Economic storm/2: Charities’ toolkit

Following the greatest economic upheaval in a generation, community, voluntary and charitable organisations are preparing for extremely challenging times in 2009 and beyond.

The Wheel, the support and representative body for community, voluntary and charitable organisations across Ireland, has developed this Recession Toolkit to help equip community and voluntary groups with the practical information resources required to weather this economic storm.

 

Managing Resources in a Recession

Training in Ireland

In response to the recession, The Wheel has developed a new half-day workshop called ‘Making More With Less’ to support groups as they assess and address the challenge posed by the recession. The half-day workshop is being offered throughout Ireland in 2009.

The practical elements of the workshop include:

– A Financial Awareness toolkit

– Analysis of the changes to the fundraising environment

– A strategic options check list

– An exploration of what can be done to grow existing income streams.

You can find out more about the workshops here.

Documents download

Moreover, all the civil society organizations throughout Europe and beyond can have a look at these documents, also available to download.

Money Counts – a Financial Toolkit for Small and Medium Sized Voluntary Organisations

Fundraising in a Recession (a report from 2into3)

25 Tips for Fundraising in Tough Times (The Ireland Funds)

Recession and the Charity Sector (Fundraising Ireland).

 

Managing Risk

Community and voluntary organisations are not immune from risk. In fact, they operate in particularly high-risk environments, coping with uncertain funding streams, working with vulnerable client groups, being dependent on voluntary input, dealing with continuously changing public representatives and civil servants etc.

Risk cannot be avoided, but most types of risk can be anticipated and therefore planned for. By properly managing risk, the negative effects of hazards can be reduced. It is important that those who run not-for-profit organisations, whether as volunteers or paid staff, are aware of the risks involved and feel comfortable dealing with these. In these challenging economic times, managing risk, especially around financial risk, becomes even more important.

Training in Ireland

The Wheel is running a series of workshops on the topic called ‘Introducing Risk Management’ throughout 2009. At this workshop participants will also receive a free copy of our new good-practice resource guide ‘Reducing the Risk’.

You can find out more about the workshops here.

Documents download

Introducing Risk Management to Organisations (the slides relating to The Wheel workshop)

Managing Risk in Your Organisation (a short good practice note from The Wheel)

Guidelines on Reserves Policy (developed by The Wheel).

 

Employment Law in a Recession

The changing economic climate may compel many community and voluntary organisations to review their existing employment arrangements.

Employers should, however, be aware that there have been significant changes in Employment Law during the past few years, and it is essential that those dealing with human resources in community and voluntary organisations are informed about their rights and obligations under the law.

Documents download

The report Employment Law in a Changing Economic Climate offers in-depth guidance on the following key areas of the Irish employment law:

– Redundancies: procedures, the employers responsibilities and the employees rights;

– The Employee Handbook: explaining the terms of employment, disciplinary procedures, dispute resolution etc.

 

Funding information

Fundingpoint.ie is the online source of funding information for the Irish community and voluntary sector. Developed and maintained by The Wheel, with support from the Vodafone Foundation, Fundingpoint.ie lists comprehensive details for over 500 funding schemes from a variety of sources, including central and local government, independent trusts and corporate foundations. It is an invaluable and labour-saving research tool when looking to diversify funding for your organisation.

For further information, visit the website www.fundingpoint.ie or email Paul Meade on paul@wheel.ie.

 

Resource Guides

You can equip your organisation with the series of management and resource guides and publications by The Wheel.

List of The Wheel’s publications.

 

Additional Resources

Recession – Watching is Not an Option (published by THINK consulting)

What Happens to Charities in a Downturn (research published by nfpSynergy)

The Direction of Major Gift Giving in Ireland (a report by Prospect 23 and 2into3).

 

Sources:

www.wheel.ie

www.dochas.ie