More to benefit as Charity Next joins forces with the Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG)
Charity Next, part of The Prince's Charities Foundation, which arranges secondments into charities for fast stream civil servants, is forming a new partnership with The Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG) to bring together future opportunities across the private, public and voluntary sectors for the benefit of more individuals and organisations. For the first time, business talent will also be able to participate.
Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell commented:
“Charity Next offers a fantastic opportunity for civil servants to engage with the voluntary sector with a mutually beneficial outcome. I would encourage departments to continue to support Charity Next as it moves to its new partnership with The Whitehall & Industry Group.”
Nigel Whitehead, Group MD Programmes and Support, BAE Systems plc said:
“We are really pleased to be working with The Whitehall & Industry Group in supporting Charity Next’s development and look forward to exploring how BAE Systems, and the wider private sector, can meaningfully contribute to voluntary sector secondment opportunities and cross sector understanding.”
A reception to celebrate the partnership will be held today at Clarence House attended by The Prince of Wales, Dame Julia Cleverdon, Chair of The Charity Next Advisory Board, Permanent Secretaries from participating civil service departments, senior members from host charities, senior business representatives as well as some 20 fast stream participants. Two case study fast stream secondees will talk about how they have benefited from their Charity Next experience.
Charity Next is a highly successful initiative established to improve cross sector understanding between the public and voluntary sectors through secondments. It takes future leaders from the civil service Fast Stream and gives them the opportunity to contribute their skills and enthusiasm to key posts in the voluntary sector, in order to facilitate an exchange of expertise, build greater mutual understanding and encourage closer working.
The Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG) is the established market leader in arranging secondments to achieve the same outcome between the public and private sectors. WIG is a not for profit and non-lobbying membership organisation, which has been building understanding and co-operation between government and business for the greater public good for more than 25 years.
Mark Gibson, Chief Executive, WIG said: “Bringing together the two organisations' complementary values and activities will allow Charity Next to develop its full potential and give more people the opportunity to benefit from interchange experiences with the charity sector. This will be achieved by expanding both the number of secondments on offer and making the opportunity available to a wider range of participants, including those from the private sector.”
Kate Davies, Chief Executive of The Notting Hill Housing Trust, a recent beneficiary of the scheme, said:
“Notting Hill Housing Trust has benefited greatly from working with Charity Next. We have been able to provide opportunities for a total of four Fast Streamers to work with us for up to a year. Although we are relatively large and have technically competent employees the role of the secondees from various government departments has been transformationary for Notting Hill. They are adaptable, knowledgeable (especially about how government works), quick to make connections and see what “cross cutting” benefit we can get from framing some of our work in a new way.”
Individuals or organisations who would like more information on how to participate in this scheme should contact charitynext@wig.co.uk Typically Charity Next secondments range from 6-12 months with the host charity and home government department sharing the costs. Charity Next charges a small brokerage fee to cover its costs. Secondment opportunities are advertised on the WIG and Charity Next websites.
NOTES TO EDITORS
CHARITY NEXT
The original inspiration for Charity Next grew from an HM Revenue and Customs summit on Corporate Social Responsibility held at HM Treasury in October 2006 which was addressed by HRH The Prince of Wales and the then Chancellor Gordon Brown. Speaking at the conference, The Prince observed that:
"No one sector by itself, however effective, can tackle the problems which inevitably exist in society. None (of you) has a monopoly of skills, resources or time. But, working co-operatively, and this is the point, the difference which can be made is remarkable".
The Prince's Charities Foundation took this statement as the inspiration and created Charity Next. Its development was underpinned by its founding mission statement: "To enable the public, private and voluntary sectors to work effectively together, with a particular emphasis on increasing and improving the quality of public sector engagement with the voluntary sector."
The first Charity Next cohort was launched in Autumn 2008 and over the following years has seconded over 20 civil service Fast Streamers on secondment to a range of charities including ARK, Barnardo's, Blenheim CDP, the British Heart Foundation, Centrepoint, The Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Mind, the National Osteoporosis Society, Notting Hill Housing Trust, The Prince’s Foundation for the Children & The Arts, The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, The Prince's Regeneration Trust, The Prince's Trust, and The Soil Association.
The secondment experience is supported by The Charity Next Learning Network which hosts senior speakers and allows participants to share their experiences and reflect on how skills they have gained and help them to champion effective cross-sector working as they progress in the Civil Service.
An Independent Evaluation of the first two years has provided support for the benefits of the initiative and without exception all charities were impressed with the high calibre of Fast Streamers and their skills; in particular planning, project management and analysis. 90% of charities said that a key project or service was delivered which would not have been possible within their existing skills and resources and had a lasting impact. Charities believe that the initiative is a cost efficient way of obtaining a high calibre member of staff to take responsibility for specific pieces of work.
Several placements gave Fast Streamers the opportunity to manage projects from inception through to delivery, with considerably less support than usual in the civil service. These more autonomous roles helped Fast Streamers to develop leadership, negotiation, influencing and strategic thinking. All Fast Streamers welcomed the greater level of autonomy and felt this was a key benefit of the initiative.
THE WHITEHALL & INDUSTRY GROUP (WIG)
The Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG) is an independent, not for profit and non-lobbying membership organisation. Established in 1984, its charitable purpose is to build understanding and co-operation between government and business for the greater public good - a nation better governed and business better managed.
WIG provides an unrivalled range of opportunities for business and government to share their expertise, develop talent, broaden networks, input to policy development and improve their understanding of how the public and private sectors can work better together.
WIG achieves its objectives by providing its public and private sector members with:
* Over 70 free events a year - to explore latest policy, share best practice, and listen to briefings from Permanent Secretaries and senior private sector leaders
* Tailored interchange and development opportunities to give unique insights into and experience of another sector - through mentoring, secondments, non-executive appointments and a range of flexible interchange programmes.
* Leadership programmes and development seminars - drawing on the diverse expertise and perspectives of delegates in professionally facilitated, cross sector learning sets, that help forge lasting networks and build capabilities to complement in-house leadership programmes.
Photographs are available on request.
CONTACTS
Amanda Foster, Clarence House Press Office, 020 7024 5509, mobile 07808 368759 amanda.foster@royal.gsx.gov.uk
Sue Youngman, Compass Rose and Co, (on behalf of WIG) mobile 07768 283162 sue.youngman@compassroseandco.com
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