If you are really looking for somewhere to post news concerning your organisation (activities, campaigns, reports, events etc), there is now a facility to do so on VoluntaryNews. See the Public or About tabs on that site.

Here’s our most recent stab at compiling an introduction to the sector on VolResource (and therefore to the website). We would welcome comments on our thoughts and if anyone has a ‘magic starter’ to taking responsibility in a voluntary organisation:

Find what you want and act on it

If approached in the wrong way the large amount of material on this site could make things worse.

There is an awful lot involved in running a successful organisation or project, whatever its size or complexity. It can be a daunting prospect. You can’t do everything at once, and trying to do too much can end up with nothing done well, and probably much having to be redone (by you or someone else after you’ve burnt out!).

Work out what is important for your particular circumstances. It can help to talk things through with someone from outside, whether from an official support body or not, as an ‘uninvolved’ view may well spot something you have taken for granted, and just by having to communicate what you are trying to do often clarifies the issues.

Don’t forget about the other issues - perhaps people with a particular interest can be found to help with them or come up with a timetable to work through them. Just don’t lose the focus.

Yesterday’s conference (21st February, London) on Voluntary Sector Databases was an interesting event. Independently organised it sold out and has a waiting list for a repeat event (due in May).
At the start of the event I was wondering why it was so popular, given that databases have been growing in use in the sector for quite a while. Perhaps the answer is that we are now moving on to the second phase of database use - not starting from a blank sheet but having existing systems which have been forced to adapt to do more (and maybe failing), more than one database system being used in different parts of the organisation and now a perceived need to bring information (or rather data) together to improve efficiency, reporting and quite possibly understanding of the services that the charity provides.

Could this be called ‘Database 2.0′ as per ‘Web 2.0′ being the next stage of web use? Hopefully not - the latter term is used to mean different things by different people, often just to look trendy.

I was facilitating a session on Change Management - see the VolResource wiki for some thoughts arising from that, and you can add your own contributions on the issues in selecting, developing and implementing too. But what I’d really like is something more of a cross between a blog like this, where comments are encouraged, and a wiki where usually text is updated by different users in isolation. There’s probably a way of setting up the wiki to do that, but I’m not that familiar with the technology.

In the meantime, please feel free make comments or additions whichever way.

A new facility which generates a spoken version of a blog feed has come to my attention (via Ecademy). Currently free, but I guess some advertising or charges will appear if it takes off - feed2podcast.

Listen to the OCB feed.

I was amazed to find that someone from Lambeth had spent more than 12 minutes having a look at my blog Multiple Sclerosis - MS Research Seeks Help ! Then, even more amazed that my blog is listed as an example to give ideas to charities.

I did it because it was there and free. I joined this blog for the same reasons. Also, I love using languages and writing websites using html, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) or xhtml is very interesting. So, it is part of the new day job. I am a webmaster for two charities: MS Research for the charity helping to fund the MS Unit (I started by setting up a website saying that the MS Unit needed help with the website MS First) and Clover House Therapy. Every week, I help find research news on the internet for the researchers at the MS Research Unit in Bristol. When I have a moment of free time I find out what is new and free for volunteer webmasters.

Now, I wonder how long it took me to find out about the links to my blog from this blog?

Hey, I know, I could give you a link. Oh, it is so enjoyable…

If you are wondering about the relevance of blogging to charities, community groups etc, then take a look at the linked article, from the Co-CEO of Girls For A Change, “a non-profit organization that’s empowering girls to create social change”. OK it’s American, and the front page of the actual blog takes half a minute to load on 2 Meg connection, but there are some ideas here (and the linked page should load quite fast!).

Why Non-profits Should Blog.

UPDATED ITEM: Information entered under ‘About yourself’ when registering will now appear on the appropriate Author page. There’s no option to add a pic there, but you can upload one in a posting if you want.
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I haven’t found an easy way to create a page per author to give some personal background, pic etc., if wanted. So I’m posting an item here!

Find out more about me on VolResource Credits page.

I’m only just catching up on FreePint, the newsletter for information professionals, from the last few months. Here’s an area of interest from November: “Knowledge management for development: an international organisation’s perspective”.
FreePint Newsletter 195 - Knowledge and Extremes.

Also see VolResource page on Knowledge Management.

We’re still tidying some of the styling, getting our hair washed and creating a warm and open environment. But as usual for VolResource projects we can’t wait to get it out there and see what happens.

This blog is ‘open’ to anyone involved in charities, community groups, voluntary organisations and the like to talk about anything about making things happen, or stopping them from going wrong. It’s not a place to promote fundraising events, volunteer opportunities or ask for donations, although we’re not going to censor the passing mention.

You just need to register (pick a user name, add an email address, wait for your password to arrive in your inbox.) We’ll have a quick check of first postings to stop spammers, but otherwise its up to you.

Update: Test ‘podcast’ has been removed - too boring!

The Telegraph reports on the potential impact on donors of major charities as deficits and new rules on staff pension schemes hit.

Telegraph | Money | Charities say donors fear gifts are propping up funds
Charities are concerned that their pension deficits are deterring donors because they are soaking up a growing proportion of the funds raised for good causes.