DCLG, Sir Rodney

Now a Third Sector Partnership Board at the Communities and Local Government Department may not exactly excite - but yesterdays meeting of the Board was fascinating. A brilliant demonstration of how great our sector can be. There are a range of third sector bodies represented from community representatives to bodies like ACEVO and the Social Enterprise Coalition, Urban Forum , NAVCA etc.

The meeting was with various Ministers ; Barbara Follet MP in the Chair and all of the DCLG Directors Board led by the impressive Peter Housden, the Permanent Secretary.

I'm afraid I'm rather fearing disciplinary action as Angela Smith , the Third Sector Minister, pointed out that I made an entire speech on capacity building and investment without once mentioning the Social Investment Bank. I hang my head in shame.

It was an engaging and lively discussion around how the third sector can help develop better communities and in delivering more citizen focused services. Steve Wyler, the fantastic CEO of the important Development Trusts Association (ACEVO member naturally), made a presentation on steps to move from a "spending" approach to the growth of our sector to an "investment" approach. This looks at investment as a range of funding approaches from grants to loans and bonds. A development approach rather than one based on patronage.

Toby Blume, who is a really engaging and innovative CEO (ACEVO member naturally) made an impassioned speech about how we need better banking and financial services industry that enable communities , particularly more excluded or deprived communities to access finance and capital. The example he gave of how effective the Community Reinvestment Act in the States had been was instructive. For every $1 of finance invested in a community enterprise there has been a return of $27.

It echoes the speech of the CEO of Deutche Bank who has said that their CRA investments in the States have been less risky than others and have brought good returns. The work of Futurebuilders and the Adventure Capital Fund (now the Social Investment Business ) have amply demonstrated the power of investment loans as a way of growing the sector - whether at a local or community level or with national social enterprises and charities.

How do we harness all this talent and enterprise there is in local communities and amongst national third sector bodies to deliver a more effective civil society in each of our localities. I shall be blogging on Friday about an exciting initiative that ACEVO is launching with a local authority to set up a Commission to examine the strategic role the third sector can play.

And a nice end to the day when I am taken out for dinner by David Fielding, Tribal, Head Hunter by appointment to The Sector, together with Sir Rodney Brooke. Rodney is a friend and mentor and an old Boss of mine when I worked at the Association of Metropolitan Authorities. He has had a distinguished career in local Government; former CEO of Westminster and West Yorks Metropolitan and now Chairs various important quangos and sector bodies.

And we have much in common - an appreciation of fine wine , Opera and weapons grade gossip. Lots of people dissected over dinner and a fine Chablis Premier Cru (Fielding was not getting away with any old Sauvignon Blanc!).

In my view it is essential for any Leader to have a mentor. I have always had one - indeed for some time I had two! Acevo encourages its members to have mentors and we have a scheme for this. In a CEO job a mentor is an important support mechanism in what can be a lonely job.

As we eat I bemoan the news that Kraft are taking over Cadburys. Shocking. This great British company have for decades operated a real corporate social responsibility policy and have over a century tradition of philanthropy. Their strong Quaker tradition is enshrined in the way they relate to communities and to the staff they employ. They give part of their profits away, not as a crude PR exercise dreamt up by PR Departments (one thinks of Goldman Sachs) but because of their company philosophy. We need more companies like Cadburys, not less.

So we loose it to a crude profit driven American company who will milk the assets, as they have done with Terrys, and dumb down the products whilst ignoring the philanthropic and corporate social responsibility ethos of Cadburys.

Well I for one will be boycotting Kraft products. No Dairy Lee and those revolting cheese spread things that come in nasty plastic containers (ugh ) in any of the Third Sector please!

And finally, I do enjoy the Matt Little column on the back page of Third Sector magazine. A most amusing story about my Blog appears. See below:

Rolande Anderson, the new director general of the Office of the Third Sector, made one of her first public appearances at the parliamentary reception of chief executives body Acevo last week. She'd been told, she related in a mini-speech, that you knew you'd arrived in the sector when you were mentioned in Stephen Bubb's blog - and that honour had in fact been bestowed upon her the previous week, when the uber-networking Acevo chief lauded her for actively seeking the OTS appointment.

Actually, you know you've really arrived in the sector when you've been mentioned in the blog of Bubb's doppleganger Robin Bogg, probably under the pseudonym Roulade Andropov. A treat in store.

Yes, it is so true: to have really arrived in our sector you need to appear in my Blog!

Haiti and Tory Summit

The horrifying pictures from Haiti and the devastation of the earthquake have moved us all. What I thought brought it really home was that photo of someone tossing a babies body into the burial pit. We should all be generous and donate to the DEC appeal;

www.dec.org.uk

Such calamities demonstrate the strength and power of our UK third sector. I am proud to say that there are many ACEVO members amongst the leading NGOs who sprang into action. DEC is a brilliant example of how major charities can work together. It is not just through mergers that we can garner the benefits of partnership.

And DEC is wonderfully led by the great Brendan Gormley, ACEVO member. The ACEVO team wish him and all those involved in the effort to bring aid to those in Hiati well in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Good to see the Prime Minister visiting DEC. Brendan is a neighbour of mine in David Cameron's constituency of West Oxfordshire.

And that leads me neatly into a recent speech of DC. He said,

"He wanted to run a Government that allowed the voluntary sector to lead the way in enterprise and the public sector. He said: “The voluntary sector is referred to as the Third Sector but I think it should be the first. “Why do we limit what our voluntary sector can do? If they want to run state schools, drug units or lead the reform of prisoners they should be able to do that. “I would like to run a government that is more ambitious about what the voluntary sector can bring.”

Apart from the " first sector" reference ( I guess he is unaquainted with the doctrine of the Co-equal Trinity ) he is spot on. I really welcome this outstanding commitment to the role of our sector in service delivery.

What we need to hear is whether Labour support this or not. Once I hoped they were as keen- but the Burnham debacle throws doubt on that. So perhaps time for a major speech from the PM along the same lines. I know he is a great believer in our sector. Let's hear it clearer.

Readers of The Blog will know we have been waiting for a response to the letter to the Chancellor that 260 CEOs wrote on how to make cost effective cuts to public spending through more sector delivery.

I am pleased to say that on Friday afternoon I received a letter from Oliver Letwin who wrote,


"I am writing to say that my colleagues, George Osborne, Francis Maude, Philip Hammond, Nick Hurd and I would very much welcome a high-level summit on these issues – which we regard as central to the delivery of more for less in public services and, hence, as a national priority over coming years.

I hope that I need hardly add that we also believe that the opportunity to apply the principle of payment by results in a wide range of public service delivery through competitive tenders – for example, in relation to our Get Britain Working programme, our Rehabilitation Revolution and in public health – offers the prospect of major improvements in public services and, at the same time, huge prospects for third sector organisations to deliver those improvements."

I replied immediately to accept this offer. We will hold this jointly with our colleagues in ncvo, the Social Enterprise Coalition, the Community Alliance and NAVCA ( Kevin was one of the signatories of the letter).

We are now working with a number of the signatories to the letter on how best to present case studies on what we can achieve. Rather than focusing on the abstract I want to showcase the work that members are already doing in delivering more cost effective serivces and how, with support, we can expand this role.

When I met Oliver he was very interested in the idea of social impact bonds which the Social Investment Business and Social Finance have been investigating. This would be a major way we could bridge the finance gap before payment by results ( which is a key part of tory policy ) are paid.

This is potentially exciting. I have always believed our sector can regain its role as a major provider of community and citizen focused services. We have begun this journey over the last decade. The next decade will , I suspect , see a boom in provision from efficient and ambitious third sector bodies led by a band of dedicated and enterprising Leaders .

And finally, pictures of flooded charlbury. So this is where all that snow went. What was once the River Evenlode is now a lake. More rain and it will be over the bridge as it was some 2 years back. But such calamaties do not eveb begin to register against the disaster unfolding in Haiti.

Good for Simon Jenkins!

As he wrote In the Guardian recently ,

"There will be a tidal wave of rage. Over the next 2 weeks the executives of the leading British banks will announce that some £50bn is to be taken from accumulated profits and handed over, not to shareholders or taxpayers, but to themselves. It will be the most outrageous contempt of democratic authority in modern times ".

That just about sums it up. And the Banks and their Bankers Association will complain and whine if anyone so much as has the temerity to question their greed and arrogance.

At least Goldman Sachs has has the sense to realise this is a PR disaster for them and has told all those getting bonuses they must donate part to charity. Good for them. I hope they go further and suggest a tithe of every bonus ( that's a biblical 10% ). We would be happy to work with them on where best to direct money and how to demonstrate back to the givers the impact their gift has made.

And perhaps the British Bankers Association might spend less time attacking governments and the public for daring to even criticise this "business as usual" , approach and encourage all those receiving bonuses to follow the Goldman example. So Angela , how about it?

In the meantime our campaign to ensure Better Banking www.betterbanking.org.uk must gather pace and strength. We need to ensure banking reform is centre stage in Party Manifestos.

The new proposals from Obama in the States for a fee to ensure the banks pay the taxpayers back is something we need to consider here.

I am really keen also on the campaign of London Citizens www.londoncitizens.org.uk
who are trying to persuade those executives about to receive their huge bonus pot to look at their own staffing and to ensure that their cleaners and receptionists are on a living wage. They are not.

You might think that the Banks would consider the welfare of all their staff, not just the richest minority. If there is money to distribute in bonuses- what about those at the bottom of the pile as well as those at the top? ACEVO is a member of the living wage campaign. Every third sector organisation should be.


Good news : the Conservatives are very interested in the ideas we have made on public spending cuts and we are in the process of arranging meetings etc. We are also in touch with the Lib Dems.


I met a group of members who make up Faith Action which is a collective of faith organisations involved in service delivery. We met in Canada Tower , the UK's tallest building , 100.000 people work in Canary Wharf and we had a presentation from the organisation that runs the place! And you read it here; they have some very cheap accomodation (c£6 psf ) they are offering to charities on a temporary basis- ideal for a project or a short term move so if you are an ACEVO member looking for space short term e-mail me!

It was a good discussion: I spoke about the strong faith impulse behind much service provision and of course the history of the running of hospitals and schools in this country is that many of these were established by faith charities. We agreed that the imminent spending cuts may offer an opportunity if governments look at radical ways of delivering services differently but that there is a real danger that cuts will hurt many sector bodies and we will be expected to deliver services cheaply.

I ended the day at Lancaster House celebrating the work of the government's Equalities Office and the achievement in getting more diverse appointments to public bodies .

AGMs and Carrying on!

A sinking feeling as I opened the curtains to see a new blanket of snow; admittedly very pretty! Will anyone come to our ACEVO AGM? What idiot decided to put on an AGM in January me thought before remembering...

I get my first apology just minutes later. David Fitzpatrick who says that half an inch of snow in Herts and the transport system has collapsed. He suggests ,

"How about a new ACEVO campaign? - now that Iceland is bankrupt, we invite the 300,000 odd inhabitants to come to run our transport systems?? Bound to be a winner."

But warming to my theme for my AGM speech " Keep Calm and Carry On " I soon rally. I introduce our Impact Report for 2009. See it here.

The year has been dominated by the Recession. ACEVO was, as always , quick off the mark in launching a recession website- which we did for the whole of the sector on the back of a very good financial outturn last year. And we were there to support individual members in trouble- we saw a doubling of people accessing our special one to one advice and legal services. Some members lost their jobs when their organisations folded . The wonderful Civic Trust was one well known example.

The core of ACEVO is the comradeship of the CEO network. We quoted a member in our report who said, no journey is too long in the company of a good companion" so part of our task is to run courses and events and conferences to support members and their leadership development.

We ran a staggering 160 events during the year. Such events and attracted 4500 people. And unlike many other national umbrella bodies, had 75 of these events around the UK and not in London . That is a phenomenal 45 % of the total.

And ACEVO continues to play a leading role in shaping and influencing national policy. Perhaps the greatest triumph was the Future Jobs Fund that was developed by James Purnell MP with ACEVO as a result of work done by my fabulous and 2 brained Head of Policy Ralph Michell. (Pictured here after an interview with Icelandic TV )






And as a demonstration that you can be both highly independent and work with Governmnet I emphasised our campaign against Burnham's u-turn on commissioning and the purloining of hospital charity assets.




I paid tribute to a great staff team and stunningly talented directors group. We have but 40 staff yet what we achieve for and with our members is tremendous. And as we were at the Commons I also used a qoute from a former radical reforming Tory PM; Benjamin Disraeli , who said

" What we anticipate seldom occurs ; what we least expect generally happens. "

So whatever economists , politicians and pundits are predicting for 2010 let's take it all with a pinch of salt but continue to " Keep Calm and Carry on ".

2 new members of the ACEVO trustee board were announced. Simon Hepburn who runs the Advisory Centre for Education and chairs ACEVO BME special interest group. Srabani Sen is the CEO of Contact a Family. I knew her many years back when we both worked in the AMA !

We also launched our Annual Employee Benefits survey at the annual Parliamentray reception. We do this survey with Foster denovo every year and it gives members great benchmarking information on things like pensions, insurance cover and sickness benefits as well as leave , hours of work and the like. Worryingly the survey reveals that only 47% of members have a strategy in place to cope with the changes that come into force with the 2012 Pensions Act implementation.




Nick Aldridge, chief executive of MissionFish and former deputy chief executive of ACEVO


What was really reassuring was that despite the weather we had over 100 mebers at the Commons. 200 had signed up but given the snow and transport havoc not to have a bigger fall out was grand. CEOs of the big charities, social enterprises, community organisations, 2 dames and a knight...a grerat representation of our marvellous sector. And bearing in mind many sector AGMs hardly attract any people.

And a great sprinkling of grandees and politicians at the Parliamentary reception afterwards. Liam Byrne, chief Secretary at the Trerasury gave a brilliant 5 minute econium to ACEVO. He said not a month goes by without governmnet drawing on work and advice from ACEVO. The new Director of OTS, Rolanda Anderson spoke and even mentioned my Blog! Well well !




Sam Coates, Special Advisor to David Cameron MP


The weather is playing havoc with my diary: indeed for the last 3 days I have actually had to go out and purchase my own lunch. I am now acquainted with the ACEVO kitchen's microwave, much to staff amusement and irritation as they have to wait for me to prepare my bangers and mash ( yes I know, not good for me, but it is so cold).

And finally, I see NCVO are advertising for a new Chair, someone with superb communication skills...I wonder...

No 10 and Blackberry Blessings...

At No 10 yesterday morning - and who said I am not discrete in my blogs so I'm not revealing who I met or what we talked about...but it was great to be sitting in the State rooms under a gorgeous portrait of Lord Byron. And amusing as I was leaving to meet various Cabinet Ministers coming out of yesterday's political Cabinet. I walked out with a couple and joked I was expecting at least one, if not 2 Chapters on the Third Sector in the Labour Manifesto! We were very successful for the 2005 manifesto- even if Andy Burnham is busy breaking one of the pledges ( I managed to avoid bumping into him : it would have been too embarrassing! )

Which brings me neatly to the Tories. You would have thought they would be mounting an attack on the " preferred supplier" u turn. We have been in touch with Andrew Lansley MP , their spokesperson on health but so far he has done nothing on this. Indeed my Deputy, Dr Kyle, was meeting him yesterday to talk about this, turned up in the room booked only to find Lansley had cancelled and not even told him.

So could we please clarify Tory policy on this? Will they immediately cancel the Burnham policy if they take over? We need clarity Andrew so if you cannot make a meeting at least a firm letter that makes clear what you will do will suffice. No fudging on what is a fundamental issue for the sector. We expect you to restore a competitive policy where you encourage sector delivery.

And another irritation from that quango The Commission for Skills. A big advert in today's papers from them with an " Open Letter to Employers" signed by 10 employer Leaders, Brendan Barber, Small business federation etc. But not one single person from the third sector. Not me or Stuart. Despite the fact we employ 1.3 m staff. Deliver huge services. Engage the community and develop cohesion and have an economic power of some £130bl pa. Amazing. And inept.

But of course the Commission , like so many, just see the stereotype of the sector. Just charities. Volunteers. Working at the margins and to be patronised rather than taken seriously. So a sharp letter is on its way to the offending CEO. It is crucial we work to challenge stereotypes and assert the power and strength of our sector whenever we can.

It is something I will touch on when I talk at our ACEVO AGM at the Commons today. I have been working on the speech and praying we don't have snow to keep people away. Our AGM always attracts big audiences- some 300 last year. It's a mark of how members see their organisation and its role promoting CEO leadership. We will also be announcing the election of 2 new trustees. And the electorate have chosen well! 2 great sector leaders. More on this soon.


And finally, so good to read in the Times about the Blessing of the Blackberries at St Lawrence Jewry in the City yesterday. The first Monday after the Epiphany is traditionally Plough Monday ; when farmers brought their ploughs to church to be blessed. So in an updated service we read that the Lord Mayor of London had his Blackberry processed and laid on the High Altar. And blessed. Though hopefully not drenched in Holy Water or censed!

And let me leave you with the Rev Canon Parrott's blessing:

" May our tongues be gentle, our e-mails be simple and our websites be accessible ".

Amen to that !

Oliver, Liam and James

Always important in running a third sector organisation to show balance; so it was breakfast with Oliver Letwin MP closely followed by coffee with Liam Byrne MP. Both politicians with huge intellects and vision. It is always a pleasure to deal with politicians who share a commitment to what the third sector can achieve and are keen to harness the strength of our great sector to deliver change. And despite the fact they are on different sides of the barricade , they have similar views on the potential of our sector in reforming public services.

It is only a shame that Liam is let down by others in Labour who have not understood what our sector can achieve. Liam , in particular can be credited with the announcement of the Social Investment Bank in the November PBR which is a landmark development for the third sector.

On public service reform Labour has lost its way in a fruitless chase for a core voter and union pleasing strategy a la Burnham. The signal failure of the Chancellor to engage with the sector in how we can take a bigger delivery role in providing more cost effective services or do anything on gift aid has been surprising and shocking.

Conversely the Tories are committed to our role expanding significantly. However if the Tories have a clearer picture of our delivery role I am not certain they yet understand our fundamental change agent and campaigning role. So yes, we want to deliver more but we will also continue to campaign; we want action to cut re offending and we want action on the causes of crime too. We may run soup kitchens for the homeless but we demand Government act on the reason people are homeless in the first place.

Will the conservatives be as comfortable with our strident voice as they are with our delivery? We will never be just simple organs for state delivery. We will often be uncomfortable bedfellows. We will " bite the hand that feeds us" as Ed Miliband MP once memorably said . I have yet to hear that from the Conservatives. The Victorians liked their children to be seen and not heard. We will not just be seen but we will be heard as well.

So this election period is a grand opportunity for our sector to test and examine the different approaches, and to put forward our own unique approach to helping deliver a cohesive society and a better economy.

And if you have not seen it, you must read a compelling article by James Purnell in the Guardian yesterday. Read it here.

James is someone who very clearly understands what civil society and third sector organisations can achieve. Good to see him at the forefront of thinking about how the Labour party must move forward in pushing progressive politics.

He argues , correctly, that the state cannot replace society. " We need more powerful individuals and a more reciprocal society....the powerless need to take their power. That will only be done by organising people to act together ...we need to move from talking about choice to giving people power and expecting them to take it. "

It is interesting how both parties are courting the politics of community and localism. This is again a great opportunity for our sector as today we are core to any effecive strategy to develop more community cohesion, joined up services and voice for the marginalised.

It's our AGM and Parliamentary Reception on Wednesday- some 250 CEOs signed up and snow permitting will be there. Exciting times. Challenging times if also worrying as we face the continuing recession and coming spending cuts.

Better Banking and snowy Charlbury

So the weekend papers confirm the Banks are back to business as usual as far as bonuses are concerned. A slap in the face for the British public who bailed them out in hard times. It's difficult to imagine such arrogance.

And a reminder of how bad our banks are was Saturday's R4 Money box which revealed how tardy they are being at introducing faster banking. For most people who make a transfer of money it still takes the Banks 3 days to make the transfer- and keeping the interest they make on this for themselves.

So bad customer care helps line the pockets of financiers. It's our money that fund their bonuses. Just as they are disgracefully pocketing dormant assets and dragging their feet on handing them over to fund a Social Investment Bank.

In many industries you might find a bonus linked to better delivery for customers. Sadly not in our banking industry.

Well time for action. Time for citizens and communities to demand better banking.

The problem of financial exclusion- the lack of fair access to financial services and credit to those who deserve it- is a big worry for the third sector: it increases poverty levels amongst the lowest-income groups, which has a huge negative impact on those struggling with debt, poor housing, old age, ill-health, physical and mental disabilities, and social exclusion. Because third sector funds are spent helping those affected by these issues, financial exclusion indirectly drains millions from third sector funds. Further, it also directly impacts on third sector organisations and small businesses serving or operating in less wealthy communities, because they themselves cannot access sufficient funds.

To address the issue, we are campaigning for full financial disclosure by financial institutions, a cap on unfair credit rates for those who cannot afford them and obligations on banks to demonstrate that all who merit it have fair and equal access to credit.

To find out more, and pledge your support, visit our website www.betterbanking.org.uk, or email campaign coordinator Lucy Marples: lucy.marples@acevo.org.uk


Now let me leave you with pictures of gorgeous Charlbury in the snow. We had some proper deep snow. The Hound loved it!