grassroots Grants programme is a £130million government funding scheme which aims to support access to small grants for small volunteer led “grassroots” groups, whose key aim is voluntary action within their local communities. The funding programme runs from 2008-2011. Grants of up to £5,000 are available to groups with an annual income of less than £20,000 (this can be taken as an average over the last three financial years) who are running activities to strengthen communities in response to local need.
Q: What are the OTS’ plans for the Grassroots Grants funding stream?
NS: In accordance with our latest Comprehensive Spending Review, the OTS has no plans to increase the maximum £5,000 grant, and there are no plans to extend the programme beyond March 2011.
Q: The Grassroots Grants programme is being administered by different organisations across England; how is the OTS ensuring that this funding stream is being consistently managed and equally accessed in all English regions?
NS: One of the key aims of the Grassroots Grant funding stream is to ensure that grants are allocated at a local level according to local need. For this to happen effectively, we felt that there was no need to have a centralised process. We wanted to find local funders who would better understand local needs and issues.
Taking a locally led approach does of course bring with it challenges; working with local partners means that each partner is different – in size, capacity and in the way they work. We selected the Community Development Foundation (CDF) as the most appropriate organisation to identify and make decisions about the best placed local funders and organisations to manage parts of the funding stream. The CDF has a very firm community development approach which the OTS likes as a way of delivering community development work nationally, and an excellent track record in delivering small grants programmes for Government, such as the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund. We are confident that they will play a key role in ensuring good practice across the English regions.
Continue reading "Interview with Neil Smith, Policy Manager at the Office of the Third Sector" »
Here's a short introduction to financial management from John O'Brien, Chief Executive of Community Accounting Plus.
By Penny McLean and Tom Green
Having first been set up in America almost 100 years ago, Community Foundations have been active in communities across the UK since the 1980s. We spoke to Carlos Chávez (pictured below), the Grants and Community Manager of the Leeds Community Foundation, to find out more.
What’s the idea behind Leeds Community Foundation?
We’re an independent charity, affiliated to the Community Foundation Network and we aim to provide a link between funders and community groups. We work with local groups and networks to find out community needs and manage various funds for grant-giving. These can come from a variety of sources, including national funds like Sport Relief and Grassroots Grants, and local donations from individuals and companies.
What sort of difficulties do you see refugee community organisations (RCOs) experience when they are seeking funding?
Often the biggest challenge is getting a good management committee. Groups find it hard to find good people or retain those they have and, with RCOs, there can be additional problems of language differences even if people come from the same country. Political problems carried over from their home country can also cause problems. And, without good governance, it’s very hard to attract funding or to manage money if you do get grants.
Are you able to help RCOs overcome these problems?
We don’t have the resources to do capacity building ourselves (although some Community Foundations do) but we signpost groups to appropriate help, such as the Basis Project, Voluntary Action Leeds and Leeds Connecting Communities. We also point people towards training courses and the many bursaries available to pay for them.
What advice would you give to RCOs thinking of making an application to you?
Sometimes people seem to complete applications without reading the supporting material. If there’s something you’re not clear about, it’s always a good idea to contact us for help. Or you can complete an expression of interest form on our website. For example, we won’t fund religious activities, but we can fund community activities by religious groups. It’s also a good idea to think how your activity can reach out to other communities. We will fund activities for a particular group of people where appropriate, but, on the whole, we’re looking for evidence or reaching out to others. It doesn’t have to be complicated – for example, simply setting up a football team can lead to meeting with other communities.
Continue reading "Interview with Carlos Chávez – Leeds Community Foundation" »
Towards the end of last year, Penny McLean and I went up to Birmingham to meet David Hirst (the Basis Project Organisational Development Officer for the West Midlands) and Kika Aime Bubala and Justin Nsiko Bankwa from The Discovery Of The Talents.
They're a refugee community organisation that, with help from David, have received funding for an allotment project.
We thought it was worthy of a short film. So, here it is. (It was our first time with the camera, so apologies for being very slightly sub-Spielberg.)
You can read more about them on The Basis Project website.
Training For Work In Communities presents:
Improving Reach For Black and Minority Ethnic Groups
Do you work or volunteer for a Black and Minority Ethnic community organisation in the South East Region? If so, we are here to help you!
We can offer:
- Training in Community Development Work
- Help to assist you in identifying training needs for you and your organisation
- To support you in your development within your organisation
- Training so that you can train others
- Access and information about other Networks and Forums so that we can all share experiences
- Opportunities to influence organisations that are not familiar with the needs of BME communities
This event is free of charge
If you would like more information about this project please contact Ranthir at TWICS on 023 80671111 or email mailto: rrathore@twics.org.uk
