Monthly News Archive
« June 2010 | Main | August 2010 »
July 28, 2010
National Citizen Service – Applications to Run the Programme
National Citizen Service is a flagship initiative supporting the Government’s vision for building the Big Society. NCS will act as a gateway to the Big Society for many young people, by supporting them to develop the skills and attitudes they need to get more engaged with their communities and become active and responsible citizens.
Posted by ELN at 11:55 AM
Communitybuilders and the Social Enterprise Investment Fund are put on hold
Communitybuilders and the Social Enterprise Investment Fund, the grant and loan funds for developing social enterprise, will not pay out any more money until further notice while a government review is carried out.
The funds, set up by the Labour government to provide investment for community cohesion and to develop new social enterprises in the field of health, are worth about £170m between them. Both are administered by Social Investment Business, which also ran Futurebuilders England, the government-backed loan fund recently closed down by the new coalition government.
A spokeswoman for Social Investment Business said both funds had been suspended pending a review, but neither was closed and applications were still welcome.
Posted by ELN at 9:24 AM
July 27, 2010
Workshop For Voluntary Groups On How To Cost Bids Realistically!!
Date: 30th July 2010
Time: 10am - 3pm (9.30am registration)
Venue: St Georges Centre, St Georges Road, Dagenham
FREE lunch will be provided!
!!BOOK NOW!! LIMITED PLACES
For more information or to book your place please contact:
Jessica Collins-Smith (Development Team Administrator) at jessica.collins-smith@bdcvs.org.uk
Tel: (020) 8227 5482
Posted by ELN at 3:05 PM
London Ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games
Become a London Ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games. Register Now
Posted by ELN at 9:59 AM
July 23, 2010
London Councils Grants Committee update [14 July]
The New London Councils’ Grants Committee has 20 new members. The committee is dominated by Labour, with 18 seats. The new chair of the committee is Mayor Sir Steve Bullock (Lewisham). There are 3 vice chairs Cllr Helal Abbas (Labour, Tower Hamets), Cllr Stephen Carr (Conservative, Bromley) and Cllr Penny Shelton (Liberal Democrat, Kingston upon Thames.
The Grants Committee discussed the ‘Review of the future role and scope of the London Boroughs Grants Scheme’ at some length and want a report in November and decisions to be made on the future of the scheme by December.
They made a recommendation to the Leaders' Committee to proceed with the review following the scope and timetable outlined in the paper that was presented to it by London Councils’ officers.
Grants committee want more information from London Councils’ officers on the periods under which the current commissions will end, legal advice as to what is and what isn't possible (with regard to ending commissions) and the possible implications.
The committee agreed that a very substantial part of the budget would be 'repatriated' to boroughs, they discussed the potential for sub-regional money to also be 'repatriated' and to be distributed as groupings of boroughs saw fit.
This would leave a residual pot for truly pan-London commissions. We do not know at this stage what those truly pan-London services might be. There is no guarantee that any of the money will be spent on the VCS locally.
The committee agreed that they cannot guarantee that any commissions will be continued past 31st March 2011.They therefore agreed to send a letter to all funded organisations to that effect. It may be that all current commissions will be cut at the end of March 2011 but it may be that they will continue after that until the end of the current arrangements.
The impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review and Local Government Settlement (expected in October) is also a key factor.
What appears certain however is that the London Councils grants budget will be very much smaller when the new commissioning round begins (in 2011, with the majority to begin in 2012).
We are unsure as to what, if any, the impact of potential cuts might be before then.
This for VSF and VSF members is the ‘worst case scenario’. It may of course end up being better for members with the programme being wound down over a longer period of time, time in which we can all plan for the future. There seems to be still a great deal of uncertainty not least of which is the very difficult funding environment away from London Councils.
It was agreed to do some further work on the future of the Strategic Monitoring Zone groupings. A recommendation was made by officers to reduce the number of SMZs from 10 to 6.
Councillors did make reference during the meeting to 'we need to work with our valued VCS partners' and there will be consultation with the sector - we don't know when that consultation will be.
That will be our opportunity to feed in our views and evidence of the impact of our services on beneficiaries in London. It will also be important for us to demonstrate why we think it is essential that some services are commissioned regionally or sub-regionally.
There will be a fundamental change in the London Boroughs Grants Scheme and we should not assume that any of our commissions are guaranteed post March 31st 2011. As a result and to minimise the risk to our organisations we should be making contingency plans.
Start making plans based on the assumption that none of us are guaranteed funding beyond March 31st 2011 – it may never happen but best to be prepared!
What you can do straight away:
Contact VSF with your concerns – tim@lvsc.org.uk
Contact VSF with evidence of the impact of your work - tim@lvsc.org.uk
Contact VSF with reasons, supported by evidence, why your work must be commissioned regionally or cross-borough - tim@lvsc.org.uk
If your work is best delivered locally, tell us - tim@lvsc.org.uk
Contact Grants and Leaders’ committee with your concerns (lists on the VSF website)
VSF invites all members to submit items, notices and advertisements for inclusion in the bulletins. The bulletin is due to go out on the penultimate or last day of the month - please get copy to tim@lvsc.org.uk a week before that deadline
Any suggestions for articles for the next bulletin, or anything you would like to see included, if you would like your work showcased please email tim@lvsc.org.uk.
Please also let us know what you think of this bulletin so that we can improve our service to VSF members.
This bulletin comes from:
London Voluntary Service Council
4th Floor
88 Old Street, London EC1V 9HU
Posted by ELN at 10:35 AM
In Our Name Launch of Almanac Questionnaire
Kairos in Soho (KiS) and the In Our Name project partners, London Friend, PACE and the Metro Centre, are excited to announce the launch of the The In Our Name Almanac Questionnaire.
The questionnaire is for not-for-profit lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups, organisations and projects based in and/or serving Greater London. The information produced from the questionnaire will form the basis of the 2010 London LGBT Voluntary and Community Sector Almanac - a new comprehensive annual print publication about the London LGBT voluntary and community sector (VCS).
The Almanac will provide up-to-date statistical and strategic information about the diverse LGBT voluntary and community sector in London, so that LGBT organisations can access an information base for lobbying, planning and development, and envision their strategic context. The Almanac will also give organisations the opportunity to showcase their work to others in the sector. LGBT VCOs, funders and infrastructure organisations will receive a free printed copy of the Almanac.
This will be the first comprehensive mapping since the publication of the PiP Report - the first mapping of the London LGBT sector in 2006/7 conducted by KiS. At this particular time, at a relatively high point of legislative and policy attention to LGBT equality, alongside significant economic turmoil, we have an opportunity to fully monitor the impact of the changing political and economic climate on the LGBT sector as a whole, and on diverse LGBT communities of identity, through the production of a year on year report. These findings will be useful for monitoring the impact of the changing political and economic climate on voluntary and community organisations working in equalities and diversity.
The In Our Name Almanac Questionnaire is available here: http://www.kairosinsoho.org.uk/almanac.asp
If organisations would prefer to complete the survey over the telephone, or in hard copy they can ring Kairos in Soho on 020 7437 6063.
Posted by ELN at 9:01 AM
July 2, 2010
City Parochial Foundation and Trust for London join forces
These related grantmakers have fully amalgamated, with effect from 30 June. The new organisation will be known as Trust for London.
For further information click here
Posted by ELN at 1:43 PM