Capacitybuilders

Improving the quality and effectiveness of infrastructure support for third sector organisations

Improving support

Capacitybuilders believe that organisations build their own capacity and we want affordable, accessible, high quality support that meets organisations' needs.

Quick reference links

To view current activity for each work strand of this particular Capacitybuilders' organisational objective, please click on the reference links below:

Consortia – Support networks

Support networks or consortia as they have previously been known, aim to improve support to frontline organisations.

Some operate at regional level, some at sub-regional level, and some at local authority level – though there is no consistent pattern across the regions. There are about 130 in operation at present.

Activities	By	Progress / Milestones
Review of ChangeUp consortia model.	July 2007	Findings fed into development of Consortia / support networks funding arrangements from April 2008. Report published in December 2007. Status: Review completed. Further details available in the Scoping the Evaluation of ChangeUp report.
Review ChangeUp consortia fund management arrangements.	October 2007	A clearer and more consistent approach to fund management and monitoring of consortia. Status: Completed.
Funding decision on Consortia Development Fund and related programmes.	December 2007	Funding arrangements for Consortia / support networks from April 08 to be announced in early December. Status: Completed. Further details our this funding programme is available on our News page.
Announce funding for support networks 2008/11.	December 2007	Publish funding decisions at least three months before the next financial year; three year funding enables longer term planning. Status: Complete. Further details available on our Funding pages.

National Support Services

The six national hubs were replaced in April 2008 by nine new workstreams: Campaigning and Advocacy / Collaboration / Equalities and Diversity / Income generation / Leadership and Governance / Marketing and Communications / Modernising Volunteering / Performance management / Responding to Social Change.

To find out more about the national support services, please visit the Improving Support website.

Activities	By	Progress / Milestones
Views sought on specification for content and shape of national support services.	June 2007	Involvement in defining programme needs and relationships between national support services (NSS) and support networks. Status: Completed.
Open tender exercise for bodies to take responsibility for the delivery of national support services.	September 2007	Agreements achieved with preferred bidders Status: Completed. Further details available on our News page
Preparation of detailed business plans for all national support services in conjunction with strategic lead bodies, support networks and other support providers.	November 2007 / February 2008	Funded business plans for national support services from April 2008 to March 2011 developed in conjunction with local, sub regional and regional support networks. Status: Completed. To find out more, please visit the Improving Support website.
Sign off of three year grants for national support services.	14 March 2008	To ensure each workstream is ready to launch form April, and continuity with national hubs where appropriate. Status: Completed. To find out more about the national support services, please visit our Funding pages

Learning and Innovation

Learning, research and support for innovation remains central to our strategy and is reflected in our Corporate Plan.

We have ring-fenced a limited amount of programme funds to commission work which furthers our stategic objective to be a 'learning agency'.