New register of charities launched on 1st October 2008
The Charity Commission has launched its new-look register of charities, which provides more information on charities and in a clear, colourful and accessible way.  The Commiss...

Trustee Recruitment
Community First is looking to recruit new members to join our governing body, the board of trustees. We need people who can help direct Community First towards achieving its missio...

Worcestershire's Learning Disability Development Fund 2009/10 opens for applications
Applications from organisations supporting people in Worcestershire with a learning disability are now invited.  The Learning Disability Development Fund 2009/10 is likely to ...

New round of grants from Worcestershire County Council
The second round of grants available to the voluntary and community sector in Worcestershire is now open for applications.  Three-year strategic grants for Community Transport...

Make a Difference Day
This autumn, people across the country will be organising activities for CSV Make a Difference Day, the largest single day of volunteering in the UK! Activities can be anything fro...

The future of the Compact – your chance to say what you think
The Commissioner for the Compact has been asked to consider options for the future of the Compact. This includes discussions with the VCS until the end of October. If it is pro...

University of Worcester seeks mentor volunteers
The Centre for Inclusive Learning Support at the University of Worcester is recruiting mentors to an exciting and prestigious European project, Validating Mentoring (VM2). The pr...

Risk Assessment guide for charities
One of a series of "Made Simple" guides, "Risk assessment made simple" can be downloaded free from Sayer Vincent's website at www.sayervincent.co.uk

Worcestershire County Council announces grants to voluntary and community sector organisations
Worcestershire County Council has released details of the successful applicants to Round 1 of its community grants and strategic grants programmes for the voluntary and community s...

How does your charity measure up?
The Charity Commission has today published an updated version of The Hallmarks of an Effective Charity.  The six hallmarks are: 1. Clear about purposes and direction; using...

New from the Charity Commission
The Charity Commission has recently published new guidance for people wishing to make complaints about charities.  CC47, Complaints about charities, is available to download f...

PQASSO gets award!
Martin Punaks is celebrating a fantastic achievement by Charities Evaluation Services. He writes: "Charities Evaluation Services have received the Effectiveness Award a...

New PQASSO 3rd Edition
On 25th June 2008 Charities Evaluation Services launched their 3rd Edition of PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations).  PQASSO is the most used qua...

Top class employment training
ACAS are running a range of courses on human resource issues.  Many organisations in both the third sector and independent sector are having to handle increasingly complex sit...

Don't miss out on essential training on collaborative and partnership working on 20th May
For further information on another opportunity to learn all about Collaborative and Partnership Working from legal structures expert Charlie Cattell, see the Worcestershire Infrast...

Survey
Herefordshire Infrastructure Consortia are very keen to understand what difference the advice and support has meant for you as a voluntary or community group and the kinds of servi...

Positive Activities Grants in Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Councillors will be able to continue to help voluntary groups, community groups and charities on their own patch. Following the success of last year’...

Revised Charity Commission publications
A number of key Charity Commission publications have been revised recently.  These include CC3 The Essential Trustee:  what you need to know; CC9 Speaking Out - Campaigni...

Classes Lost in Adult Learning
1,400,000 adults in England have lost their classes in the last two years according to NIACE, the national voice for adult learners. Are you one of them? NIACE wants to hear your s...

Briefings on successful procurement and negotiation published
Acevo has published four online briefings covering all aspects of ‘Successful Procurement and Negotiation’ after a six month research project in partnership with the De...

People's Millions re-launched
The Big Lottery Fund has announced a new funding round under its People's Millions Initiative. Through the People’s Million's, BIG wants to fund projects that transform the...

New Awards for Delivering Learning to Adults
The first course for 12 practitioners to take the introductory award is underway in Worcester.  The participants have now completed 4 days and delivered a micro teaching sessi...

What's New in Mental Health!
If you haven't already checked out the new Mental Health Link Network website - what are you waiting for! It has details of new mental health projects, national policy reports and ...

Community First Welcomes New Business Advisor!
Amanda Wright will be joining Community First at the end of March as our new Wellness Works Business Advisor. Wellness Works is a programme of support, training and advice  fo...

CICs and discretionary rate relief
Whereas charities pay no more than 20% of normal business rates on the buildings which they use and occupy to further their charitable purposes, Community Interest Companies do n...

Community First undergoes Peer Review
Community First is putting itself through its paces again this month with a peer review on its quality standards.  Our ACRE Quality Standards are designed specifically for...

Individual Services in Health, Housing and Social Care Conference
Monday March 3 and Tuesday March 4 2008 Inmarsat Conference Centre, London EC1 Managing New Realities Managing New Realities brings together the worlds of health, social care ...

Support Sessions for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
Deaf Direct in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are running a series of Employment Skills Workshops and a Lip Reading course.  See below for further details.

Prioritising your organisation's needs - an interactive quiz
The Performance Hub has just relaunched its website with a new look.  On the site you can take part in an interactive quiz to understand how to prioritise your organisation's ...

PQASSO 3rd Edition
CES are very proud to be releasing PQASSO 3rd edition - it will reflect all the changes that have taken place in the sector since 2000, and will be even more user friendly. It wil...

WIC Consultation on Draft Policy and Processes for Engagement & Representation

Report assesses true value of voluntary sector
Published in early 2007, the report Valuing the Voluntary and Community Sector in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, looks at a range of issues affecting the sector.  The resea...

Talk Groups Web Forum
Community First have recently launched an online web forum for community groups and management committees www.talkgroups.org.uk . The purpose of the forum is to provide an opportun...

Community First Malvern has moved!
Community First’s registered office has now moved  to its new location, 3 miles outside Malvern. The office is situated close to the Three Counties Showground at Willow ...

Help make a great newsletter even better - and maybe win a camera!
Readers of Newsline, Community First's newsletter, are being asked to participate in an online survey - and in return are being offered the chance to win a digital camera! Read ...

Calor Village of the Year
The search has begun for the top villages in Herefordshire & Worcestershire with the launch of the 2007 Calor Village of the Year competition in each county. Competition organi...

Don't Miss IT! IT Conference on 1st March
An ICT (Information and Communications Technology) conference aimed at small voluntary and community groups is coming up. The theme of the day is 'Making the most of ICT' and is a ...

Politics, Policies and Rural Life
At Community First's well attended AGM on 30th October guest speaker Nick Read addressed the topic of Politics, Policies and Rural Life. His overhead transparencies are available b...

Strategic and Operational Plan 2006 - 2009
Community First's Strategic and Operational Plan for 2006 - 2009 has now been published. Download it, read it - and then tell us whether you think we have got it right by taking pa...

Calor Village of the Year Winners
Winners of the Calor Village of the Year competition received their awards and certificates at a celebration evening in Tarrington on 28th September. Those receiving prizes in t...

Community Buildings and Play Areas
Community Services come in all shapes and sizes, indoors and outdoors Whether its village halls, parish halls, community centres, playgrounds or playing fields you want help with...

National Hubs spring into Action
The six national hubs of expertise aimed at building the capacity of the voluntary sector are now in full swing. The six key themes are: Governance, Workforce Development, Performa...

Nexus Grants Programme Launched
New grants programme focused on improving access to service provision for communties in the rural regeneration zone (mainly Herefordshire, Shropshire and parts of Worcestershire). ...

Infrastructure consortia launch new websites
Herefordshire and Worcestershire infrastructure consortia have launched their new web sites. Funded through the ChangeUp programme the sites provide an overview of the work of the ...