Hello LINXanelles
Wow, is it a hot one here in Sheffield today. I hope you getting chance to enjoy the warm weather (safely) wherever you are - if, in fact, it is warm where you are.
Anyway, I have a favour to ask. Take a quick look at
this tweet from MVDA then come back to me. We are taking this fabulous idea and aiming to create a 'chain of cheers for the volunteers' for Volunteers Week (starting 1 June).
Would you like to get involved? Yes? Great.
Send your clips to
lucy.straker@navca.org.uk and we will try to include you all. And know this: I wholeheartedly support improvisation - in fact I actively encourage it - as long as you pass your mug, pint glass, champagne flute, dog etc. from left of screen to right.
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I look forward to seeing what you all come up with and let's speak again next week - until then be kind to one another.
Lucy Straker
Policy & Communications Manager
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Ready for some #LINXFacts...?
Did you know Linx were a 1980s British soul/funk duo who had 6 singles in the charts. Their biggest hit - 'Intuition' - reached number 7 in 1981. Listen to it on YouTube
here.
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Government's Coronavirus Community Support Fund opens tomorrow!
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The National Lottery Community Fund has announced that the Government's Coronavirus Community Fund will be open for business from 10am on Friday 22 May.
The first tranche will be £200m which will focus on two objectives:
- To increase community support to vulnerable people
- To reduce temporary closures of essential charities and social enterprises
Grants will cover service costs, where organisations are experiencing an increased demand and/or short-term reduction in income.
Head over to the NLCF's
website
for the full announcement and then onto their funding pages tomorrow.
The remainder (£160m) will come as a second tranche later on but within the agreed timeline.
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Government unlocks £150 million from dormant accounts
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Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden yesterday announced that £150m will be released from dormant bank and building society account funds and made available to the voluntary sector in the following ways:
- £10m to the Youth Futures Foundation to develop an Emergency Levelling Up Youth Fund
- £45m to be issued by Big Society Capital to help investments and as emergency loans for those with cashflow issues
- £65m to Fair4AllFinance to provide 'affordable credit' solutions and as an alternative to high cost loans
- £30m to Access - the Foundation for Social Investment to support social enterprises helping people in vulnerable circumstances. The words 'social lenders' and 'flexible finance' are used.
See the full briefing from DCMS
here.
So just to recap we have £10m of the £150m as grant funding and the remaining £140m as loans.
On this announcement, John Glen, Economy Secretary to the Treasury said:
“Thank you to the banks and building societies for taking part so we can continue to support so many good causes. I look forward to the potentially millions more we can unlock for good causes through expanding the Dormant Assets Scheme.”
The dormant assets scheme involves many types of asset, beyond dormant bank and building society accounts, and there is a consultation on generating charity funding from these assets planned for the summer.
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Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund – open to small charities
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Details of the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund have been published.
It is expected that this will be open to charities with properties that are receiving charities business rates relief - however please note that local authorities are expected to develop their own criteria.
In response to this, the Charity Tax Group said on Twitter:
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Bournemouth School for Girls students volunteer during pandemic
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Our colleagues at
Community Action Network
, which covers Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, have featured in their local paper after students from a local school decided to volunteer when their A-level exams were cancelled.
Freya, Olivia and some of their friends have decided to embrace their changed circumstances and volunteer to help in the coronavirus crisis, having previously been drawn into volunteering through CAN's youth development programme.
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Keep telling the world why your organisation is
#NeverMoreNeeded
than now
We are getting a good number of you now tagging us in your
#NeverMoreNeeded
posts - which is great,
but we can always use more!!
If you'd like to download the official logo click
here
. For the Twitter logo its
here
and finally there is a LinkedIn one
here
.
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The small charity guide to increasing Twitter engagement
Charity Digital has put together a useful guide on how small charities can get more out of their Twitter account.
This is really useful if you are new to social media management or want to refresh your thinking and approaches.
#TopTip: Keep checking those analytics - daily! It gives you a good idea what works with your audience. What was your top tweet? And why?
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How's your Chair?
Is your Chair looking tired, saggy, or structurally defective? Hopefully not!
Chairs and other trustees play an invaluable part in the life of the VCS and deserve our thanks - volunteering at board level takes a special set of skills and knowledge, as well as time and energy.
#ShowYourChairYouCare
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Supporting children and young people impacted by parental imprisonment
Children Heard and Seen is a charity which supports children, young people and their families who are experiencing parental imprisonment.
In response to Covid-19, Children Heard and Seen is offering online support for families during lockdown, helping them to stay connected. This has included cooking classes, family fitness sessions, and online discussions with other families affected by parental imprisonment. One-to-one support is also available.
They are also encouraging parents to get in touch and take advantage of their services at this difficult time.
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Join the Reading Revolution
National charity
The Reader (not that Kate Winslet film) - aims to create a Reading Revolution, bringing people together over a really good book.
During the pandemic they have created a number of online groups and services you can use, including a daily reading of a topical poem, twice weekly shared reading sessions and a weekly Storybarn Live which reads children's books and nursery rhymes.
Take a peak around their website to see if there's anything that could help you or your beneficiaries during the pandemic.
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Business in the Community survey
Business in the Community is looking to connect its members with their local VCS organisations. BitC members are offering to provide pro bono assistance in areas such as financial planning advice, HR support, advice on mergers, communications support, coaching and mentoring.
By completing this
very short survey
you will help us identify the geographical areas where additional support is needed, and the kinds of assistance you and your local VCS organisations are looking for.
We will feed our results back to BitC to match up need with availability.
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With Ramadan coming to an end at sundown on Saturday 23 May, this year's Eid celebrations will be taking place under continued social distancing and isolation guidelines. The Muslim Council of Britain is offering
guidance on how to celebrate
Eid Al-Fitr in lockdown.
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Referring vulnerable people for food deliveries
DEFRA has launched a system which allows vulnerable people to be referred for reserved food delivery slots with Tesco or Iceland.
It says that the referrers can be local authorities and a small number of charities.
They are rolling this out across 35 local authorities this week, and the rest over the following 2-3 weeks.
The form for local authorities to register an interest in the scheme can be found
here
.
DEFRA also has a live document listing the alternative grocery delivery services available which is being regularly updated. Click
here
to check it out.
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Blind people shouted at in the street for not social distancing
Reports have come in saying blind and partially sighted people in the UK have been subjected to verbal abuse by members of the public for not observing the two metre distancing rule.
Keeping to the social distance set by the Government can be particularly difficult for blind or partially sighted people, especially when it comes to queuing or walking down the street as it can be hard to judge distances.
Resources and information for people who are blind or visually impaired, and for those supporting them, can be found at
Deafblind UK
and at
RNIB
.
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Transition planning: Four questions for every local area and the new homelessness taskforce
The document argues that every local area must develop a 'multiple disadvantage transition strategy' by asking four questions.
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NAVCA is one of 20 VCS organisations that are part of the
Health and Wellbeing Alliance
, a partnership between voluntary sectors and the health and care system to provide a voice and improve the health and wellbeing for all communities. If you or your organisation who would like to share your experiences and ideas with NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and Public Health England, you can do so via any of the HWA members. The full list is
here.
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Social care reform: fit for purpose or simply fit for a crisis?
Sally Warren, Director of Policy at
The King's Fund has shared her thoughts on why the current crisis is demonstrating to the Government that they need to invest in social care reform.
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The ChildFair State Inquiry
Children and young people from across England are being supported to research, design and campaign for the welfare state they want.
Children England has launched their ChildFair State Inquiry. This aims to be the creation of a new blueprint for the welfare state by a team of 26 young leaders with input from 2,000 children and young people.
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Working with people living with mental health issues, learning disabilities and/or autism
Did you know that NHS England and NHS Improvement produce a weekly bulletin for people working on Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism?
This bulletin provides colleagues working in organisations across health, care and support systems with a round-up of the new guidance, communication activities and information coming out of the NHS England and Improvement Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism COVID-19 cell.
It is recommended for staff members in social care, the voluntary and independent sectors and the NHS.
You can sign up for the Bulletin
here
.
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*NEW* The NAVCA Noticeboard
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Check out our
*NEW* NAVCA Noticeboard page on our website which brings together the latest job vacancies, events and campaigns so you can keep track.
We have two jobs posted on our Noticeboard:
Also here's a
quick guide
to selling yourself when applying for a job in the voluntary sector.
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You can advertise your job vacancies, events and contracts on the
NAVCA Noticeboard
(it's free if you're a member) and through our Twitter page!
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Funding news and resources
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The objects of the Charity are for exclusively general charitable purposes according to English law anywhere in the world and in particular by: Providing financial assistance for education and welfare purposes Relieving poverty by alleviating homelessness Assisting members of the Zoroastrian religious faith. Deadline is 1 June.
FCC Communities Foundation awards grants to community projects from funds donated by FCC Environment through the Landfill Communities Fund and Scottish Landfill Communities Fund. Deadline is 3 June.
The foundation provides small grants of up to 2000 in areas where Greggs operate. Funding is for work in a socially deprived area, or with Older people, People with disabilities, People with caring responsibilities, Homeless people.
The Santander Foundation funds programmes to support disadvantaged people through one or both of these charitable priorities, education and training or financial capability
Financial support for UK-registered charities, with the selection of recipients being regularly reviewed in line with a policy to support specific areas of need. The relief of poverty (including youth poverty) and help for the disabled usually take priority, with medicine, the arts, heritage, the Church and the elderly also designated.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19): Apply for the Food Charities Grant Fund
Frontline food aid charities can now apply for a grant of up to £100k to provide food to vulnerable people within your community.
Eligible organisations are those who are unable to meet the increasing demands for food and can distribute food purchased by 9 August. This grant is not to provide food for the extremely clinically vulnerable, who are already being supported by government.
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£300k funding available through Clinks
Working with HM Prison and Probation Service, Clinks - the criminal justice charity - has been given £300k to share with organisations working with people in the criminal justice system and who have an annual income of less than £500k.
Bids should be directly related to Covid-19 and meet an immediate requirement or anticipated gap in provision.
Bidding opens this week and the funding is available for six months, or until the funding runs out.
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Lockdown and its effect on society
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Stacie duPerrouzel, a freelance writer/director, is working on a story about the lockdown and how it has affected society.
She is particularly interested in speaking with charities who are working with women, domestic violence survivors and people in an economically unstable position.
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Support Staffordshire's CEO,
Garry Jones discusses the results of their COVID-19 Impact Survey and ways in which the sector can recover.
In his Civil Society blog,
Ashley Horsey talks about why we must invest in small charities to support marginalised groups.
Halton & St Helens VCA CEO,
Sally Yeoman talks about how communities need and value local infrastructure - now more than ever.
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Welcome back to
#MissingLINX - a bit of fun to keep you going through lockdown.
Each week we post two pictures - could be people, could be objects - and you have to work out the missing link.
Here is today's offering - so get your thinking caps on! And when you've got it (or think you have), tweet us
@NAVCA using
#MissingLINX with your answer and the first few of you to tell us the right answer will get a special shout out from us!
By the way... congratulations to
Sandwell CVO
who correctly tweeted last week's answer, which was
doughnuts
! And for a bonus point the reason this was chosen was because last week it was National Doughnut Week.
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For latest NAVCA news see our
website
and follow
@NAVCA
on Twitter.
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