Harrogate & Ripon Centres for Voluntary Service Impact Report 2016 - 2017 Making a Difference Supporting Communities, Charities and Volunteers to make the Harrogate District a great place to live and work Promoting voluntary and community action in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Masham Boroughbridge & Pateley Bridge What we did this year Contents Provided 36 groups with bespoke funding Welcome & Review 3 advice and helped raise over £330,000 for community projects and services Getting Set for the Future 4 Supported 285 groups with information, Supporting Voluntary and Community Organisations 5 advice and guidance to develop their voluntary organisation Connecting and Involving People 7 Promoting and Supporting Volunteering 10 Increased our organisational membership to involve 192 members Where To Turn for Community Information 12 Support to help people live independently Provided advice to 351 people who in their own homes 13 wanted to get involved in volunteering How we are funded 20 Kept over 2,800 contacts and local Who we are organisations informed with our newsletters and funding files, specialist Our Staff Team 21 and weekly e-bulletins and daily social Our Board of Trustees 22 media updates Our Members 23 Provided a voluntary car driving service for over 7,000 journeys Some names in our case studies have been changed. Completed 383 gardening, decorating and DIY jobs for vulnerable local residents Our Vision People in the Harrogate District benefit Over 130 trained volunteers were involved in from leading fulfilling and active lives directly supporting our work and contributed and make a positive contribution to over 430 hours each week. We wouldn’t be local community life. able to do what we do without their dedication and commitment. Our Mission Thank you to all our volunteers. To support our communities, charities and volunteers to make the Harrogate District a great place to live and work. Our Values Integrity, Professionalism, Independence, Equity, Empowerment, Participation and Social Justice, Appropriate Funding, Collaborative Working. 2 HarrogateHarrogate & & Ripon Ripon Centres Centres for for Voluntary Voluntary Service Service Welcome and Review from the Chair, Jackie Snape I’m delighted to introduce the 2016/17 Impact Report On behalf of my fellow for Harrogate & Ripon Centres for Voluntary Service. trustees I thank them The purpose of the report is to help our charity’s all for their beneficiaries, volunteers, partners, funders, donors and commitment. They supporters understand the work we undertake and have undertaken a learn about the difference we’ve made over the past varied programme of year. training during the year, ranging from My fellow trustees and I were extremely pleased with dementia awareness to the charity’s achievements during 2016/17. The financial management performance was the strongest for many years, as a development. result of fundraising and partnership work, and we received excellent feedback from the annual customer I know that the team enjoy being out and about satisfaction surveys. We achieved the Matrix Quality promoting our services for groups and individuals, and Award standard for information, advice and guidance sharing information on the wide range of community and performed well against all our key performance activities in our area. We took part in the Big Picnic, indicators. Fresh new branding was developed alongside Bilton and Woodfield Library Open Day, the Nidderdale the completion of a major project to upgrade the long Show and Sights and Sounds of Ripon. Once again we established Where to Turn community information were delighted to be a lead partner for the sector’s local directory and create a new local online volunteering flagship event of the year, the annual Harrogate District directory. Volunteering Oscars. We place on record our thanks to Harrogate Borough I hope you will enjoy reading more information on the Council, North Yorkshire County Council and the NHS impact of our work in the following pages. The Harrogate and Rural District Clinical Commissioning achievements are all the more remarkable given that Group for their financial support in 2016/17, which during the third quarter of the year a considerable enabled us to deliver our services for groups, volunteers amount of staff time was allocated to preparing a county and individuals. This core funding also supported our role wide partnership bid for the NYCC/NHS Voluntary Sector representing the voluntary and community sector on the Support Services contract. This was put out to st Harrogate District Public Services Leadership Board and competitive tender for the first time, to commence 1 involvement in the national NHS Vanguard New Care April 2017. Sadly our bid was unsuccessful and from January 2017 onwards the board and management team Models programme, known locally as “What Matters to Us”. We were active in theHarrogate District My were heavily involved in preparing for the transfer of the Neighbourhood programme and continued to develop affected services and 3 members of staff to the new links with the NYCC Stronger Communities and Living provider. We were heartened by the messages of support Well teams. We were pleased to accept the invitation to and good wishes that we received from members and be a founding partner of “Ripon Together”, a new local partners during this very challenging period. community interest company aiming to foster co- The board of trustees is now focussed on ensuring that operation in the City, with thanks due to the City Council the long history of providing locally based support for for their grant to support our work in Ripon. communities, charities and volunteers in the Harrogate District continues. We are still here and determined to Our greatest asset continues to be our dedicated and continue meeting the needs of our members and resourceful team of staff and volunteers. Under the beneficiaries. Please get in touch with your feedback leadership of the Chief Executive they do an amazing job. and ideas on how we can work together. Harrogate & Ripon Centres for Voluntary Service 3 Getting Set for the Future from the Chief Executive, Karen Weaver Work has continued apace to review our vision, mission We will support the NHS New Care Models programme and aims and adjust to our new financial situation going in the District. We will also develop partnerships with forwards. We’ve completed the update of our strategic other providers able to offer support and skills to the plan and placed our highly respected information local voluntary sector. services at the heart of our role. Connecting and We will champion volunteering by sharing information collaborating will underpin all our work and support on opportunities and promoting good practice in the delivery of three further themes: local voluntary volunteer management. We will run a variety of action, local fundraising and practical support for older workshops to support local volunteer managers. We will and vulnerable people. work to ensure that there is adequate provision for volunteers who need additional support to take up and Information services benefit from We will focus on making the best use of technology to volunteering roles. share information, monitor impact and promote our products and services. The Where to Turn and Local fundraising Volunteering Directories will be at the core of this work, We are working closely and we will ensure that both are up to date, accurate with Harrogate Borough and widely promoted so that they are the first port of Council and the Two call for people looking to get involved in the local Ridings Community voluntary and community sector. We will ensure strong Foundation to launch links with local health and care professionals to help THE LOCAL FUND for the Harrogate District. them signpost people to sources of support in the The aim is to establish a substantial endowment fund community. that can be easily accessed by local charities to help them meet the needs of their beneficiaries. Attracting Local voluntary action philanthropic donors and securing funds from dormant We will support local voluntary action via a programme or inactive trusts are early priorities but it is also of training events and networks and will continue to host intended that the Fund provides a vehicle for the local a number of forums, enabling Voluntary and Community business community to become more involved in Sector representatives to meet, share issues and community fundraising. influence decision makers. We will work closely with partners from all sectors. This Practical support for older, disabled and includes advocating on behalf of the local VCS on the vulnerable people Harrogate District Public Services Leadership Board and With funding from NYCC and HBC secured for a further participating in the period, work will continue to develop the fundraising and Harrogate Borough marketing of our Practical Support Services, to ensure Council My that the resources are available to keep up with constant Neighbourhood increases in demand from our ageing population. programme. We will Recruiting, training, supporting and retaining volunteers continue to work with is vital to this work, and will be a feature of all marketing the North Yorkshire initiatives. County Council We will be advocates for the positive impact of Stronger Communities local voluntary action on people’s lives and offer and Living Well programmes. enthusiasm, encouragement and practical support. 4 HarrogateHarrogate & & Ripon Ripon