VCSEs: a bidder's guide to working with government
The Office for Civil Society, with support from the Cabinet Office has written a guide for voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations
to help them work with central and local government.
VCSEs: a bidder's guide to working with government
was commissioned by Claire Dove OBE, VCSE Crown Representative, whose role it is to act as an intermediary between government and the voluntary sector, to champion the Social Value Act and an improvement in commissioning practices.
The guide is designed to help VCSE organisations to understand the public services market in order to successfully sell to central or local government, or to become part of the supply chain for delivering public services. The guide provides an overview and is intentionally short and simple, with more detailed guides linked to throughout the document. You can
find the guide here.
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News, views and opportunities
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UK Giving shows a worrying decline
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has identified a continuing downward trend in the number of people giving to charities in its annual report on the UK giving landscape.
UK Giving is based on monthly interviews and includes a yearly total of more than 12,000 individual interviews. It is designed to show who gives to charity, what causes they like to support and how they like to support them. This year’s research has shown that for a third year running, significantly fewer people say they are giving.
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Help your project reduce loneliness
Last month, NPC published a resource for grant holders of the Building Connections fund which can be used widely for projects that are tackling loneliness.
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HOUR Manchester: A new approach from Macc
NAVCA member, Macc, is launching a new approach to bring together people across Manchester with an interest in mutual support, Timebanking and community economies.
Timebanking is a way of linking local people and organisations who can share their time and skills in a way where everyone is valued equally. Within a Timebanking model, no one is rich and no one is poor as we all have 24 hours each day and an hour is equally as valuable to everyone.
The approach is designed to re-define communities and how we organise ourselves to reduce reliance on services and money, by having a greater focus on sharing, exchange, collaboration and reciprocity. Macc wants to
build upon the skills, gifts and talents that exist across Manchester by identifying, valuing and connecting what already exists and what is strong in our communities. They will be holding an event later this month to explore initial ideas, and to give people more information about how they can participate.
Find out more details here.
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When it comes to technology, do charity CEOs think the glass is half full?
In this blog
from Civil Society, Rhodri Davies from the Charities Aid Foundation looks at what some recent survey results tell us about sector leaders' attitude to technology.
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How well is your charity meeting expectations when it comes to digital?
With people’s expectations of how easy it is to interact with organisations digitally are increasing, it’s essential for charities to be doing what they can to meet these expectations. It can be difficult for charities of all sizes to know how they are doing and what they should prioritise to make a difference. NCVO has developed a digital maturity matrix to help charities assess their current strengths and weaknesses, and to give an indication as to what to do next. You can
access this free tool here.
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The Voluntary Regulation Conference 2019 will provide leading updates and best practice insights to ensure all charities deliver high quality regulatory compliance which supports public confidence across the voluntary sector. Attendees will hear from key policy experts and practitioners on effective financial and fundraising compliance, supporting successful transparency and reporting and ensuring charity operations meet the regulatory standards expected of the Charity Commission.
Find out more and book your ticket here.
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With five streams of sessions covering technical updates, strategic insights, and practical workshops to choose from, the CFG Annual Conference 2019 is the perfect opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in charity finance and network with peers. Speakers include:
- Kunle Olulode, Director, Voice4Change England
- Becca Bunce, campaigner
- Liam O'Toole, Chief Executive, Versus Arthritis
- Nick Waring, Director of Finances and Resources, Women for Women International
- Colin Kerr, Director of Finance, The Children's Trust
- Stephen Baines, Director of Business Finance, and Derek Meier, Head of Continuous Improvement, British Heart Foundation
- Steve Harris, Director of Finance, Leonard Cheshire Disability
- Alison Hopkinson, Finance and IS Director, Oxfam
- Oonagh Smyth, Executive Director of Strategy and Influence, Mencap
- Rosie Chapman, Independent Chair, Charity Governance Code Steering Committee
- Pascale Nicholls, Head of Central Finance, Amnesty International
Visit
cfg.org.uk/ac19
to view the full programme, speaker line-up and to book your place. Follow event updates on Twitter using
#CFGAC19. The CFG Annual Conference will take place at
The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London, SW1P 3EE on Thursday 16 May 2019, 08.15 – 18.00.
The CFG Annual Conference 2019 is kindly sponsored by Grant Thornton.
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Join Good Things Foundation for a free event on Monday 20 May at Birmingham Hippodrome to find out more about local membership and community services that can help you to strengthen your own organisation and to build resilience. You can drop in and chat to the Good Things Foundation team about the Online Centres Network, or any of its exhibiting partners, any time between 10am and 2pm. Please just
book your place
so that they know you are coming!
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Volunteers' Weeks takes place from 1-7 June,
when we come together to show volunteers exactly what they mean to voluntary and community organisations, the individuals and communities they support.
Please
tell us what you will be doing during Volunteers' Week
so that we can share on Twitter, in LINX and on our website. Last year, we heard about award ceremonies, afternoon teas, volunteer fun days and decorated junction boxes to get the message out there that volunteers are great. How will you celebrate this year?
There are lots of resources available to support your activities on the
Volunteers' Week website
, where you’ll also find examples from other organisations and planned events that are taking place throughout the country.
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This two-day collaborative conference will provide an exciting opportunity to hear the latest research and thinking on the implementation and practice of social prescribing around the world. You will hear how social prescribing is being implemented in Canada, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Finland as well as understanding progress in the home countries of the UK.
Keynote talks and breakouts include the latest strategic information and discussion from NHS England by James Sanderson, Director of Personalised Care and a comprehensive review of the evidence for lifestyle medicine by Dr Dean Ornish, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University College San Francisco.
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Visit our
jobs page
for more details on current vacancies in the voluntary and community sector, or click on the links below:
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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The Philip Bates Trust aims to advance the education of young people under the age of 25 in the arts by:
- The provision of awards to encourage and support their pursuit of creative and artistic achievement.
- The provision of financial support to projects or workshops, which aim to develop creative and artistic interests and skills in young people.
Although individuals and organisations from anywhere in the UK who satisfy the objectives of the Trust are entitled to apply, the Trustees particularly welcome applications from individuals and organisations within the West Midlands or from organisations undertaking activities in the West Midlands. Deadline 31 May.
The Kids Fund aims to bring environmental understanding to disadvantaged young people by attending a course at an FSC centre and help disadvantaged young people to attend a course who may otherwise be excluded due to some form of disadvantage - health, mobility, deprivation or financial. Deadline 01 June.
Schools, colleges and home school groups based in the UK and Ireland can apply for a school grant of up to £600. Grants are awarded for projects, events and activities linked with the promotion of physics and engineering. Deadline 01 June.
The Fidelio Charitable Trust supports the Arts in the United Kingdom. The Trustees aim to help individuals and groups who would not be able to carry out a project or activity without financial support, particularly those who are at an early stage in their careers. Deadline 01 June.
Enable grants are awarded to charities which have identified clear development needs, and provide a great opportunity to strengthen charities to deliver more effectively.
Ecclesiastical’s Movement for Good Charity Grant event is offering 500 grants of £1000 along with 10 grants of £50,000.
You can nominate one group to win £1000 designed to help them in the work they do and the services they offer. There are no restrictions on the organisations and groups that can nominated, other than they operate on a not-for-profit basis. Deadline
17 May
.
The ten larger grants of £50,000 are aimed at organisations that are actively championing new projects to communities in the advancement of education and skills; citizenship or community development; arts, culture or heritage. Organisations can submit their applications from the 7 June 2019 until Friday 26 July 2019.
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Tom Watson, NAVCA's Business and Communications Lead,
shares some of the thinking and considerations around a new project we are embarking on with Good Finance and The Connect Fund, designed to increase knowledge and understanding of Social Investment within local Infrastructure and the organisations they support.
Charlotte Augst
, new CEO of National Voices, shares her first hand experience of peer support in this blog, which explores the importance of National Voices new
Peer Support Hub
.
Design Week
argues that place-branding is about more than attracting tourists; it can empower residents, boost morale in a community and create a sense of pride.
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The Voluntary Sector Partnership Podcast
Don’t miss
this podcast from NHS England which explores the value of a joined-up way of working between systems and the voluntary sector. It identifies the benefits of voluntary sector involvement in health and care partnerships and what this means for clinicians and their patients.
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Social Prescribing Awards
For the purpose of these awards, social prescribing means a referral from a professional to a link worker and then an onwards referral from the link worker, usually to the voluntary, community or social enterprise sector.
There are 4 categories open for entry. The submission deadline for entries is 17:00 on 4 June 2019 and you can
find out more here.
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