Monthly e-bulletin

E-bulletin – October 2005

Welcome to our October e-bulletin…we hope this provides a useful update on Russell Commission implementation. As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please email info@russellcommission.gsi.gov.uk

• Youth Advisory Board recruitment campaign gets underway
  On 3rd October, a new campaign was launched to find 20 outstanding young people (16-25) to join the new charity’s Youth Advisory Board. Representing the views of young people across England, the new Youth Advisory Board will advise and support the Chief Executive, Chair and Main Board, helping to revolutionise youth volunteering. The twenty successful applicants will also have the opportunity to apply for four trustee positions on the Main Board, ensuring that young people have a key role in the governance of the new charity. To apply for a position on the Youth Advisory Board (and also the Main Trustee Board), young people should visit www.russellmission.com. Closing date for applications is Thursday 27th October 2005.
  
• 150 applications received for Chief Exec, Chair and Board positions
  The recruitment campaign to find a Chief Executive, Chair and Board members to lead the new Russell Commission charity has received a very positive response. At least 1000 potential candidates visited the recruitment microsite, and 600 people downloaded information about these exciting new roles. The campaign closed on Friday 14th October, with 150 applications for just 8 posts. The Veredus team are pleased with the results, and are now working with Ian Russell to begin the short-listing process.
  
• Regional events are now full
  Russell Commission regional events have proved extremely popular, and all six events now full. As well as providing an update on implementation progress to date, the events include a series of workshops which will help organisations to prepare for the step-change outlined in Ian Russell’s report. A full write up of each event will be posted on www.russellcommission.org along with downloadable workshop toolkits – so if you’ve not managed to secure a place at a forthcoming event, be sure to visit the website for full details. Toolkits will be available from Monday 7th November 2005.
  
• £1m grants round to be launched in November
  Ian Russell is set to announce a £1 million grants round to fund preparatory work that will lay the foundations for the work of the new implementation body. The grants round aims to fund projects in three key areas:
  
  • Capacity building – proposals for capacity building programmes that will help organisations to skill-up to deliver Russell volunteering opportunities, e.g. programmes that will provide training in involving young volunteers or in delivering young person-led volunteering programmes.
    
    
• Developing volunteer involving strategies – encouraging organisations to develop their volunteering strategies for 16-25 year olds, so that they can increase the number of opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
  
  
• Best practice examples – encouraging existing volunteer-involving organisations to build the evidence base on how to reach new groups of young volunteers, particular black and minority ethnic groups, disabled people, faith groups and those without qualifications.

Organisations will be invited to apply during November, with funding awarded in December 2005. Further details will soon be available at www.russellcommission.org

• Desperately seeking….accommodation!
  The new interim Operations Director, Jayne Colquhoun, has taken the lead in finding an office location for the new charity, which will be based in London. Jayne is busy exploring a wide range of accommodation options for the new charity, and is keen to find a reasonably central office location which can accommodate up to 20 staff, as well as additional dedicated meeting room space. If you have any great suggestions on possible office locations for the new charity, please get in touch at info@russellcommission.gsi.gov.uk

For more information on any of the news updates contained in this e-bulletin, email info@russellcommission.gsi.gov.uk