Section four: Effective, resourced community organisations
Title Skills Toolkit | Author(s) Stirling Council |
Date Subject to updating | Publisher/ web link Stirling Council
http://www.stirling.gov.uk/skillstoolkit | Geographical focus Stirling Council area | Theme / topic focus Community organisations |
Size unknown | Accessibility Well and thoughtfully presented. Entries generally short & simple | Cost Free access, and option for download of printable version | Coverage Creating and developing organisations |
Type On-line reference guide | Primary audience Community groups |
Summary of content The toolkit is organised around the image of a tree. The roots are briefings on getting the community involved and staying in touch. The trunk is organisation - constitutions, finances etc. The branches are about different forms of networking. The fruits are briefings on creating and managing projects and on representation. Each topic starts with a short advice note, and links to more on several different aspects of each issue, to some national or local Stirling examples, and to several 'tools' including a number of well presented checklists for action. |
Comments / assessment A well presented local Scottish product. Nothing is covered in great depth, but the whole process is there and good advice is packed in to every short briefing. Could easily be accessed and used as it stands by groups, capacity building workers and trainers anywhere in Scotland. |
Title Setting up for Success: A practical guide for community organisations | Author(s) Anna Allen and Catriona May |
Date 2007 | Publisher/ web link Community Development Foundation
www.cdf.org.uk | Geographical focus England / UK (the legal references are to England but the general content is broad | Theme / topic focus Organisational development and management |
Size A4, 78 pages | Accessibility Clearly laid out and well designed | Cost £9.95 | Coverage Community organisations |
Type Practical guide with examples, tips, links to other resources | Primary audience Community organisations - especially those with staff and management responsibilities |
Summary of content Principles, policies and procedures, management committees, employment, financial management, business and project planning, promoting your organisation, achieving sustainability, templates for the above, other resources and contacts |
Comments / assessment An accessible and thorough guide to the 'business' side of running a community organisation. Welcome attention given to encouraging community organisations to be 'at the forefront' in embracing diversity, promoting equality, and embracing sustainable development - saving energy, travelling wisely, shopping ethically, conserving resources. |
Title To have and to hold: the DTA guide to asset development for community and social enterprises | Author(s) Lorraine Hart |
Date 2005 | Publisher/ web link Development Trusts Association
http://www.dta.org.uk/* | Geographical focus UK | Theme / topic focus Asset development |
Size 56 pages | Accessibility Reasonably short and user-friendly given the subject matter | Cost £20 (free download) | Coverage Acquiring and developing land and buildings |
Type Step by step guide | Primary audience Community groups seeking to acquire assets |
Summary of content Aimed at communities that wish to acquire and manage land or buildings, the guide covers some basic community involvement issues, business and project planning. More distinctively, it looks at financing asset acquisition, contractual and legal issues in construction and development, working with professionals and managing the eventual asset. The reader is basically taken through the process from start to finish, but a variety of checklists and graphical aids are provided. |
Comments / assessment Good concise guide bringing together all the main issues for any groups in this position. Without checking in depth, appears to be relatively free of 'England only' advice. |
* http://www.dta.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/0B6ABA0E-E405-41CC-ADF0-974DD1FF46F7/0/asset.pdf
Title Skye and Lochalsh Community Toolkit | Author(s) Skye & Lochalsh Council of Voluntary Organisations |
Date Subject to updating | Publisher/ web link Skye & Lochalsh Council of Voluntary Organisations
http://toolkit.slcvo.org.uk/ | Geographical focus Skye and Lochalsh | Theme / topic focus Community organisations |
Size unknown | Accessibility Clearly and attractively presented | Cost Free access, and print option | Coverage Creating and developing organisations |
Type On-line reference guide | Primary audience Community groups |
Summary of content Guidelines on a range of topics, including setting up and running a community group, legal requirements and good practice, project planning and management, and fundraising (guide to funders, with an emphasis on rural issues). Each of the many topics contains the equivalent of one or a few pages of advice, with links to organisations and policy documents, local case studies and resources such as model constitutions, a sample Brief for Consultants etc. |
Comments / assessment Similar to Stirling's in presentation and probably containing more information in total. Good coverage for example on legal requirements (Child Protection, Data Protection, licensing etc). Could be used equally as widely, or in conjunction with, the previous entry. |
Title The Big Picture | Author(s) Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations |
Date 2 nd edition 2003 | Publisher/ web link SCVO
http://www.thebigpic.org.uk/ | Geographical focus Scotland | Theme / topic focus Quality improvement |
Size 94 pages | Accessibility Simple presentation of abstract ideas | Cost £76 ('Getting Started with the BP': £35) | Coverage Voluntary Organisations |
Type Quality improvement framework | Primary audience Voluntary organisation managers and committees |
Summary of content The pack "has been designed to help you think about every aspect of your organisation and its work and take action to improve it". It works through a four-part classification of two types of 'enabler' and two types of 'results' and invites organisations to assess their performance in each, with examples and some helpful lists of 'the tough questions to ask'. The second edition claims to have a much stronger focus on the results, rather than the processes and also places more emphasis on leadership, equal opportunities and people. The web site gives free access to summaries of the framework, case studies, links to other resources and suggestions on using the framework . |
Comments / assessment In Scotland, probably the best known organisational development tool for the voluntary sector. Benefits from having been designed specifically for that sector, and claims to address the needs of both large and small groups. Adaptable in use, with a focus on achieving a positive impact and working with stakeholders. Difficult to see how the cost would be justified if a group was not supported and committed to undertake a complete process using the framework. |
Title Community Webnet Resources | Author(s) Community Webnet |
Date 2006 | Publisher/ web link Community Webnet
http://www.communitywebnet.org.uk/resources/ | Geographical focus Scotland | Theme / topic focus Environmental issues |
Size Unknown | Accessibility Reasonable -best used for accessing specific resources | Cost Free on-line | Coverage Project creation and management |
Type Collection of guidance notes | Primary audience Environmental groups |
Summary of content Part of a website provided by a consortium of many of Scotland's leading environmental groups, which also contains a large projects database and the usual almost totally inactive online forums. Covers the process from 'getting started through planning and management to monitoring. 'Project' seems to mean 'new organisation'. Under each heading separate documents are supplied, each of which has been drawn up for the purpose by one of the environmental groups. Inevitably varying in style, they appear to be largely very practical and often fairly full advice notes |
Comments / assessment Covers less of the capacity building process than the local toolkits reviewed above, but could be useful to some because of the environmental focus, and also worth checking for some substantial resources on issues such as becoming a company or business planning. |
Title Taking Control in your community | Author(s) Confederation of Co-operative Housing |
Date Subject to updating | Publisher/ web link Confederation of Co-operative Housing
http://www.communitiestakingcontrol.org/ | Geographical focus England | Theme / topic focus |
Size unknown | Accessibility Well signposted, and colour coded for level of complexity | Cost Free on-line access; or pdf download or print copy of original report | Coverage Housing Associations 'wider role' |
Type Website with multiple resources | Primary audience Housing Association management and staff |
Summary of content Aimed at promoting 'community control' the guide looks at three aspects: 'controlling your homes' (tenant participation), 'community home ownership' (community based HAs etc) and most significantly for this review 'controlling local services'. 12 'modules' of advice are given on several aspects of the latter from very small scale activities to larger projects, with particular attention to running Community Centres, shops and newspapers. Checklists and links to examples are provided. |
Comments / assessment Appears to be a good source for an overview of the issues involved in service delivery in a reasonably accessible format. The 'local services' material is applicable to groups of any type. |
Other resources
Some discussions of capacity building refer to little else besides organisational development. There is a wealth of material on the building, strategic governance and management of voluntary organisations, though it may frequently not fully reflect the experience of smaller, community-based groups.
One of the most comprehensive sources is the Reference Manual produced by Community Matters, which claims to be 'the first comprehensive reference manual compiled specifically for advisers and consultants working with community organisations'. This requires a purchase for £100-£120 depending on organisation, which gives a year of updates to the loose-leaf publications, following which a £30-£35 annual subscription is required. We have not reviewed this. Information at: http://www.communitymatters.org.uk/resources/reference_manual.php
Funderfinder offers a very useful service in the form of two freely downloadable programmes 'Budget Yourselves', which takes a group through the process of budgeting for its work or a project and 'Apply Yourselves', which assists with the writing of (generic) funding applications. These are perhaps however not strictly capacity building tools so much as direct tools for use in operations. http://www.funderfinder.org.uk/products.php
The Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont offers online access to quite a long list of simple resources, often questionnaires or exercises, on 'Effective Meetings', 'Group improvement' - motivation, communication etc, and to a lesser extent problem solving and community level planning http://crs.uvm.edu/gopher/nerl/group.html
Forward Scotland have produced a guide 'Developing Local Capacity: Local Sustainability Trusts' which contains useful advice on finding partners, business planning etc, but refers to a fairly specific model of organisation.
http://www.forward-scotland.org.uk/index.php?option=com-docman&task=doc-download&Hemid=99999999&grid=149