Supporting Small Organisations Resources

Defending Local Grants: Resources

Resources you can use at local level which will help you to convince councillors, commissioning officers and procurement professionals that grants should continue to be used to fund local organisations and groups. Published by NAVCA on behalf of the local grants forum.

Glossary

A short glossary of some of the more challenging issues facing groups working with children, young people and families

Governance

A beginner's guide to governance that introduces and describes the key elements and essential role of all those who govern small charitable organisations. (September 2008)

Local Area Agreements

Beyond Every Child Matters: Local Area Agreements and your outcomes. A briefing that gives an overview of:

• What are Local Area Agreements?
• Who develops Local Area Agreements?
• How do Local Area Agreements link with the national indicator set?
• How do Local Area Agreements fit with children's trusts and the Children and Young People's Plan?
• How are Local Area Agreements monitored and reviewed?
• How does the voluntary and community sector fit in?
• What are the outcomes for children and young people?
• What are the children and young people national indicators?
• What can you do? Next steps for your organisation.

Love Your Tender

Love your tender is a guide to understanding contracting and being ready to tender. It is a 64-page, full-colour guide with information, activities, signposts and foldout resources that aims to:

• explain about a typical contracting process;
• help organisations decide if they are 'tender ready';
• signpost to additional resources;
• guide through aspects of contracting that are especially tricky or need special consideration; and
• offer helpful tips, exercises and checklists.

Love your tender briefly addresses the procurement process and some of the issues surrounding it, such as the difference between grants and contracts and the role of trustees. The most comprehensive section supports organisations to be ready to tender, drawing attention to issues such as building collaborative relationships and demonstrating added value. The rest of the guide deals with things to keep in mind when preparing a tender and includes a checklist and a wide range of useful information.

To download Love your tender in pdf format please use the links below

The guide is also currently available to purchase: £20 for Children England members and £30 for non-members. call 020 7833 3319 for further details.

Monitoring and evaluation

Achieving better outcomes for children and young people: a toolkit for practitioners is a comprehensive guide developed by Barnardo's Policy and Research Unit. It is made of four sections:

Safeguarding

Positively safe: a guide to developing safeguarding practices is a toolkit to help organisations working with children, young people and families stay safe. It gives clear guidance and contains worksheets, check lists and where to go for additional information.

Survey of small organisations

Children England has published Small Change? A Survey of small voluntary and community sector organisations working with children, young people and families.

Sustainable funding

A slice of the cake: helping community groups to access funding and support is a toolkit developed by the Growing up in the West Midlands consortium. It aims to help groups think about who they are, what they are trying to achieve and how to think about building a sustainable future.