The CIU's Annual Conference 2009

Thursday 5 November

Durning Hall Community Centre
From 10.30am to 4pm

Since 2006, the Community Involvement Unit has hosted an annual conference at Durning Hall for voluntary groups in east London allowing dissemination of information, practical workshops and opportunities for networking.

In the midst of a recession, with funding even tighter than usual and greater demands on the services provided by independent voluntary and community sector organisations in east London, it has never been more important to plan, prioritise and influence funders to support projects that make a genuine impact on the lives of local people.

Groups know there is often a significant mismatch between the many needs they identify within the communities they support, the services they would like to offer and the resources that are available. Making decisions about what to prioritise is essential, but what should drive these decisions?

• Who decides what makes the most significant impact? Our users, our management committee or our funders?
  
• How are these judgements made?
  
• Are we accountable enough to the people who we support?
  
• How do we balance immediate and short-term needs with our wider knowledge and expertise of long-term impact?
  
• And do we always collect and present the real impact of our work in a way that can help secure new funding?

Confirmed speakers include Bharat Mehta, Chief Executive of the City Parochial Foundation, who will discuss how successful funding bids are more likely to be ones where the passion that encourages people to get involved and support voluntary and community groups in the first place can shine through.

Conference Workshops

• Learning From Experience: How To Effectively Rethink Your Activities
  
• Making A Bigger Impact: Understanding the Importance of Campaigning
  
• Becoming Specialists In Your Field
  
• Measuring Health Impacts

REGISTER NOW!

You need to register in advance for the conference and provide the relevant conference registration fee:

Voluntary sector organisations £10

Statutory sector organisations £20

Unfunded groups can send one participant only for FREE

Please make cheques payable to “The Community Involvement Unit” or pay online.

Click here to register online or download the registration form here (PDF).