goodmoves

In today’s climate it is essential individuals can manage the demands on their time. The course explores what helps and hinders achieving priorities and presents tips and techniques for how to improve the use of time available.

This course will help you to learn:

• how time management can help with productivity;
• how and when to say “no” without offending;
• how to establish short and long term goals to achieve results;
• how to sustain these improvements.

What’s the big deal with minutes anyway? Minutes are a record of what takes place at a meeting and ensures nothing is lost or forgotten – you will learn how to take, prepare, and present minutes.

No need to write like the wind and capture every word – minutes don’t have to be verbatim but they do have to record certain facts. You will explore what must be recorded: participants, decisions, actions…

Time is precious, so make every second count – think like a Scout and be prepared! Duncan Wallace will discuss the meeting cycle and what to prepare before your meeting takes place.

Minutes don’t have to be long, complicated or in fancy language but they do need to record clearly and simply…you will examine the most difficult aspects of taking minutes and how best to address them.

Anyone can scribble a rough outline of a meeting, right? Yes, but to take good notes and create minutes that provide an accurate reflection requires a particular set of skills – Teresa will show you!

The good, the bad and the ugly – get the pop-corn ready as you screen them all! You’ll examine good and bad minutes, which will help you follow best practice and avoid common mistakes.

Participants will be able to:

• identifying the elements of an effective report;
• plan a report;
• develop the structure;
• decide on the content;
• identify the audience and use appropriate language;
• understand appendices and references;
• overcome ‘writer’s block’.

You’ll look at some of the why, where, when, how behind comms and marketing during class discussions and group work. You’ll look at good (free or almost free) tools, which will help you build some imaginative marcomms campaigns. Then you’ll plan and execute a campaign (and present it for fun!), maybe setting up a demo Twitter account, Facebook page, media call, or stakeholder event.

You’ll take a real, live plan back to base after picking up new skills:

• why marketing & communications matters – particularly the need to sell internally
• know your comms options – looking at the “traditional” and “digital” ways we can communicate
• curate a list of ways to tell stories – and how to decide what to do
• learn about video and design

Who are you approaching for support and why? If your application doesn’t fit don’t force it into a funder’s guidelines – you will explore how to make the best match between the work you want to fund and the most appropriate funder.

How many funders is one too many? With over two decades of fundraising experience Pam knows why you should pursue different sources of support and how to avoid seeking funding every three years…and she’ll let you in on it!

It’s not OK to have your application stand out from the crowd… it’s A-OK! Sing your own praises when writing proposals, which include organisational case statements that can be modified to suit different funding applications – it’s a skill and Pam will show you how!

It’s important to make the most of what you’ve got – you will look at how to engage your management committee, volunteers and other staff in supporting your efforts and making your fundraising more effective!

What comes first, the funder or match funding? Partnerships and joint applications are key to third sector fundraising, so you will examine how to make them work in your favour.

You know funding is not a quick progress, it takes time, effort and a lot of leg work especially when it comes to research – Pam will take you through the role of research and how important it is in successful funding applications… it is beyond looking in the directories.

Taking care of donors after the cheque is in the bank plays as important a part of funding as the application does, it is more than just a thank you! You will explore the complexities of stewardship and the art of cultivation.

The course covers all the main aspects of financial management, looking backwards at annual accounts and forwards at planning tools, and how these are linked:

Financial management:

• role of financial management – purpose and responsibilities;
• financial management and the need for sound control systems.

Management reporting:

• management reporting to the Board;
• accountability and reporting to funders and stakeholders.

Statutory Financial Statements:

• principles underlying financial accounting statutory reporting requirements;
• content and format;
• working through a set of annual accounts to explain the terminology, what the figures mean and how the different parts link together;
• how the new SORP will affect annual accounts.

Budgeting:

• purpose;
• setting;
• monitoring and reporting;
• full cost recovery.

Cashflow projections:

• purpose and construction of simple cashflow

Data protection and the GDPR raises many questions for third sector organisations. What is your organisation to do when it receives a Data Subject Access Request? Which of your client-users, customers, staff member or ex-staff member can submit at SAR? What is your organisation supposed to do with marketing? How can it market? To whom can they market? How can it fundraise? What will happen if they fall foul of the legislation?

To answer these questions and many more, you’ll concentrate on:

• a brief overview and reminder of GDPR and DPA 2018
• the Data Subject Rights
• Subject Access Requests
• timescales and (possible) exemptions
• penalties for getting it wrong
• the PECR
• the legal bases for processing
• consent and ‘opt-in’ and ‘opt-out’

Facebook, twitter and blogging don’t have to be a mystery…this course will look at:

• Blogging
• Video & audio
• Facebook
• Twitter
• A social media strategy in 20 minutes

Participants will work towards a Level 5 certificate in Management and Leadership through CMI accredited training (Equivalent to SCQF Level 8). The training provides the next step for managers looking to develop their skills and gain professional recognition to aid future career development. The course covers information based decision making and managing team performance giving managers a rounded skills set and providing a foundation to work towards the diploma and Chartered Manager status.

This workshop uses practical exercises to help you:

• write content which is creative, clear and concise;
• learn to write to a deadline;
• find the right style, tone and language for your content;
• structure content to tell a story or relay a message; and
• avoid bad habits, clichés and gruesome grammar.