Our Impact
VONNE’s mission is to support the development and sustainability of our members and charitable organisations across the North East to create and support a strong, effective and well governed VCSE community. Here's some of the engagement we've had over the last 12 months
‘VONNE has been an amazing regional resource to be able to connect with the VCSE sector across the region. Responsive, approachable and so valued.'
Membership
VONNE is proud to represent more than 1,400 members across the North East region with our work. Our members give us a collective voice that enables us to represent our sector regionally and nationally.
What our Members say about VONNE
76% of members join VONNE to receive information on relevant issues.
84% of members agree that VONNE effectively acts as an expert source of knowledge and intelligence
71% of members agree that VONNE is effective in supporting external stakeholders to collaborate with the sector
AGM and Conference
VONNE’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference brings together the VONNE board, staff, members and stakeholders to celebrate the work of VONNE, network with peers and discuss important topics relevant to the North East VCSE sector.
Our AGM is a key opportunity for members, stakeholders and partners to be reminded of the work VONNE has done over the last financial year through our Annual Report video, and core members have voting rights, helping to keep our work accountable and representative of the sector and it’s needs.
Watch last year’s Annual Report video here:
Sharing information and intelligence
We attend a number of roundtable discussions, meetings, seminars and more to obtain and then disseminate key information to our members and the wider sector. Over the last year this has included involvement in over 35 networks where we promote engagement, involvement and collaboration with the VCSE sector as a valued partner.
Networks and forums we've facilitated and been involved in include:
Environment
VONNE Climate Action Alliance (VCAA) continues to engage and support VCSE organisations through the Going Green Together programme, in a mission to embed environmental sustainability into the sector. Within the last year, 13 organisations have been supported with seed funding to develop future projects and engage their communities on climate action. Through the project:
VONNE sits on the Net Zero North East England steering group, representing the VCSE sector in this important forum to ensure we contribute to the regional effort of achieving Net Zero. Net Zero North East England, a new cross sector partnership across the North East LEP area with the aim of ‘decarbonising the North East to create a greener, fairer and more sustainable region’.
VONNE continues to host NEECCo, a regional coalition with a mission to make the North East England’s Greenest Region. With 21 strategic partners including North East and North Cumbria ICS, the five North East universities, Northern Powergrid. Find out more about NEECCo here – www.neecco.org.uk
Health and Wellbeing
VONNE is the lead partner in the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) VCSE Partnership Programme and hosts a growing Health and Wellbeing network with membership increasing to over 700 VCSE organisations this year.
Partnership Forum meetings are held bi-monthly for senior VCSE managers responsible for organisational policy and strategy. The forum hosts a variety of guest speakers including Integrated Care Board (ICB) Chief Executive Sam Allen, and the members act as a representative group with whom external stakeholders can engage.
Over the last 12 months we have engaged with more than
Digital
We continued our work in Digital Inclusion, acting as a subject lead within the VCS Emergencies Partnership and working in collaboration with two other infrastructure organisations to map digital inclusion activity across the North. From this we produced a final report titled, ‘Are we all included?’
Our Digital Pathfinders project has
Working collaboratively around digital inclusion we
Hosted a VCSE consultation roundtable, delivered in partnership with the NE LEP, to inform the development of a regional digital inclusion strategy where one of the topics discussed by VCSE experts was the importance of accessibility being centred in digital inclusion interventions.
Worked with NAVCA to develop a Quality Improvement Toolkit for VCSE Alliances working with Integrated Care Systems (ICS’s), which will be rolled out nationally.
Attended a National Lottery Community Fund and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport roundtable event to share learning from the Safer Culture North East safeguarding project and explore areas for future activity.
North East Charity Awards
VONNE is a proud supporter of the North East Charity Awards and have sponsored the Uniquely North East award for the last two years. The awards are a wonderful opportunity to highlight and celebrate the incredible work happening across the sector, with the Uniquely North East award recognising ‘home-grown’ charities that are focussed on supporting the local communities and local heritage of our region.
Image credit: Reach PLC
