surviving the downturn  

Earlier this year, when the impact of the downturn first started to affect community groups, three key support agencies hosted a Managing the Downturn workshop in Wellington.

TrustLine newsletter, June 2009

Community group representatives from throughout the country attended, sharing their concerns, knowledge and advice. As a result, the workshop identified seven key issues to be addressed:

  1. The need to find ways of doing things differently and understanding the impact of the downturn on the sector over the next 10 years
  2. The need to understand the downturn’s impact in iwi and Maori organizations and how those organizations can remain true to the kaupapa
  3. The importance of developing speedy, action-driven collaborations, within and across sectors, including balancing autonomy with working more closely.
  4. Engagement in establishing community priorities and widening the understanding of ‘infrastructure’ to include social infrastructure and social capital.
  5. Maintaining the quality and training of the non-profit sector workforce, including opportunities for collaboration between non-profits.
  6. Develop and publish more and better evidence of the effectiveness of the sector, building on work such as Statistics New Zealand’s Non-profit Satellite Account and Value Adding for Voluntary Agencies research.
  7. The need to maximise funding and diversify revenue streams.

The workshop was hosted by the New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations (NZFVWO), Philanthropy New Zealand and the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS).

Since then, OCVS has put a series of resource articles on its website, including  practical ideas to help community groups do things differently during the recession; information on the Generosity Project to encourage volunteering and donations; other sources of help and funding for community groups and capacity building ideas.

www.ocvs.govt.nz/work-programme/building-capacity

NZFVWO has also built on the theme of planning and collaboration. Its latest New Dialogue newsletter focuses on how the economic downturn has brought the need for planning into sharp focus. The newsletter is available from NZFVWO’s website: www.nzfvwo.org.nz/files/ND26web.htm

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Council of Social Services is preparing to help its members cope with the changes. The theme for its October training hui for the network’s employees and co-ordinators will be ‘Navigating Through a Stormy Sea : Strengthening our Organisations".

The hui programme will be on line as soon as details have been finalised: www.nzcoss.org.nz