Subject: Value for money......
I am conscious that demonstrating how we achieve value for money is all important. We are constantly having to justify (quite rightly in my view) how we are using scare resources to meet our charitable objectives to government, funders and our members - particularly in the current economic climate. At times this can result in us having to make savings in some of our core budgets - including those allocated to support training and development. I have always considered this to be a false economy - but have to admit to having succumbed to its temptations myself in the past!
If we are going to develop strong, resilient and dynamic leadership within the Movement we are going to need to invest - with our time and money. Are we up for the challenge.......... and how much are we preapred and able to invest?
I think we have to invest - but that isn't easy when you are sitting in a YMCA that has very little spare money - what comes in goes out on programme and you break even at the end of the year. Maybe there should be a piece of work that brings some money in to kick start the leadership programme so that those who have little funding spare can see the benefit of it and can be helped to join in with it. In this current climate of showing SROI we need to be able to prove in some way that the leadership programme has contributed directly to the bottom line otherwise we will not be able to justify the spend - have we included a mechanism for this kind of evaluation in the work that CASS are doing?
On your excellent evaluation point Rowena, we've certainly recognised the need to link leadership development to the bottom line, and will certainly need all of your help in doing this. We have a section in the strategy called 'Success Criteria', page 9:
"By the end of the three year period 2012 to 2015 the strategy will be:
· Owned and valued by the Movement, making leadership development a right and responsibility of membership.
· Different from the 2011 model as it must evolve as the Movement evolves, adapting to both changing external drivers and the Movement’s need to respond and develop.
· Self-financing for delivery; grant funded only for development costs and bursaries.
The strategy must have a positive measureable impact on:
o The health and wellbeing of Young People across England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
o The fitness of the Movement to build on its strengths and to face future challenges with confidence.
o The opportunity for individuals to aspire and grow within the Movement, and in the wider sector.
A baseline will first need to be established to track the impact of the strategy over time."
So we've acknowledged the need; but that is only part of the story...next, we have to pin the detail down and build links between individual change and organisation (indeed, Movement) change. Not easy; we're trying it with other charities and have lessons that we can share with you... Like SROI, it's a challenging and sometimes resource intensive case to make; we're looking forward to getting more YMCA brains engaged with the challenge. The Pilot will allow us a bit of time to find practical and cost effective ways of doing this; we're going to engage one of the Cass CCE evaluation experts to get their help...but all ideas and suggestions are welcome.
Thanks Rowena. If any of you can help us by either adapting the language in the success criteria perhaps to make it more real, or indeed in helping to link development initatives with bottom line impact, do please join this discussion. Caroline
Demonstrating value for money is really important and there is a clear role for YMCA England in assisting YMCAs to access services that are affordable - therefore as part of the pilot we have agreed to subsidise some of the programmes from YMCA England's resources. I hope that this provides you with some reassurance Rowena? Long term funding is of course an issue - that's why a menu of opportunities at different fee levels are proposed. Perhaps some kind of bursary fund might also be useful with YMCAs who can afford to pay a little more subsidising those who would find these programmes difficult to afford themselves?
Thanks both of you for your responses to me! I saw that the strategy says we need to evidence but it is going to be interesting making it happen - tieing the leadership programme specifically to improvements may be difficult, so my brain is whiriring now! And I also saw the pilot programmes and the costs which look emininently reasonable to me now I am in Suffolk, however, I would have found it hard to even pay £500 for a leadership programme given how tight the budget was at Chelmsford. Especially now the grant funding is less well fed...although maybe out of necessity there will come specific funding for developing leaders which will aid the process. It is always the way that when money is tight - and you need to spend more on training and marketing - these are the first to go in many situations. Loving the work though - think the pilots will be great and hope to be included in them with some staff from Suffolk.
