On Wednesday 25th October we at Community & Voluntary Services Cheshire East will be holding our annual Funding & Governance Conference (FGC). The conference will be tailored for charities, non profits, community and faith groups of all sizes across Cheshire East and to those starting up in the near future.

The FGC will feature a diverse range of expert lead seminars and workshops on key topics in support of running and developing your organisation, and delivering services. The FGC also includes a 'Meet the Funder' event where representatives from funding bodies (both local and national) will be in attendance and available to meet with you one to one to answer your questions directly, helping you to find new funding sources and improve your bids potential for success.

CVS Cheshire East also provides a 'Funding Bid Read through Service' for our members, delivering expert support all year round (email advice@cvsce.org.uk for details). 

The full programme of events and conference details will be confirmed over the coming weeks and will made available on this page. The FGC is free to attend but places are limited so be sure to book early to avoid disappointment. 

Quick Navigation

CVS Cheshire East AGM
Seminars & Speakers
Meet the Funder
Booking Terms & Conditions
Location, Parking & Transport links

CVS Cheshire East AGM. 

The conference will also host this years CVS Cheshire East AGM. During the AGM we will be reviewing the past 12 months and sharing our plans for the future.  We are also really pleased to announce that we will be launching our logo and visual identity at the AGM. 

If you are unable to attend our AGM you can ask a fellow member (or one of our Trustees) to act as your proxy and vote on your behalf.  To do this you will need to complete this form and either return it to us or your proxy can provide it at the AGM.

At each AGM 1/3 of our Trustee Board must stand down. 

At this AGM CVS Cheshire East Board of Trustees recommends that:
The following nominees are suitable for election for Trustee positions
· Geoff Etherington – Member Trustee
· Martyn Hulme – Co-opted Trustee

The following Trustees will be standing down at this AGM. 
· Bill Gregory  Member Trustee
· Fatima Perriman  Member Trustee  

With the resignations above there remains potential 5 vacant places on the Trustee Board 3 for Trustees representing the Membership and 2 Co-opted Trustees.  To apply for one of these positions please visit here

For a full set of our accounts please click here

Seminars & Speakers

The Funding & Governance Conference will feature a diverse range of expert lead seminars and workshops, on key subjects in support of running and developing your organisation, and the delivery of services.

Seminars will include:

Evaluating Outcomes
By: Professor Pauline Ong, Keele University
In this seminar Pauline will discuss the importance of evaluating services so that benefits to clients' quality of life can be determined, and how evidence of the value of specific provisions can be collected. She will give real life examples, and provide pointers as to how to design evaluations that are practical and do-able with limited resources.

Pauline BN Ong is Emerita Professor of Health Services Research at Keele University. She has been a Non-executive Director and Chair at various NHS Trusts, a Trustee at Age UK Cheshire and Chair of the End of Life Partnership. She has carried out many evaluations of services in the public and third sector.

Managing volunteers in difficult situations
By: Alex Major, CVS Cheshire East
How do we managing difficult situation with volunteers? Discussions from real life case studies and what practical tips can we use to ensure a positive resolution for all involved. Followed by what is gained by having clear policies and procedures in place for support to reduce problems in the future.

Bio - Alex has worked in the voluntary sector for 23 years, 17 of which were at Age UK Cheshire managing many staff and volunteer teams and developing new and innovative services for communities across Cheshire and the North West. 

Getting Your Voice Heard
By: Louise Daniels, JSNA Engagement, CVS Cheshire East 
Your Voice’ session: 

• How to make Friends and Influence people… 
• An interactive opportunity to share knowledge and get answers to questions like…. 
• CVS Networks? – who goes to them and what they can do for me? 
• Where can I get my voice heard in Cheshire East? –Where are the local high- level influential meetings? 
• Is anyone interested in my opinion? 
• What’s a JSNA and why should I care? 
• Who do I go to with an issue that I can’t get an answer to? 
• What does the Cross-sector working group do? 
• What else is going on that I should know about?

The session will also: 

• take you on a quick tour of Cheshire East JSNA 
• give you a chance to fill in a quick survey 
• give you an update on community developments and local research 
• give you a chance to talk about issues that are important to you and your organisation

Bio - Louise Daniels is part of the ‘representation’ team at CVS Cheshire East, and has worked for the organisation in a wide variety of roles for more than 20 years. She helps to gather issues and concerns from VCFS organisations, and then to facilitate responses, answers, and solutions from decision-makers , the local authority and other statutory agencies. 

Louise is currently the Community JSNA Coordinator, and works with VCFS organisations to research the health and wellbeing needs of local communities, and to provide commissioners with information and data to help them address needs and fill gaps in services.

Negotiating and Managing Effective Contracts
By: Mark Johnson, Elderflower Legal
In a tough funding environment marked by constant change and disruption, effective contracts can be the lifeblood of a charity or community enterprise. This session will explore the ingredients for a successful contract and how to manage change during its lifetime.

The session will cover:

• Setting up a contract – essential features and requirements. When is a contract really ‘worth the paper it’s written on’? 
• Key commercial terms to get right (e.g. payment by results, indemnities, exit payments) 
• Traps and risks to watch out for (such as inflation risk, changes in the law, TUPE transfers, pension liabilities) 
• Q&A session on your specific contract problems and questions (if you would like to put forward a specific issue for discussion, please email mark.johnson@elderflowerlegal.co.uk with your query and any supporting material by Friday 14 Oct).

Health & Safety Responsibilities in the Voluntary Sector
By: Jim Benson, McCormack Benson, Health and Safety Consultants 

This seminar will cover: 

• • Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 
• • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 
• • Responsibility & Duties for employees, volunteers, beneficiaries, service users, trustees and visitors 
• • How Risk Assessments work 
• • Definition of ‘suitable & sufficient’ 
• • Definition of ‘so far as reasonably practicable
• • Health & Safety Policies 
• • Record Keeping & Due Diligence 
• • Insurance 
• • How to become compliant 
• • Accidents & How to prevent them 
• • Fire Safety 
• • Manual Handling 
• • Dynamic Risk Assessments ( Events / Field Trips ) 
• • Disclaimers (Not suitable or sufficient )
• • Lone Working 
• • How to avoid blood borne diseases 

Bio - Jim Benson is a director of MBHS Permanent member of the British Safety Council 25 years working in health & safety. Wide ranging experience including working with organisations in the charity sector MBHS (McCormack Benson Health and Safety). MBHS was formed in 2003. They offer health and safety consultancy, compliance & training services with nationwide coverage. Also supply a wide range of health and safety related surveying, certification and testing services at competitive prices under the MBHS Safety Plus banner.

Accounting and Reporting
Who reads it anyway? We consider how reporting to members and others could be improved.
By: Liz Hudson
All constituted organisations, regardless of their size, are required to report to their members and in some cases to others, such as regulators. But does what we prepare meet the requirements? And do our members and other readers understand it? We consider the elements of good practice in presenting accounts and reports, looking at examples from organisations of various sizes and types.

Bio - Liz Hudson ACA has worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors and has held many volunteer roles, including that of treasurer of a registered charity. As a former member of CVSCE's group development team she is very familiar with the challenges faced by committees and trustee boards, especially in financial matters. Liz also acts as independent examiner to a number of charities and voluntary organisations. She is a currently a trustee of two local charities.

Identifying and Managing Organisational Risk
By: Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie - Cheshire without Abuse
This workshop will cover the basics of organisational risk management, from identifying and responding to risk to understanding your responsibilities for risk management in the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS). Participants will consider the risks for their own organisation or project using a risk management template and will be introduced to the CWA Risk Management Framework as an example of how to safely manage and prepare for risk.

Cheshire Without Abuse: As a local domestic abuse charity, Cheshire Without Abuse (CWA) operates in a high risk field and has a strong track record of managing client risk. Over the past three years CWA has applied this expertise to the management of organisation risk, working with Lloyds Bank to develop a Risk Management Framework that can be applied to any size of organisation or group.

Bio - Saskia is the Chief Executive of CWA with over twenty years’ experience of working in infrastructure with small local VCFS organisations and almost twenty five years specialising in domestic abuse. 

Brexit and its impact on the VCSE Sector
Andy Churchill, Network for Europe

This seminar will cover: 

• FUNDING - Impact on current programme and what might replace ESF/ERDF 

• SOCIAL IMPACT - What issues are being generated that VCSE might need to respond to? 

• REGULATORY CHANGE - What changes might Brexit make to the regulatory framework that currently exists, e.g. procurement, environmental legislation 

• WHAT MIGHT BREXIT MEAN FOR YOUR ORGANISATION? What do VCSE organisations need to start thinking about and planning for? 

Network For Europe Network for Europe has been operating since 1986, and exists to support the Third Sector with the European Programmes, in particular the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund. It does this through Information, Representation and Strategy. It is working in partnership with CVS CE on a project to involve the Sector in ESF funding in Cheshire and Warrington. 

Bio - Andy Churchill has been involved in European Funding for several decades and welcomes the £3bn for England in the current ESF programme, part of which is to be used to support inclusion at a local level. He is involved at local, national and European level, including some participation in discussions around a potential new fund for when the current ESF is spent, and supporting the European developments which will make the funds very much simpler to operate

Funding: More Than Grants – Considering the Income Spectrum
Heidi Bibby, Development Officer, CVS Cheshire East
As grants become more difficult to find, organisations need to look at other simple ways to find funding for their services. We will be considering the ‘Income Spectrum’ on this whistle stop tour of alternative funding streams for the voluntary sector. This is ideal for any organisation which would like to develop alternative funding options.

Bio - Heidi has worked in the VCS since 2001 and at CVS Cheshire East for the last 6 years. Heidi is a Development Officer whose specialism is developing the training programme at CVS Cheshire East. She has worked with a number of groups on successful grant and funding bids including larger funders such as Reaching Communities. She has a BA (Hons) Open in Creative Writing, Children’s Literature & Childhood. She enjoys working to help organisations develop and grow their projects and loves seeing the results of their hard work. 

Data Protection – Everything You Need to Know.. But Were Afraid to Ask
By: Mark Johnson, Elderflower Legal 
Recent high profile scandals and fines have thrown the spotlight on the misuse of donors’ and service users’ personal data. In May 2018, the new General Data Protection Regulation will introduce even stricter controls and penalties for noncompliance.

 This practical session will explore: - 

• What do the current rules of the Data Protection Act 1998 require? 
• What will change from May 2018? 
• What should you be doing to stay compliant? - How and when can you contact your supporters? - The vital importance of Privacy Notices 

Bio - Mark is a dual-qualified solicitor and chartered company secretary with over 23 years’ experience of advising charities, social enterprises and SMEs on corporate structures, contracts and partnerships in the fields of health and social care, education, offender rehabilitation, environment and energy, sports and culture. He helps clients comply with regulations and red tape, manage risk, secure funding and navigate public tenders. Mark provides Boards with peace of mind through an outsourced company secretarial service. He sits on the Board of several local not for profits and holds the IoD Diploma in company direction. Find out more at elderflowerlegal.co.uk. Tel: 01625 260577

Full outlines of the seminar's below and bios of each the speakers to follow in the near future:

• Community Framework Update
• Engaging Young People
• Introduction to Grant Writing 
• Tendering and the Chest
• Brand Communication
• Social Media

Meet The Funder

Here is your chance to explore new funding avenues and improve your orgainisation's funding bids chances of success by having your questions answered directly by representitives from these local and national funding bodies:
 

• Lloyds Bank Foundation
• Cheshire Community Foundation
• Williams Family Foundation
• Cheshire East Council Partnerships
• Crewe Town Council
• Manchester Airport Community Fund
• Active Cheshire

Booking Information

Places are free but limited to 2 per organisation. You will, however, be charged an administration fee if you do not attend the event or cancel your booking after 5 p.m on Friday 20th October 2017. Your organisation will be invoiced £20 per person.

Parking & Transport links to South Cheshire College

This years conference is kindly being hosted by South Cheshire College. (Dane Bank Avenue, Crewe CW2 8AB)

On site parking is free, with plenty of spaces as the conference is being held during half term.

By Bus

The closest bus stop to South Cheshire College is the 'Somerville Street' stop on Nantwich Road (CW2 6PF) serviced by the number 84 Bus followed by a 5min walk into campus via Dane Bank Ave or Sommerville Street. 

The 84 bus runs: Crewe - Willaston - Nantwich - Tarporley - Chester.

Traveling from Macclesfield, Congleton and Sandbach.

Take the 38 bus into Crewe and alight at the 'Brunswick' stop on Nantwich Road (CW2 6AL) followed by a 15min walk along Nantwich Road turning right onto Somerville Street. 

Traveling from Winsford, Middlewich and Sandbach.

Take the 37 bus into Crewe and alight at the 'Brunswick' stop on Nantwich Road (CW2 6AL) followed by a 15min walk along Nantwich Road turning right onto Somerville Street.