Voluntary Action Fund

Embracing Change

Steven Paxton - VAF Business Development Manager

Like many third sector organisations, VAF has to adapt to the changing environment in which we work. Our Trustees and staff acknowledge that communities in Scotland are facing tough times, and that the third sector is the linchpin of the future development of our society. Therefore, as a grant maker and capacity builder, we need to evolve and adapt the way we work to meet the ongoing needs of voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises that deliver essential services to our communities.

VAF is embracing the changes in our environment, how we do things, deepening our relationships with existing partners and developing new partnerships to work in the private, public and third sectors. Underpinning the evolution of VAF is its distinctive approach to supporting community and voluntary groups - the "funding plus" model. To enable us to work even more effectively, we are currently refining our grant management processes and supporting systems in line with best practice and recommendations in the "Harmonising Reporting" report which was supported by the Scotland Funders' Forum in 2010. We are pleased to say that VAF is on track to incorporate these into new grant programmes in 2012.

As the Business Development manager in VAF I have been refreshing VAF's Business Development Strategy and Communications Plan to enable us to reinforce our key messages to stakeholders.

Challenge and opportunity go together and the Business Development Strategy is a living document. Therefore, we are keen to hear what you think about our future. We would welcome your thoughts on the following questions:

• What are the key challenges facing the third sector?
• What could VAF do in the next three years to support communities in Scotland?

We will also be contacting funded projects and other stakeholders in the coming month via our annual survey.

Please email me or Keith with your thoughts and recommendations. We look forward to hearing from you.