Many thanks to those of you who responded to the Hackney CVS User Survey 2020-2021. Your feedback is important to us as it helps us understand what you need and helps us to improve and tailor our offer to you accordingly. Please find following the key data from the survey(s) and our responses.

Your views on Hackney CVS

You said:

• 89% of you agree that Hackney CVS is an organisation you can trust and 80% agree that Hackney CVS is good at listening to your needs.
• However, 14% are unsure if we are good at listening to your needs, and 6% partly disagreed that we are good at this.

Our response:

Thank you for the largely positive feedback, however we are always striving to do better. If your organisation has needs that you feel we haven’t heard or met, please get in touch with a member of the Hackney CVS team who will be happy to help. Or contact our CEO, Tony Wong: e: tony@hcvs.org.uk t: 020 7923 1962.

You said:

• 82% agree that we are good at promoting the work of local charities and community groups. (Compared to an average of 86% in the previous 2 surveys).
• 55% agree that their organisation is better able to influence services locally and/or the decisions of statutory organisations thanks to the Hackney CVS networks, but 39% were unsure about this.
• 89% agree that Hackney CVS champions the needs of minoritised and/or disadvantaged communities.

Our response:

Promoting the work of local charities and community groups and championing the needs of Hackney’s diverse communities are embedded as priorities across all of Hackney CVS’ programmes and services.

We work hard to promote the VCS and to advocate for the VCS and local communities via a range of activities and structures, including our networks/strategic partnerships with the public sector and through digital media and communications.

Networks:
The networks, made up of large and small VCS organisations, meet the public sector to influence how services are run. This helps to make sure services that are delivered can help all of Hackney’s communities, particularly those that are marginalised or mistrusting of the state. Networks include:

• The Children and Families Forum
• The LGBTQ+ Forum
• The Health and Social Care Forum
• Hackney Refugee and Migrant Forum

What more can our networks do to influence local services? Please let us know. Contact: Jessica Lubin, Director of Health Transformation, Partnerships and Networks, e: jesscia@hcvs.org.uk m: 07816 219632

Communications:
We have a range of media platforms that we use to promote the sector and to share information. In addition to the Hackney CVS website, we have a range of channels including:

• Hackney CVS Twitter
• Our films
• The Hackney Giving website
• The Account youth led social action website
• The Hackney CVS weekly newsletter

If you have content, you would like us to share through our weekly newsletter (audience of 1,400) and digital platforms, please send it through to our Comms Coordinator, Mark Drinkwater: markd@hcvs.org.uk

If you don’t receive the newsletter, please sign up for it here. It’s full each week of sector wide news, human interest stories, funding updates and training and job opportunities.

Is there more we should be doing to promote your charities and community groups? Please let us know. Contact: Matt Bray, Director of Communications and Hackney Giving, e: matt@hcvs.org.uk m: 07983 169961

What concerns your organisation?

You said:

Asked to rank your organisation’s greatest concerns on a scale of 1-7, staff wellbeing & staff fatigue ranked as the greatest concern. It was also the greatest concern in the previous annual survey (we did not ask a wellbeing question in previous years).

Our response:

• We will produce a wellbeing lead story each quarter in our weekly newsletter, proving information and links to resources and services to support staff wellbeing.
• Our Head of Operations, Vicky Scott, will deliver a Dealing with Overwhelm workshop to the sector. This workshop will be offered free of charge, but we would invite attendees to donate to Hackney Giving* where possible. Workshop date: Tuesday 17 May, 10.30-1pm Click here for full details and to book.
• We will provide a template document to groups (free of charge) that will support you to embed wellbeing across your organisation.
• Overall, we are concerned to hear that for the second year running, staff wellbeing and fatigue is your greatest concern. Diving deeper, what does this tell us about the state of the sector and the ongoing health and social inequalities that staff deal with year on year? If you would like to share more information about this issue which we can use to advocate for fairer and more sustainable funding for the sector and our local communities, please get in touch with our CEO, Tony Wong, tony@hcvs.org.uk

You said:

Asked to rank your organisation’s greatest concern on a scale of 1-7, a lack of funding and commissioning opportunities was the second greatest concern. It also ranked as your second greatest concern in the previous annual survey and your greatest sector concern in 2018-19.

You also responded that 63% agree that Hackney CVS is good at securing funding for local organisations, but 34% were unsure about this.

Our response:

Hackney CVS has a track record of fundraising to support the sector and of supporting the sector with fundraising. For example:

• Through Connect Hackney (2015-2022) we commissioned a range of organisations to deliver services and activities to reduce/prevent the social isolation and loneliness of local residents aged 50+. The value of the work commissioned was £4.4 million
• Over the past 18 months we have distributed over £1.2 million of grants through Hackney Giving and we will be opening our next grants round of just under £160k in the next few weeks.
• We have strong working relationships with a range of funders and we are a member of Hackney Funders network.
• We will continue to fundraise for the sector, and we will continue advocating for longer term and sustainable funding.
• Our Organisational Development team will continue to provide training and one to one support on fundraising. Currently we have spaces available on the following workshops:

How to create project budgets and understand unit costing, 
4 May. Register here
Creating a Fundraising Strategy, 
10 May. Register here
Business planning for charities
19 May. Register here

Is there more we can do to support your organisational development? If so, please get in touch with our Head of OD, Mohammed Mansour: e: mohammed@hcvs.org.uk

You said:

A lack of solutions to entrenched social and health inequalities including racism, sexism and poverty remains a main concern. (This was also a concern in previous surveys).

Our response:

We are committed to challenging all forms of discrimination and inequality. Find below some examples of our work.

• Female Hackney, a newly emerging sisterhood aimed at uplifting women of African and Caribbean heritage in Hackney’s community. Contact: Monique Smith, Programme Development Officer, e: monique@hcvs.org.uk
• Account, an independent advisory group of young people that monitors, researches and represents the community on policing issues in Hackney. Contact: Yolanda Lear, Account Group Project Officer e: yolanda@hcvs.org.uk
• The VCS Assembly, a quarterly meeting bringing City and Hackney’s statutory, voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations together to discuss how to address and find solutions to the most important and challenging issues our communities face. Contact: Susan Masters, Director of Health Transformation, Policy and Neighbourhoods, e: susan@hcvs.org.uk

The VCS Neighbourhoods Programme is another way for Community and Voluntary Sector organisations to influence the improvement of local health and care services and address health inequalities.

For the last three years, The Well St Forum has brought residents and representatives of local organisations together to learn about and work together to improve local services.During the Pandemic Neighbourhood Conversations in other parts of Hackney and City of London enabled residents to gather informally with health, care and council representatives to share information.

In 2022, the intention is for these conversations to be developed into fully-fledged forums, along Well Street lines, with facilitators seconded in from local Community and Voluntary Sector Organisations with a connection to pairs of Neighbourhoods taking over their organisation and working with local health, care and council officials to agree priorities and ways of working together that improve the quality and effectiveness of local services. Contact: Zebina Myrie – zebina@hcvs.org.uk or Susan Masters -m: 07720 054335 e: susan@hcvs.org.uk

You said:

69% state that Hackney CVS has shown strong leadership during 2021, but 25% were unsure about this and 5% disagreed

Our response:

• We responded quickly during the pandemic to support the sector with public health information, both through our communications and through Hackney Giving grants.
• In continuing to fight against racism, we published a statement on Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd and young people from our Account and Politically Black youth groups attended BLM demonstrations locally and nationally.
• Continue to invest in and develop our own youth leadership model to create the leaders of the future.
• Our second Assembly meeting was on Racial equality – what will make City and Hackney anti-racist?’

Our new CEO, Tony Wong, comments:

‘Since coming into post last Autumn, I’ve been busy meeting with local voluntary and community organisations to increase my understanding of the sector and sector needs, and the needs of the local community. A lack of sustainable long-term investment; poverty; referral pathways, particularly for people who don’t speak English as a first language, and for members of the LGBTQ+ community, systemic racism and inequalities facing diverse communities and minority-led organisations; youth violence, school exclusions; accessible information; mental health were amongst a number of key concerns raised.

As an infrastructure body, my ambition is that we facilitate and enable the sector to tackle these issues, and that we advocate for the required resources for the sector that will enable a step-change. As we develop our new 5-year strategy, I will be ensuring that we consider how we can continue to play an active role in challenging these issues. I’ve also been involved in many of the conversations around our move into a new integrated health and care system; advocating for the VCS to be treated fairly and with respect, as an equal partner.

Our new strategy will be bolder, and I hope that it will inspire others to collaborate with us and the VCS to develop new innovative and creative solutions to these issues, building on the decades of experience we have within our community and supporting our vision for a fairer Hackney.

You said:

65% agree that Hackney CVS has the right support and services in place, but 30% were unsure and 4% disagreed

Our response:

We would love to know more. Please get in touch to let us know about support you need that we are not currently providing. Please contact Matt Bray, Director of Communications & Hackney Giving: matt@hcvs.org.uk m: 07983 169961

* Hackney Giving is our local-giving fund offering a simple, effective and co-ordinated way for givers to support grassroots community projects. www.hackneygiving.org.uk

For the full survey responses, please click here