Surviving the Cuts - A conference for the voluntary and community groups of Dorset

What are the facts about cuts in Dorset?

What support is available to help your organisation?

On the 28th of February 2011 a county-wide voluntary and community sector conference will be held to discuss how voluntary & community groups in Dorset can react to, and survive, the government's spending cuts and wide-ranging policy changes.

No matter the size of your voluntary or community organisation you should be represented at this important event if you are concerned about the affects of these changes on your community.

Hear high-level decision makers explain what cuts will be made and question them on the impact of these cuts.

This is a FREE all day conference with talks and discussions in the morning, a networking lunch and workshops in the afternoon giving you practical advice and support to respond to these challenging times.

Click here for the Conference Programme

Click here to download the 2 page conference flyer including workshop summaries

The workshops below aim to help your organisation deal with and/or respond to recent funding cuts, reduced services and policy changes.

The workshops will be held after lunch in two sessions with four or five concurrent workshops per session. Thus you will be able to attend a maximum of two workshops. Workshops have not yet been allocated to a particular session as this will depend on demand. If your preferred workshops are running concurrently, you will not be able to attend both, so please select (up to) 3 preferences and we will let you know closer to the event which workshops will be available to you.

• Influencing Decision Makers in Dorset
  Voluntary organisations’ relationships with local authorities and other public bodies are changing. Public spending cuts mean there is less support for representation of the sector, and many of the structures we were just getting to know, such as Local Strategic Partnerships, are being reviewed or even scrapped. Meanwhile the government intends to give more power to communities through the Localism Bill. In this workshop you will learn about these changes and what they mean for your organisation. You will also discuss ways you can have more influence individually and collectively as the voluntary and community sector in Dorset.
  
• Volunteer Management – Making it Work
  Do you need to recruit more volunteers to help your organisation or do you need to think about how you can make the best use of the volunteers you have? This workshop will look at ways to recruit, value and retain volunteers. And how you can sell your organisation to the 1000’s of potential volunteers out there!
  
• To Tweet or not to Tweet
  Discover how and when to use social media to its best advantage when marketing your organisation. Learn about choosing the right tone, golden rules when messaging and if, in fact, you need to be using it at all!
  
• Taking on Public Assets
  
  Since the publication of the Quirk Review in 2007, the work to promote the transfer of public assets to the community sector has been gathering momentum through the work of the Development Trusts Association and the Asset Transfer Unit. However, the new political climate and economic reality is driving public bodies to dispose of assets at an unprecedented rate, while simultaneously having large expectations of community and voluntary organisations to take over assets and run services. So should your organisation take on public assets? This workshop will look at the opportunities, risks, and issues you need to consider. The workshop will be led by Peter Jones, Development Trusts Association/Locality.
  
• Generating Income for Your Organisation
  Voluntary and community groups need to adapt rapidly to today’s changing funding environment. The Income Generation workshop will look at ways that voluntary sector organisations can respond by diversifying the income that groups have. The Workshop will be led by Marcus Dixon, Chief Executive, Lyme Regis Development Trust and based on ten years innovation and experience in developing a contractual and physical assets base.
  
• Making Your Organisation Fit for Survival
  What does your organisation need to do to survive in these difficult times?  This workshop will look at some of the essentials of a healthy organisation and give you some practical tools to make yours fit for survival.
  
• Making a Case for Support
  Looking for funding? If so, it’s crucial that you can prove to funders that; there’s a need for the project, that it will solve the problem, that this solution is the one your beneficiaries want and that YOU are the organization to deliver. This workshop examines ways to gather evidence that demonstrates the need for your project, and construct a Case for Support that will convince funders they should invest in you.
  
• Do you want to get your voice heard at Parliament?
  In this time of cuts, it is essential to know how to campaign effectively and inform the decisions being made at Parliament, and to make sure that you are being heard. This workshop will explore what Parliament is, what it does and, crucially, how you can get involved with what happens there. You will learn a range of practical ways to raise an issue at Parliament, such working with your MP, finding other interested MPs and Lords and contributing to a Select Committee inquiry. No jargon, no politics, just information to help you get your voice heard.
  
• Taking Local Action
  The Government assured us that despite wide-ranging budget cuts, frontline services would not be cut. Is this the case in Dorset? Some communities are taking local action to save services which they feel are essential e.g. their lollipop person, their library, social care services, etc. This workshop will look at practical and effective ways to campaign at a local level – how to involve people, how to use the media/social networking, how to provide evidence that a threatened service is needed, how to lobby, how to make alliances, how to use the law and what action works. The workshop will be facilitated by Gwyneth Brooks (DCA) with a contribution from Melvin Norris who will share his experience of the successful campaign to save Swanage Day Centre.
  

28th February 2011, 9:30 to 16:00 (lunch provided)
Dorford Centre, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1RR

• Find out how to get Public Transport to the venue!
• Printable map of car parks in Dorchester or Location of car parks near the venue
• information on Dorchester's Park and Ride scheme

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Click here to download the 2 page conference flyer including workshop summaries