HCVS Strategic Review: Our Operating Principles

HCVS has adopted the following operating principles. These set out our key beliefs about our role and the approach we wish to take.

• Our role is sometimes to support, sometimes to participate and sometimes to lead 

• We have a responsibility to use our limited resources, including public funding, effectively and accountably

• We cannot do everything, and need to make choices

• We believe that these choices should be clear, open and accountable and that we should be able to defend them

• We are committed to promoting quality and efficiency within the voluntary and community sector, and this means we must lead by example and ‘practice what we preach’

• We are committed to equality, and this means that we will make judgements and choices on merit alone in all areas of our work

• Although we work within an often competitive landscape, we are committed to operating transparently – our goal is to empower the sector then and support organisations and networks to become strong and independent in their own right

• We will be welcoming and open in all our dealings, and try and overcome barriers faced by those who, for whatever reason, find our service difficult to access

• We believe that working well with other individuals and organisations brings us new ideas and inspiration, and produces more than the sum of its parts

• We believe that actively listening to people, communities and organisations is key to shaping and delivering our work, and that constructive criticism is as welcome and useful as praise 

• We believe we should celebrate our common humanity by being respectful, courteous, compassionate and fun

• We expect the same in return from those we work for and with, believing that respect is a two-way process.

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