NAVCA Guide to Volunteering in Lockdown
NAVCA have produced a “quick guide to decision-making“ in relation to volunteering activity during this November lockdown.
However, please note if in doubt always refer to the Government guidelines:
November update: upcoming funding & campaigns
Funding:
Power to Change: The Community Business Renewal Initiative
In response to the current pandemic, Power to Change opened their first round of funding of the Community Business Renewal Initiative. This fund is aimed at those organisations who are focused on delivering services to those most affected by Covid-19. Grants are available between £10,000-£20,000; this money can be used for staffing costs, adaptation of community business and the continued survival of organisations. This fund is aimed at those in the most deprived areas and communities, especially those supporting and led by disabled and BAME-led or BAME- supporting businesses. Round one closed on 3rd November due to high levels of applicants. Round two and three will open on 12th January 10am-1pm and Tuesday 2nd March 10am-1pm respectively. Make a note in your diaries.
For more information: https://www.powertochange.org.uk/get-support/programmes/community-business-renewal-fund/
Comic Relief: The Global Majority Fund
Comic Relief have also partnered with the National Emergencies Trust, Barclays and The Clothworkers’ Foundation to launch The Global Majority Fund, which is aimed at response work in communities experiencing racial inequality. Applications close on 30th November at midday.
They will also be holding three Zoom Q&A sessions. To register and for more info click here: https://www.comicrelief.com/funding/funding-opportunities/the-global-majority-fund/
UK Youth: UK Youth Fund
UK Youth have launched the UK Youth Fund. They are asking all youth organisations across England to complete a SHORT questionnaire relating to their experience of Covid’s impact which will form part of their application for funding. They have secured £2,000,000 to support small youth organisations who so far have had little access to any Covid relief funding. Those organisations whose turnover is less than £250,000 are eligible to apply, with grants of up to £50,000 being offered. The closing date for applications is the 25th November at midday.
Complete questionnaire: https://www.funding.ukyouth.org
UK Youth will be holding two webinars to answer any questions relating to the application.
Thursday 12 November 10am-11am:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_46TczAZ7S1uKvoIUU3ZMIA
Tuesday 17th November 3pm-4pm:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jXvEFyrnRPWFsno6zFBJ-w
Ecclesiastical: Movement for Good, 12 Days of Giving
As part of their ‘Movement for Good campaign’, Ecclesiastical are giving financial assistance to eligible charities in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands & Isle of Man; 10 charities will receive £1000 each weekday from 7-22th December. They are asking people to nominate their favourite charity; each draw will close at midnight the day before & the 10 charities that day with the most votes will receive £1000 to help them through this difficult period.
To nominate: https://www.movementforgood.com/12days/
Sector Challenge Programme
Catalyst and The National Lottery Communiy Fund, as part of their Covid-19 Digital Response fund, have launched 12 Sector Challenges across four sectors which have been most affected by Covid-19. These include: early years; mental health and wellbeing; financial wellbeing; and sexual abuse and domestic violence.
Three charities or civil society organisations will be funded for each challenge; they will come together with a digital partner to explore heightening digital usage to overcome some of the problems faced in light of the pandemic. The budget will be between £5,000-£10,000.
Deadline for applications is 27th November 2020.
For more information, click here.
Campaigns:
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA): Personal Assistants in Care Recruitment Campaign
This scheme is aimed at encouraging recruitment and applications for Personal Assistants in Care (PAs). Disabled members of our communities, who have access to a direct payment personal budget often find themselves without access to good PAs. As many people are finding themselves without work due to the ongoing pandemic, there are many potential great PAs who are looking for work; this scheme is circulated around promoting this opportunity into work. GMCA are working with partners across Greater Manchester to facilitate easy access to information; “partner packs” are available for organisations etc to have ample access to useful promotion.
For more information & access to resources: https://greatermanchesterpa.org.uk/resources/
Announcing: Festival of North West Thinking 2020
VSNW are pleased to announce that our Festival of North West Thinking 2020 will be taking place online over four weeks from 23rd October through to 12th November. The theme of this year’s festival will be Covid-19 recovery.
The series of four events will bring together panellists from organisations across the VCFSE sector with representatives from the combined local authorities to listen and identify the key issues the sector is facing, feeding key challenges and potential solutions identified into strategy. This is part of VSNW’s work to facilitate the VCFSE sector’s response to re-design and recovery in the North West region.
Over these past six months, the conversations VSNW have been working to support and facilitate across the region have increasingly shifted from co-ordinating the sector’s immediate emergency response to Covid-19 to looking forward to how we rebuild, and what we want this new world to look like.
Each event has been designed to bring together different perspectives from across the sector to explore the threads of Covid-19 recovery conversation taking place across the region. We have identified a number of key areas where the opportunity to listen and learn from one another is essential to build a strategic response which places the goal of building a more equitable, socially just society at its heart.
The Festival will be comprised of four online events. For more information and to book, please click on the event title:
Covid-19 Recovery: VCSE Leadership Voices Assembly with a focus on Inequalities
Friday 23rd October – 10am-12pm
This event is intended for our colleagues in leadership roles at VCSE sector organisations and equalities networks across the North West. It will give us an opportunity come together and start to coordinate a strategy for using our sector’s Covid-19 recovery as an opportunity to combat inequality.
Covid-19 Recovery: The VCSE Infrastructure Perspective
Wednesday 28th October –2pm-3:30pm
This event is intended for our colleagues at VCSE sector infrastructure organisations across the North West. It’s an opportunity for us to bring together our different perspectives from across the region, identify the salient issues the sector’s infrastructure bodies are confronting, and to coordinate and synergise our response.
We are delighted to announce that the following national VSCE sector leaders will be joining us for a panel discussion:
Rita Chadha, CEO of the Small Charities Coalition
Andrew O’Brien, Director of External Affairs, Social Enterprise UK
Karl Wilding, Chief Executive of NCVO
Beyond 2020: The Role of the VCSE Sector (including VSNW’s AGM)
Thursday 12th November – 2pm-4:30pm
This event is intended for our membership, but we’d welcome new organisations who are interested in attending, to see if you’re eligible for free membership. For more information on what this entails and how to apply please see the membership page of our website.
We are also hosting a discussion on the Future of Funding for the sector. Speakers confirmed include:
Paul Streets (Lloyds Bank Foundation)
Elly De Decker (The National Lottery Community Fund)
Sarah Longlands (IPPR North)
Building Back Better: In Conversation with the North West’s Metro Mayors
Date & time TBC
VSNW is the regional VCSE sector network for the North West of England. We work to ensure the sector, in all its diversity, takes its full part in shaping the future of the North West. VSNW is a membership organisation; we connect to the sector through infrastructure organisations, equalities networks and regional and national providers. If your organisation fits this description, we’d like to invite you to join us as a member of VSNW. Membership is free and joining us will ensure we’re able to keep you linked into the strategic conversations we help facilitate across the region. To find out more and apply for membership, please take a look at the membership page on our website.
Cheshire & Warrington Infrastructure charities come together
Infrastructure support charities from across Cheshire & Warrington have come together to form a new collective, the Cheshire & Warrington Infrastructure Partnership. This partnership will work across the region to coordinate support for the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector, share best-practice and resources, and assist with the continuing efforts to tackle Covid-19 and help our communities and charitable organisations recover.
The partnership currently consists of the following organisations:
Cheshire Community Action
Cheshire West Voluntary Action
CVS Cheshire East
Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action
Warrington Voluntary Action
Secretariat and administration support for the Partnership will be provided by Voluntary Sector North West.
The formation of the Cheshire & Warrington Infrastructure Partnership follows the recent announcement that the three local authorities in the region and the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have committed to a vision of building a better future after COVID, where businesses and local communities see improvements in four key areas – economic growth, health, sustainability and inclusivity. This is a goal which the Partnership fully supports and will work alongside colleagues in the public sector to achieve.
Caroline Whitney CEO of CVS Cheshire East said:
“We are delighted to be a founding member of this new partnership which will ensure better cooperation and more joint working across the Cheshire and Warrington region.”
Clare Harrison Deputy Chief Executive of Cheshire West Voluntary Action said:
“The Partnership will provide a collective voice for the VCSE sector[1], enabling us to present a united front in discussions around how our communities can recover from the current crisis and Build Back Better with a fairer and more sustainable society.”
Alison Cullen CEO of Warrington Voluntary Action said:
“As a founding member of this new partnership I am looking forward to participating on behalf of the sector on the new Public Sector Transformation Board”
Margaret Cheshire, Chief Operations Officer of Cheshire Community Foundation said:
“We are delighted to have been co-opted into the Partnership and to play an important role in ensuring that the Sector is effectively linked into economic and funding conversations”
To view a PDF copy of this press release please click here.
Inclusive economy report published
The VCSE Leadership Group has published a discussion paper on 'Building Back Better' in Greater Manchester to create a more inclusive economy, together with the VCSE sector and the wider social economy. The report provides a range of successful, practical ideas and live examples which are likely to produce a more inclusive, green and localised economy. We are challenging Greater Manchester use these to put much greater emphasis on the social economy within its economic strategy.
Shielded & Vulnerable People's Assembly: Final Recommendations Published
Following on from a VCFSE Assembly on Shielded & Vulnerable People, the VS6 partnership has publish eight recommendations based on feedback from the event. A summary of these is shown above.
The VCFSE Shielded & Vulnerable People’s Assembly was attended by representatives from over 50 organisations from across the Liverpool City Region. Further events have been held regarding Mental Health and Inequalities and the results of these events will be published for consultation shortly.
The full list of recommendations can be found in the document below:
Building On: Finding a Better Way to Support Carers, and Shielded and Vulnerable People in LCR
Cheshire and Merseyside Health & Care Partnership Highlights role of VCFSE Sector
The Cheshire and Merseyside Health & Care Partnership has reaffirmed its appreciation and support for Cheshire and Merseyside’s Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) Sector by highlighting the indispensable role the sector has played in the region’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a written statement issued on behalf of the Partnership’s Chief Officer, Dr Jackie Bene, and Chief Executive of Voluntary Sector North West, Warren Escadale, the sector was praised for its “flexibility and ability to respond to rapidly changing situations while still delivering innovative solutions.”
Over 14,000 voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises are currently operating in Cheshire and Merseyside, employing over 33,000 staff and supporting over 275,000 volunteers and 280,000 informal carers.
It is this considerable number of VCFSE organisations, staff and volunteers that has enabled the quick and effective response to the challenges created by the pandemic. Over the last few months, the sector has supported communities by providing vital food deliveries, advice and advocacy, medicines collections, mental health support and much more.
Due to the sector’s deep-rooted presence in the community, this vital help has reached a number of groups who need it most, including those with disabilities, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, homeless and rough sleepers, people on low incomes, and many, many more.
Read the Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership’s statement of support here, and for more information about the VCFSE sector’s role in the region’s Coronavirus response, read a detailed paper from the sector here.
GM VCSE Leadership Group BAME Statement
The Greater Manchester VCSE Leadership Group have issued a statement in support of the BAME community and BAME-led organisations across Greater Manchester.
You can read this statement here.
VSNW Trustee Recruitment
VSNW is seeking individuals with experience in the Voluntary Sector to join it’s Trustee board. You will be joining a range of people from various backgrounds across the VCSE sector who make up our current trustee board.
For more information on this role, please see the Trustee Role Profile and Person Specification. You can find out more about the work of VSNW here.
To apply please complete and return the following:
We particularly welcome applications from people living or working in Cumbria and Lancashire.
If you would like to discuss this role before applying, please contact VSNW CEO Warren Escadale at warren.escadale@vsnw.org.uk or 07753 14766.