SCIPS has been working to support local community groups in Sandwell for over 20 years now. As part of that ongoing work we have from time to time produced information in the form of toolkits for use by local groups during training or similar sessions.
The fruits of some of this labour can be found in the series of toolkits and good practice guides published here. They were written to be used by Community Groups as practical tools to help support individuals and committees running such groups. All the toolkits are downloadable for free - so please feel free to browse and help yourself to any of the information that may be of use to you, or any group you are involved with.
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| Online Help to Finding Funding |
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There are many online resources that are freely available to keep you updated on what is happening in the world of funding - this simple toolkit will help guide you to those resources. |
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| Advice for Conversion from paper to electronic based archives. |
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Advice for groups considering converting from paper based archive material using scanning techniques. |
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| Short Guide To FREE Open Source Alternative Software Available to Groups. |
A guide to some of the more popular and easily accessible Open Source software that is freely available. Includes reviews of Office, Desktop Publishing and Image Manipulation software packages - all available to groups for FREE |
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| Guide to Free Online Resources for Learning Desktop Publishing |
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A guide to some of the online resources that can help groups to master desktop publishing software such as Microsoft Publisher and enable them to design and produce quality newsletters, flyers, posters etc for themselves. |
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| Developing a Business Plan: Planning for the Future! |
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A guide to help groups in planning both for their short and long term development. |
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A practical guide for some of the do's and don'ts when applying for funding grants. |
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Examines some of the funding pots that are available to Tenants & Residents Associations (and Community Groups). This toolkit has been specifically drawn up to be of direct benefit to groups who are based in Sandwell, but much of the information will be relevant to groups from outside the area as well. |
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| Guide to Planning & Holding Successful Meetings |
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Getting right how you plan and conduct your public and private meetings is an essential element of having and maintaining a successful group - use our toolkit to help ensure you get the maximum out of such meetings whilst ensuring you keep everyone in the group on board! |
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| Language
Is From The Heart Report |
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A good practice
guide to overcoming language and cultural barriers when engaging
Black, Minority & Ethnic (B.M.E.) communities. |
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| Setting
Up A Community Group - Getting people to work together |
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A guide into how
to get the most out of people when setting up a new Community
Group. This guide also looks at how people interact in group
situations and how to turn potential conflicts into strengths. |
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If
you have any comments, or suggestions for subjects for future
Community Development Toolkits please e-mail
us your ideas. |
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| Researching
For Information |
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Any organization
whatever its size or purpose has a need for information. This
toolkit contains links to a variety of useful resources both
at a national and a local level to Sandwell. All the sources
provided are authorative in their field and can be relied upon
as to the quality of information they provide. |
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| Developing
a Community Cohesion Project |
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Community Cohesion
is high on the Government's current agenda as it rightly should
be. However, community groups can promote community cohesion
within their own neighbourhoods without having access to large
pots of funding. Let us help you by providing a few pointers
and suggestions as to how you might begin to develop your
own local plan. |
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| Developing
a Community Group Website |
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Having developed
our own website from scratch with no previous experience in
web development we considered that we are now in a position
where we could help others by recounting our own experiences
and how we overcame the difficulties we encountered along the
way - please note however this is not a 'software guide' as
there are plenty of those available from any good bookshop! |
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| Developing
a Promotional Strategy for your group |
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Designed to help
local groups such as Tenants & Residents Associations etc
develop an affordable and effective promotional strategy for
their group in order to attract volunteers, funders etc to their
organisation. |
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| Organizational
Health Checks |
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Whatever size of
your organization you will need to be able to demonstrate 'good
practice' in a number of areas if you intend to to compete for
funding or even just attract local volunteers to 'your cause.'
Let us help you develop a professional approach to running your
organization - it will pay great dividends in the long run! |
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