NCVO Reports Most Charities Experienced Increased Demand for Services in the last month with over half (57%) of charities experienced an increase in demand for their services.
The penultimate instalment of the Covid-19 Voluntary Sector Impact Barometer, compiled by NCVO, Nottingham Trent University and Sheffield Hallam University, studied the relationship between infrastructure bodies and charity infrastructure during the pandemic.
To read the full Civil Society News article click here.
Nick Moore, Civil Society News, looks at the strengths, and drawbacks, that define faith-based charities and their place within the wider charity sector.
Writing about the faith-based charity sector is fraught with difficulties, not least how to define them. Nick’s intention in his article is to consider what some of the things are that make faith-based charities distinctive and how these challenge leaders and influence their behaviours, and hopefully to provide some useful insights for those in non-faith charities.
To read the full Civil Society News article click here.
The Charity Commission is working with the Church of England on plans to register 35,000 church charities over the next decade.
Church charities currently have “excepted” status, which means that although they are regulated by the Commission they do not appear on the register. Plans to bring churches onto the Register of Charities have been delayed a number of times, but the Commission’s business plan for 2021-22, published earlier this year, sets out plans to begin the process.
The plan said: “We will also begin preparations for an expanded Register, working with the Church of England to pilot and manage the receipt of applications from cathedrals applying for charitable status and then up to 35,000 excepted church charities over the next decade.”
To read the full Charity Civil Society article click here.
Are you planning on running a marathon for charity? Raising cash for a good cause? Drumming up funds for a community project?
Collecting in cash or chasing sponsors can be an admin headache who do you use what percentage fee do they charge, etc. looking into this can chip away at valuable time that you could be spending training or cake baking.
The Good Web Guide has made things a little easier for you by explaining their best fundraising platforms in their article – click here to read. They have identified their best fundraising platforms for different causes to streamline your sponsorship – whether you’re on a one-woman mission, or there is a team of you rising to the charity challenge, here are the sites that will help you reach your target.
You can also take a look at LocalGiving a membership network and online fundraising platform dedicated to supporting local charities and community groups in the UK. Localgiving supports local charitable organisations to diversify their income through online fundraising.
Find out more about LocalGiving by clicking here.
What are your fundraising goals this year? An exciting new project, improved facilities, more equipment and supplies, better support for your users? Whatever you need funding for, make sure free to use fundraising platform easyfundraising is a part of your strategy. easyfundraising enables your voluntary organisation, charity or CIC to benefit from cashback donations when your community of supporters shop online with leading retailers.
Free to register and use, signing up to easyfundraising is a great way to create a continuous stream of income, which complements your existing activities to make 2022 your best fundraising year yet
So, what shops can we earn free funding from?
There are over 6,000 online retailers involved, including everyday favourites like Amazon, Sainsbury’s, Boots, and Holland and Barrett, department stores like John Lewis, M&S, Debenhams, and House of Fraser, home improvement retailers such as B&Q, Dunelm, Wickes, Homebase, Argos, and fashion brands like ASOS, Very, H&M, Boden and Clarks. Your organisation can even get free funding from the likes of TUI, Thomas Cook, Direct Line, lastminute.com, Compare the Market, NOW, SKY, Virgin Media, and many, many more.
How much have other good causes and charities earned?
Since 2007, easyfundraising has helped good causes, and charities raise nearly £40M. Last year alone, they raised nearly £4M, which good causes and organisations like yours have put towards exciting projects, saved for a rainy day, updated their facilities, or used to improve the support for its users.
What do other organisations say about easyfundraising?
Watch this short video to hear therapeutic community garden and charity Martineau Gardens’ thoughts on easyfundraising and how they engage their supporters to help them raise as much as possible.
How can easyfundraising keep your organisation’s fundraising focused this year?
We’re ready to get started – what now?
Register your organisation with easyfundraising – it only takes a couple of minutes. Then, book your free 15-minute support call with one of the easyfundraising team who will give you a demo of the site, answer any questions, and will share advice on how to raise as much as possible, this year.
Sandwell Adult and Family Learning Service will be holding new workshops in the New Year, including a Paediatric and Adult Awareness workshop. This short two hour workshop will run on Monday, 17th January, at Tipton College and on Tuesday, 18 January, at the Ron Davis Centre in Smethwick.
The course is designed to gain an understanding of first aid and to practise first aid skills. It covers how to deal safely, promptly and effectively with an adult or child with injuries or illness, which occur in the home, workplace or community. The workshop is funded meaning it is free of charge to the learners.
There is also a series of ITC workshops which may be useful for your client group and/or staff at each of SAFL’s centres. See below for details.
The Alta Club is a long established club for mentally and/or physically disabled swimmers. The Club won a QAVS award in 2019. Based at the University of Birmingham’s modern pool, the swimming club is allocated exclusive use of half of this excellent modern 50 metre pool, between 1.00 & 2.00 pm every Sunday.
Covid has taken its toll and numbers regularly attending have dropped significantly with there often being less than 20 per session. This means that there is significant spare capacity and a potential threat that the University will stop providing this free allocation. Therefore the Club is looking for new members from anywhere in the West Midlands. A trial taster session would be offered.
The Club is fully insured and trained lifeguards are in attendance for the session. The club is run by disabled swimmers and their helpers and there is always support for swimmers.
The pool has a hoist to assist people who experience difficulty getting into or out of the pool. There is also a set of movable steps and a lift that enables wheelchair-bound and partially mobile users to easily access the pool. The water is maintained at an even depth of 1.2 metres across the whole pool. Water temperature is 28 degrees centigrade.
If you would like to become a member of the Alta Sports Club for the Disabled, please contact the chairman Mohammed Mahmood (MohammedMahmood1@hotmail.co.uk or call 07872 007 929).
Alta Sports Membership Application.
Good Things Foundation is a charity focused on digital inclusion and working in the West Midlands delivering Digital Future Projects. The projects are funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. The webpage is open for applications until the closing date of noon on Tuesday, 11th January 2022.
Project delivery will run from February to June 2022. See here for details.
Good Things Foundation will be recruiting around 30 organisations per area to develop and test a scalable digital skills and support pathway working across the community sector and the FE/Adult Education sector.
The website has a host of information and resources including eligibility and how to apply. Further information can be found at the Community Digital Skills Pathway: Grant Description & Application Guidance.
With the recent rise in cases of the Omicron Covid variant and the Government’s drive to offer vaccines to everyone that’s eligible, a programme of local Covid-19 Vaccination Pop-up Clinics is being rolled out across Sandwell:
Wednesday 15th December, Greets Green Resource Centre, 11am-4pm
Friday 17th December, The Hawthorns, 10am-4pm
Saturday 18th December, Queen Square Shopping Centre, 10am-4pm
Monday 20th December, Cradley Heath Community Centre, 10am-3pm
More dates and venues are being added all the time, so please use and refresh the following link for the most up to date list: https://www.healthysandwell.co.uk/clinics/
Please also check the NHS website for the most up to date eligibility criteria regarding doses and boosters, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/
Sustrans are hosting a Winter Walking Challenge, which aims to encourage people to stay active during the winter period and hopefully build a routine of walking on a more regular basis.
You’ll find a recording form HERE, where participants note down how many minutes they spend walking each day between now and the 31st December and then send a photo (by email or text) or post the completed record form to the Sustrans Birmingham office, to be entered into a prize draw.
One lucky winner will win a £200 FitBit watch and a £50 shopping voucher for a supermarket or store of their choice.
Information on what to do and how to be entered into the prize draw is also on the record form itself.