Bulletin Contents - 7 July 2009

Derbyshire WellConnected Training Workshops

OEM Partnership Event on Volunteering

ICT Answers in a Box

Training and Development Officers Vacancy

New Hardship Fund for Third Sector Organisations

Yorkshire Bank £150,000 Charity Award

15 Questions Trustees Need to Ask

Step Forward for Funding to Build Community Organisations

Supporting Health Groups and Internet Use

Chance for Smaller Charities to Influence MPs

Learn About Charity Accounting Online

Changes in Workforce Issues Support

Help to Install Renewable Energy Technologies

A Chance to be Paid to Work Overseas for a UK Charity

Quick Guide to Government Ministers

NCVO Summer Marketing Conference

Derbyshire WellConnected Training Workshops

13 Jul: Selling on eBay and Amazon
Derby Conference Centre - am
Matlock New Bath Hotel – pm

29 Sep: Working on the Move
Sharpes Pottery, Swadlincote - am
Rutland Arms Hotel, Bakewell – pm

25 Nov: Website Development - Employ a web designer or build your own?
Derby Conference Centre - am
Ringwood Hall, Chesterfield – pm

To register for any of the workshops please visit the Derbyshire WellConnected website and follow the links www.derbyshire-wellconnected.co.uk

OEM Partnership Event on Volunteering

9 September

The Partnership Event will bring together stakeholders from across the region to debate the regional priorities for organisations that co-ordinate volunteering.

The event will:

• Identify the regional volunteering priorities for coordination at regional level;
  
• Improve understanding between the third sector and statutory bodies of the roles, benefits and issues relating to volunteering in the region;
  
• Inform the audience on current developments in relation to volunteering;
  
• Discuss specific contexts and issues in relation to volunteering e.g. coordination of NI6 across the region, volunteering and its role and potential for addressing worklessness, volunteering and health (from a volunteers and recipient beneficiary perspective), the relationship between age and volunteering and workshops on the support needs and rights of volunteers.

ICT Answers in a Box

'ICT Answers in a Box' is a new resource that has been designed particularly with infrastructure organisations in mind. This is a boxed set of cards which provides answers to frequently asked questions about ICT and how it can help the third sector.

It will be useful for anyone who supports staff and volunteers from the sector. It offers short, jargon-free answers and provides links to useful information elsewhere on the internet.

ICT Answers in a Box is available free of charge to infrastructure organisations, and can be ordered from Steve Webster, Regional ICT Champion - email steve@highpeakcvs.org.uk or telephone 07595 119182. Alternatively a copy can be ordered online at: www.ictchampions.org.uk/order-cards  (N.B. If you require multiple copies for your organisation, please contact Steve direct).

 There is also an online version of the ICT Answers at: www.ictchampions.org.uk

Training and Development Officers x 2

Salary: From £13,974 to £16,524 (pro rata) dependent on qualifications and successful completion of probationary period. Up to 20 hours per week. 18 month temporary contract.

Reps on Board is a joint project between MacIntyre and Derbyshire County Council which provides learning and development support and opportunities for people with a learning disability, enabling them to fulfil their role as elected members of local ‘Partnership Boards’.

This successful project is now being expanded through the creation of additional posts to roll out Hate Crime awareness and Keeping Safe training across the county. This involves identifying and working with a core group of people with learning disabilities to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to become paid co-trainers and facilitators.

If you believe that people with a learning disability across Derbyshire have a right to learn about Keeping Safe and are willing to travel across the county, this could be the challenge you have been looking for.

To find out more about this exciting opportunity contact Emma Killick on 07900 134272

For an application form contact the recruitment team quoting : REPD
Call: 01908 357016
Email: jobs@macintyrecharity.org
Visit website: www.macintyrecharity.org

Closing Date: 10 July
Interview Date: 24 July

New Hardship Fund for Third Sector Organisations

CDF working with Office of the Third Sector (OTS) is delivering the new Hardship Fund. The Hardship Fund will provide grant support to third sector organisations in England delivering front-line services to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in society that have been affected by the recession.

Grants of between £50,000 and £250,000 will be available to organisations with a turnover of at least £200,000 that are in financial hardship which is impacting on their ability to deliver services in the following areas:

• Health and Social Care
  
• Housing Support
  
• Education and Training
  
• Information, Advice and Guidance

The fund will go live later in July. To register your interest email hardshipfund@cdf.org.uk

More information can be found by visiting www.nsfund.org.uk.

Yorkshire Bank £150,000 Charity Award

To mark 150 years of working with communities, Yorkshire Bank is launching a special £150,000 fund to help support charities and community groups.  These special awards come on top of the existing support Yorkshire Bank provides for community and charity groups through its charitable foundation, the Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank Foundation.

The £150,000 fund will be used to make awards to projects in four categories – environment, volunteering, education and regeneration.  The best entry in each category will receive the ‘Colonel Akroyd Community Award’, named after the bank's founder plus a £10,000 donation.  Four others in each category will receive a certificate plus a donation of £5,000.  In addition to the main category awards, there will be a further 20 donations of £1,000 to other projects.  There will also be an extra £10,000 award for the entry the judges consider to be most deserving.

The bank is inviting applications from community groups and charities in those areas where it operates – across the midlands and North of England.  Only one application can be accepted from each charity or group and it should be made in only one of the four categories.

The closing date for the application is the 16 August 2009.

Full details of the Yorkshire Bank 150th Community Awards, including an application form, can be found at www.ybonline.co.uk/awards or by writing to YCBF 150th Community Award, 3rd Floor, 20 Merrion Way, Leeds  LS2 8NZ

15 Questions Trustees Need to Ask

The Charity Commission has come up with a checklist that trustees should use to review their organisation in light of the current recession. The 15 main questions will not all be relevant to every charity – it will depend on a charity’s size and how it operates. The checklist reflects a good practice approach that charities should use when regularly reviewing the way they operate, and this approach becomes especially important during an economic downturn.

The checklist is a template which can be used by different types and sizes of charity, and adapted to suit particular circumstances. It is intended to help structure a discussion as an agenda item at a trustee meeting, away day discussion or planning meeting. It will also help the trustees to develop a plan and timetable for action. The Charity Commission strongly encourages trustee boards of all charities to use this checklist.

The checklist can be downloaded from www.charitycommission.gov.uk

Step Forward for Funding to Build Community Organisations

The Government's Communitybuilders seventy million pound funding programme has taken a step forward with the announcement that a consortium led by the Adventure Capital Fund will manage it.  There are the bare bones of a website at www.communitybuildersfund.org.uk 

A mixture of loans and grants will be available later in the summer, plus access to expert support and mentoring services to help organisations work towards long-term financial stability and away from grant dependency, and is aimed at organisations such as community centres, multi-purpose settlements and social action centres, development trusts and community enterprises and community land trusts.

Supporting Health Groups and Internet Use

Two just-opened (annual) award schemes:

• The IMPACT Awards reward charities that are doing excellent work to improve people's health.  Open to registered charities that are at least three years old, working in a health-related field in the UK, with a total annual income between £10,000 and £1 million.  Managed by The King's Fund with GlaxoSmithKline, apply by 25 September, www.kingsfund.org.uk/research/projects/gsk_impact_awards
• The Innovation in the Community Awards from TalkTalk provides funds for both technology related projects as well as technology equipment, to help 30 groups make the most of the internet.  Apply by 30 September, www.talktalk.co.uk/information/innovation-in-the-community

Chance for Smaller Charities to Influence MPs

The latest editorial from specialist consultancy nfpSynergy says that a lack of big brand campaigns opens up opportunities for smaller charities campaigning to influence MPs at Westminster.

Learn About Charity Accounting Online

From KnowHow NonProfit: A new online charity accounting toolkit is available from CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy), designed with the smaller voluntary and community organisation in mind. 

There is a demonstration module available, more details at
www.knowhownonprofit.org/news/new-online-charity-accounting-toolkit

Changes in Workforce Issues Support

What was the UK Workforce Hub - providing help and resources for the voluntary sector on employment, work skills and HR issues - is changing.  It will be known as Workforce Development, under the NCVO banner, with resources continuing to be available at www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk  However, from September a new NCVO website will take over HR/employment resources, and learning and skills will go to the new Skills - Third Sector body.  News item.

Help to Install Renewable Energy Technologies

A reminder that community-based organisations are being invited to apply for funding to install renewable energy technologies (such as wind turbines and solar panels) and energy saving measures (such as roof and cavity wall insulation) in their buildings.  The Community Sustainable Energy programme is particularly keen to receive more applications for projects in the East Midlands, London, North East, North West and Yorkshire.  The next application deadline is 7 August, www.communitysustainable.org.uk  From ACRE headlines, www.acre.org.uk/resources_publications_headlines19june09.html

A Chance to be Paid to Work Overseas for a UK Charity

The Vodafone Foundation's World of Difference campaign is looking for people with passion, drive and commitment to apply for a chance to work overseas for the (registered) UK charity of their choice, for a year.  The online application form is at vodafone.co.uk/worldofdifference and the deadline is 30 July.

Quick Guide to Government Ministers

Faith Action has produced a handy chart showing the newish reshuffled Cabinet of Government Ministers, complete with mugshots, available as pdf (985KB) from NAVCA web pages at www.navca.org.uk/localvs/infobank/ilpunews/reshufflechart.htm

NCVO Summer Marketing Conference

7 July, London

Get new ideas and inspiration to make your marketing work better for you.  Interactive sessions include making the most of new media, copywriting and proofreading masterclass, recruiting supporters to your cause, managing your data and effective direct marketing.  A limited number of bursaries are available.

For more and to book visit www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/marketingjuly09 or call 020 7520 3160.