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About RAISE

Our Mission

RAISE enables voluntary/community organisations in the South East to influence regional policy, wherever it is made or implemented, for the benefit of the people they serve.

Our values

We aspire to:

• Be transparent in our approach to all areas of our work.
• Remain true to our mission.
• Act as an advocate for the voluntary/community sector.
• Respect our position of power and influence within the region.
• Listen to our members.

How will we run RAISE?

1. Constitution
   RAISE is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

2. Governance
   RAISE will continue to be governed by a non-executive Board of up to 30 people elected by RAISE's voting members. There are four voting colleges - one for each sub-region. Elections have just taken place and new members will be confirmed at the AGM in October. The Board is the primary decision making body of RAISE. It meets once a month. There are no sub-committees. As well as attending the Board Meetings, Board members represent RAISE at strategic meetings, champion a specific policy or project within the RAISE Business Plan, get involved in consultations, and support key operational activity such as staff recruitment.

You can find out more about Board members by clicking here .

3. Staff
   RAISE employs 11 staff and we don't expect this change to this year. The organisation structure and details of staff members are shown on page 18. The Leadership Team meets bi-monthly to review progress against the RAISE action plans and to take operational decisions. There are no plans to move staff accommodation from RAISE's offices in Guildford.

   You can find out more about RAISE staff by clicking here .

4. Accountability
   

   RAISE is accountable to its stakeholders - members, partners, grant funders and staff. We demonstrate this accountability at a number of levels:

   • Social audit - a pilot social audit was completed in 2005 and all stakeholders had the opportunity to comment on RAISE's performance. The results of the social audit were reviewed by the Board which agreed the action required to tackle areas for improvement. RAISE will now carry out a social audit every year.
   • Investors in People - RAISE was reaccredited as an Investor in People (IIP) organisation in March 2006 with a very positive post-recognition report. This was particularly encouraging as the standards had become more demanding since we originally received accreditation in 2003.
   • Monitoring and evaluation on grant-funded projects - we have robust systems and process in place which enable us to meet all the reporting requirements of our grant funders. RAISE has developed an excellent reputation for the quality of its 'back office' work which is why we are often asked to take on the accountable body role for partners' projects.
   • Face-to-face contact with members - we get out and about meeting our VCS members (both front-line and infrastructure members) one-to-one, in small groups and at our regular events. This enables us to get feedback first hand from the people we are primarily accountable to and is a very important part of what we do.
   • Systematic feedback from our events programme - Everyone that comes to a RAISE event is invited to give us their feedback via an evaluation form. Completed forms are systematically reviewed and acted on by RAISE staff, so that we continuously improve what we offer to our members.