Natalie Williams

Hi Quentin, this is definitely the right way and place to raise this sort of question! Others on the network will probably be able to help more but for now, here are a few pieces of research on the carbon footprint of the sector and how it is responding to climate change:

• This blog post on the NCVO website has a rough go at estimating the sector's carbon footprint by looking at emissions per employee using research done by Chris Goodall at www.lowcarbonlife.net on carbon emissions for office...

Has your organisation experienced a rise in volunteers from other sectors as a result of the recession? Join in the discussion where members are debating the greater diversity of volunteers' backgrounds as a result of the recession and whether they will stay or go once it's over. What do you think will happen?

If you're interested in how the management of volunteering is becoming more "professional" and how this relates to the government's involvement in volunteering, see this discussion in our infrastructure and umbrella forum and the link to the write up of an event where this was discussed.

After Labour’s conference (see here for my thoughts), last week was the Conservatives’ turn. As the party steams ahead in the polls, all eyes were on them in the hope that the conference would provide us with a better idea of some of the things they would do if their poll ratings translate into success at the ballot box. One of the main criticisms levelled at them has been their lack of concrete policies. Though realistically this is probably to be expected of a party not in government that...

Hi Beck,

Having asked around the foresight team here at NCVO, we don't know of any futures work specifically on young people but we are about to start a futures project with the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) on the future of young people, so we can keep you up to date with that. However, it will finish in February next year which may be a bit late for you... The project will be the same as the other specialist futures projects we've done with partners over the past...

Party conference season is often a time of great political plotting, posturing and blunders so will this year’s conferences hammer the last nail into in the coffin of either of the two main parties? Or will they give us a clearer sense of what the parties would do if they were to win the next General Election? A successful conference for Labour or equally a bad performance by the Conservatives could mean the outcome of the General Election is still very much up for grabs.

This week was the...

Tracking public concerns can provide an insight into the issues that will shape future public and political debate. Since the recession, public concern about the economy and unemployment have become more important. However, this has started to decrease, suggesting that many of the public may increasingly perceive the current recession as ‘bottoming out'. [1] Concern about race and immigration (see attitudes to immigrants) is another key issue that has re-emerged since the recession. This is...

The recession means that inflation is projected to remain well below the government’s target of 2% for the next two years even once the economy starts to recover. [1] The index this is measured against - the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which excludes mortgage repayments – is below this level in September 2009 at 1.6% [2] and the Retail Price Index (RPI) has been in the negative since January 2009. However, aggregate figures can mask rising prices in specific areas. For example, commodities...

As time runs out for Gordon Brown to call a General Election, it is looking increasingly likely that this will be held at some point next year. The Conservative’s lead in the polls has been about 10-15% [1] higher than Labour for the majority of Brown’s two years in office with levels of public satisfaction with government also continuously low. [2] A Conservative victory therefore currently seems the most likely outcome. According to BBC projections, if the results from the Local Elections...

Are you having trouble developing a strategy for the first time? As Hilary Barnard, Head of Strategy and change at the Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness says "An organisational strategy is a powerful idea but may not be easy to develop the first time round."In his recent article 'Like Strategy for the Very First Time' he takes a light hearted look at developing a strategy by expressing the possibilities of strategy through popular songs (with a little tweaking) as well as signalling some ...

Will the failure last week of three charities, notably two private schools, to meet the first round of public benefit tests be seen as a watershed moment in the four hundred year history of charity law? The time when the tide turned to make charities really struggle against the waves of accountability to prove their worth? It remains to be seen whether the battle lines need to be drawn already - one Daily Telegraph columnist is getting ready nonetheless - branding it as nothing less than...

What might the Conservatives really mean by the ‘re-professionalisation’ of public services in a ‘post-bureaucratic age’ and how might this actually be applied in the future? Starting from the premise that about half the public are unhappy with public service delivery despite recent reform and investment in public services, this presentation by Phillip Blond, Director of the Progressive Conservatism Project at Demos sets out seven ways in which he believes that innovative Conservative...

Anyone heard of Twollars? Well they're a new online 'currency of appreciation' that you can use on Twitter to reward positive actions. Each Twitter user automatically has 50 Twollars in their account. So they're great news for VCOs as people can give Twollars to the charity of your choice and once the charity has created an account, they can sell their Twollars to businesses and people who support their cause and want more Twollars. So, Twollars are designed to go back into circulation. I'm...

The last decade has seen a considerable increase in legislative and policy activity at the European level, with membership of the European Union (EU) steadily expanding. Member States are implementing an unprecedented amount of European directives (legislation that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving it) which overrides their own national laws. The powers of the European Parliament have steadily expanded since the 1985 Single...

Have you voted yet? If you're stuck for who to vote for or can't work out the differences between the parties (not always easy!), try this vote matcher website for the European elections

All organisations know how much changes to funding streams and policy initiatives will affect them in the future but how often does your organisation think about how changes to the UK population will affect you? And I’m not just talking about the ageing population, although that is obviously important, I’m talking about increasingly important drivers that are often overlooked like changes to the work and skills base of this country. Future demographic changes arguably have some of the most...

So about a third of England is off to the polls again next Thursday to inflict what is increasingly looking like it’s going to be another drubbing for the Labour party as declining support for Labour (currently at its lowest level since last June) is reflected in local election (and European) votes. With just under half of the statutory income to VCOs coming from local government [1], the results of these local elections are important to the VCS for a number of reasons. They are also likely...

Green taxes are supported by all three political parties as a way of influencing consumers to reduce their impact on climate change and pressure on global resources.  Green taxes involve making energy intensive products and services (e.g. car and air travel) more expensive, thereby making ‘green’ options more attractive and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.  Although controversial, green taxes remain high on the policy agenda and were recommended as one of the ways to tackle climate change...

There is now a consensus that the way our economies have developed is seriously damaging the environment at a pace that has previously been largely under-estimated. The Stern report published in February 2007 predicted that if that if no action was taken on carbon emissions, the rise in global temperatures would lead to millions of people being permanently displaced and could reduce global economic output by up to 10% in the next 50 years.

What are the implications?

• Increase in severe weather...

What impact would a re-elected Labour Government or a new Conservative one have on your organisation? What would the effects of this be combined with a short, sharp recession or a long, deep one? How would these possible changes affect the way your organisation develops and influences policy as well as the environment in which you operate?

The potential implications of a change of government and a recession are explored in these four scenarios which were developed with members of the NCVO...

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation are doing quite a bit of work looking at the challenges for the future of adult social care at the moment in an attempt to influence the Government Green Paper on this issue.

Future issues they are exploring are:

• The concept of ‘obligations’ and the ‘intergenerational contract’;
• The concept of ‘care’;
• The concept of equity;
• Gender;
• Lessons from overseas and devolved administrations;
• What are the parameters of the state, individual, family and...

We are currently going through one of the most uncertain periods of history many of us have ever known so understandably, everyone is trying to make sense of where we’re going and as part of that, how we got here. Theories, predictions and blame games abound so it’s often hard to know what to believe. I spent a day a couple of weeks ago at a futurists round table organised by Stephen from the European Futures Observatory considering the answers to some of these questions in preparation for a ...

Despite what many people might think and although many previous financial crises have turned into economic, social and political ones, crises are often a time when new possibilities arise. Downturns often bring radical institutional innovation, for example it was the depression of the 1930s as much as WWII that led to the creation of the welfare state and the NHS. The Young Foundation have just produced a paper which suggests some ways in which the VCS, governments, local authorities and...

Another recent twitter innovation is the ‘Twitchhiker’ who is hitchhiking round the world to New Zealand by relying on the good will of the Twitter community for the charity Water.
He’s apparently setting out to prove that the connections we make online are as strong as those we make offline; a criticism which is often levelled at social media. He’ll also be looking at how online contact can facilitate offline contact, something we often talk about at Foresight in relation to the benefits of...

We also produced these scenarios for the future of the advice sector back in 2007. They might be a little out of date now but many of the trends looked at are still around and they might be useful to look at as examples of scenarios.

This issue (PDF 3.5MB) of the Forced Migration Review on Climate change and displacement might also be useful. It contains articles by UN, academic, international and local actors exploring the extent of the potential displacement crisis, community adaptation, coping strategies, and the search for solutions.

And remember: “Any useful statement about the future should at first seem ridiculous” – Jim Dator, futurist. (This statement is known as Dator’s Law)

As an institution the family has constantly evolved, shaped and adapted to social changes, and although families have much in common, there is no longer such a thing as a typical family in 21st Century Britain. I have been exploring these issues whilst writing the next in our series of ‘Future Focus’ guides on demographic changes. During my research I came across this useful report 'Families in Britain: an evidence paper' (PDF 1.976 KB) by the Cabinet Office which provides an excellent...

It feels like it’s been a long time coming but today the UK is technically in the grips of the ‘R’ word for the first time since 1991. Gross domestic product fell by 1.5% in the last three months of 2008 after a 0.6% drop in the previous quarter which represents the biggest quarter-on-quarter decline since 1980. This means that the widely accepted definition of a recession - two consecutive quarters of falling economic growth - has been met.

We have been dutifully posting news and updating...

Will the green movement fall out of favour in this economic climate?

Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century: Leading Volunteer Programmes in Uncertain Times 

29 January 2009, Radisson SAS Portman Hotel, London

This one day briefing covers all the key issues encountered by leading volunteer programmes.  It will explore the problems, management structures and, more importantly, the practical solutions, illustrated with real life case studies.  The event is essential for everyone responsible for managing, recruiting, co-ordinating and motivating volunteers.

I...

Although aimed at businesses, this article from the Economist about managing in a downturn highlights the importance of cash to boost an organisation’s liquidity and ward off other economic problems in this era of no credit. The future success of many businesses is now increasingly dependent on how much cash investors can see in the coffers, and with the majority of VCOs having low reserves, these tips for how to preserve cash in the current crisis might come in handy for some organisations:

...

The UK economy’s long period of growth has ended and the UK has been in recession (two quarters of falling economic growth) since July 2008. This was prompted by key global problems including the 'credit crunch', house price bubbles, volatility in financial markets, and rising commodity prices. Although the economy has now been stabilised and the rate of contraction has slowed, uncertainty remains about when long term, sustainable, growth will return. Many are urging caution with the...

According to this viewpoint by JRF, museums are experiencing their biggest cultural shift in 150 years. Since my last news post which highlighted four potential scenarios for museums in the future and explored how museums were changing in response to challenges from technology and shifting ideas about authority and hierarchy, I’ve been thinking about some of different ways in which museums are changing. As museums encompass particularly traditional ideas of culture, heritage and history, the ...

Is the credit crunch having an effect on your organisation? If so, tell us how.

I’ve just added a driver on the credit crunch here

A credit crunch is a [sudden] reduction in the availability of liquidity in the financial markets ( i.e. loans or credit) resulting in a sudden increase in the cost of obtaining a loan from financial institutions.

High-levels of indebtedness, the interconnected global markets and the effects of the US subprime mortgage crisis and overleveraging of financial institutions caused a worldwide credit crunch. The freeze in lending between banks despite cuts in interest rates contributed to the...

Despite an ageing population who are living longer and healthier lifestyles and frequent stories about ‘WOOPYS’ (Well-Off Older People) cavorting about on grey gap years, there is some evidence that older people may be becoming decreasingly satisfied, lonelier and more depressed. IPPR have just published the first report in a new series about older people and wellbeing. The report describes some of the key social trends in the UK and assesses how these may be impacting on older people and...

There has been a marked increase in immigration to Britain since the mid-1990s. In particular, some of this migration has been in areas that have not previously experienced high levels of migration. (See global population movement). This has inevitably resulted in a changing UK population with changing needs. The effects of migration will have a broad impact on all organisations across the sector, not just those working with immigrants. The broader VCS is not currently geared to meeting the...

If you want to know a bit more about the characteristics of ‘generation Y’ and some of the myths associated with them, have a read of this news post

Recent agendas which involve transferring decision-making power from national to local government, right down to individual citizens (i.e. localism, devolution) and welfare provision (choice, personalisation), are gathering more policy detail and, in some cases, moving into the delivery phase. This has meant that there has been an increase in policies and proposals from all the main political parties that seek to empower individuals and focus on greater personal responsibility (eg The Bill...

Under David Cameron and the influence of the Social Policy Justice Group, the Conservatives have placed a greater focus on issues traditionally seen as the remit of the left, for example, social breakdown, social justice, poverty and the environment. They emphasise a moral response to social breakdown; stressing the importance of social responsibility and focusing on what they perceive as the root causes or ‘paths’ to poverty. The Conservatives are open about the value they see in small,...

What topic would you like the next in our series of Future Focus to cover? Previous editions have covered funding, volunteering, new technologies, local democracy, changing social attitudes.

Answers by the end of October please.

Being the age that would be labelled the “IPOD” generation (18-34) often known as “Generation Y”, I was quite depressed to see that think tank Reform have defined this acronym as ‘Insecure, Pressurised, Over-taxed and Debt-ridden’; my first reaction was ‘No, we’re not!’ However, on closer examination of the report (PDF 811KB) it is interesting to see that a number of key trends that are affecting the whole of the UK population seem to be impacting and manifesting themselves to a higher...

Sarah has written about a new report from the Social Market Foundation which examines whether community empowerment measures are really effective. Read about it here

Museums are not normally something people necessarily think about as being part of the VCS but there are actually 1, 118 independent museums in the UK which are registered charities according to this year’s Civil Society Almanac. That’s why this blog post by Andrew Curry from the Henley Centre Headlight Vision on the future of museums caught my eye. The current model of the museum itself, he points out is:

“…about 150 years old [and] basically consists of a building with some stuff in it,...

In the last year and a half social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace have being hyped as the panacea to solve all ills but how do you know if social networking is right for your organisation? Online networks particularly appeal to the VCS because of their potential to reach larger communities. Organisations hope social networking sites will assist them in widening their campaigns, recruiting volunteers, involving their users or more supporters in how their organisation is run,...

A little while ago, I attended a futures symposium organised by the European Futures Observatory and a network of professional futurists. One of the presentations was based on the newly published report (PDF 991 KB) on what the world of work in 2018 would look like by the Chartered Management Institute. The world of work has changed dramatically in the last decade. The management and leadership skills needed to survive or succeed today are very different from those of a generation ago, and...

Despite a retreat from the state in many traditional areas, the UK government is increasingly finding itself drawn into a variety of new personal challenges such as how much people eat, drink, travel, save or dispose of their personal waste. Across the political spectrum, behaviour change is increasingly underpinning policy programmes. One of the reasons for the emergence of this agenda is the growing sense that the intractable problems or ‘wicked issues’ in society (e.g. obseity or climate...

NCVO's second charity forecast survey opens on 2nd May 2008. NCVO is inviting voluntary sector leaders to give their views on the health and prospects of their organisations in the second round of its confidence and trends survey. This quarterly survey questions sector leaders on current trends and future expectations. If you are a chief executive, director, chairman or trustee, you can add your voice to this vital quarterly planning tool, follow the link below to take the survey.

The survey

Th...

Advice in the future: scenarios and issues for the future of the advice sector

Published: May 2007

This report provides strategic analysis specifically for the advice sector.  It outlines changes in the external environment for advice organisations and the opportunities and challenges that may arise.  It contains signposts to further information, thought provoking questions and a tool to help organisations take practical action. 

The report focuses on four key areas: 

• The need for advice...

The UK population and the attitudes of the people within it are diverse and unsurprisingly, their views can be contradictory. Public attitudes have significant implications for much of the VCS’s work; from campaigning, volunteering and service delivery, to its workforce and funding.

The fifth in our series of Future Focus guides explores the increasing tolerance of the British public towards difference in some areas, for example, towards ethnic diversity, the freedom to define one’s own...

3 June 2008
Wellcome Collection Conference Centre
London

Do you want to know about new funding and finance opportunities for your organisation? This year’s NCVO Sustainable Funding Project’s Annual Gathering will scan the horizon for new finance and funding opportunities for your organisation to benefit from.

The day will consist of an exciting programme of presentations from leaders in the field, informative and practical workshops, and 1-2-1 surgery and advice sessions. You will come away...

Thanks everyone for your responses. I was lucky enough to spend all of Friday at the London Futures Symposium with a group of futurists (who are experts in thinking about the future and working with tools such as scenarios) so I took the chance to raise some of these issues there. I was offered lots of tips such as spending more time on prioritising the drivers first, in order to get agreement from everyone about which drivers are the most important and uncertain. When you do this, the two...

Here is a complete list of all our publications from 2004.

We have published a series of three practical guides. They include case studies, tips and templates for strategic planners.

• Tools for Tomorrow
• Looking Out
• Picture This

You can find step-by-step support on our website, too, in the "How To" section

Tools for Tomorrow: a practical guide to strategic planning for voluntary organisations

Published: July 2004. Revised December 2008

Strategic planning and marketing have become more and more important in helping voluntary organisations fulfil their...

We are currently recruiting for last member of our newly expanding team. This advert went in the Society Guardian last Wednesday:

“Organising and administering a range of events, you will lead on communicating our findings about the trends shaping the future of civil society, as well as marketing our services and undertaking small research projects in support of the team.

You will have excellent team working skills and experience of managing a busy office. You will have strong communication...

Ahead of our seminar on the impact of migration on the VCS next Tuesday, I was doing a bit of reading about migration and came across this report which explores future trends and impacts on international migration and population movement within the UK. Participants attending the seminar might want to have a read of this as a bit of background research to the day but equally it’s a useful summary of some of the main trends affecting migration for anyone interested in this area. The report is...

The decline of traditional industries and the fast post-war growth in the service, enterprise and knowledge economies have resulted in a more affluent society with less distinct class boundaries. More people identify themselves as middle class than forty years ago [1] and there has been a declining involvement in institutions such as trade unions and political parties, which used to reflect degrees of class solidarity. However, class remains a fundamental influence on people’s attitudes,...

A few weeks ago, I attended a strategic futures coaching event as a FAN (Future Analysts Network) club member and we spent the day developing our own scenarios about cultural and religious futures. I have developed scenarios before, but never right from start to finish. I found it an interesting process which gave me loads of new ideas about the future but also very challenging, especially in a group of people who work in different areas and have very different ideas about what they think...

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a day developing scenarios with other budding futurists at a FAN (Future Analysts Network) club strategic futures coaching event run by the Government’s Foresight programme. To get us all in a future-focused and creative frame of mind, they showed us this great slide show 'Shift Happens' which contains lots of suprising demographic, economic and technological facts and stats about the present and future. I thought I’d share it with you all as I think it’s a...

The seminar report for this session is now available here. The report is designed to also be understood by people who didn’t attend the seminar. So why not have a read of the groups’ reactions to the scenarios and add what you think the opportunities and risks might be for your organisation?

The report for this seminar is available to read online or download as a PDF here

The seminar report from our last seminar on the future of citizenship for the VCS is now available to read. The seminar explored how notions and definitions of citizenship might change in the future. The background to the seminar, and the subject of an excellent presentation by Michelle Harrison from the Henley Centre Headlight Vision, was a report produced for the DCA on the future of citizenship. The report also contains four potential scenarios (see pages 15- 26) for how notions of...

What are the trends affecting how local power relationships and decision-making might change in the next five years? Turnout at elections and membership of political parties have fallen significantly. Concern over this, what this means for local decision making and increasing pressure on public finances have all resulted in a consensus that more decisions should be made locally and that citizens should play a greater role in that decision-making. The latest of our Future Focus guides...

Leadership within a community has become more complicated and open to criticism. More people, with differing backgrounds, skills, interests and degrees of authority, claim to lead different communities within a growing number and complexity of arenas, e.g from local strategic partnerships to community fun days. (See partnership working and governance). This has inevitably led to tensions, particularly between those who are elected and those, such as VCOs and community activists, who also...

The latest edition of the annual UK Civil Society Almanac is now available. This annual digest using GuideStar UK data presents statistics and analysis on the size and scope of the VCS. This year, for the first time, the Almanac has expanded to contain information on all UK civil society organisations, such as co-operatives, housing associations, universities, trade unions and political parties, not only ‘general charities’.

Below are some of the key findings and trends affecting UK civil...

This news post discusses a report by the Times which revealed that for the first time since they began arriving four years ago, more UK-based Poles are returning to Poland than entering Britain.

The post examines some of the implications for this on the UK economy and labour market.

Globalisation has led to increased levels of population movement around the world. In Britain, levels of migration were the highest in history due to rapid migration from the new Eastern European EU member states. However, a report released by the Times last week has revealed that for the first time since they began arriving four years ago, more UK-based Poles are returning to Poland than entering Britain. Is the trend of EU migration into the UK going into reverse? The reasons contributing...

How will migration affect your organisation and how should you respond?

This will be the next topic in our popular series of seminars.  Read on to book your free place at the seminar on 8 April, from 2.30 to 5pm at NCVO's offices in London.

What's happening?

There has been a marked increase in immigration to Britain since the mid-1990s. In particular, some of this migration has been in areas that have not previously experienced high levels of migration. This has inevitably resulted in a...

Like Megan, I attended the FAN (Future Analysts Network) club event on Tuesday and went to an interesting session in the afternoon which discussed some of the essential skills and approaches needed to make a strategy work. The session was led by Sean Lusk from the National School of Government. He raised 5 pre-conditions for a good strategy, can anyone else think of any more to add?

• It should have a set of outcomes that drive the process;
• It needs to have a clear direction;
• It...

London Futures Symposium - Friday April 18th 2008
The Keyworth Centre, London South Bank University

The European Futures Observatory are organising a Futures Symposium for futurists of all sectors. This day long event is fully interactive and will consist of a mixture of presentations, group discussion and networking, ending the day with an ‘open mike’ session. This day is aimed at those with an understanding of futures methodology and forecasting. We will be attending the event and feeding...

NCVO is inviting voluntary sector leaders to give their views on the health and prospects of their organisations in its new confidence and trends survey. This quarterly survey questions sector leaders on current trends and future expectations. Follow the link below to take the test.

The survey

The survey aims to determine how optimistic they feel about the sector and what development plans they have for the coming quarter. The survey results will be used to make predictions about changes...

The seminar report from the last Third Sector Foresight seminar on the impact of new technologies on the VCS is now available to download. The seminar explored the implications of new technologies for the VCS, focusing on the key areas of: fundraising; membership; accountability; campaigning; and collaboration. The report is based on presentations by five ‘experts’ in the area of new technologies, and the discussion they stimulated amongst seminar attendees:

• Steve Bridger, nfp2.0 –...

This year’s British Social Attitudes survey reveals the British public to be an inconsistent and contrary nation. Despite increasing tolerance in some areas, some members of the British public can still be selfish, sexist, prejudiced and uncaring about the poor. Unfortunately the survey is only available to buy but some of the key findings can be found in this Independent article. As a nation, we have become more liberal in our attitudes to sex, gender, family structures and the environment. ...

I am currently writing the final ICT Foresight report on how ICT is shaping the design and delivery of services. I’ve decided to start the report by talking about the characteristics (if that’s the right word) of ICT which mean that they are having an impact on services. My list so far looks something like this: ICTs...

1. … allow a personalised experience
2. … help to network people
3. … generate, store and allow access to data
4. … can support open and collaborative cultures
5. … mechanise processes
6. … are...

With increasing numbers of complex health care problems putting pressure on health care services plus a rapidly changing technological environment, it is important for VCOs to understand the effects of these changes and how they might impact on one another in the future.

This free Tomorrow Project Network Event run with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council will be addressed by Sir Michael Rawlins, Chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)...

At the seminar we’re holding next week on the future of citizenship, we are going to be looking at four potential scenarios for how notions of citizenship in the UK might change in 2026. These scenarios are from a report commissioned for the DCA by the Henley Centre (futures consultants) called the ‘The future of citizenship’. We will be discussing what opportunities and challenges these worlds might bring for the VCS and asking participants to think about what their responses might be. I...

Last year we ran a series of strategy seminars with the Performance Hub and these have now been turned into a series of interesting think pieces covering issues that we all face such as how to ensure your organisation stays on mission in spite of a challenging funding environment or whether to compete or collaborate. Each ‘Adventures in Strategy’ briefing explores five strategic issues to help you consider the theory and practice of your approach:

1: Renewing your strategy
2: Involving users...

New 'Future Focus' pocket guide

The current crop of what we might call 'new' technologies (including the internet, mobile telephony and digital television) has led and will continue to lead to changes and shifts in behaviour: from how we communicate, to making choices, and how and where we work. NCVO Third Sector Foresight and the Performance Hub have published the latest in their series of ‘Future Focus’ pocket guides introducing these changes in the external environment. This a practical...

Every year NCVO Third Sector Foresight’s main publication - the 'Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis' (VSSA) goes out to over 4500 NCVO members and we ask for their thoughts on how we can improve the publication. Over the years the VSSA has become a widely used and referenced publication for many VCOs as it has evolved into a more readable, accessible and relevant publication. This year’s 'Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis' received the highest ratings we’ve ever had, with 58% and 28% of...

Collaborate for a stronger, more successful and sustainable sector!

Collaborative working is increasingly becoming one of the key issues for the sector and is an important strategic issue for every organisation. This year's Collaborative Working Conference will provide a unique opportunity to exchange ideas and experience, and contribute to the development of the collaborative working agenda.

The event will use the interactive Open Space method – an approach that maximises participation,...

Yesterday we re-started our popular series of Foresight seminars with a seminar which explored the impact of new technologies on the VCS. It was a well attended event with over 40 participants. This was just right for the interactive format we used and according to the feedback we've received, seems to have gone down well. Some of the participants have been already putting into practice some of the issues we discussed on the day via their own blogs - see Paul Henderson from Ruralnet's

New research from the Workforce Hub and NCVO has revealed a significant growth in the VCS workforce in the last decade. This rate of growth has in fact been at a higher rate than the public and private sectors. However, the '2007 Voluntary Sector Skills Survey’ published in tandem with this reveals a number of challenges for the sector’s employers. One-quarter of organisations report hard to fill vacancies within their organisation and skills gaps in IT, legal knowledge and fundraising. Some ...

Is the debate about the impact of climate change really over? The last few years have seen a growing consensus about the potential consequences of our damage to the planet amongst the public, media and government. Barely a day goes by without a media headline telling us of the possible impacts. In the high street we are confronted by more and more sustainable choices — HSBC is suddenly a green bank; Ikea doesn't give free plastic bags. At the ballot box David Cameron wants us to "Vote Blue:...

Despite organisations spending much of their time campaign planning and shaping messages and tactics, issues can be won or lost on a single piece of information.

This year’s political conference will provide critical political intelligence to help you plan and implement high-level political lobbying campaigns to modify legislation, influence public policy or simply to move the profile of an issue up the political agenda.

Who is this event for?

This event is for people working in charities,...

Hi Tony,

We will be recording the seminar and then turning it in to a seminar report shortly afterwards which will be available on the website, with the presentations available to download as well. The discussions will be summarised in the report but we could put up a podcast from the audio recording as well which people can then download and listen to.
We always design the seminar reports so that they make sense to people who haven’t attended the seminar.

As for the difficulties of London...

The Performance Hub are always good at providing organisations with practical tips and experience that will help improve their performance. One of their key areas of work is helping organisations develop their strategic thinking and planning skills.

These findings from the Performance Hub's action research project on how to form a good strategy are jam-packed with practical tips and learning from the experiences of five third sector organisations (TSOs).

The Performance Hub commissioned...

Come and discuss the impact of new technologies on the future of your VCO and hear a variety of thought-provoking presentations from a panel of ICT experts.

Exploring the topic of the moment, this afternoon seminar will focus on the impact of new technologies for the VCS. The emphasis of the seminar is on discussion and organisations will be invited to discuss the implications of new technologies for their organisation; exploring both the future challenges and opportunities.

The seminar will...

Economic inequality is a long standing feature of the socio-economic structure of the UK. Income inequality currently stands at historically high levels, and asset inequality has increased since the 1990s, with the top 1 % now owning nearly a quarter of all marketable assets. However, relatively little is known about public attitudes on this issue. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a new study with the key findings online which examines public attitudes to economic inequality, and ...

On Monday 15th October we published the latest edition of our annual analysis of the changing operating environment and drivers for the voluntary and community sector - the Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis 07/08.

The publication brings together discussion of key drivers and their implications in 'aspects' of the operating environment.  The six aspects discussed in the 2007 edition are:

• Local governance
• Public services
• Attitudes towards individual and collective...

Thanks for your response Leon, do you have a link to your book you could post? I’m sure some of the other members would be interested as we haven’t finished the further reading section of this driver yet.

However, I would just like to add that all these drivers are intended as a quick overview of what’s going on as a starting point for further discussion. We have deliberately tried to keep them as short and concise as possible, this is also because they are in web format. The implications...

Advice in the future: scenarios and issues for the future of the advice sector

This report analyses how key trends affecting the voluntary and community sector will impact on the future of the advice sector.

The report outlines how the operating environment for advice organisations is changing in four key areas, and some of the opportunities and challenges that may arise:

• The need for advice services
• Funding of advice services
• How advice will be delivered
• The advice sector...

15 November 2007
1.30 – 4pm
NCVO, London

Come and discuss the impact of new technologies on the future of your VCO and hear a variety of thought-provoking presentations from a panel of ICT experts.

Exploring the topic of the moment, this seminar will focus on the impact of new technologies for the VCS. The seminar will feature a series of short presentations from a panel of ‘experts’ (who participated in our ICT Foresight research) on the implications of new technologies in key areas such as...

As CSR now covers an increasingly broad range of areas that relate to the wider impact of business and business practices, there has also been a shift in the language of CSR. ‘Corporate citizenship’ is basically a term to describe organisations who actively participate in the public sphere as members of society. This goes beyond businesses in the private sector, as the NHS corporate citizenship website illustrates. VCOs are also facing the same pressures and some are therefore re-examining...

Many environmentalists are not impressed, and see green consumerism as at best a diversion, and at worst an intensification of ecologically damaging behaviour, "a pox on the planet", in George Monbiot's words.

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/17/climatechange.consumer]

Will Davies on state intervention in voluntary activity http://potlatch.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/camerons-nation.html

Is ethical shopping becoming a signifier of social status for the middle classes who can afford to buy hundreds of eco-gadgets? And will ethical consumerism actually translate into political action on climate change?