The Stamford Forum is a unique construct. It aims to draw together within its overall membership both ‘'clients' and ‘'providers'. We feel there is a pressing need for a new model of organising together in partnership to address and tackle the complex range of problems that are faced by communities, organisations and individuals.
What Members will get from the Forum:
Participation in a unique and vibrant community of individuals that embraces professionals, managers, politicians, organisations and individuals of all kinds.
Helping to create a completely new model of working, fundamentally founded on partnership and whole systems thinking - “listening, thinking, doing, talking and learning .
The opportunity to be at the forefront of developing and implementing new ideas.
The chance to work within a widespread ‘'marketplace' of people.
Being part of a new kind of organisation that is working for community and not shareholder benefit.
Participation in a wide range of Forum activities that will include: conferences, issue-based ‘'enquiries', newsletters and new approaches to working on complex problems.
Our vision is the creation of an overall community of interest, embracing the ideas and approaches that are set out in this manifesto. The Stamford Forum is aiming towards the status of a ‘'community interest company' which will operate for social gain and will be not for profit. Both clients (organisations and government) as well as providers can be members of the Forum. The Forum will encourage different forms and settings in which complex problems can be debated and whole system approaches can be designed as inputs to tackle them.
In particular individual cases, combinations of members will align together to carry out pieces of work that may be short or long term in duration. The Forum will facilitate the arrangements through which appropriate ‘'projects' can be taken forward. In the past, clients with necessary concerns would construct (often uni-dimensional) tenders or requests for assistance. These would set out to attract teams of people to respond to the particular brief. While there will always be room for this type of project, The Stamford Forum wants to extend the ways in which work can be constructed, negotiated and carried out.
Thus, within the Forum's regular activities (a journal or newsletter, regular meetings for all members around particular themes or concerns, publications, search conferences etc), it will be possible to construct new ‘'calls' for work. Two or more local authorities, for example, each pursuing the consideration of a complex agenda, (say integration of children's services or increasing environmental sustainability) might get together under The Stamford Forum's auspices to design a complex action learning and engagement intervention.
Other members of the Forum who, in turn, might include consultants working in combinations which could include people employed by other local authorities with experience of the particular issue, would come together to form a consortium to respond.
Both parties would agree a contract for the work. The Stamford Forum would make a contribution to the work from its own resources and would encourage the formation of a contractual partnership between the parties who would work together (client and ‘'consultants') to tackle the project. Other members of the Forum would be available to quality assure and evaluate as required.
Using this developing methodology of working, anyone can become a member of The Stamford Forum (individuals, organisations, local authorities or government departments). While the commissioning agent would always have contractual responsibility for its work, it is possible to envision entirely new combinations of people and organisations coming together to both formulate projects and the responses to these.
The Stamford Forum is seeking to become a community interest company under the auspices of the 2004 Companies Act. This will mean that the Forum will be able to operate as a commercial enterprise but, at the same time, be non profit making. The value of the Forum's shares will never increase and all profits will be returned to the community via the various activities that the Forum engages in.
Membership of the Forum, which is therefore a not-for-profit organisation, will be open to all. In the next two years, The Stamford Forum seeks up to 500 new members, both individuals and organisations. In order to join the company, it will be necessary to purchase 1000 shares which will cost £1 in total. (Each share has a value of £0.001p.) This will entitle members to participate in the full range of the Forum's activities. In the first year, all members are also being requested to provide a ‘'starting up' loan to the Forum of £500. This will be repayable, with interest, beginning twelve months after the date of the member joining, on request.
The only other requirement will be a commitment to the values and ideas that drive the Forum and which are set out in the attached manifesto.
The Stamford Forum is aiming to construct a new paradigm for working across the public, private, community and voluntary sectors –- a new way of responding to the complex challenges that are faced in society.