Issue 17 - 8 May 2008

Applications for the OCVS Director vacancy close on 12 May. To be successful in this role, you must have a strong working knowledge of the community and voluntary sector, and of the relationship between iwi/Maori organisations and the sector. Plus you will need an ability to develop and maintain effective stakeholder relationships, experience interacting with Ministers and be an inspiring manager and leader of your staff.

The OCVS, Department of Internal Affairs and Philanthropy NZ are working together to develop a second series of regional funders’ forums to be held in June and July.

The 2008 programme will feature workshops focused on making processes for grantseekers easier. The workshops will be facilitated by Courtney Bourns from the Washington-based Grantmakers for Effective Organisations (GEO). The workshops will be of interest to New Zealand’s philanthropic funders as well as government funders who are moving towards increased use of grant-like funding arrangements and/or improving contracting practice.

These forums follow up the successful series of 12 forums held in 2007, which enabled philanthropic, corporate, government and other grantmakers to share information about their regions, learn from each other’s experiences and plan for future collaboration.

UPDATE: Dates and locations are as follows:

Monday 23 June	Whangarei
Tuesday 24 June (10am-12:30pm)	Hamilton
Thursday 26 June (10am-2pm)	Rotorua
Friday 27 June	Auckland
Tuesday 1 July (noon-4pm)	Dunedin
Wednesday 2 July (pm)	Wellington
Thursday 3 July (pm)	Christchurch
Wednesday 4 July	Auckland

OCVS and Volunteering NZ are working together again to develop promotional resources and co-ordinate national publicity for Volunteer Awareness Week on 15-21 June. If you’ve received posters and other promo materials for VAW or International Volunteer Day in the past, we’ll be sending new resources out to you in early June. If you haven’t received them before, but would like to, please e-mail your address to ocvs@msd.govt.nz or office@volunteeringnz.org.nz.

This year VAW is focused on achieving potential. The week will be launched in Wellington on 16 June, and will include marking World Refugee Day on Friday 20 June. Volunteering NZ is keen to hear from voluntary organisations about their plans for the week, so they can build a nationwide picture of activity. Please email office@volunteeringnz.org.nz with your activity details.

Further information will be available as soon as dates and location details are confirmed.

The Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector is a collaborative research project between non-profit sector representatives and government. The Committee for the Study met this week to finalise details for the publication of the National Report, to be launched in late July/early August.

The National Report will form part of the Johns Hopkins University International Comparative Study of the Non-profit Sector and will summarise the results of the New Zealand research and compare it with over 40 other countries. As part of the study, Massey University has prepared a paper on the sector’s history, which will also be available at the National Report launch. A paper on policy issues will be published on the internet in late 2008/early 2009.

Further information, including research already published from the project can be found at:

The Good Practice Participate and Good Practice Funding websites offer a wide range of guidance for public servants. Behind the scenes, both sites are undergoing significant redevelopment, which is due to go live in June/July. In the meantime, the OCVS continues to add new guidance material to the live sites as it becomes available – so visit the sites regularly.

A recent addition to Good Practice Participate is Standards for Engagement: Guidelines for Central and Local Government, and NGOs Working with Refugee Background Communities

Standards for Engagement was published by ChangeMakers Refugee Forum in conjunction with government and non-government agencies. Refugee communities want to be active participants in policy development and service delivery, and the publication covers meaningful participation, partnerships, planning together, information sharing, feedback, monitoring and evaluating the 'engagement' process.

» View the resource online or request a hard copy of Standards for Engagement by contacting changemakers@crf.org.nz or by phoning (04) 801 5812.

The OCVS fields a wide range of enquiries from community groups every week. It is particularly pleasing when we can refer someone to exactly what they need and something that surpasses their expectations.

That was the case recently, when a community group needed to know where to find a sample of an employment agreement, so they could sign up a new employee. We were able to point them towards the Department of Labour’s interactive Employment Agreement Builder. It allows employers to create customised agreements for individual employees, which include all the compulsory legal bits and optional stuff too.

We also regularly refer people to CommunityNet and Keeping it Legal for more help – so if you think your community group could use a bit of guidance, check out our page of popular resources at:

If you have an event, conference or meeting related to community or voluntary issues, you are welcome to send a brief description of the event to us at ocvs@msd.govt.nz for inclusion in our email updates.

A new system of charitable "payroll giving" will be introduced in the next tax bill scheduled for June. The system, to begin next year, will allow employees to make donations to charities directly from their wages and receive an immediate PAYE credit if their employer files returns electronically with Inland Revenue. The scheme will be voluntary - both for employers to offer, and for employees to join, but if taken up, it will mean employees making donations do not have to wait until the end of a financial year to claim a rebate.

Other changes to recognise the invaluable contribution that charitable giving of time or money makes to the wellbeing of our country include:

• Next year reimbursements based on actual costs incurred by volunteers will become tax-exempt, with no limits. If a paying organisation puts in place a process for making a reasonable estimate of the costs likely to be incurred by volunteers, payments made to volunteers on the basis of that estimate will also be treated as tax-exempt income.
• From 1 April this year, changes to the tax rules on charitable giving removed rebate and tax deduction thresholds for donations to charities and other donee organisations.

The upgraded newzealand.govt.nz website now exclusively searches all government and government funded websites, the Public Sector Directory and MSN live search results. This means that users can, in one search, access the most up-to-date information about an issue, resource or service from all government websites – without needing to know which government agency has the information.

Formerly www.govt.nz, the site was relaunched in March and also features more information about how to participate in government decisions. The website now details how to enrol to vote, and how to stand for election, and lists some public consultations that are currently taking place.

The Digital Strategy wiki lets the public suggest wording for the Digital Strategy 2.0, as part of a refresh of the Digital Strategy, which was first released in May 2005.

The wiki is open to any internet user and is monitored by Ministry of Economic Development staff. Suggestions and input on the wiki, including the final version and ideas from the wiki’s history will be captured and summarised - along with inputs gathered through more traditional means during the submission period, which has been extended to 23 May. The final Digital Strategy 2.0 is due to be released mid-year.

A "wiki" - from the Hawaiian word for "quick" - is a type of website that can be easily edited by anyone. The most well-known wiki is the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
Participation online through a wiki is not new in New Zealand. Last year, the NZ Police used a wiki to yield a wide range of views from people interested in having a direct say on the shape of a new Policing Act.

Online input on the Schools Plus discussion document is also possible via a feedback form at www.schoolsplus.govt.nz While the discussion document is mostly focused on the role of schools, it includes information and questions that will engage young people, families, wha-nau, iwi and communities, tertiary education organisations and employers, and non-government organisations. Feedback is sought by 31 May. Of particular interest to Schools Plus developers is:

• What will work ‘on the ground’ to make Schools Plus a success for every student
• What areas government most needs to focus on in designing the implementation of Schools Plus

Further information:

• The refreshed Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 builds on input from a series of workshops and the Digital Future Summit 2.0 held last year.
• Digital Strategy Report on Progress 2007
• Schools Plus discussion document
• Agencies interested in exploring opportunities for online participation, (to supplement traditional methods) should check out the guide produced by the State Services Commission at www.e.govt.nz.

Over 260 people from 91 central and local government, and community organisations attended the 4th annual community outcomes workshop in April.

The workshop aimed to inform and motivate people into working together to achieve community outcomes. A key theme of the event was "investing time and commitment to building relationships". This means respecting different ways of doing things, and being prepared to have on-going contact, even though the benefits may be a long way down the track.

Workshops covered such topics as:

• What central government staff should know about local authority planning processes
• Breaking the barriers to collaboration

You can see all the presentations on line at www.localcentral.govt.nz.

The importance of ‘active relationships’ is also covered on the Good Practice Participate site hosted by OCVS.

The New Zealand Carers’ Strategy and a five-year Action Plan have been released to begin addressing some of the issues that impact on the nearly 420,000 New Zealanders who assist friends and family members who need help with everyday living because of ill health, disability or old age.

The Carers’ Strategy is a joint initiative between the Government and the NZ Carers’ Alliance, a network of 45 non-governmental organisations. It is an important first step in acknowledging informal carers and the very real difference they make in people’s lives.

During extensive consultation, carers said they needed help in learning how to protect their own health and wellbeing, getting better access to breaks, and support that enables them to balance their caring role and employment.

The major enrolment drive to get as many people as possible enrolled to vote at this year’s general election began on 5 May 2008.

Everyone enrolled to vote will be sent an enrolment update pack in the mail this week. Check your details are correct, and update them if needed. Anyone who doesn’t get their update pack in the mail is not correctly enrolled and needs to enrol now. Help spread the word about the need to enrol amongst your friends, family and community.

Check your details or get an enrolment form online now or find out more information about enrolling and voting at www.elections.org.nz

10 May – Balloon Day - Asthma and Respiratory Foundation – nationwide.
Balloon Day increases awareness of the impact of asthma and raises funds for child asthma research. Events include face-painting, sausage sizzling, and karaoke-style competitions at participating Mitre 10 stores on Saturday 10 May. Over 60 Asthma-friendly schools are also participating.
For more information visit: www.asthmafoundation.org.nz.

• 21 May: Beating Burnout 3-hour workshop - Volunteering Canterbury – Christchurch.
  Go to www.volcan.org.nz for more details or phone 03 366 2442.
  
• 25-27 May: FINZ South Pacific Conference 2008: The New Face of Fundraising, Auckland.
  Read more at www.finz.org.nz/conference
  
• 27 May: IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards presentations – Wellington.
  Awards will be made in six categories and a supreme award will be given.The categories are:

• People Capability
• Managerial Leadership
• Joined-up Government
• Working Together
• Crown- Maori Relationships
• A Media Award

For information on the Award Finalists, visit www.ipanz.org.nz.

• 26 May–1 June: Youth Week 08 – nationwide.
  During the week, 12 young people will be selected from the Celebrating Everyday Young New Zealanders awards to travel to Wellington, as part of recognising the positive contribution of young people.
  Read more at www.youthweek.co.nz.
  
• 4-5 June: Sponsorship & Beyond workshop – Foresee Communications Ltd – Wellington.
  Read more at: www.foresee.co.nz.
  
• 5 June: NZ hosting World Environment Day.
  Read more at www.world.environment.govt.nz.
  
• 5-6 June: IPANZ New Professionals conference – Wellington.
  The theme of the conference is 'Next Generation Government - Preparing for the Future’.
  Visit www.ipanz.org.nz for more details.
  
• June (various dates): Fundraising for Good workshops – Foresee Communications Ltd - Wellington & Auckland.
  Read more at: www.foresee.co.nz
  
• 15-21 June: Volunteer Awareness Week – nationwide.
  Read the story #03 above.
  
• 18-21 June: Civicus 8th World Assembly – Glasgow, Scotland.
  Read more at: www.civicusassembly.org/
  
• 26-27 June: So you think you can lead 3rd Annual Executive Update Conference – Auckland.
  The Not-For-Profit Network presents this conference for non-profit organisation leaders aiming to grow their organisations, provide the best service, or fulfil organisational missions in the most sustainable way possible. If you’re committed to improving what you’re doing and ready to engage with industry experts and other non-profit leaders to find the best solutions tailored for you – then this event is for you.
  Read more, including full programme details, at www.nfpn.com.au.
  
• 2-4 July: Public Health Association of NZ Conference – Waitangi.
  Read more at www.pha.org.nz/phaconference.html
  
• 2-4 July: INVOLVE 08 Relate Conference: Quality relationships and young people – Wellington.
  Read more at: www.involve.org.nz
  
• July: yMedia Workshops – Auckland & Wellington.
  These workshops will help community groups get a better understanding of the digital space and challenge their thinking as to how it can be used creatively and cheaply to benefit their organisation.
  Read more at www.ymediagroup.org/community/workshops.html
  
• July- October: Social Policy and Governance course (SPOL 302) at Victoria University – Wellington.
  This course commences in Trimester 2, with classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. It will examine social policy in relationship to collaborative governance and civil society in New Zealand and internationally. Students will explore theoretical foundations, engage in critical discussion of case studies showing collaborative governance at work, and practice various methods of collaborative governance.
  Part-time students can enrol for the course outside of an undergraduate degree – contact Scott Webber scott.webber@vuw.govt.nz for details.
  Read more about the course online.
  
• 28 July–8 August: yMedia Challenge 2008.
  yMedia Challenge is a competition connecting tertiary students with community groups through media and technology to create a new, or leverage an existing, low-cost digital presence for the community group. Six community groups and 12 students participated in the 2007 yMedia Challenge, and you can see some ideas that Youthlaw tried out at www.ymediagroup.org/community/history.html.
  Read more about becoming a group member to be eligible for the challenge at www.ymediagroup.org/community/challenge.html.
  
• 1 August: Closing date for 2nd round of SPEaR Linkages Funding Programme.
  This Social Policy Evaluation and Research (SPEaR) programme facilitates cross-sector collaborative social policy research and evaluation that supports effective decision-making to improve the knowledge base and social outcomes for New Zealanders.
  Go to www.spear.govt.nz for more information and to download the latest 'Guide to SPEaR Linkages Funding'.
  
• 3-5 Sept: Australia’s 12th National Conference on Volunteering – Gold Coast, Queensland Australia.
  Three sub-themes to be fully discussed and debated are:
  - The shift in the way people are volunteering
  - Flexibility in management
  - The changing demographics of volunteering.
  Visit www.volunteeringaustralia.org for more details and registration information.
  
• 9-10 Sept: Planning for Effective Public Participation – IAP2 Training – Christchurch.
  Read more at www.twyford.com.au
  
• 16-19 Sept: Asia Pacific Volunteer Leadership conference – Hawaii.
  Workshops will be offered under four streams (Volunteer Management, Disaster Readiness & Response, Six Billion Paths to Peace, and Opportunities for the Aging).
  For more information, go to www.vrchawaii.org
  
• 3-5 Oct: 8th Australasian CHARGE Syndrome Conference – Christchurch.
  Read more at www.chargesyndrome.org.nz/.
  
• 24-26 Nov: The Australia New Zealand Third Sector Research (ANZTSR) Conference – Auckland.
  See conference website for more details.
  

The NZ Cabinet Manual 2008 was published in April.
This is the authoritative guide to central government decision-making for Ministers, their offices, and those working within government. It is also a primary source of information on New Zealand's constitutional arrangements, as seen through the lens of the executive branch of government.
» Go to www.cabinetmanual.cabinetoffice.govt.nz/

• Kiwis Count survey released in April by the State Services Commission (SSC)
  Kiwis Count is the first all-of-government national survey to ask New Zealanders about their perceptions and experiences of public services as a whole. To build on the results, SSC is encouraging agencies to use the Common Measurements Tool - a set of common questions for agencies to use for their own satisfaction surveys, consistent with the approach used for the Kiwis Count survey.
  Read the Kiwis Count report.
  See the Common Measurement Tools.
  Register to attend an IPANZ presentation on the survey findings on 21 May.
  
• Papers from Working Across Government Policy Conference 2008.
  This March conference included keynote speeches, eight case studies, and roundtable discussions, and provided an opportunity to test the Framework of Factors for Successful Coordination developed by SSC.
  See the presentations and framework on the Public Sector Intranet.
  
• 2008 Census of Women's Participation monitors the progress of women moving into leadership roles in the state sector, corporate, legal, academic and other fields.
  Word and PDF versions of this reportfrom the Human Rights Commission are now online.
  
• Webguide 2 is an internet toolkit for community groups – a great resource that will help you through the process of developing a website.
  See http://webguide.net.nz
  
• The First Door That Opened: Experiences of Migrants in Wellington’s Volunteer Sector, by Rebecca Gray.
  The Governor-General Hon. Anand Satyanand launched this publication in April. The book contains four in-depth interviews with newcomers to New Zealand about their experiences working in the volunteer sector. The book informs what the community and voluntary sector has to offer, and in turn what migrants have to give in terms of new skills, approaches and cultural enrichment.
  The book costs $15 and is available from Volunteer Wellington by emailing admin@volunteerwellington.org.nz or phoning (04) 499 4570.
  
• Cross Cultural Resource for Health Practitioners Working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Clients.
  A booklet and CD Rom collaboratively produced by Waitemata District Health Board and Refugees as Survivors NZ (RASNZ).
  The resource costs $90 +GST – order from admin@rasnz.co.nz.
  
• Researching with Communities: Grounded perspectives on engaging communities in research edited by Ruth De Souza and Andy Williamson.
  This book presents a range of perspectives from academics, researchers and practitioners on undertaking research in ways that promote and privilege the voice of the community, is respectful of local or indigenous practices and is culturally safe.
  Available for order online at www.lulu.com
  
• Understanding New Zealand Social Citizenship by Dr Louise Humpage, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Auckland.
  This two-year Royal Society Marsden-funded project aims to test theoretical assumptions about the impact of neo-liberal reform upon understandings of social citizenship. The project consists of three phases:
  - Mapping changes in public attitudes towards social citizenship, based on existing public opinion data.
  - 7 exploratory focus groups with selected key target groups.
  - 30 individual interviews with a wider range of New Zealanders.
  The first phase has been completed, and the project is currently looking for people to take part in individual interviews in the Auckland and Canterbury regions.
  » Read the summary report from Phase 1 or find out more about participating in the study

International

• Last year, the NZ State Services Commission commissioned the Ethics Resource Centre (ERC) to conduct a survey of integrity in the State Services. The ERC’s first ever report on standards of integrity in United States non-government organisations (NGOs) was published in March 2008. National Nonprofits Ethics Survey – An Inside View of Civil Society Ethics is a companion report to the National Government Ethics Survey and National Business Ethics Survey.
  The US reports are all online at www.ethics.org/
  The NZ report on the State Services is available at www.ssc.govt.nz/survey-report-summary and makes comparisons to the 2005 US government agency results (not the ones from the 2007 US report.)
  
• Manifesto for Change – United Kingdom.
  The final report from the UK Commission on the Future of Volunteering was published in January. It includes recommendations in the areas of raising the profile of volunteering, making volunteering open to all, modernisation of volunteering and reward and recognition for volunteers and volunteering.
  Read Manifesto for Change.
  
• Involving volunteers from diverse cultural and language backgrounds in your organisation.
  Supporting volunteer involving organisations in attracting, recruiting and retaining culturally and linguistically diverse volunteers has been the combined focus of research and resource development by Volunteering Australia, the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Judith Miralles & Associates. New resources are now online.
  Download the Practical Guide.
  View the Training Manual for Recruiting and Supporting CALD Volunteers.
  
• Unlocking the Talent of our Communities sets out the UK government's commitment to unlocking the talents of all people and seeks views on the ways to make changes that give people locally more influence, control and ownership of local services such as employment, health, education and transport.
  Read Unlocking the talent
  
• What are today's social evils? published by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This report says people feel a deep sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society. One of the concerns is “A decline of community: communities are weak and people are increasingly isolated from their neighbours, at considerable cost to well-being and happiness.”
  Read the 8-page summary.
  
• Community empowerment in practice: lessons from Communities First published by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
  Previous research on policies promoting local decision-making has identified an 'implementation gap' when policy is put into practice. This study presents findings from nine case studies of Communities First partnerships to provide insights into the achievement of community empowerment.
  See a summary of the findings.
  Read the main report (72pages).
  
• Routes and barriers to citizen governance published by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
  This study found the culture of citizen participation was often ill-aligned with public bodies’ ambitions for local governance. Some participants preferred informal structures, which were perceived to be more grounded in the community, less bureaucratic and more accessible. Those choosing to participate through formal structures were sometimes viewed as having joined ‘the establishment’ or having abandoned their community roots.
  See a summary of the findings

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The Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector exists to inspire co-operation and superb relationships between the government and the community and voluntary sector. You can find out more about the OCVS on our website: www.ocvs.govt.nz, by email at: ocvs@msd.govt.nz, phone: 04 918 9555, or by fax: 04 913 3080.