Latest content from Whitebarn Consulting http://www.whitebarn.info/rss/ http://www.whitebarn.info/s/end-of-year-reflections My 2011. The year I returned from a six-month sabbatical in California. The year I declined the opportunity to move back to London. The year... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/kate-osullivan-memorial-lecture Today I attended Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups' coming of age celebration: 21 years of providing shared services for small charities in Carmichael House, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7. It was by sheer coincidence 14 years to the day that... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/new-training-course-from-outputs-to-outcomes Last month, I co-delivered, with Sheila Cahill, a course for Public Affairs Ireland on the topic of assessing outcomes and impacts for NGOs. The response was great, with 100% of respondents stating that their... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/monitor-institute I am very impressed by what Monitor Institute has to say on impact assessment: "Much energy and many resources are expended each year on program evaluation... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/key-research-into-irish-community-and-voluntary-sector-needs Are you a senior manager (or equivalent) in one of Ireland's huge number of charities, community groups, voluntary organisations, NGOs, etc? Have you completed The Wheel's current questionnaire survey yet? As long as you are independently governed and not-for-profit, you... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/website-changes Times change and as a result, we too have to change what we do. This website is no exception. Take for example the photo below, used by one of my... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/sroi-training-and-beyond During the summer, I went to London to undertake training in Social Return On Investment, delivered by the SROI Network. It was excellent: two intense days of learning and doing during which I grappled with concepts and methodologies that on the one hand made complete sense, and on the other hand felt complex and alien at times. A walk in the park it was not, but I firmly believe it was well worth the time and money spent. Gauge, a Belfast-based social enterprise, is now delivering SROI training in Ireland on 18 and 19 October. These are the details: DAY 1 -... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/looking-for-an-excellent-strategic-planning-consultant-in-the-usa I have just completed a small piece of work for a client: a US-based not-for-profit with a staff of around 50 that has a very large global membership. This involved facilitating some... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/eyv2001-roadshow Next week, Dublin sees the arrival of the European Year of Volunteering Roadshow, a week-long festival of all things voluntary,... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/assessing-outcomes-and-impacts My work is moving more and more into the area of evaluating and measuring the outcomes and impacts of the work that not-for-profits do. I consider it vitally important and... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/busy-times But not too busy for a quick blog at the end of a Friday afternoon! Everyone always tells me that the summer is a quiet time within the community and voluntary... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/volunteer-ireland So, the long-awaited announcement has finally been made today: Volunteering Ireland and Volunteer Centres Ireland have merged to create Volunteer... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/speakeasy Speakeasy is a brilliant 8 session course on talking to children about sexuality, run by the Irish Family Planning Association. I completed the course myself... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/21-hours Don't you just love finding academic research that backs up something you have always felt yourself? For years I have been banging on to anyone who will listen about our notion of 'full-time' employment not only being flawed, but potentially... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/maps-for-change I have been using the internet on a daily basis for 14 years. I can still remember the first time someone showed me the 'world... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/special-offer-solid-foundations Do you know The Wheel's Solid Foundations series of good practice guides for community and voluntary organisations? I had the pleasure of researching and writing these publications for The Wheel... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/valuing-what-matters Today is International Justice Day for cleaners and security workers. Trade union SIPTU marked the day with a series of events focusing on its Fair Deal for Cleaners Campaign. I attended a session with keynote speaker Eilísh Lawlor from Just... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/governance-code-submission You are probably aware that a draft code of governance for community, voluntary and charity organisations in Ireland... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/poverty-pimping The scene is Oakland, California (where incidentally, I lived for a short while last year), but the underlying themes apply just as readily to disadvantaged communities anywhere. http://www.whitebarn.info/s/google-grants This is outside my normal sphere of work and may therefore be something everyone else but me knows about, but here goes anyway! I just found out about Google Grants, an in-kind donation programme that awards... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/volunteering-is Volunteering is an expression of ... active citizenship, participatory democracy, altruism, self-interest, rebellion, love, and much, much more... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/review-of-wheel-conference Today I attended The Wheel's annual conference entitled Innovating For Good.  It was a very full and interesting day with good speakers and chaired marvellously by Fintan O'Toole. http://www.whitebarn.info/s/social-enterprise I have spent the last two days immersed in the concept of social enterprise (which, without getting into a definitional knot, is the broad idea of balancing social purpose with... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/excellent-free-book-on-social-media Resources on social media abound, but I particularly like this one produced by Ventureneer, suitable both for voluntary organisations and small business owners like myself.... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/evaluation-article-published The Wheel has just published an article I wrote entitled Is it time to evaluate evaluations? It can be found... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/europe-day Today is Europe Day. It is also the European Year of Volunteering. To mark the occasion, today's Irish Times has a special report on volunteering.... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/fish-fight-and-cycle Mysterious title? Not if you watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Channel 4 programme earlier this year, in which he demonstrated the shocking... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/student-volunteering-in-the-uk A short film has just been published, nicely outlining the history of student volunteering in the UK. For information about the Irish experience, visit Campus... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/short-attention-spans-versus-long-term-causes Powerhouse Susan Ellis tackles an interesting topic in the latest Energize Inc. update. If your work involves volunteering in any... http://www.whitebarn.info/s/ted-talk Whenever I come across an inspirational talk on TED.com, I think to myself "I must visit this space more often". Today was such a time, when I viewed this excellent to-the-point talk by...