Recessions and Change

 Resilience Pack

This resource pack, co-ordinated by Voluntary Action Leeds, brings together the advice, information and support of several West Yorkshire agencies. It is part of a series of activities funded by Capacitybuilders (and Central Government) to help alleviate the impact of the current recession on voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise organisations. Our sector is used to dealing with the uncertainties of funding, and will always rise to the challenge. However there have already been casualties as funding has become more scarce over the past two years. With the recession, no organisation will be immune. A number of common themes are developed in this pack, however the two which come through most clearly are the need for planning, and the need for the sector to pull and work together.  Download the pack here.

Proving your worth to Whitehall

In this document produced by New Philanthropy Capital in preparation for the tough Comprehensive Spending Review this autumn, the Treasury has posed a series of 9 questions to government departments to force them to focus on which services are essential and which can be cut. The questions are not designed with charities in mind, but charities should be capable of answering them. Charities are concerned about the prospects for public spending and many are facing cuts already, so it may be useful to read the document and answer the questions which, in effect, will subject the charity to the same scrutiny faced by government spending departments. If charities can successfully answer the questions being asked of Whitehall departments, they could build a stronger case for survival. They might become more resistant to departments looking to make cuts. Their case could be more compelling to local authorities. You can download the document here