The NAVCA Awards – how is your entry coming along?
The NAVCA Awards 2019 are now open for nominations and it’s great to see your entries coming in!
The awards are all about showcasing the stars of local social infrastructure, and we have nine categories covering digital, leadership, partnership working and advocacy. You can find the
full list of categories and criteria here.
This is your opportunity to tell your own story; to celebrate and showcase your staff and volunteers, and to demonstrate the difference you make every single day. To enter, you need to submit a 300 word statement and a short video.
To submit your entry via our online form, you will need a Google email account. If you don’t have one already, don’t worry – setting one up is really straightforward.
Take a look at this tutorial.
Nominations close at midnight on Sunday 24 February 2019.
Save the date: NAVCA Awards Ceremony
We will be announcing the winners of the NAVCA Awards 2019 at an awards ceremony during the evening of
19 March 2019
, at St Bride’s in London.
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Voluntary Action Worthing – a final celebration
Last month, Voluntary Action Worthing (VAW) hosted its final forum before its closure at the end of January. The event was attended by the High Sheriff of West Sussex, Caroline Nicholls and Hazel Thorpe, Worthing's Deputy Mayor, together with over 60 representatives of the voluntary sector.
The meeting was a celebration of the work of VAW, which has supported voluntary groups for over 25 years. VAW lost its Council funding in 2016 despite overwhelming support from the voluntary sector in Worthing. To mark its closure at the end of this month Voluntary Action Worthing has published a
Legacy Report
that records the work of VAW since it was formed in 1992.
VAW received testimonials from many local voluntary groups. One local charity commented "The staff of VAW were as passionate about the projects they supported as the people running them." Peter Goldfinch, the chair of VAW, concluded by saying " We sincerely hope that our lasting legacy will be the positive difference we have made to the voluntary sector in Worthing and we hope the many organisations we have helped will continue to flourish."
The High Sheriff of West Sussex and the Deputy Mayor marked the occasion by unveiling a colourful glass window commemorating VAW which will be installed on the pier in February. Best wishes to the VAW team who have worked so hard to leave such an important legacy in the VCSE sector, from all your friends at NAVCA.
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NAVCA members: How are you doing digital?
Thank you to all members who have told us about how you are using digital technologies. We will be gathering examples for another week, so if you’d like to share your story to be part of our next ‘In practice’ publication, just email details to
linx@navca.org.uk before
Thursday 14 February.
Your examples can include any area of your organisation, whether it be operations, internal communications, marketing, fundraising, reaching your beneficiaries or service delivery – we want to hear about it! We know that implementing new digital technologies doesn’t come easily so tell us about the challenges and the problems you’ve experienced, as well as the good stuff.
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News, views and opportunities
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The Bright Ideas Fund: opening soon!
The Bright Ideas Fund supports new c
ommunity business ideas through the start-up and planning stages with tailored business support, to the implementation stage with grants of up to £15,000. The fund will open on 26 February 2019.
The Bright Ideas Fund application will open on 26 February 2019, and close on Tuesday 9 April 2019.
Find out more here.
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Time to Talk Day
Today is Time to Talk Day, a national initiative to raise awareness of and break down stigmas associated with mental health issues.
Mental health problems affect one in four of us, yet people are still afraid to talk about it. Time to Talk Day encourages everyone to talk about mental health. This year’s focus is on getting the right ingredients to encourage people to talk. It might be tea and biscuits, a walk in the country or having a room full of people ready to challenge mental health stigma – however you do it, today is the day to have a conversation about mental health.
Time to Talk Day is organised by Time to Change, a growing social movement working to change the way we all think and act about mental health problems. Mental health is relevant 365 days a year, so talking about it isn’t just for today – it’s something we need to do everyday to change attitudes and end mental health discrimination.
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Enabling Social Action – join your regional network
The national
Enabling Social Action (ESA) regional champions are inviting you to join their networks to shape and develop a series of regionally-focussed collaborations around ESA.
At the last ESA event, the new Champions were introduced for the four regions. These are:
- Joe Micheli, City of York Council (NORTH)
- Kristy Ball, Leicestershire County Council (EAST)
- Rachel North, West Sussex County Council (SOUTH)
- Andrew Donaldson, Staffordshire County Council (WEST)
Please email Jenny McNeill on
j.m.mcneill@sheffield.ac.uk if you would like to be part of the ESA Regional Champion Network and indicate
which region (North, West, South or East) you identify with. Each of the regions have representation from DCMS who will join the networks.
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How are charities influencing change in the prison system?
In this discussion paper from NPC, the focus is on charities’ role in influencing change in the prison system.
NPC
shares its early findings from conversations across the sector with policymakers, parliamentarians charities and funders. And a framework is proposed for thinking about how charities bring about change.
Read the discussion paper here.
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Being an Effective Chair – webinar from the AoC
If you haven’t been able to attend a Being an Effective Chair workshop as part of the Association of Chair’s Beacon Programme for small charities, or if you just want a refresh, you can now watch a live webinar in March. The webinar is completely free and open to those who have registered with the AoC’s Beacon Programme. You can
book your place here.
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Where charities are at with The Charity Digital Code of Practice
The Charity Digital Code of Practice was launched two months ago, setting out best practice with the aim of helping charities increase their impact, develop their skills and be more sustainable. Zoe Amar has reported on how charities are using the code, using findings from the self-assessment tool. You can read a
summary of the results here, with a link to the full report at the bottom of the article.
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Remember the messages from Safer Internet Day
On Tuesday of this week it was Safer Internet Day 2019, a global celebration with the theme: Together for a better internet. More than 2000 organisations and schools across the UK took part to help inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively.
The day may have passed, but don’t let the good work stop – you can access a huge amount of useful resources
on the website including educational packs, age related ‘top-tips’ and a guide to understanding consent in a digital world.
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Tweet of the week
Shelter recently posted this infographic, which demonstrates the scale of homelessness in England, and shows how many different forms homelessness takes.
Whilst news statistics show that 4,677 people were sleeping rough in England last autumn, Shelter estimates that the number of people that are recorded as homeless is closer to 320,000.
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The event is for anyone working in the charity sector with an interest in the power of storytelling in raising awareness, changing perceptions, inspiring action, recruiting volunteers, engaging supporters and generating funds.
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The Big Lunch 2019 - save the date
The Big Lunch was a huge success in 2018 so the organisers, Eden Project Communities, are asking you to Save the Date for
June 1-2 in 2019
.
Sign up now
to receive your Big Lunch pack and begin planning how you’ll bring your community closer together this year.
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Visit our
jobs page
for more details on current vacancies in the voluntary and community sector:
Also here's a
quick guide
to selling yourself when applying for a job in the voluntary sector.
Advertise jobs and contracts here, on our website and through our Twitter page!
Just send details including a weblink to
webedit@navca.org.uk
. This service is free to members.
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Funding, contracts & awards
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This trust gives grants to further the advancement of horticulture in the UK and abroad, grants are available for projects in support of horticultural research, the creation, preservation and maintenance of public gardens, publication of books on horticulture, study visits, plant collecting expeditions and training schemes for gardeners. Deadline 15 February.
The Ashworth Charitable Trust (“the Trust”) is a small grant-making charity. It was created primarily to support humanitarian causes operating locally, nationally and internationally, as opposed to animal or utilitarian projects. For the most part, the Trust looks to fund projects and not core funding. Deadline 28 February.
Grants are available for registered charities in the UK carrying out medical, social welfare or general welfare activities with disadvantaged people. Deadline 28 February.
The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust awards grants to charitable organisations in the United Kingdom. Deadline 28 February.
The Trust aims to help to provide facilities for the disabled to take part in country sports and recreation, and training in agriculture and horticulture.
The Trust gives grants that allow disadvantaged young people to take up opportunities to experience the great outdoors. They usually support programmes run by schools or youth groups, mostly within the UK.
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National Voices has launched a new blog series showcasing how its members are enabling person centred care. First up is
Groundswell, sharing how their peer advocacy programme is helping those experiencing homelessness to get coordinated and compassionate care.
Tereza Litsa from Lightful asks ‘Is it time to #ReclaimSocial for good?’ in this guest blog for Charity Comms. This marks Reclaim Social day (6 February), designed to banish the negativity on social media with positive messages and stories that show the good stuff going on in the world.
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Are patients
benefiting
from better integrated care?
Over the past 20 years there have been numerous initiatives to encourage more joined-up care between services, focusing on meeting individuals’ needs. The
Five Year Forward View set out a vision for transforming the NHS and social care in England to become more integrated. Not quite five years on, we now have a new
Long-Term Plan, which once again has closer integration of services at its core. So how much progress has been made?
This blog from Nuffield Trust, explores a study by QualityWatch into just this, and explains the findings.
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CLOSING SOON: Consultation on CCG guidance on Items which should not be routinely prescribed in primary care
NHS England continues to partner with NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC) to support clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in ensuring that they can use their prescribing resources effectively and deliver best patient outcomes from the medicines that their local population uses. A national public consultation has been launched on proposals to update and review commissioning guidance on eight more products that cost the NHS more than £68 million.
In the majority of cases there are other more effective, safer and/or cheaper alternatives available to the items that NHS England is recommending should not be routinely prescribed in primary care.
The consultation is closing later this month on 28 February 2019. Details of public consultation events can be found
here
. If you would like any further information please email
england.medicines@nhs.net
.
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For latest NAVCA news see our
website
and follow
@NAVCA
on Twitter.
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