Helping you to thrive

The Dorset Strategic Partnership (DSP) is the single, overarching, umbrella body for Dorset that brings together the public, private, business, voluntary and community sectors so that different services and initiatives support each other and work together for the benefit of local people (you can find out more at www.dorsetforyou.com/dsp or by contacting Sam Fox-Adams on the number below). All the main statutory bodies in Dorset are active in the DSP, including the County Council, all six district/borough councils, Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils, Dorset Police, Dorset Fire and Rescue, and NHS Dorset. They, with the other partners, have agreed that more should be done to support voluntary and community organisations to grow and thrive, and that this should be one of the Partnership’s priorities – which is great news for voluntary and community organisations.

Last year a government survey, ‘National Survey of Third Sector Organisations’ provided a great deal of useful information about the voluntary sector in Dorset, and has also been used to produce an important target for local statutory bodies. This target, NI7, measures how ‘thriving’ the local voluntary and community sector is – something both local and national governments say they want to achieve. It is measured by looking at the percentage of organisations that believe local statutory bodies have had a positive influence on their success (results of Question 23 on the Survey). In Dorset 15% of charities surveyed said local statutory bodies had a positive influence on their success - less than the average for England of 16%. This means that about 85% of organisations either feel unsupported or are undecided about the role that local public bodies play in supporting them - so there’s clearly a lot to be done! To find out more about the survey go to www.nstso.com and you can download a copy of the Dorset report from www.nstso.com/analysis/surveyresults/

The DSP has agreed an Action Plan and provided some funding to respond to needs identified by the voluntary and community sector in Dorset.

These include:
• Specialist support on raising money through trading
• Comprehensive range of training courses across Dorset
• Small grants to help groups raise income
• Supporting use of computers and software
• Specialist support on personnel and human resources issues (info@dorsetcommunityaction.org.uk)
• Specialist support on financial matters (info@dorsetcommunityaction.org.uk)
• Continuation of support of volunteering in Purbeck and East Dorset (Marie Waterman, 01305 269214, m.waterman@volunteeringdorset.org.uk)
• Specialist support on volunteering (dorchester.vb@btopenworld.com), youth work (Dorset.youth.association@btconnect.com) and sustainability (office@da21.org.uk )

There are organisations in Dorset that can provide you with a range of support and advice. Many of their services are provided with the support of Dorset’s statutory bodies. For a summary click here

Contacts

Churches Together in Dorset supports and gives information on the Churches and their combined activity and service in the County of Dorset, including the Boroughs of Bournemouth and Poole.
Colin Brady, tel. 01258 839140 Email: adviser.dorcas@virgin.net
Val Potter, tel: 01305 264416 Email: ctdorset@clara.net
Website: www.ctdorset.org.uk