Voluntary Action Lewisham

The People's Millions has opened for 2010 applications. People's Millions offers groups the opportunity to win up to £50,000 to improve their local areas.

People's Millions uses a participatory budgeting style approach. The best applications from each television area will be shortlisted and applicants offered free training on how to present their applications. They will then have the chance to present their ideas on the People's Millions website and make a short film. These films will be shown on ITV during November 2010.

The public will then get the opportunity to vote on which groups get funding. Five organisations in each area are expected to be funded.

Criteria

Applications can be made by Voluntary and Community Groups, Schools, Local Authorities and Health Bodies.

Voluntary and Community Groups can include a contributions towards overheads.

Ineligible items include: existing work, retrospective costs, new buildings, and some other items and activities (see website)

Applicants can request between £20,000 and £50,000, but the amount requested muct be at least half of the total cost of the project.

For a full see of criteria see the People's Millions website

Application Procedure

To apply download an application form from the People's Millions website

The Judging panel will take into account:

The difference your project will make

• how well it gets people involved
• whether it helps those most in need
• whether it’s original and imaginative
• whether it creates a lasting impact
• the different types of activity involved
• where each entry is.

And, how well you’ll run your project

• how feasible your project is
• the risks involved with doing it
• if it’s good value for money
• whether it will keep going after the grant ends.

Deadline

Applications must be received by noon, 14 May 2010. Shortlisted applicants will be notified by 20 August 2010 and will then need to submit a project plan by 10 September 2010.

The Charity Commission - in collaboration with Mencap - has published a guide for trustees with learning disabilities.

The guide covers much of the material in the Charity Commissions guide CC3 and is available from the Charity Commission website.

More details can be found either on the Charity Commission website or in an article for Third Sector

The London Voluntary Services Council (LVSC) are repeating their survey of the effects of the recession on the voluntary and community sector in London.

According to their website:

Last year’s survey found a strong increase in demand for charitable services and a great deal of fear and uncertainty as to how the capital’s voluntary and community groups would cope.

LVSC and its partners used this information to raise the profile of your work with government and other funders in the region, including London Councils, the Mayor, Government Office and London Funders.

Since publication of our July report many of its findings and predications, including psychological affects and other examples of social fallout, have been borne out by facts on the ground.

This year we revisit the original survey themes - but we will also begin to map how widely-anticipated reductions in public expenditure will affect London’s charities and their ability to support Londoners.

Click here to access the survey and to see the findings of last year's survey.

The survey closes at the end of February and the results will be released in March.

The School for Social Entrepreneurs have added a list of the top 10 podcasts for entrepreneurs to their website. Although some are very much business orientated, there are also some - such as the Social Innovation Conversations - that are much more socially orientated.

See:
Top Ten Podcasts on Social Entreprenership

From April 2010, voluntary and community organisations that play recorded music at events, or in public places, will be required to pay for a license. This is intended to cover the rights of music producers and performers.

Awards for All have simplified some of the questions and guidance to make applying for a grant easier. The new guide for applicants can be downloaded from here.

References

They have also removed the question asking for details of a referee. Awards for All may need require applicants to provide a referee, but this is no longer needed when submitting an application.

Aklthough groups no longer have to provide details of a referee, it may still be worth considering who could be asked to act as an independent referee at an early stage. If a group is asked to provide details of a referee there is likely to be a deadline for them to provide details. This may prove to be too tight if the prospective referee cannot be contacted straight away.

The course will look at the factors to consider when commissioning a website, either from a volunteer or an external designer. It will include:

• Key questions to ask
• Exploring the different options open to you
• A consideration of pitfalls to avoid

The course is aimed at staff, managers, or trustees who have the role of overseeing the introduction of a website. It is aimed at providing the non-technical with the skills needed to understand and manage the process of commissioning a website from either a volunteer or an external designer.

No prior experience required.

The booking form can be downloaded from here.

This course will look at how you can prove the need for your project when making funding applications. It will include:

• Sources of official statistics
• Methods for carrying out your own research

Part of the course will include a discussion where participants are encouraged to share their experience of evidencing need.

This course is suitable for those making funding applications and proving the need for their projects. It is also likely to be of interest to those carrying out feasibility studies.

N.B. This course has been postponed and is now likely to run in early 2010.

There are a number of funding opportunities that do not neatly fit into description of funding opportunities. This page will detail some of these opportunities.

• Community Cashback

  Community Cashback is a scheme that gives local people a say in how money from recovered criminal assets is spent in their communities. The Community Cashback website provides the opportunity to either suggest project ideas for the local community. These ideas are then checked by the Local Criminal Justice Board. Suitable ideas are then placed on the website and local people are given a say. A shortlist is then passed to a central panel where ideas are checked against project criteria.

  The maximum bid amount for each area is £95,000. See the examples page of the website to get an idea of the sort of project ideas they are looking for. This seems to be a step removed from traditional grant schemes as it is unclear who will develop and implement the project ideas.

• B & Q - One Planet Living Grants

  B 7 Q offers support to charities in a number of ways through their Corporate Responsibility prgramme, but the scheme that is most likely to be relevant to voluntary and community groups in Lewisham is the One Planet Living Grants scheme. This scheme offers materials worth between £50 and £250 to organisations that fall into one of the following categories:

  • Save Energy
  • Conserve Nature
  • Support local culture & heritage
  • Grow your own

  Applications need to be made through a local store. Stores local to Lewisham include: Greenwich, Peckham and Eltham. More details can be found on their website. There is also a waste donationscheme which donates a range of materials which cannot be sold instore, but which may still be useful.

Community Builders - a £70 million fund run by Future Builders on behalf of the Adventure Capital Fund - opens for applications on September 7th. The fund will provide a mixture of grants, loans and mentoring support to community-anchor organisations.... read more.

Several lottery programmes have recently announced that they either have closed the programme to new applicants or that they have introduced deadlines.

Details are:

The Hardship Fund for voluntary organisations - that deliver services in health and social care, education and training,  information and guidance, and housing support - but that are themselves facing financial difficulties has opened for applications.

The fund, worth a total of £16.7m will offer grants of between £50,000 and £250,000. Organisations need to have a turnover of at least £200,000 to qualify.

The Greater London Authority have launched a new website providing statistics on a wide range of social and economic issues from population size and life expectancy to which underground lines carry the most passengers.

Interesting facts about Lewisham include:

NCVO, with funding from the Cabinet Office, has launched a new website which aims to provide details of a wide range of funding opportunities. This will compete with the Directory of Social Change range of websites, but unlike these access to the FundingCentral website is currently free of charge. Unlike the DSC websites, FundingCentral covers grants, loans and contracting opportunities in the one website.

The website promises to be a comprehensive site with information on funders, and resources and advice all in one place. In addition there are a range of tools (some from the sustainable funding project) and good links to other websites. Some sections of the website will not launch until September.