Community Enterprise have launched a great new site www.runnative.co.uk, selling goods made by UK social enterprises all making direct positive social change and sales are already coming in.

Community Enterprise support the sustainability of third sector organisations and in their travels they came across fantastic products and services but enterprises who were struggling to get their products to the customers who would buy them.

This led to them initiating a high quality, bespoke, national (and perhaps international) e-commerce site aimed at the general public, to change buying patterns for the better. It is ambitious, high quality and unique.

Against all the odds they have managed to get it live before Christmas so you'll have just enough time for last minute present buying! This pilot phase will be built on with many more shops in the new year so if you know any social enterprises who might be interested, just send them their way, and if you need any last minute presents for Christmas, get shopping!

On Wednesday 5th December 2012, the current series of free business seminars from the UHI Management School concludes.
They will welcome Brian Weaver, CEO of the Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone (HISEZ) as their final speaker.

Brian's seminar is entitled 'Why social enterprises must make profits' and will be held in association with The Social Enterprise Academy. This session will be of interest to not only those who run social enterprises and other third sector organisations, but also their professional advisers and board members.

To book a place on this FREE lunchtime seminar, which will run from 12.30 p.m. - 1.30 p.m., please contact  fiona.ryan@uhi.ac.uk

This seminar will be hosted from UHI's executive office in Inverness with delegates having the option to attend in person or link in via video-conferencing.

A free lunch buffet will be available to those attending in person from Inverness.

Gill Neill carrys out some work on behalf of Scottish Business in the Community; one of the roles is to work with employers to help them develop their businesses in a socially responsible way.

Gill Neill has been approached by a group of managers who work for an organisation with offices based throughout the Highlands.  The company are keen to offer personal development opportunities for their staff and have offered to release them so they can get involved in volunteering activities. 

A group of 10 managers have taken up the challenge and are keen to get involved in an activity that will offer some community benefit.  Ideally they would like to do something before Christmas – as part of their Festive Volunteering Challenge.

They are really open to ideas and would like organisations who would like some support to tell them what they need.  Some of the ideas they have discussed included - supporting and helping out at Christmas Parties, decorating community rooms – inside or out, delivering food to people who cannot get out of their homes.  These are only ideas, as a group they just want the opportunity to give something back to the community.

If you think there is something that they could do could,  contact Gill by close of play on Thursday 18th November.  She will pass the information onto the company and they can they start to explore their options.
Gill Neill, Gillian.neill@moray20.co.uk 07824 736248 with brief details of:
·       Your organisation
·       What you would like done
·       What date you would like them to attend
·       Where would the activity be based
The company will support by releasing the staff for the day, but cannot provide financial resources for activities.

The Scottish EDGE is a £1 million fund which aims to support and encourage entrepreneurial activity in Scotland. The fund is for ambitious entrepreneurs who wish to establish or grow their business. The businesses which demonstrate the most potential could win an award of between £20,000 and £50,000. Winners will also receive a package of support from the Royal Bank of Scotland which may include free banking, security advice, or mentoring support. The fund is open to small, young Scottish businesses which have the potential to achieve or increase sales by £200,000 (in the Highlands and Islands area) within a period of three years (or £400,000 in the Scottish Enterprise region). Eligible businesses may be account managed by HIE or be relationship managed by Business Gateway, as long as they meet all of the set criteria (see www.hie.co.uk/scottishEDGE).

PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) is a quality standard that has been designed for Voluntary Sector organisations, At Voluntary Action Lochaber, they have licensed PQASSO Mentors who will support your organisation through the process of Self-Assessment towards accreditation of the PQASSO Quality Mark.

The training will be held at:
An Drochaid, Claggan, Fort William PH33 6PH on Tuesday 27th November from 10am till 4.30pm,

The day costs £20 per person with discounts for more than 3 people. This payment will also entitle organisations to receive training in the process of Implementing PQASSO and lunch and refreshments on the day.

This implementation training is only available at this time, as VAL have been very fortunate in securing funding from Highlife Highland.

To book a place, please email admin@valochaber.org or phone 01397 706044.

 

Monday 26 November
Bonar Bridge Community Hall
10am - 4pm
Sign up now for your free place

The aim of this event is to help community/third sector organisations identify the different ways they can make their asset more sustainable.  Through information sessions,  facilitated workshops and group discussion  delegates will have the opportunity to raise and discuss key issues facing them on their journey to developing a sustainable community asset – helping them to identify and implement practical solutions, build support networks, and identify other sources of  information and advice.  

Whilst the content of the seminar will address three broad themes of Income Generation, Legal Structures and Costing and Pricing, delegates are encouraged to prepare for the workshops a ‘real-life’ issue which they are facing with regards to the development of their asset.  These actual ‘case-studies’ will form the basis for group discussion and comment during the course of the day. 

This full day (10.00am to 4.00pm) event will be held at Bonar Bridge Community Hall,  Lairg Road, Bonar Bridge, IV24 3AE. 

Overlooking the Kyle of Sutherland, the building is in excess of 100 years old and has had a variety of uses throughout the last century before becoming Bonar Bridge Community Hall in 2004. A 3 phase refurbishment of the premises commenced in 2008 and completed earlier this year with help from a Big Lottery Community Spaces Award. A grand re-opening took place in August 2012 and today the hall proudly provides the local community with a host of modern facilities.

Click here to book your delegate place on the event or telephone Just Enterprise direct on 0141 425 2939. Please note we are offering this event free of charge to members/employees of third sector organisations. Delegate places are limited however and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

On Friday 12 October, Karen Bruce, HISEZ's Admin & Finance Manager, was awarded the David Bremner Shield for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Economics.

Karen has been studying Business Management at Moray College since 2008 on a part-time basis. HISEZ is delighted for Karen and think this is a tremendous achievement considering her demanding and essential within the HISEZ team.

Congratulations to Karen once again!

Glo/cal: digitally connecting global participants and audiences to local arts and culture projects
Date: 18 October 2012
Location: Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland
Time: 10am - 5pm
Workshops: 10.30am – 1.00pm
Live webcast seminar:  2.00pm - 3.45pm
Cost:  Free

REGISTRATION http://ambition-roadshow-mareel.eventbrite.co.uk/ 

This AmbITion Scotland Roadshow is a free one-day conference hosted by AmbITion Scotland at Mareel. 
It’s open and relevant to people from all types of arts, cultural, heritage and tourism organisations. Shetlanders from performing and visual arts organisations, cultural and heritage venues, cultural events, community arts groups and festivals (to name just a few!) will learn how some of Scotland’s most remote artistic projects and cultural organisations have used digital tools to create global reach, scale, and access to their local work – engaging and increasing their audiences both locally and globally.

Roadshow Agenda:
10.00: Registration
10.30am to 1.00pm: Workshops

• Hands on workshops exploring the emerging potential of using digital tools to encourage global reach, access, engagement and participation with local projects initiated by the creative, cultural and heritage sector. (Choose two of the three.)
  • Rudman Consulting: Basics of Webcasting
  • Lucy Conway  - Eigg Box & Stef Lewandowski Geek-In-Residence: Choose and Use Free Online Tools
  •  Stephen Hurrel - Cape Farewell Sea Change Artist: Environmental Sound Recording and Mixing using available/free media and tools.  

1.00pm – 2.00pm Lunch and Networking
2.00pm – 3.45pm Live afternoon seminar, webcast live to online audiences: 

• See and hear first hand case studies of projects that have implemented Glo/cal principles through utilising digital tools, and will take away practical advice on how digital tools can help you deepen participation and engagement with your global and local audiences. 
• Learn about how projects have created living archives and how they have also devolved programming into the hands of audiences, crowd sourcing curation and participation. 
• Participate in a live and online Q & A session

Speakers:  Gwilym Gibbons, Director of Shetland Arts Development Agency, Hannah Rudman, Lucy Conway, Stef Lewandowski, Stephen Hurrel
16.15 – Networking, tour of Mareel
To learn more and register: ambition-roadshow-mareel.eventbrite.co.uk

ALIEnergy want to identify groups/organisations who are interested in participating in Green Deal in Argyll and to clarify how, and at what level, they would get involved. They  are doing this survey as part of a project that is funded by the Ashden Trust.

There will be a need to up-skill in order to deliver Green Deal locally in Argyll, and to take advantage of new opportunities that the market presents.  Studies by Government in the development of the Green Deal programme suggest that householders would rather deal with local organisations and companies who are known to the customer and can provide better customer care locally, and who support the local economy.

As a charity, ALIEnergy are keen to ensure that local organisations and businesses are able to respond to local markets for Green Deal and we are particularly interested in the capacity of local organisations/businesses to help deliver measures that tackle hard to treat properties – e.g. solid wall insulation and micro-renewables.

Organisations can get involved in a number of ways and at different levels, depending on your capacity and on your organisation’s own priorities.  For example, you could promote Green Deal to householders and explain the range of services that are available to them through Green Deal. Alternatively, you could seek to engage householders in Green Deal and refer them to organisations that are Green Deal providers – working in partnership with other organisations and businesses. Or you could accredit individual members of your organisation to offer services as a Green Deal Assessor, working in partnership with Green Deal providers and installers.

There is significant potential for organisations in Argyll to work together in partnership to deliver Green Deal for the benefit of Argyll’s communities. By answering a few short questions, you will help Ali Energy to develop appropriate training and support that would be of most use to your group/organisation. Your answers will remain confidential; they will not share the information provided with others. Take part in the survey by clicking here

Please return forms to: ALIenergy, Lorn House, Albany Street, Oban, PA34 5UL or  allycalder@alienergy.org.uk