‘SURGERY Day’ Launched To Support Inverclyde’s Voluntary GroupsCVS Inverclyde is improving its support to local voluntary sector organisations, community groups, charities and social enterprises, by consolidating both its own and external advice provision into a single day of free surgeries each month.
Launching on Tuesday 12 June, Surgery Day will offer 45-minute appointments starting on the hour.
Sessions delivered by CVS Inverclyde will cover:
— Governance and Finance
— Quality, Monitoring and Evaluation
— Funding, Fundraising and Data Protection
— Business Planning and Social Enterprise
— Community Engagement and Service User Involvement
— Volunteer Management
— Public Relations and Marketing
CVS Inverclyde chief executive, Ian Bruce said: “Our one-to-one surgeries have proved an extremely popular package of support with people seeking the expertise of our staff.
“We want to make it easier for people to access advice by pulling these together into one allotted day –- the second Tuesday of each month -– but also widen it by adding in new areas of support such as data protection, service user involvement and volunteer management.
“We are also bringing in specialist advice to be delivered by external partners, who will offer surgeries on subjects such as human resources, information technology and legal on a rotation. The subject for our first day, Tuesday 12 June, will be human resources, with support offered by Inverclyde Council’s HR department.
“By pulling together all this advice in one day, we hope to make it easier for local organisations to get the support they need. The advice surgeries are free of charge and organisations that attend will also be able to access further support if they need it at a reasonable cost.”
Once a surgery appointment has been booked, participants will be asked to complete a short questionnaire regarding the areas they would like to address. This will help facilitate discussions, make best use of the time and give CVS Inverclyde staff the opportunity to source any supporting information or documentation in advance for handover on the day.
Appointments should be booked by calling CVS Inverclyde on 01475 711733. Availability of appointments will depend on demand.
Surgery Outline
Governance and Finance — Ian Bruce, chief executive officer: Ian will offer support to organisations looking at their legal structure, charitable status or how their governance works. In addition, support is available to organisations looking to develop their financial management capacity.
Quality, Monitoring and Evaluation –- Bill Clements, deputy manager: Bill will provide information on different quality tools, as well as different approaches to monitoring and evaluation, discussing the best approaches for the organisation.
Community Engagement and Service User Involvement — Brian Corrigan, partnership facilitator: Brian will offer practical guidance and support to participants with signposting to current good practice information and resources.
Funding, Fund-raising and Data Protection — Susan Robinson, strategic investment officer: Susan will offer one-to-one support with funding applications, searches for appropriate funders to help continue or develop the organisation, and cover new data protection guidelines.
Business Planning and Social Enterprise Surgery — Bill Stewart, social economy development officer: Bill will provide guidance on organisational, management and staff activities/issues, the business planning process, community engagement, procurement, office administration, staff training and development, leadership and management.
Volunteer Management and PVG — Catriona MacLeod, volunteer development officer: Catriona will offer development advice, supporting organisations in their successful recruitment and management of volunteers, as well as guidance on PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) disclosure checks.
Public Relations and Marketing — Elaine Nicol, PR and Marketing Officer: Elaine will provide advice on how an organisation can raise its profile through best use of PR and marketing, including effective communication with target audiences and promotional activities.
