Four Functions of Local Infrastructure
Function Three
Capacity Building
What We Do
The VCSE sector is often the backbone of communities, and when there’s a crisis, it’s the VCSE sector that responds with what communities need.
It’s our job as a Local Infrastructure Organisation (LIO) to help charities, CIC’s, social enterprises, and all local voluntary organisations and community groups reach their full potential.
With limited funds, time, and resources, the incredible voluntary and community groups working in the heart of local communities are the ones that make the magic happen – often having to create something from nothing.
How We Do It
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The support we provide is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the sector, whether that’s at a strategic level, or a developmental one. From large, established charities, to small residents’ associations, and everything in between, our experience has shaped our services, creating a tried and tested package of support.
Supporting the local voluntary sector is something we’ve been doing for over a century. We use our wealth of knowledge together with our teams’ vast experience to support organisations of all sizes, building capacity and forming strong foundations.
Our often-bespoke services are designed to give organisations the guidance they need to become more resilient and efficient, to achieve their goals, and ultimately, improve lives and help communities thrive.
Empowerment, Evolution, Experience
But it’s not just about what we do. It’s about what you do too!
All we’re doing is supporting and empowering organisations like yours, organisations that are already working on the ground in our local communities. Staying on mission, we’ll help you to develop the skills you need and get all the right things in place so you can stay on mission too – focussing on what it was you initially set up to do.
We focus on equipping you with the knowledge and skills you need to navigate your day-to-day operations, all the while ensuring you can remain true to yourself and your mission, and to deliver the services that meet the needs of your community.
The holistic approach we take to capacity building enables us to form a strong relationships, really getting to know you, your organisation, your services, and your beneficiaries.
Getting to know you and how your organisation works helps us to identify where there are gaps in knowledge, skills, and sometimes policy, to create a customised development plan that fully meets your needs and can be completed at your pace.
Our support lasts long after this stage too, meaning that you can come back, and keep coming back to us as your services, and your organisation, evolves.
We’ve built our training offer from our experience of what groups need, not what we think they need.
Often free for VAST members, our training sessions have been created in consultation with local voluntary sector organisations based wholly on their needs, feedback, and from the topics that regularly come up in our one-to-one support.
Communities Know Communities Best
Our teams are in constant dialogue with our members across Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire, and our day-to-day work with them highlights the challenges the sector is facing. Focussing on responding to need, we place a strong emphasis on community involvement, recognising that it’s community members themselves that understand their needs best.
Active participation is vital in decision-making processes and the development of sustainable solutions. We use diverse approaches to involve the community at all stages, encourage and nurture close collaboration with stakeholders, and use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) opportunities to create stronger links between sectors.
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We also recognise the value of knowledge sharing and best practices. We create networks and platforms where you can come together with other organisations, share your experiences, and learn from each other. This way, we can foster a culture of collaboration and continuous learning, where we can, together, explore new ideas, innovative approaches, and evidence-based practices.
Building Capacity for a Thriving Voluntary Sector
Through our strong cross-sector relationships we’re able to identify opportunities for CSR projects which help local organisations get practical support that really makes a difference to communities.
Matching businesses with projects strengthens and creates important links between the voluntary and private sectors, involving local communities and those who might not otherwise understand the enormous positive impact their contribution will have.
The numerous networks and forums we create and facilitate are fluid and fully encourage collaboration; always working as a community. We believe in co-designing solutions that include businesses, statutory, voluntary, and community organisations.
Bringing together the diverse perspectives and expertise of those we engage with, we can develop comprehensive solutions to community problems. We support communities in being responsive to meet their needs, whether that’s a long-term action plan or immediate intervention.
Community Share Networks are themed connect and share events for local voluntary organisations and community groups. They provide an excellent platform to share your knowledge, skills and experiences to learn from each other, as well as talk about local challenges and your successes.
Community Share Networks create and nurture a culture of collaboration not competition.
Our experienced projects team has supported hundreds of groups—of all sizes—to secure funding. From finding appropriate grant schemes and tender opportunities and providing advice on how to write strong bids and funding applications, to basic budgeting skills and how to fundraise and manage donations – our development support service has continued to build capacity across the sector to support vulnerable people and local communities.
The VAST Vault is an online resource for voluntary and community organisations.
It provides information, advice and resources on a number of topics including governance and trusteeship, volunteering, data protection, and sustainability, together with the latest funding opportunities.
Created in 2015, the VAST Bursary fund awards grants of up to £500 to voluntary and community groups in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
Bursaries enable groups to access some of our business services including accountancy, payroll, and bookkeeping services, taking the headache out of organisation’s financial obligations.
The Bursary can also cover the cost of any chargeable training sessions.
Our capacity building work also includes working with organisations to monitor your current, and evaluate your finished projects, ensuring that you’re meeting your intended objectives and truly demonstrate the positive impact your organisation has on local communities.
We will also work with you to ensure that you’re able to communicate and engage effectively with your beneficiaries and can make the most of your consultation and engagement work.