What do you get from net:gain?

If you are a Chief Executive, Trustee or senior manager working in the Voluntary and Community Sector, then the net:gain programme is designed for you. By joining net:gain you will embark on a flexible professional development programme to equip you and your staff to make better ICT decisions. Invest as much or as little time as you need, over a full year of membership. You will work with your peers in three practical workshops, and benefit from online support which will help you to:

• Master a simple and effective Ten Step planning method
• Share issues with experts and peers
• Become a more effective leader of your organisation

In addition your net:gain centre will select for you a range of local, regional and national opportunities that fit your particular requirements. This includes personalised signposting to the products and services of the ICT Hub, such as searching the Suppliers Directory and Knowledgebase.

And it only costs as little as £75 for a year's membership - Can you afford not to join net:gain?

For a full decription of the net:gain programme ...

The three workshops are designed to provide you with tools, templates and an approach that will help you put in place a practical ICT strategy over the next 6 to 12 months. Then, every year, you can revisit and update your plans:

• write more successful funding bids!
• produce clearer reports on you planning and ICT more quickly!
• make sure your staff training fits their ICT needs
• Cover ICT easily in your Business Plan.

The net:gain process draws on the best in plannng techniques, but has been adapted especially to reflect for the needs and constraints of voluntary and community organisations. The method concentrates all the information you need into simple charts, diagrams and tables, easy to use in a whole range of documents, meetings and presentations.

net:gain is straight-forward, participative, and easy to grasp. The ten step plan uses a series of strategy maps, 'scorecard' grids, decision trees and other practical tools, to help you to look at your organisation from various standpoints and decide how, where (and IF!) technology can support your services, administration and management. You can work through these in your own time, with help from a net:gain mentor, either yourself, or with a colleague, in your management team, or involving staff, volunteers and your service users. We provide you with :

• A Reference Guide on how to run your own planning sessions
• A progress chart to chart how far you have got and to help plan your time
• Toolkits - including copies of all charts/examples used in the workshops, extra planning tools, and signposting to a wide range of other relevant help and support

Workshop 1
This workshop (typically a Full Day, depending on your centre) is aimed at Chief Executive/Trustees and Decision makers. This is not a technical workshop, and no expert knowledge of ICT is expected or needed. It will introduce you to five planning tools, that you can draw up on a flip chart. Learn how to link them together as the first five steps in your plan: identify what you need to prioritise in your organisation and ways to take this forward.

In this workshop we introduce techniques to take you through the first 5 steps of a strategic plan:

Step 1
Shows you how to link your mission directly to all your decision-making - vital for empowering staff and volunteers, for engaging funders and stakeholders, and for making the right decisions on ICT.

Step 2
Understanding how to set goals and link them together, to identify key areas you need to address.

Step 3
Once you have decided which areas to look at, use a simple tool that will help you link your goals to specific outcomes and outputs... then decide what to do....

Step 4
What's the best way to get things done in your organisation? Could you do things differently? Use this simple exercise whenever you need to plan, re-think, or look at options for change.

Step 5
Can technology help? Look at all the requirements you have gathered and begin to ask if, how and where ICT may help.

In Workshop 1, you will meet your peers, discuss issues and solutions, and learn techniques to simplify planning challenges. Where should you start? What should you leave the same, and what needs changing? Choose to address one area, one project, one team's work, or tackle your whole organisation - these are your decisions. Whatever you decide, you will learn useful approaches for the future.

Workshop 2

How can you plan for ICT if you don't know what is possible now, and what's on the horizon? What can you afford? What can you not afford to miss?

In Workshop 2 your centre will show you some of the solutions ICT can offer, with demonstrations, guest speakers and local support projects or industry contacts on hand to advise. You will meet your group again to share experience of progress so far and ideas for development, and get advice on where to go for the expert help you may need.

You'll also learn the next steps to take your planning forward:

Step 6
Learn how to sift and filter your plans, looking at Risks, Benefits, and Full Cost of ICT Ownership to help you decide what to take forward and what to dismiss, or put aside for later review.

Step 7
How to gather all you need to know about a specific ICT need onto one chart: a basis for technical advice, quotes, funding bids or tenders.

Step 8
A framework to help you summarise of all of the technology initiatives you have chosen to look at, so you can outline timescales and responsibilities, and refine costs.

Step 9
Mapping funding sources and paid-for or free support against your needs.

Step 10
Deciding, based on your experience, how and to what extent your organisation chooses to use and develop ICT in the future.

A Technical Fair usually takes place as part of this workshop (or may be run separately) to introduce you to some of the latest ICT solutions, as well as established solutions relevant to the Community Voluntary Sector.

Workshop 3

This workshop is a reviewing and planning workshop to ensure you can apply the ten step process and you know where to go for extra help. You will review any of the steps you have not yet tackled, exchange experience within your group, look at the additional tools available and outline support provided by the national net:gain team (via Experts Online) or from your local net:gain centre.  At this point you may be able sign off your  'progress chart' which will open the door to substantial membership benefits (for example, 92% discount on Cisco equipment).

Further technology demonstrations or guest speakers may be arranged by your centre.

ALSO AVAILABLE:

As progress through the programme, your centre will arrange mentoring support or a buddying programme, and will introduce you to the net:gain delegates' extranet, an online forum for all of those working through the programme.  This will give you a wide range of support resources, suggestions for help, signposting and reference materials.  For example, we provide:

• Technology plan toolkits
• Diagrams and Grids used in the ten steps
• Technical Audit frameworks and asset lists
• Outlines and tips for staff consultation about ICT in your organisation
• Suggested frameworks, templates and tips on how to analyse and address risk
• Suggested sources of funding; ways to approach these; planning for fund-raising and bidding
• Sources of support with technical issues
• Decision making tools
• Technical help – finding advice on options and cost guidelines.

If you still cannot find what you want, or need, simply ask a question via the Experts Online service - free to you for a year as part of the net:gain offer.

Your organisation will pay as little as £40 for a year's membership of net:gain. Capacitybuilders will pay a significant proportion of your fee for a limited time only...

CAN YOU AFFORD TO JOIN NET:GAIN? CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO?