January 12, 2011
Change in the air
2011 has started with some big changes in the sector being announced. Down south the two major community sector bodies, Development Trusts Association and BASSAC, are merging into a new organisation which is to be called Locality. Steve Wyler, currently director of DTA will head up the new organisation. Closer to home, Dunfermline based Carnegie (UK) Trust has just announced some big changes in strategic direction, an end to many of its current programmes and the closure of its London office
The Board of the Carnegie UK Trust has agreed a new five year strategic plan from January 2011.
The Trustees’ review of our current and future strategic focus and priorities fits with the requirements of our Trust Deed and Royal Charter to reassess our work every five years. In doing so the Trust has also taken account of its current and likely future financial position in the light of the economic turbulence of the last three years.
To meet the coming challenges, the Trustees have decided there should be a change in the way the Trust works. We will move from setting up large scale commissions of inquiry to a project-based approach. From the end of this year, all our current programmes for Democracy, Civil Society and Rural development will be brought to an end and we will close our London office.
The Trust has a significant body of work and achievement from the programmes it has run over the last few years and this will play a key part in informing our future work as we move to our project-based operating structure.
Important elements of the current work will continue. The Trust has re-affirmed its strong commitment to the Carnegie Rural Development Community of Practice (Fiery Spirits), focusing the work of two members of staff on further developing Fiery Spirits over the next two years. The Trust also remains committed to continuing to support the development of Community Land Trusts over the next two years.
The Carnegie UK Trust will continue to place the interests of disadvantaged communities at the heart of its activities as it delivers its work as an operating trust that is committed to “changing minds and changing lives”.
In the New Year we will publish our strategic plan for the period to 2015, launch our new website and recruit a policy and research team.
Martyn Evans
Chief Executive