Volunteer Advisory committee meeting and a property and funder issue

Attended the volunteer centre advisory today. I haven't been to the last few meetings as I know Gaynor, the Volunteer Organiser , has everything in hand but I thought I would go today to explain the organisational review that DVSC is undertaking. This  review is probably now featuring on agendas of most public service bodies given that spending cuts are on the horizon and as such we have to make sure that our organisation is able to manage post April 2011. I think I was able to reassure the members of the advisory that the cunning plan we had would , once implemented, help  DVSC continue to deliver a quality volunteer support service to everyone in Denbighshire. We also talked about our difficulties around computer software, developed specifically for the volunteer centres in Wales,  that we had been battling with over the last 8 months but regrettably we are close to abandoning in favour of software from England. Our testing of the English software will be completed by the end of this month and if the results are favourable i.e. the system will produce the stats we need as well as the management information  required by our funders and the advisory committee then it will be all systems go and we will buy the software and transfer all data across.

Computer systems seem to be current pressing issues for DVSC given that  we are also implementing a contact management system and take up by staff is somewhat patchy . I know recording activity isn't the greatest job in the world but we do have to evidence to our funders exactly what we are doing as well as having systems that staff can share so "the left hand really does what the right hand is doing". I am sure we will get there in the end.

In terms of our priorities I was also reminded the other day that there are one or two issues in our business plan that will require our attention if we are to remain on target one of which is the acquisition of new premises in Rhyl. Hopefully the Rhyl property will be finalised before too long so that we have a more secure base for our staff to work from. Talking about property I was chatting today to a voluntary organisation  about their property  experience and I was saddened to hear their story  as clearly through no fault of their own they have been left high and dry with their refurbishment plans following a change of heart by the funder in what seems like a moving of the goalposts. We are currently helping the organisation to secure funds from other sources but I have to say the original funder will be desperately in need of some terrific PR to overcome the negativity arising from this property experience. The lesson that has been learnt  is that the organisation failed to secure  in writing the offer from the funder which set out the terms under which the funds would be made available and the match fund requirement. Apparently what scuppered the deal was the match  funding component changed which meant that the voluntary organisation would have had to find hundreds of thousands of pounds more which clearly it couldn't in the short time available and so the offer was withdrawn by the funder. My advice has always been and will continue to be "get it in writing" , it doesn't matter even the written word is in an email because it is still in writing and dated and is beyond dispute if challenged at a later date. I mention email because of the ICT age we are now living in.  This is simple hard headed business advice. In this particular case the whole re-development of the building has been put back, by my estimates, at least 5 years as the amount of money we are talking about is in excess of £500,000 added to which the inconvenience to the users of the building.

Its strange how  issues tend to come in pairs such as computer software and now property matters because apart from the new Rhyl premises I am now deep into negotiations with regard to another property venture which has come out of nowhere over the last two weeks  and to be honest I thought that our accommodation needs in that particular area would have to be put on hold due to lack of finance and suitable alternative premises. It looks like we will know by the end of this month whether DVSC will have a firm offer which I can then put to our Trustees for their consideration. If not we will be back to the drawing board. I would like to say more but I can't  due to confidentiality reasons but if it does go ahead I think the deal will surprise a few people.