Lambeth enjoys great affluence in certain pockets of the Borough such as the Southbank; indeed it even plays host to the London Eye. Despite these ever-popular landmarks, Lambeth is the 5th most deprived borough in London. Perversely however, it also receives the least volunteer support from City businesses. The City Action Community Tour of Lambeth aimed to raise the profile of its community activity, with the modest hope of reversing these stats.

The Tour commenced its journey at Guildhall, leaving swiftly at 8.30am for the first destination, Lillian Bayliss Sports Action Zone. We heard from Karim, who gave us an enthusiastic presentation describing the wide variety of active projects that they provide to the people of Lambeth. He stressed the important role that sport and physical activity can play in aiding social inclusion and community cohesion.

Our next destination on the Tour was the Karibu Education Centre in Brixton, a lively community hub, providing young people with the educational & social skills needed to move them safely into adulthood. En route to the Karibu Centre, we received a talk from Iago Griffiths from Lambeth Council, who provided a general overview of Lambeth, in particular what challenges the third sector faces and how Lambeth Council supports their local community. Once at the Karibu Centre, we were greeted by big smiling faces and delicious cakes - always a winning combination! We had a brief talk from Leah Levane, Head of Communities and Neighbourhoods at Lambeth Council, followed by an inspiring presentation from Elaine Holness, the Project Co-ordinator at Karibu, explaining just how essential their support and facilities are to the local community.

After saying our goodbyes to the Karibu Centre, we had another en-route talk, this time from Nick Mason, Chair of the Lambeth Summer Projects, an innovative youth engagement charity in partnership with Lambeth schools and the Metropolitan Police. He talked in particular about their Growing against Gangs programme, providing life skills to pupils to help them avoid involvement in delinquent or anti-social behaviour, violence or gang membership and ‘signpost’ them towards positive activities.

Our final stop of the morning was at the Waterloo Action Centre. For 35 years the centre has been committed to supporting their local community in a variety of ways, offering assistance to people of all ages, irrespective of their problem or query. What particularly struck me was the variety of information and help they offer for such a small community organisation. They even have a weekly surgery where anyone can come in from the street and obtain free legal advice from a dedicated team of qualified lawyers (all volunteers of course).

By 12.45pm our Tour ended where it had begun, at Guildhall. I personally found the morning not only enjoyable but also thought provoking. Many of the City firms present have already expressed a keen interest in supporting the three fantastic organisations we visited. Indeed, one major financial consultancy that attended described the tour as “incredibly insightful and inspiring…This tour allowed me to open my eyes to what’s available”. This is real testament, in my view, to the tremendous value of these City Action Tours.

Last Thursday I attended the launch of a piece of research, carried out by Corporate Citizenship on behalf of ACEVO looking at how private sector leaders can strengthen leadership in the third sector through cross-sector partnerships.

The research highlighted the numerous benefits that come from such initiatives for both the charity and the business. Brian Bannister, Head of Communications at PwC gave a vivid and enlightening account of what he has gained from a 6 week secondment to Barnardos in the North West where he was working with Wendy Shepherd a Project Manager, who Brian described as a truly inspirational leader.

It was clear to see that Brian had benefited immensely from the experience. Not only did he leave the secondment feeling a strong sense of loyalty to PwC, he also changed his perspective towards managing staff (everything he now does is based on the ‘Wendy test’). Brian’s experience of working on a small, under-funded project has strengthened his innovation skills, and his ability to motive staff when times are tough or uncertain, which is especially relevant in the current economic climate.

 From Brian’s description it sounded as if Wendy also gained a lot from the PwC staff, not least observing how PwC colleagues challenged ideas in a professional way, and project management - in particular full cost recovery in terms of preparing tenders.

There definitely seems to be a lot of scope for this model to grow, and hopefully it will in many businesses. In PwC it lies within Human Resources and not Community Affairs, however, it could be a really good way for organisations to strengthen relationships between these two departments.

Speaking at the Voice 09 conference, the Conservative party leader said Britain needed to open up its training system to third sector alternatives and social enterprises so that standards can be raised:

“This is where I see a really important role for social enterprises. Enterprises like City Gateway in Tower Hamlets, which takes young adults from local estates and trains them in the skills our economy will need in the future like web design,” he said.

“These social enterprises have the local knowledge, the human touch, and sensitive understanding of the complex and interconnected problems of educational failure and worklessness and I want to see more City Gateways come in, take this recession by the scruff of the neck and help get people into work.”

And the Conservative party aren’t alone in looking beyond the banking system - City Gateway, a charity set up to link businesses into their training projects in the local community, recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary at the Canary Wharf East Wintergarden. Stephen Timms (Financial Secretary to the Treasury) recognised the dedication of the third sector: “We need more of that passion and commitment in our communities at times like this one when we’ve got economic problems around the world.”

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Media, Culture & Sport, who also spoke at the event added: “In this period it is difficult, it is a challenge, but in this area there is a once in a lifetime opportunity with the Olympic games. I think there are exciting times ahead, there are hopes and dreams people can look for. In my point of view this is a great time for this part of London to really open up opportunities and really ensure that we change as many young lives as possible.”

City Gateway is launching it’s own 1 year blog project in mid April to capture a wide range of opinions on CSR, volunteering and regeneration - find out more on our website.

We have picked up messages from our clients, which imply that Corporate Community Involvement needs to be flexible as possible at the moment, to ensure momentum remains and involvement continues: our annual reception event focused on simple and convenient ways to make valuable contributions within the City fringe boroughs.

The Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Ian Luder, very kindly delivered a keynote speech about his Financial Literacy Initiative, emphasising that Financial Literacy is essential to our future, and that you don’t need to be a financial services expert to help young people improve their numeracy skills.  Anyone who knows how to budget, what a good deal is on a loan, and why you need to save for a pension, can help out by giving as little as one hour of time a month.

The Lord Mayor also highlighted that we now live in a digital age where communication does not have to be face-to-face. Corporate volunteers can offer skilled support to a charity or individual via telephone and e-mail. For example, setting up a database, creating the structure for a business or marketing plan, mentoring a young person or proof reading documents. We recently launched the concept of ‘Virtual Volunteering’ and have developed an icon on our online volunteering opportunities bulletin, enabling visitors to identify volunteering opportunities that can be undertaken remotely.

The event was also a chance for City Action to thank our members for their contribution to our success over the past year. In the last 12 months City Action has seen a 55% growth in the placement of skills-based volunteers from 2007; and in the last quarter of 2008, City Action saw a 40% increase in new volunteering activity. However, we don’t want to become complacent in this ever-changing climate. We must continually review our services to ensure an even stronger City Action community in the coming year.

The areas we will be focusing on this year include:

Re-launching our website - with an integrated members area, more online resources including case studies and interactive news pages.

Ensuring that our community partners continue to receive the skilled support they require by increasing the accessible volunteering opportunities, such as virtual volunteering roles, we have available. 

We will also be looking to raise awareness of the lesser known City-fringe boroughs such as Lambeth to ensure those community organisations receive the support they need.

Finally, we will be consulting you! We are looking forward to discussing our plans and finding out how we can best support your organisation in the coming year.

CNN reporter Adrian Finighan visits Spitalfields Crypt Trust where Bank of Montreal employee volunteers support a lunchtime drop-in once a week.  Despite the slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to this news story, the value of City Action’s service is highlighted as it is described as “a unique initiative that allows volunteers and non-profit groups to work together”. 

Adrian also goes on to say: “Though it might not be ‘true love’ in the traditional sense, this relationship has had benefits for many…there are many types of (volunteer) matches but one clear goal - a relationship - built on a foundation of generosity of spirit”.

As programmes like The Secret Millionaire become ever popular due to the deeply personal and transformational nature of the volunteering stories featured and Barack Obama’s celebrated inauguration speech which focuses on “a new era of responsibility” - perhaps engaging in volunteering is going to become a vital part of rebuilding our economies and communities.  To quote Obama:

“We have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world…duties that we do not grudgingly accept but seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task…this is the price and promise of citizenship”  

Please do watch the full news story here and let us know your views on the future of volunteering…

City Action also supports businesses that are looking to develop a longer-term relationship with a school, via a reading or mentoring scheme for example.  I have recently co-ordinated review meetings with several businesses and their school partners. The feedback that is given by the schools is always positive as they recognise the value that 1:1 volunteer support provides each child - conversations are littered with phrases such as ‘improved social confidence’, ‘raised self-esteem’ and ‘increased literacy levels’.

The value of business and education support was re-iterated at a celebration event I attended earlier this week hosted by the Southwark Education Business Alliance.  Many businesses ranging from global fuel suppliers to SME law firms were in attendance and all had developed a valuable partnership with a school. Southwark is a borough that has unique challenges - as 4 in 10 children are given free school meals (the national average is 1 in 10).  However, Southwark’s standards of education are continuing to rise and throughout the event  it was stressed how important employee volunteer support is to the schools, particularly to help foster the ‘mindset’ in young people that they would like to achieve in school and in their future careers.

The Government recognises the need for the education and business sectors to work in partnership with one another as their recent publication ‘Building Stronger Partnerships’ illustrates.   I hope that despite the downturn, businesses and their employees continue to consider volunteering as a great opportunity for staff to get out of the office (and their comfort zone!) and as a way of each individual developing personal/professional skills whilst supporting young people at a vital time in their lives -perhaps even more so than ever before.

Despite the difficult economic circumstances, City Action’s business clients have continued to be a great source of support to our City-fringe community partners - we have seen a healthy 18% increase in skills-based volunteering over the past year.  Businesses new to employee volunteering are continuing to launch community involvement programmes with the help of City Action - we have seen a 40% increase in the number of programmes launched this year compared to 2007 which is extremely encouraging.

Over a third of City Action’s community partners have benefitted from the very generous donations of resources from City businesses, ranging from meeting room space to new computers - all of which are extremely valuable to local organisations with very limited capacity.

City Action has also seen a significant increase in the number of community organisations seeking our support in 2008 - as our new community partners recognise the huge benefits of involving businesses in helping to deliver or improve their services to the local community.

Developing cross-sectoral networking, knowledge sharing and increased understanding is a key part of City Action’s service.  Over 70 City businesses and 50 community organisations attended City Action events in 2008 which have included three ‘Community Tours’ of the London Boroughs Islington, Camden and Tower Hamlets, a Partnerships workshop and a ‘Celebration of 10 years of City Action’ Networking Event.

I thought I would round this posting off with a few memorable quotes from City Action’s volunteering activity feedback forms this year, as we look forward to an even better 2009!

Employee Volunteers:

‘An overwhelming sense of achievement at helping such a wonderful charity’ 

‘I really feel like I am helping people develop whilst at the same time I am enjoying the happiness it gives to the children, young people, families, volunteers and staff!’

Community Organisations:

‘I just want to say how positive we feel it has been working with City Action - we feel that a real momentum is building with our corporate volunteering.’

‘Many of the children won’t get much adult interaction and if they do its often not positive…..the volunteers are great at interacting with the kids in a fun, friendly and supportive way, which is fantastic.’

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at City Action! The blog will return in January 2009…..

City Action and the IBLF recently collaborated to deliver ‘Joining Forces: a practical workshop to build valuable corporate and community Partnerships’ for 30 attendees from both the corporate and charitable sectors.  The aim of the event was to introduce the concept of ‘Partnering’ and to highlight some of the practical tools that are available to develop sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships between two (or more) organisations.  The workshop was a great success and encouragingly, attendees from both sectors were in agreement that a successful Partnership must be a two-way process. 

At the end of the workshop, many attendees had also developed a greater understanding that each Partner may bring something different to the relationship but that does not make their contribution any less valuable.  For example, the common theme between corporate and charitable partnerships is often cited as funding.  As a result of this funding element, the charity may feel or be treated like an unequal Partner, however, the charity could be bringing many other elements to the Partnership including: the opportunity for employee involvement in their local community, skilled practitioners in their area of work e.g. youth counselling or training and the ability to measure real outcomes or impact of the funding they received. 

City Action now has a member of their team who has accredited Partnership broker status and we are able to offer help, support and resources to our members who are interested in developing a Partnership.  In early 2009, City Action will be launching an area of our website containing free resources and tools for developing a Partnership.

In the meantime, it would be fantastic to hear your thoughts Partnering and some examples of successful Partnerships your organisation has undertaken or are in the process of developing.

“It was a real pleasure to attend the recent Dragon Awards to meet with people engaged in and leading CSR programmes which are making a real difference to communities, business and employees. 

Lakehouse were lucky enough to win an award in the Education category.  Our community involvement program is based on three key themes: Health & Safety; Environmental and Careers. These themes are important to our business and clients and the program is not just an ‘add on’ to our business as it is a core part of our processes.

In collaboration with education business partnerships we developed workshops to offer to primary and secondary schools as well as supporting existing school programs.  We have offered mentoring, work experience and jobs to young people excluded from school.  Feedback from the schools we work with is always positive and support is well received.  Many schools and educational business partnerships find it difficult to engage employers and particularly hard to place young people in work experience.

One of our recent recruits was excluded from school.  He joined us on extended work experience and is now training to become a Contracts Manager.  He has taken a lead on a number of workshops and his transformation is truly inspirational.  I am sure there are many more young people like him who need a chance. 

Additionally, our work with schools has been incorporated into best practice process on construction projects and employees are encouraged to participate via their personal development plans. 

The program has become a key part of the training and personal development of our staff.  Preparation for workshops ensures employees are aware of health & safety, communities or the environment.  Despite initial apprehension with some of our staff, all enjoy working with schools and it is clear the program benefits their confidence and motivation.

As a business, we can offer our staff and clients something different.  We gain a deeper understanding of the communities we work with and the program has been good for our profile and as a business development tool.

British companies lag behind our European counterparts with regard to educational engagement.  We have gained a lot from our work and would like to see more of our partners and competitors involved in a joint effort to support the next generation. “

Whilst grappling with the task of how to evidence that I can effectively communicate and influence, plan and organise, work in a team etc, it struck me how useful my volunteering really is. As an employee at the City of London, my volunteering can be linked into my appraisal process. All employees are encouraged to think of volunteering as an alternative learning and development tool. I, however, hadn’t really thought about this on a personal level. 

I volunteer giving fundraising advice to a partnership for older people in Hackney. The work that I do for them is quite ad hoc, but usually last minute so as to fit the potential funders’ guidelines. This means that I do sometimes have to juggle things around - maybe take a long lunchbreak in which to do the volunteering work and then prioritise my afternoon activities differently (planning and organising). I often end up giving feedback on written applications that have been prepared by the charity’s staff (communications and influence). Giving constructive feedback to other people is something that I sometimes find hard to do at work, so this is a great way to get practise. The volunteering is also useful in terms of practicing writing in a clear and succinct way and keeping up my knowledge of the voluntary sector. 

On top of all these skills, as I work in the Corporate Responsibility team, my volunteering is actually related to my role as I get the experience of being a corporate volunteer. This means that I can talk at a personal level when trying to encourage others to volunteer.  

I know the expression is often thrown around in relation to volunteering - but it does seem to be a win, win situation!