January 2008 News
The 'value add' of venture philanthropy
Venture philanthropy is attracting increased attention from all those interested in voluntary sector funding and the practice appears to be growing (the European Venture Philanthropy Association has nearly doubled since 2006 to more than 65 members from 15 countries). Venture philanthropy combines growth capital with hands-on advice and takes its name from the practice of venture capital in the private sector. I find it helpful to think of it as an extreme form of engaged funding.
This paper...
Latest British Social Attitudes survey released
This year’s British Social Attitudes survey reveals the British public to be an inconsistent and contrary nation. Despite increasing tolerance in some areas, some members of the British public can still be selfish, sexist, prejudiced and uncaring about the poor. Unfortunately the survey is only available to buy but some of the key findings can be found in this Independent article. As a nation, we have become more liberal in our attitudes to sex, gender, family structures and the environment. ...
How ICT is shaping the design and delivery of services
I am currently writing the final ICT Foresight report on how ICT is shaping the design and delivery of services. I’ve decided to start the report by talking about the characteristics (if that’s the right word) of ICT which mean that they are having an impact on services. My list so far looks something like this: ICTs...
- … allow a personalised experience
- … help to network people
- … generate, store and allow access to data
- … can support open and collaborative cultures
- … mechanise processes
- … are...
The future of health care and health technologies - Tomorrow Network Event
With increasing numbers of complex health care problems putting pressure on health care services plus a rapidly changing technological environment, it is important for VCOs to understand the effects of these changes and how they might impact on one another in the future.
This free Tomorrow Project Network Event run with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council will be addressed by Sir Michael Rawlins, Chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)...
Privacy and personal data
In a discussion about ICT and public services, Tony Molloy raised concerns about privacy:
I’ve been considering how we might use social networks but I have concerns about some of their terms of service which effectively seem to assign to them any and all rights to do whatever they like with any content that is uploaded, which I am a little wary of in regard of our information and how it might be represented in other ways and also what might develop should a service provider be taken over by...
The future of citizenship in 2026: Global or tribal politics?
At the seminar we’re holding next week on the future of citizenship, we are going to be looking at four potential scenarios for how notions of citizenship in the UK might change in 2026. These scenarios are from a report commissioned for the DCA by the Henley Centre (futures consultants) called the ‘The future of citizenship’. We will be discussing what opportunities and challenges these worlds might bring for the VCS and asking participants to think about what their responses might be. I...
The future of membership
What are the drivers affecting why people want or choose to join organisations as members? This is a question that has interested us for some time. We've discussed how social networking technologies are impacting on membership in our second ICT Foresight report (see pages 23-4 in particular) and at our recent seminar (see the section on membership), but what other drivers are at play? After thinking about a foresight membership project for some time, I'm delighted that things seem to be...
A new phase for Third Sector Foresight
Shortly before Christmas, Capacity Builders announced that we had been successful in our bid to lead the 'National Support Service' on 'Responding to Social Change' from April 2008. This represents an extremely exciting step for NCVO Third Sector Foresight. Through this programme we will be working with support providers (eg local infrastructure organisations, specialist infrastructure organisations, consultants and all others who support front line organisations) to help the sector to...
