1 November – Communication and Social Media Workshop @ Voluntary Action Islington, London N1 -  This NAVCA social media workshop is for development workers in local support and development organisations, or if you work in a volunteering organisation. Cost is £35 per person.

2 November – NetSquared – Green IT @ British Computer Society, Covent Garden, WC2. Two computer science lecturers at University of East London who run the “Green IT” workshop for SMEs, Mike Kretsis and Gaurav Malik, are running this event in conjunction with the BCS Green IT group.

2 November – London Circuit Riders Forum @ Lasa, London, E1. 14:30 – 17:00. Free. A networking meeting for circuit riders and others working to support third sector technology in London. Stony Grunow from Third Sector IT will be presenting on Google Apps. Book over at Eventbrite or contact Miles Maier at Lasa, mmaier@lasa.org.uk 020 7426 4473

9 November – Green IT Expo @ QEll Conference Centre, SW1P – Free registration in advance at this showcase for green ICT thinking and practice. Information about Green IT Expo.

11 November - Managing ICT @ NCVO, London, N1 – 14:00 – 16:45. A free NCVO workshop which will look at benchmarking your ICT systems, making savings, and how to evaluate a potential supplier and manage ICT relationships.  Book now for Managing ICT.

18 Nov – Civil Society IT Conference 2010 @ QEII Conference Centre, London SW1P – The fifth annual conference returns to get to grips with how the land lies ahead for small and large charities and what technologies and trends IT managers should be focusing on. Find out more from Civil Society IT

26 November – Increasing impact through technology @ NCVO, London, N1, 10:00 – 13:00 – NCVO is running a series of free events supported by the City Bridge Trust, for chief executives and trustees, to help explore how technology can support your work at this difficult time. IT professionals will be on hand help you turn your ideas into action.  More information.

1 December – Digital Inclusion: Driving Digital Participation and Engagement – Central London. This forum will offer delegates the opportunity to take the debate beyond the existing legislative framework and discuss how we can work together to drive up digital participation and social inclusion. From £202.50 for third sector delegates if booked by October 1. Find out more about Digital Exclusion.

2 December – Spiceworks Boot Camp – Central London. Sign up for a one day Boot Camp to get in-person training on all areas of the Spiceworks inventory and helpdesk tool – plus the opportunity to meet other users and access Spiceworks product experts on a 1:1 basis! Sign up now – only 50 spots available – £99/person.

Get online week is a new annual event from UKOnline Centres to inspire and help people to get online. With over 3,000 events planned across the UK, it aims to help 80,000 people get online with myguide. Get online week is from the 18 – 24 October 2010. To support Get online week, the BBC are launching their First Click campaign.

• what are the pros and cons of web based services like Google Apps?
• why Google Apps?
• what’s the difference between the various versions of Google Apps?
• how can Google Apps work for small to medium sized non-profits?
• thinking of switching from Microsoft Office and Exchange Server?
• case studies?

About London Riders
If you’re an accidental techie, a circuit rider or someone who supports the technology of non-profit and voluntary sector organisations  - this is the network event for you to connect with others in the field.  It’s FREE and everyone’s welcome – but please confirm your place to give us an idea of numbers, etc.

If you know of colleagues who’d also be interested in coming along – please pass this invite on to them.

http://londonriders.eventbrite.com

More information at London ICT Champion blog.

**Getting There**
Tube and train: Aldgate East or Aldgate
Bus: Whitechapel

**Anything else?**
As with the previous network event, we’ll be continuing the networking at a local hostelry, so please join us afterwards.

**About Third Sector IT**
Third Sector IT is a non-profit organisation seeking to bring the benefits of Cloud Computing to charities and social enterprises in the UK

This presentation was delivered at KCSC funding Fare and gives a brief oversight of how to get started by identifying what you need, building a business case to meet a funder’s criteria, and finding funders.

Context:

• coalition Government
• Labour controls 17/32 London boroughs
• No certainty about future economic growth
• Expectations of big funding cuts
• Concept of the ‘Big Society’
• Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 to leave ‘unprotected’ services with reduced resources

Office for Budget Responsibility Report (14 June 2010)

• Departmental expenditure limits for 2010/11 are close to 0% growth
• For unprotected services this could means cuts of 2-5% per year or 15-20% budget reduction over 5 years
• Having protected services means greater cuts to unprotected services
• Download OBR Report from here

Services in order of protection:

• NHS
• Schools
• childrens services
• Police
• Elderly people services

Less protected services:

• Housing
• social benefits
• Adult education
• Highways
• Capital investment (already to be cut by 50%)

What London local authorities might do:

• Likely to have -1 to 0% growth in cash support for each of next 5 years
• May see some ‘salami slicing’ of budgets or a more strategic approach
• Unlikely that funding for London authorities will be protected

Can we do anything about it?  It’s unlikely, but we can register suggestions here.

• 18 May @ I-Trust, Ely, Cambs - How to Cost and Fund ICT projects – In this 90 minute workshop I’ll be showing the essentials of how to put together a winning technology bid to a funder.  More details to be confirmed.

• 24 May @ NCYVS, London N1 – in this one day workshop for SKILD I’ll be showing development workers why technology is important for small organisations, and where they can for help and support.

• Understanding why technology is important for small organisations
• Feeling more confident in responding to their technology questions
• Being able to advise frontline groups on planning and costing for efficient use of technology
• Being able to signpost frontline groups to free and low cost resources which make their aims more effective.

This event is organised by NAVCA and the price is £49 per person (including VAT) for all organisations.  To book on this course please download and complete the booking and initial assessment form (Word, 1.43MB) and return it to events@navca.org.uk You can also contact NAVCA’s events team on 0114 278 6636.

• 21 June @  Kensington & Chelsea Social Council Funding Fair @ Kensington Town Hall, London W8 – I’ll be presenting a one hour workshop on “How to Cost and Fund ICT projects” – a primer on the essentials of writing a winning technology bid to a funder.