Wales Council for Voluntary Action Supporting charities, volunteers and communities Cyngor Cweithredu Gwirfoddol Cymru Yn cefnogi elusennau, gwirfoddolwyr a chymunedau Wales Council for Voluntary Action is the voice of the voluntary sector in Wales. It represents and campaigns for voluntary organisations, volunteers and communities in Wales. WCVA provides a range of services for our 660 members, designed to keep you up to date with new developments and events, and armed with the best advice and guidance available. In addition, as a membership organisation, WCVA is able to negotiate special deals with external suppliers of services which we know our members will value. Further details are given in our leaflet WCVA - working for you. North Wales Office Registered Office - Head Office Llys Ifor 13 Wynnstay Road Crescent Road, Caerphilly Colwyn Bay, Conwy CF83 1XL LL29 8NB tel 029 20855100 fax 029 20855101 tel 01492 539800 fax 01492 539801 email [email protected] email [email protected] Mid Wales Office Jigso Office Park Lane House 1 North Parade 7 High Street, Welshpool Aberystwyth Powys SY21 7jP Ceredigion tel 01938 552379 fax 01938 552092 SY23 2JH email [email protected] tel 01970 623255 fax 01970 610015 Voluntary Sector National Assembly Centre Baltic House Mount Stuart Square Cardiff CF10 5FH tel 029 20415560 fax 029 20415564 email [email protected] Registered charity No. 218093. Designed at The Design Stage, Cardiff Bay. A word from the chair • • • | . II* lll*ll Three new words have earned a place in our vocabulary during the last year: Compact (born November 1998); Scheme (born July 1998), and Assembly (born May 1999). They are more than just words - they indicate a sea change in how the people of Wales perceive the voluntary sector. What then has flowed from these words? I suggest that we have had answers to three questions, and they will all affect our activities in the new Millennium. First, we are no longer able to use the word if in order to used, and reviewed. But we will have to be brave and hedge the acceptance of the voluntary sector as having a resourceful, trying always to work for the future so that particular and recognisable place in the new Wales. By the door is open and the welcome warm. virtue of the work undertaken to produce the Compact, Third, there's the how? Firmly locked into WCVA's and to include the Scheme in the Government of Wales working method is the commitment to consult with all Act, the Assembly is committed to move forward to give the interests of the voluntary sector. The Scheme will the voluntary sector its rightful place in the life of Wales. require us to address this requirement with rigour. Not if then but when? and how? We have in the past year altered our constitution to Second, we can answer the when? It's now! A great include representatives of all sectors, which make up deal of work has already been done at local and our membership and our Executive. It's up to all of us community level to roll out the Compact to make sure we have ways to listen to our and get agreement with local constituency, and be prepared to consider the anarchic authorities, health bodies and other as well as the more conventional views. Experience in organisations which impinge on all areas of human endeavour shows that catalysts are our lives. We know we can't do required to seed new ways of working. We need to everything we want to - so much match the Assembly's commitment to working need in our so many society; methods that are democratic, inclusive, flexible, changes, and so many challenges. responsive, transparent and accountable. All these knock on the front door of And that's an end to the sermon for another year. I the voluntary sector, in thank all who have given us the confidence to go into every village and town. It 2000 AD with the three eternal concepts of charity - will be hard to allocate Faith, Hope and Love. time and effort to get the Compacts agreed and Marjorie Dykins OBE Director's introduction Every minute of every day, 365 days a year, in every community in Wales, individuals and organisations are working in and for their communities on a voluntary basis. These It sets a freely chosen actions take many forms - self help challenge to the sector. groups, community co-operatives, tenants groups, helping at the local school, running the local football • Can it organise team; but together they form the essential basis of itself to engage our society. effectively? And as it becomes more technologically possible to • Can it live up to its ignore society, it becomes more important how we reputation for relate to each other - how we include ourselves, and innovation and how we reach out to those who are excluded. participation? In the past, political ideologies have seen voluntary • Does it have the capacity and action as a poor alternative to state or private sector skills to make a step change in its role? provision, to be harnessed and or to controlled, be Can it change fast enough? lauded but ignored. • Can it achieve a more secure and equitable There is, at however, present a fresh climate, distribution of resources for the third sector? which acknowledges the role of the These are questions for the next year, but this report voluntary sector as a third partner shows how WCVA and sector are preparing for these alongside business and local challenges. government. Graham Benfield This is reflected in the requirement on the Assembly to set up schemes to work with these three primary partners, which should result in a seat at the table, rather than an unanswered knock at the door. WCVA prides itself on being the representative voice of the voluntary sector in Wales. While engaging with policymakers and decision takers, it is always mindful that it has a primary responsibility to its members and to the third sector as a whole. Maintaining an awareness of the sector's needs, keeping the membership informed of future developments, consulting and campaigning for improvements are central concerns. contribution has increased, and Research WCVA's most recent research show that things are on the up when it comes to number- Knowledge about the sector and the as contribution it makes is essential. It informs crunching well. policy makers and helps with planning. WCVA's • The contribution made by research activities help put the voluntary sector into volunteering in Wales is valued at £3.4 billion a perspective: establishing a baseline, telling us where year. we're coming from and helping us see where we're • Wales' voluntary sector going: viewing the future within the context of has an annual income of contemporary Wales. The advent of the National £570 million. Assembly has made WCVA's research and information • There are nearly 1 3,000 role even more important. employees in the voluntary This was the first year of a National Lottery Charities sector: over 6,300 full- time Board funded two-year project to develop the and over 6,500 part time staff. research capability of the sector. Conducted in • There are 1.86 million volunteers partnership with our sister organisations in the other in Wales: 1.09 million giving their three nations, the work to date includes several time through formal voluntary publications and setting up a voluntary sector activity, and 1.68 million working in researchers' network, including a Directory of their communities in other ways. voluntary sector researchers and a regular mailing • For every £1 of statutory funding, the To say that the sector is growing would be an voluntary sector contributes £40, including understatement. The current estimate is that there are the value of volunteering. 25,000 voluntary organisations in Wales. In the past two years, the value placed on the sector's Members: an area of growth During 1998/99 the membership rose from Meeting our members' needs In 1998/99: 600 to 660, and strategies in place to make • WCVA responded to nearly 8,500 enquiries, the membership profile more representative across the organisation; sector to of the continue reap • benefits. 123 pages of current awareness including 566 items were prepared and disseminated; WCVA's governing document was amended • 432 general funding advice queries were to allow for an increase in the number of dealt with; members of the executive committee, and • WCVA provided nearly £6 million in grants to 301 different to add an extra groups. category of membership - general associate member. ... and where would the voluntary sector be without volunteers? Millennium Volunteers Government interest resulted in the development of a new programme of volunteering among 16-24 year olds and an emerging strategy to encourage people to become more active in their communities. WCVA was nominated the lead partner in a consortium to manage Millennium Volunteers in Wales along with Wales Youth Agency and Council for Wales Voluntary Youth Service. The first round of registrations was made in March and the first grants awarded to youth led projects and delivery partners in June 1999. Networks and alliances The Volunteering Partnership for Wales had a busy year with the launch of: • A Model Policy for Volunteering in the NHS; • a Compact policy for volunteering; • a draft model policy for local authorities and a draft strategy for older volunteers; • funding to secure a festival of volunteering to mark Volunteers Week 2000. Support for the volunteering infrastructure continued with funding for four further volunteer bureaux through WCVA's Volunteering in Wales Fund, and a series of seminars to develop bureaux practices.