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BIG is currently urging organisations and individuals across the country to engage in the debate on how funding should be allocated through its grant programmes over the coming years. BIG is expecting to distribute over £2 billion between 2009 and 2015. The Fund’s public consultation website, Big Thinking http://www.big-thinking.org.uk/, inviting comments and suggestions on how future funds from the Lottery can best benefit communities across the country. Big Thinking will give everyone the chance to have their say through a series of national, regional and local face-to-face events and online channels including questionnaires, blogs and videos. It will look back at what has been achieved from the experience of more than ten years of Lottery funding and how the Fund can improve with guidance and opinion from the general public plus voluntary, charitable and public sector organisations.

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17 November 2008
© Lottery

Enterprise Week (17-23 November 2008), part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, is a national celebration of enterprise with thousands of events and activities happening across the UK. Last year there were over 5,000 events and more than half a million people took part! Over 2,000 organisations run events and activities during the week to encourage people to have ideas and make them happen. This can be by starting up a new business or social enterprise, or by having ideas and making them happen in the workplace.

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17 November 2008
© Enterprise Week

The ‘Modernising Volunteering Workstream’ is a national project being led by Volunteering England (VE). The workstream is funded by Capacitybuilders and includes a number of key partner organisations including the Red Foundation, CSV and NNVIA, the Nationwide Foundation and V. The workstream aims to improve support in an innovative way in the following four key areas: Faith-based volunteering; Employer supported volunteering; Volunteering within large national organisations; New forms of volunteer involvement and management. The workstream will provide support the volunteering support providers in delivering improvements and meeting changing frontline needs. To help keep organisations and individuals up-to-date with the ‘Modernising volunteering workstream’. To subscribe to receive the newsletter send an email to: volunteering.nss@volunteeringengland.org

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18 November 2008
© Volunteering Merseyside

The Scottish Government favours social enterprise over the rest of the voluntary sector and does not recognise the value of national volunteering programmes, according to Claire Stevens, director for Scotland of volunteering charity Community Service Volunteers. Stevens was responding to the Scottish Government’s refusal to renew a £350,000 grant to run CSV’s retired and senior volunteer programme, known as RSVP, which was debated in the Scottish Parliament last week. She said £60m of the Scottish Government’s £90m budget for the voluntary sector in the current financial year would be spent on social enterprise. “The SNP administration needs Scotland to be economically stronger if there is to be any hope of it becoming independent, and it sees social enterprise as a way of doing that,” she said. “It is good for social enterprise that it is getting more attention than ever, but those that aren’t social enterprises are concerned the Government doesn’t place the same value on the work and services of the vast majority of the sector.”

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17 November 2008
© Volunteering Merseyside

Today sees the launch of respectme’s new campaign, ‘You can make a difference’. Children and young people need and value good role models in their lives, and it’s the people that they see every day that can make a difference. They need adults in their lives who will notice when something’s not right and take the time to talk to them, and to be someone they can turn to when they need help. ‘You can make a difference’, reinforces this message and our supporting resources provide adults with the practical skills to help them do this.

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17 November 2008
© RespectMe

The November European Agriculture and Fisheries Council gets underway in Brussels today. It is set to discuss the Cod Recovery Plan as well as the crucial EU-Norway fisheries negotiations, before turning to the Common Agriculture Policy Health Check on Wednesday and Thursday. Ahead of talks on a new Cod Recovery Plan, Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Scotland has the greatest stake in the outcome on the negotiations over the future of cod stocks. It is absolutely vital that any new plan recognises the trail blazing success delivered by Scots fishermen over the past year and rewards their efforts. Cod stocks are going in the right direction thanks to the sacrifices and commitment from our fleet.
We are seeking an outcome that allows our fishermen to land more of what they catch rather than having to dump it overboard, but at the same time promotes measures that reduce the amount of stock taken from the sea in the first place. A “land more, catch less” approach is essential. It is also important that any measures agreed for cod do not have unintended consequences for other stocks given that the North Sea is a mixed fishery. We will be pressing Europe to avoid viewing substantial cuts in days at sea for the fleet as some kind of easy solution when in actual fact it would inflict unjustified economic damage on our fleet and onshore sector as well. As Scotland has shown this year, there are much better ways of safeguarding stocks.”

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18 November 2008
© Scottish Government

The Charity Commission has published a couple of example trustee annual reports which show how trustees can approach the new duty to report on public benefit, in pdf 1.05MB: www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/publicbenefit/pdfs/pbexamplerep.pdf One of the fictional examples is an advice charity above the audit threshold, the other a youth club below that limit. The Commission’s general guidance page is at www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publicbenefit/pbreport.asp, and Plaza Publishing news item for some background at http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=2373

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17 November 2008
© VoluntaryNews

The merged youth charity Rainer Crime Concern has relaunched as Catch22. The name was chosen “because it’s a situation a lot of young people find themselves in. They don’t know how to get out of it, they lose confidence and give up.” CYP Now news item at www.cypnow.co.uk/news/860644/, or see http://www.catch-22.org.uk

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17 November 2008
© VoluntaryNews

A children’s music group in Southwark, London has been awarded £5000 and become the 1000th grant recipient of the Office of the Third Sector’s groundbreaking £130m Grassroots Grants scheme. Grassroots Grants aims to boost local community organisations with much-needed access to small grants and long-term financing through an endowment fund. Since launching in September, Grassroots Grants has made 1000 grants to local community groups, supporting them to meet the particular challenges they see in their local community. Southwark Children’s Foundation was delighted to be presented with the £5000 cheque from Kevin Brennan, Minister for the Third Sector. The group, run entirely by volunteers, gives up to 60 children the chance to learn and play brass musical instruments for free. Southwark Children’s Foundation applied to Capital Community Foundation, one of 67 Local Funders selected across England to distribute Grassroots Grants. Local community groups with annual incomes below £20,000 can apply for grants of £250 to £5000 in a straightforward and easy way. Gary Foskett, Trustee of the Southwark Children’s Foundation said: “Southwark Children’s Foundation is delighted to be the recipient of the 1,000th Grassroots award. In recent times we’ve found it very difficult to raise funds for our Foundation, which has been running for 30 years. This award has been a life-saver giving our trustees and volunteers a much needed boost to continue with and hopefully expand our activities for children and their families throughout Southwark.”

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12 November 2008
© Cabinet Office

Communities and Local Government are seeking bids from individual organisations and consortia which have community engagement and media literacy training experience. We envisage the lead organisation as coming from the community and voluntary sector or the commercial sector where there are demonstrable strong community links. Local government partners may also be interested. The successful bidder will be in a co-ordination role, helping shape and lay the foundations for a sustainable and scalable national initiative. The co-ordinator will identify and support a variety of demonstrator projects which can most benefit from access to ‘Digital Mentors’. More information about our current thinking on the co-ordination role, the role of digital mentors and demonstrator project selection framework can be found in the Expression of Interest form below.

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17 November 2008
© Communities and Local Government

Bridges Ventures this week annouced the launch of the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund, a new fund dedicated to investment in social enterprises. The Fund is an initiative of the Bridges Charitable Trust and has so far raised £4.25 million. NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, who made the first commitment to the fund and acted as a catalyst for private sector investment, will be hosted the launch event. The other Founder Partners are individuals and institutions from the financial sector and include Sir
Ronald Cohen, Nigel Doughty, Harvey McGrath, Apax Foundation, The Generation Foundation, Lehman Brothers Foundation Europe, Deutsche Bank, 3i and the Bridges Ventures team who have allocated funds from their profit share. All the founder partners have supported the fund through donations to the Bridges Charitable Trust creating what will be an Evergreen Fund. The Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund will invest in scalable social enterprises that deliver a high social impact and operate financially sustainable business models. The
fund will invest up to £1m in each social enterprise, through hands-on, equity-like capital and aims to achieve a high social impact, through recycling capital into multiple projects, and to establish a track record.

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17 November 2008
© Bridges Ventures

Liberal Democrat leader, Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, outlined his vision for the countryside in a major speech today (Friday). Nick Clegg spoke of the impact of the current recession on rural communities and the need for a new vision to guide policy and decision-making. His speech, delivered in Sheffield at an event organised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), was the latest contribution by a leading politician to CPRE’s work to develop its vision for the countryside in 2026 – the organisation’s anniversary year. Nick Clegg said:
‘Recession means tougher times for rural communities and tougher decisions for how we use land. So more than ever we need a vision for rural England to make sure we make the right decisions… ’
Speaking about the housing market, he said: ‘Let’s build our national housing target from local targets that reflect need on the ground. Bottom up. That means trusting people who know best rather than picking numbers out of the air. Central Government’s job then becomes one of avoiding national housing bubbles like the one that has just burst… I’m a liberal, and I don’t believe politicians should control how markets grow. But I do believe that the practices that underpin growth need to be regulated when they threaten the public good. The present housing crisis shouldn’t just be a dip, a slump… A hiccup after which we return to the same old sky high prices. We need a permanent end to irresponsible lending. Monetary policy should be used to eradicate boom and bust in our housing market… And the Bank of England should take house prices into account when calculating inflation, something it presently does not do.’

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17 November 2008
© CPRE

Alan Johnson calls for 25 million people on the organ donor register by 2013 - An organ donation awareness campaign that will see nearly half the population recruited on the organ donor register was announced today by Health Secretary Alan Johnson. He welcomed the Organ Donation Taskforce Group report, which does not recommend introducing an opt out system for organ donation in the UK at this time. The report ‘The potential impact of an opt out system in the UK’, published today, has concluded that introducing an opt out or ‘presumed consent’ system in the UK at the present time, whilst having the potential to deliver benefits, may not increase organ donation rates and might cause significant complications. The Government is not ruling out a future change in the law, and may need to revisit this issue if progress against national objectives is not as swift as it should be. It is hoped that donor rates will rise from the current 800 to 1,400 per year by March 2013, which would put us on a par with the best in Europe. On average, each donor can help three people in need, so this could mean an extra 1,800 people a year get the chance of the transplant they so desperately need. £4.5m funding has been made available over the two years 2008-2010 for a major campaign starting in March 2009 to make people aware of the importance of organ donation. The Government is firmly committed to seeing organ donation rates rise significantly and is fully supporting the implementation of the recommendations in the Taskforce’s first report. A large programme of work is already well underway, which should deliver the increase in donor rates without the need to change the law.

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17 November 2008
© Department of Health

The CLA today (Friday, 14 November) fully supports a statement released by Sir Don Curry on County Farms. The statement outlines that County Farms are as crucial to the rural economy today as they were 100 years ago, and provides recommendations for local authorities. CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: “The CLA supports the sustainable management of ‘County Farms’ estates. At a time of great volatility for farming businesses, it is more important than ever that a range of different routes into farming is maintained as the pressure grows to produce more food and to do so more sustainably. “We are particularly encouraged by Sir Don’s belief that local authorities need to make a greater effort to develop the wider benefits that their land could provide such as renewable energy, public access, education, employment and local food. All are areas in which the CLA lobbies for the strength of the rural economy.”

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17 November 2008
© CLA

“Volunteering England has produced this authoritative,well-researched resource that explains step-by-step how to improve Further Education through developing student volunteering programmes. This publication will guide you through some of the great work that is transforming our institutions, our communities and, ultimately, our students’ lives.” Frank McLoughlin, Principal, City and Islington College. This step-by-step guide will take you through the initial stages of developing student volunteering programmes and how you can set up successful, sustainable projects that enrich the lives of your learners. Together with an online resource, you’ll have all the tools and information you need to get started with setting up a project in an F.E. college. Download: http://www.volunteering.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/894F047C-394A-48CB-8AA9-7D99CC80E26A/0/SVEhandbook_finallo.pdf

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17 November 2008
© Volunteering England

A charity has received an award for saving schools thousands of pounds with its anti-bullying campaign Click, Create and Print. Bullying UK used to print posters for Anti-Bullying Week and charge £3.50 for them, however it now allows children to create posters online and print them at school. The charity received an Innovation In The Community Award at the House of Lords last week and a £2,000 grant to help develop the scheme. John Carnell, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bullying UK, said the charity is proud to be recognised as one of the UK’s most innovative organisations. “Some 18 months ago we identified Quick Response codes as being key to the uptake of the mobile web and the filling in of another bit of the digital divide,” he added. The poster project was funded by friends and family of Ben Vodden, who killed himself after he was bullied on the school bus in 2006. Anti-Bullying Week takes place from November 17th to 21st this year.

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17 November 2008
© CAF

Third sector organisations will see a rise in demand for interim management positions as the recession takes its toll, a recruitment company has predicted. Charles Russam, chair of Russam GMS , said more people would be entering the interim market and looking for jobs in the voluntary sector. “We will see new entrants into the market over the forthcoming months, which means that third sector organisations will have more choice of candidates,” he said.

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17 November 2008
© Third Sector

The Cabinet Office has appointed Anne McGuire MP to the new role of adviser on third sector innovation. Third sector minister Kevin Brennan announced McGuire’s appointment at a conference in London last week. McGuire is Labour MP for Stirling and a former disability minister. She has also worked as deputy director of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations .

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17 November 2008
© Third Sector

The Commission for the Compact has published a Concise Compact Guide, designed to act as a reference tool and checklist to help public sector and third sector organisations. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this month, the Compact is the agreement which sets out shared commitments and guidelines for working between government and the third sector. This concise guide is intended for both sectors and explains why the Compact applies, as well as highlighting relevant undertakings. Download the Guide (pdf, 494KB): http://www.thecompact.org.uk/files/102396/FileName/TheConciseCompactGuide.pdf

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17 November 2008
© Commission for the Compact

The aim of this study was to assess as accurately as possible the comparative cost before and after residents moved to a new extra-care housing scheme in Bradford. The importance of extra-care housing in the current policy context is illustrated by the level of financial investment. Each year since 2003 the Department of Health has provided capital funding to support its development. However, there is a lack of evidence about the potential, the costs and benefits, and consequently the cost-effectiveness, of extra-care housing. This report:
estimates comprehensive costs for each of the broad cost components (accommodation, social care, health services, living expenses and informal care), which together represent the weekly cost of a resident’s living arrangement; interprets cost differences before and after the move in the context of outcomes and needs of residents; identifies a number of methodological implications for future studies. Download: http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/2276-housing-care-costs.pdf

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17 November 2008
© Joseph Rowntree Foundation