Our Mission and Values

AGE UK NORTH CRAVEN

Strategic Plan .... 2019 – 2023

Age UK North Craven (AUKNC) is a Settle based, local independent charitable company limited by guarantee, which was formed in 1987. It has a Board of Trustees, 14 staff members and over 200 volunteers. It is a brand partner of the charity Age UK, and benefits from Age UK’s branding, and infrastructure resources.

AUKNC seeks to be clear on the role of the charity, the services it supports and provides, its resources and how it will undertakes its work In order to continue to make a real difference to the lives of older people and their families and communities in North Craven.

This Plan has been developed to set a clear direction and focus of activities for AUKNC over the next 4 years. It contains the organisation’s mission and values, the organisations priorities. It also sets out plans for the forthcoming year.

The Plan has been developed to identify our priorities, to set out our work focus and to highlight our development areas and projects.

Our Mission

To make later life in North Craven a fulfilling and enjoyable experience, reducing isolation and loneliness, and enable the right support at the right time for those that need us

Our Aims

That North Craven develops as a place that is age friendly.
That people in later life feel comfortable, safe and secure.
That people can access all the support they need to manage their daily lives and continue to live independently..
That people in later life can participate within their local community as they want to
That our volunteering opportunities and support are of the highest quality, age friendly and inclusive.
That we are strong advocates for and supporters of everyone in later life and their carers
That we remain financially robust, and in control of our own destiny.

Our Values

AUKNC has developed the following core values to help guide our strategic planning:

We will always act with understanding, sensitivity and respect in all of our work
We will always respect confidentiality, equality of opportunity and display a full and active commitment to user involvement
We will help older people to achieve their objectives, developing our support by responding to their hopes, need and aspirations
We recognise that the interests and needs of older people are complex and diverse. We work to influence the attitudes of others so that they recognise this and reflect this in their planning and delivery
We are entrepreneurial and creative in managing our charity and serving our communities

Our Principles reflect our Values and will help us to achieve our Mission

We value our communities
We work side by side with older people, changing our approach from “doing to”, to one of “working with” and valuing and respecting older people by putting them at the heart of all that we do.
We provide preventive support to enable people to live as full and active life as possible.
Our services are mostly dependent on the skills, energy and time provided by volunteers, serving their own communities.
We are only ever as strong as our people.

We are financially resilient

We seek to make our services as financially sustainable as possible.
Our income comes from a varied range of sources.
We are entrepreneurial and develop appropriate trading options, to grow income and to ensure that we have resilience.
We are efficient and respect the resources available to us.

We deliver and support innovative solutions

We are open to test and learn from different approaches to resolving issues faced by older people.
We share ideas and embed them in our day-to-day practice and share with other organisations.
We work to ensure that there are a wide range of opportunities for older people to participate in, both provided directly by us and other parties.
We are innovative and willing to try new things that can improve older people’s lives.

We embed Quality and Outcomes in all that we do

We are able to demonstrate quality in all that we undertake.
We are working to understand the difference we make to the lives of older people.
When things go wrong, we ensure we learn from the experience.

We enthusiastically support and work with other organisations

We deliver service in partnership with other organisations
We support other organisations to ensure that what they provide is as age friendly as possible.
We are a key part of the network of support to communities within North Craven.

Our Priorities

Priority 1 To communicate really well:

Ensure better understanding of support and opportunities available.
Enable an better understanding of older people rights, entitlements and protections.
To help people know about their local community and the opportunities available to them.
To enable groups and organisations to clearly understand how they can make their service age friendly.
To use a wide range of communication channels.

Priority 2 To provide high quality and appropriate services.

To support our most vulnerable clients.
Ensure all provision is quality assured where possible.
To ensure our services are accessible.
To review, evaluate and develop our services regularly.
To develop preventative services to compliment our reactive services.
To develop new responses to emerging needs.

Priority 3 To enable more opportunities for older people to participate in.

To directly provide groups, clubs and opportunities
To support groups, clubs and activities delivered by others
To help third parties make their activities age friendly
To enable people to access opportunities through help with transport

Priority 4 To deliver excellent volunteering opportunities, support and development

To offer a developing range of flexible volunteering opportunities
To provide excellent induction, support and training for volunteers.
To communicate effectively and to listen and learn from our volunteers.
To value our volunteers, thank them and celebrate them
To make our volunteering age-friendly and inclusive

Priority 5 To be an excellent, sustainable local organisation.

To have appropriate plans, procedures and systems in place to be compliant and to protect our clients, volunteers, staff, trustees and the organisation.
To be financially sustainable by developing varied income streams, charging appropriately and being efficient and careful in our use of resources.
To participate in local, regional and national partnerships and processes where we can make a positive impact.
To understand our local area and to proactively listen to all our stakeholder