News & Events

Target Audience

CEOs, senior managers or staff from non-profits/charities who’d like to learn how to improve their Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Prior experience of using Microsoft PPT is essential.

Outline

  1. Slide Theory – what to think about before opening PowerPoint
  2. PowerPoint Fundamentals – time-saving tools to help you create professional slides
  3. Present with Confidence – tools to help you feel in control when you deliver your presentation

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Zoom.

All too often volunteer leaders/trustees and employees in the non-profit sector can find themselves in management and leadership roles without having a full understanding of what such roles actually involve. Furthermore, it is frequently the case that no further training or support is offered to people in these demanding positions.  

The recently published OECD Skills Strategy for Ireland identified the need for continuous improvement of leadership and management skills within non-profit sector in Ireland. Strong leadership and management capabilities are important drivers of organisational change, helping to optimise the use of skills in workplaces and drive innovation, productivity and organisation performance. Previous studies have highlighted a need to improve management capability in Ireland, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. The OECD Strategy recommended extending flexible, subsidised, customisable development opportunities available to Ireland’s managers to maximise the accessibility, relevance and value of support: 

  • Address gaps in management training for mid-sized, locally traded service companies and community, voluntary and social enterprises. 
  • Advance new flexible, subsidised and customisable management training and scale up successful existing programmes. 

Target Audience

Board Members, CEOs, Managers, Members of Management Teams, or anyone interested in any of these roles.

Outline

Very often the structure within non-profit organisations is to have the CEO of the organisation lead a Management Team made up of Managers of certain functions within the organisation. Members of the Board hold all Managers & Staff to account through the CEO who reports directly to them. But what does it mean to be a Manager, and a member or a leader of a Management Team, or a Leader of a group of people on your Board?

This 3-part online Leadership Programme will be comprised of:

  • Leadership: From what makes an effective leader to developing your own leadership style.
  • Team Building: From what makes a highly functioning team to how to motivate teams and attract people to join them.
  • Developing your personal skills and getting access to tools for leadership, management and team building.

The schedule for this programme is:

  • Wednesday 11/09/2024 6:30pm-9pm
  • Wednesday 06/11/2024 6:30pm-9pm
  • Wednesday 13/11/2024 6:30pm-9pm

Methodology

Via Zoom.

The funding for the provision of these services comes from the National Training Fund administered by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science. The €100 nominal charge is by way of contribution. Participants will be asked to provide further information regarding Age Range, Gender, Employment Status, Educational Background, Role in Organisation, Organisation Activity & Size post registration.

Target Audience

For Approved Housing Bodies categorised as ‘Micro’ (less than 20 dwellings), ‘Small’ (between 20 and 100 dwellings) as well as those registered as Care and Support AHBs.

Outline

The Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) is an independent authority, established in February 2021. The organisation is tasked with the regulation of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for the purposes of protecting housing assets provided or managed by such bodies. Section 37(8) of the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 requires all AHBs to comply with the Standards. The AHBRA establish a set of outcomes that AHBs are required to achieve to demonstrate the protection of housing assets provided or managed by AHBs.

Compliance with the Standards is a statutory requirement and clearly this presents many challenges for AHBs at the smaller end of the scale, particularly from a human and financial resource perspective.

The primary objective of the training programme is to provide AHBs categorised as ‘Micro’ (less than 20 dwellings) and ‘Small’ (between 20 and 100 dwellings with a clear understanding of the Standards for AHBs, enabling them to effectively implement and maintain compliance.

The training content supports:

  • develop an increased awareness of the Standards for AHBs and what it means for them;
  • enhance operational efficiency and help understand to a greater extent how compliance can be demonstrated; and
  • undertake gap analysis to identify weaknesses or non-compliance with the Standards.

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Zoom.

Target Audience

For anyone needing to make the most of their time in a busy work environment.

Course Outline

The psychology of time management

  • Self awareness of your own time management skills

Arrange and prioritise tasks

  • How to prioritise
  • What are your time wasters
  • The advantages and disadvantages of multi-tasking

Strategies to improve time management

  • Urgent vs non urgent
  • Focus

Other tips

  • Managers need to be aware too
  • Effective communication and time management
  • Stress management

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Zoom.

Target Audience

This course will be beneficial for chairs of boards, CEOs, senior managers leading executive teams, officers engaging in community outreach, education/training workers, and staff leading meetings.

Outline

In this workshop you will be introduced to methodologies, tools and techniques for effective online facilitation. The workshop includes live demos of interactive collaborative tools which will save you time and provide skills to bring your events alive.

Methodology

Delivered online via Zoom.

Target Audience

New Board Members, Directors, Charity Trustees of non-profit organisations.

Outline

A comprehensive induction is an important first step in ensuring that new Board Members, Directors and Charity Trustees have the understanding needed to carry out their roles, responsibilities and obligations effectively. This workshop aims to form part of that induction process.

Below is an outline of the topics covered:

  • Governance Overview
  • Board Members’ Roles and Responsibilities
  • The Chairperson
  • Board Relationship with CEO/Staff
  • Company Limited by Guarantee – Directors
  • Charity – Charity Trustees
  • What more to expect from a Board Induction

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Zoom.

Target Audience

This course is aimed at people who already have some experience with digital fundraising/marketing in charities and not-for-profit organisations. Preferably, people who have been doing digital for 4 years or more.

Outline

1. Introduction:

What is digital fundraising, and why is it important?

The pros and cons of digital fundraising

2. Case Studies

3. Steps to Follow When Creating a Digital Fundraising Campaign:

  • Review past strategies and results.
  • Set goals and KPIs – What does your charity want to achieve? Work backward from there.
  • Ensure your digital fundraising strategy resonates with your donors.
  • Create a communication plan that aligns with your strategy.
  • Identify all relevant channels.
  • Choose the right tools for your strategic fundraising plan.
  • Engage and cultivate relationships with your donors throughout the campaign.
  • Measure and track performance.
  • Review the campaign’s performance.

4. Q&A to Finish

Methodology

Delivered online via Zoom.

Target Audience

Board Members, CEOs and Finance Managers of Charities.

Outline

SORP requirements for Charities and the responsibilities of the Board of Directors under the Charities Act.

The main areas covered will be:

  • What are the responsibilities of the Board of Directors under the Charities Act
  • What are SORP’s (Statements of Recommend Practice)
  • What is the purpose of SORP
  • Why are they necessary in charity financial reporting
  • What are the requirements of SORP for Charities
  • What is the connection between the Charities Act 2009 and SORP
  • What are the key requirements of SORP FRS102 (latest SORP)
  • How to lay out Financial Annual Accounts in SORP Format
  • What is a Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) and how to construct it
  • The rules on Income recognition under SORP
  • The rules of allocation Overheads by Charity Activity
  • What is happening in the Regulators office for implementing a SORP in Ireland
  • Latest information on the consultation process
  • What is an Activity Report which is required from all charities regardless of size.

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Zoom.

Target Audience

Managers and staff of charities and not-for-profits.

Outline

This training course is designed to engage non-technical management and staff of charities and non-profits, helping them understand the importance of preparing to handle a cyber security incident. The topics are presented in a practical and accessible manner to inspire confidence in the attendees that they would have the ability to handle an unexpected incident.

1. Introduction

a) What is incident response?
b) Why is it important for charities and non-profits?
c) Common types of incidents that such organisations face
d) The benefits of having an incident response plan

2. Planning for Incidents

a) Identifying your organisation’s assets and risks
b) Developing incident response procedures and playbooks
c) Assembling an incident response team
d) Testing your incident response plan

3. Responding to Incidents

a) Review of the incident response plan template
b) Detecting and analysing incidents
c) Containing and eradicating incidents, by using playbooks
d) Carrying out risk assessments
e) Recovering from incidents
f) Communicating with stakeholders during an incident

4. Conclusion

a) Best practices for incident response
b) Resources for charities and non-profits

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Google Meet. It will be an interactive workshop, including a breakout room for participants to see how they would respond to a particular scenario. A copy of the slides will be provided as well as a link to download an incident response plan template and a couple of example playbooks.

Target Audience

Managers and staff of charities and not-for-profits.

Outline

This training course is designed to engage non-technical management and staff of charities and non-profits, helping them understand the importance of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) with IT Disaster Recovery (ITDRP). These are also referred to as Business Resilience Planning in other sectors.

This planning is essential in safeguarding organisations from wide ranging, catastrophic events which would have a significant impact on the continuing operation of charities and non-profits. The topics are presented in a practical and accessible manner so the attendees would have the ability to put in place the requisite plans to handle a crisis event, cyber security related or otherwise.

1) Introduction

a) What is Business Continuity Planning?
b) The elements of continuity planning:

    • Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
    • Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
    • IT Disaster Recovery Plan (ITDRP)

c) Why are these important for charities?
d) Common risks for charities
e) The benefits of having business continuity and IT disaster recovery plans

2) Planning for Continuity

a) Identifying your organisation’s critical functions
b) Analysing the risks to these critical functions using an BIA
c) Developing business continuity and IT disaster recovery plans from the BIA
d) Best practices for testing your plans

3) Responding to Crises

a) Activating your business continuity and IT disaster recovery plans
b) Managing the crisis
c) Communicating with stakeholders during a crisis
d) Recovering from the crisis

Methodology

Delivered virtually via Google Meet. It will be an interactive workshop, including a breakout room for participants to see how they would assess their own risks and then plan for that scenario. A copy of the slides will be provided as well as a link to download templates for Business Impact Analysis (BIA), Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and IT Disaster Recovery Plan (ITDRP).