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2 February 2012

In January 2012, we ran the second of two merger workshops for organisations funded by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, LankellyChase Foundation and The Tudor Trust. The event provided an in-depth look at the drivers of merger in the voluntary and community sector (VCS), success factors, legal and formal requirements and, finally, the ‘lived’ experience of merger.

30 January 2012

We are pleased to announce that Skills for Growth and Landmark Training merged in November 2011. IVAR provided support and facilitation to the merger over a period of six months, supporting senior management and trustees to explore why, how and when to merge. 

2 December 2011

On 24 November 2011, we held the first BIVAR seminar of the 2011/2012 series. An audience of 40 gathered at Senate House, University of London to hear presentations from Mike Aiken (IVAR) and Janet Newman (Emeritus Professor at the Open University).

22 November 2011

IVAR’s Academic Adviser, Margaret Harris, is given the Award for Distinguished Achievement and Leadership in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research.

17 November 2011

 The launch of Professor Marliyn Taylor's new book 'Public Policy in the Community' was celebrated on Thursday 6th October at an event jointly hosted by IVAR and Birkbeck

17 November 2011

Mike Aiken, Head of Research at IVAR, speaks at Edinburgh Business School

17 November 2011

IVAR has published a review of its work on community ownership and management of assets for the Italian magazine Communitas.

17 November 2011

What role do multi-purpose organisations play in increasing people’s participation? Can they help individuals and groups have more of a say in matters that affect them? This research examines these questions.

10 October 2011

The Commissioning Improvement Programme (CIP) ended on 31 March 2011. CIP was delivered by IVAR and ran in 16 local authority areas across England between March 2010 and March 2011.

7 October 2011

IVAR attended the NCVO/VSSN Researching the Voluntary Sector conference (7-8 September 2011) and presented two papers. 

6 October 2011

Margaret Harris, IVAR’s Academic Adviser, gave a keynote address to the 3rd Nordic Conference on Church Leadership and Organizational Change in Finland in September 2011

6 October 2011

On 27 September 2011, we ran a merger masterclass for organisations funded by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Lankelly Chase and The Tudor Trust. Read about some of the issues explored by participants on the day. 

6 October 2011

IVAR held a debate event entitled ‘Funders should stick to making grants’ to mark the launch of our new report Beyond money: A study of funding plus in the UK. Speakers included Stephen Dunmore (Interim CEO, The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund), Alastair Wilson (CEO, School for Social Entrepreneurs) and Ben Cairns (Director, IVAR).

 

21 September 2011

IVAR publishes Beyond money - the final report of a study on funding plus practices, funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust, The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Trust for London.  

25 August 2011

We are very happy to announce the appointment of Julia Coffman as Visiting Research Fellow to IVAR.

15 July 2011

Phase 1 of the Partnership Improvement Programme (PIP) came to an end on 31st March 2011. We have worked with the voluntary and public sectors in 50 local authority areas to bring about practical and lasting improvements to the way they work together. Three reports and a briefing on partnership working have been produced over the lifetime of the programme: 

1 July 2011

What kinds of community organisations own or manage assets such as land and buildings? What are the benefits they offer and the challenges they face? IVAR research, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, explored these questions. 

30 June 2011

What are the differences between traditional forms of philanthropy and ‘new’ philanthropy? How do we balance a drive toward outcomes funding with a philanthropic appetite for risk? Is philanthropy a social act or simply an economic transaction?

17 June 2011

IVAR publishes the final report of a two year collaboration between researchers and nine community organisations interested in finding new ways to assess the difference they make.

19 May 2011

The fourth seminar of the 2010/11 BIVAR seminar series took place on Thursday 12th May where Julia Unwin and Cathy Pharoah presented their thinking and research on Tackling Poverty, Giving Money and Getting Involved in the era of Big Society.

4 March 2011

To what problem is collaboration an answer? This was the starting point for the first presentation in the third seminar of the 2010/11 BIVAR seminar series which took place on Thursday 3rd March.

4 March 2011

We are pleased to launch Thinking about... collaboration, which present findings on collaboration from 10 years of our research. Findings from over 70 projects are synthesised to help shed light on our understanding of collaboration. We look at the organisational drivers, challenges and responses to collaboration, as well as some of the useful theories and concepts in this area. 

 

4 March 2011

IVAR has been commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to undertake a study exploring options for supporting applicants and grant-holders to collaborate more effectively.

2 December 2010

Update on a event which explored the findings of a collaborative action research project about the impact of multi-purpose community organisations.

2 December 2010

Charities Evaluation Services, in association with Collaboration Benefits, have launched Making a Difference Together? A guide to planning, monitoring and evaluating voluntary and community sector collaborative working.

23 November 2010

The 2010-11 BIVAR seminar series started on Monday 22 November with a seminar looking at the concept of social capital. Attendees heard from Ben Fine (Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and Erin Van der Mass (Research Analyst, Carnegie) on the use (and abuse) of ‘social capital’ in relation to civil society.

22 November 2010

IVAR is one of six partners in a consortium that has been selected to develop BIG Lottery Fund’s groundbreaking, £200m, BIG Local Trust programme.

20 October 2010

The Partnership Improvement Programme (PIP) is designed to improve cross-sector partnership working between local authorities, other statutory agencies. 

12 October 2010

Update on a number of IVAR presentations at the ACF conference and an article on 'funder plus' for Trust and Foundation News. 

12 October 2010

 Details of the fifth Birkbeck - IVAR Partnership seminar series.

20 September 2010

IVAR has been commissioned by ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) to undertake an exploratory study examining capacity building and support for the voluntary and community sector.

23 August 2010

Thinking about... merger is the first in a series of publications that are based around a straightforward idea. Using the findings from previous research (our own and others') we want to provide useful information for voluntary sector organisations that is grounded in the experiences of others. 

23 August 2010

IVAR is moving premises on Friday 27th August. To get our new address and phone number.

30 June 2010

IVAR is undertaking a major study into 'high engagement funding' (funder plus) over the next twelve months. The research has been commissioned by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and the Trust for London.

18 May 2010

This second article presenting findings from IVAR’s study of community bridge-building has been published in the first issue of the new UK academic journal ‘Voluntary Sector Review’.   The new journal is sponsored by the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN) and is an exciting landmark for UK scholars and practitioners who, up to now, have had to rely on  international journals for reading and publishing about the voluntary sector.  

 
27 April 2010

In this, the second of our specially commissioned articles that reflect upon IVAR 10th anniversary year - Julian Ashby - chair of the trustees - takes a different viewpoint and looks back a bit further than our anniversary would suggest.

Julian sees nothing odd in reflecting on a 10th anniversary by wondering whether it ought to be celebrating a 30th instead. Setting IVAR in this longer context illuminates both its origins and the enduring validity of its focus and methodology.

29 March 2010

In the first of a series of articles reflecting back over the last ten years, IVAR's Academic Adviser - Margaret Harris explores the challenges of gradually becoming the very thing that we study, namely,  a part of the voluntary sector that shares many of the sector’s distinctive features.  Amongst those features is a foundation story which goes along the lines: " a couple of people with complementary skills and experience identified an unmet need and developed together a vision about how they could meet that need. "

29 March 2010

What has been happening on the research into the community ownership and management of assets since you last checked the calendar?  IVAR Project lead - Mike Aiken updates us on progress and looks ahead to the end of the project in January 2011.

23 March 2010

Ben Cairns spoke at the joint OTS / I&DeA conference on ‘Total Place and the Third Sector’ on 23 March 2010 in London. 
 

4 January 2010

Other Times, Other Places: BIVAR seminar series kicked off in December with food for thought.

4 December 2009

The IDe&A hosted a diverse gathering of over 70 in York last week at the second Partnership Improvement Programme (PIP) conference.

2 December 2009

IVAR has been commissioned by Compact Voice to review and analyse a series of Compact Advocacy cases. The purpose of this research will be to deliver a review of disputes between a voluntary and community sector organisation and a public body.

25 November 2009

An exciting piece of new research -  The Impact of community anchors - sees IVAR, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) and nine community anchor organisations come together to explore a number of questions.