Aviva Community Fund

Aviva Community Fund celebrates and support charities doing great work all around UK. They’ve provided thousands of causes with funding, skills and resources, and have seen up close just how much of an impact this is having on the lives of the people involved. 

Applications are now open for the newly refreshed Aviva Community Fund programme and the closing date is 11 February 2020.

Find out more about Aviva Community Fund

Aviva want to help your cause be as strong and successful as it can be – even if you haven’t received funding. You can join their Facebook Community Group to share ideas with other causes, learn new skills, keep up with news and be part of live events run by experts in volunteering, fundraising and more.

Smart Energy GB in Communities Fund

The programme supports those who might find it difficult to engage with the smart meter rollout. In 2020, we are targeting grant funding to organisations who reach people that are aged over 65 and are currently unaware of smart meters.

The objectives of the fund are:

• to reduce unaware levels in people aged over 65
• to ensure people in the target group understand how smart meters can benefit them
• increase acceptance of smart meters amongst the target group

This might be by using your partnerships with other organisations and building on existing work, or perhaps you might want to try something a bit different or innovative with the funding. They are open to hearing what you think would work and how they can work together to achieve this.

The total amount requested should be between £15,000 and £25,000.

Closing date for applications is Friday 21 February 2020.

Find out more about Smart Energy GB in Communities Fund

People’s Postcode Trust
Grants are now open.
Apply for grants to benefit people in your area

Who Can Apply?
Organisations who can apply for up to £2000 include:
• Registered charity (with a number from OSCR or Charity Commission)
• CIO
• Constituted voluntary or community group
• Social enterprise
• Community interest company (CIC)
• Not-for-profit organisation
• Local club or other constituted community group.
Registered charities can apply for up to £20,000.

What Kind of Projects are Funded?
Projects of up to 12 months, which are programmes of work limited in scope and which seek to achieve particular outcomes relating to the areas above.
Examples of projects that could be eligible include:
• Tackling poverty though improved literacy
• Baby basics and toddler clothing assistance
• Volunteering programmes and support to help difficult to reach groups strengthen working relationships and develop skills to help back into work
• Projects to support equality and raise awareness of issues
• Qualifications for young people not in mainstream education
Note this is one of three different postcode grants funds – each has a different set of projects. If this is not the right goals and themes for your group, then look at our other recent alerts.

How to Apply
Application is a two-stage process.

The deadline for stage-1 applications is the 4th February 2020

The guidance document and on-line application form can be accessed below.

Click Here for Guidance and to Apply

One Stop Carriers For Causes Grant

Grants up to £500 are available to local non-profit organisations and groups for projects within two miles of a One Stop store that benefit local communities by helping to improve lives and local places. It is funded through the sale of carrier bags, and administered through Groundwork.

Carriers for Causes is a rolling programme, where community groups or charities can apply for funding all year round.

Find out more about this funding

Swimathon Foundation Community Grants Scheme

The Swimathon Foundation Community Grants Scheme offers funding to groups and individuals who provide and promote swimming in their local community. The Foundation is passionate about encouraging people to get involved with swimming, which it hopes to encourage even further with its Community Grants.

Grants vary from £500 to £2,500 and will only be awarded to organisations supported by pools that are participating in Swimathon. The grants are administered by Swim England and the Swimming Trust and are awarded on an annual basis.

Applications for 2020 are now open and will close on Friday 13 March.

Find out more about Swimathon Foundation Community Grants Scheme

Co-op Foundation #iwill Fund
This round of our #iwill Fund focuses on peer-to-peer support to improve children’s wellbeing during the period in which they move from primary to secondary school. This might typically begin any time during School Years 5 or 6 and continue into Years 7 to 8. Up to £35,000 available for any project related costs.
See  hcoopfoundation.org.uk/iwill-fund-schools/ for details.  Deadline: 24^th February 2020

A Celebration of Craft

The Crafts Council are making grants available to deliver craft workshops, events during 2021. They will give £500 for a public event or £2,500 for an in-depth project.

They’re keen to hear from:

• Craft organisations and makers
• Community organisations
• Cultural organisations
• Schools
• Health or wellbeing organisations

This programme aims to deliver new craft opportunities to new audiences. It will support organisations with existing programmes of craft activity to reach out to people they haven’t worked with before; it will also support organisations who don’t specialise in craft (youth groups, residents’ associations, libraries etc.) to offer a new craft experience for their audiences and communities.

Deadline is 14 February 2020.

Find out more about A Celebration of Craft

Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Grants Programme

Kellogg’s is working with Forever Manchester to award grants of £1,000 to school breakfast clubs, to help them provide breakfast to children who need it most.

Priority will be given to schools that have either:

• 35% and above of children eligible for pupil premium funding or eligible for free school meals.or
• Schools based in one of the 10% of most deprived areas according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Use their guidance to find out if this applies to your school.

You can apply for an award at any time and you will hear within one month if you have been successful.

Please note the fund may close if oversubscribed.

Find out more about Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Grants Programme

With thanks to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Slough CVS & Wokingham&Bracknell Involve for content.

Invitation to a Mental Health Crisis Pathway Review

Monday 10th February at 9.30 to 12.30 
West Berkshire Council office chamber
 Is your organisation supporting people with poor mental health? Do you support someone with poor mental health or are you a mental health service user yourself?

During 2019 The Mental Health Crisis service provided by The Berkshire West Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been conducting a review. An important event to which you are invited takes place on Monday 10th February at 9.30 to 12.30.

Look at the communication below.  Your knowledge and experiences are of value and they may help to shape the mental health pathway for West Berkshire people.

What:     Mental Health Crisis Review 
When:    Monday 10th February, 2020 9:30-12:30
Where:    West Berkshire Council office chamber

This event is for all Berkshire West service users, carers and voluntary sectors partners, who wish to be involved in the designing of the Mental Health Crisis pathway

Berkshire West CCG are hosting a feedback session following the input from focus groups and engagement forums previously held about our mental health crisis services. 

Having collated all the feedback we will be presenting with you the next steps. 

What will be discussed:
· Expanding services for people experiencing a mental health crisis
· Ensuring the NHS will provide a single point of access and timely,  universal mental health crisis care for everyone
· 24/7 community-based mental health crisis response for adults and older adults
· Increase alternative forms of provision for those in crisis – crisis cafes provide a more suitable alternative to A&E
· And the collaborations with local authorities, voluntary sector partners and service users to look at the non-clinical issues  

Refreshments to be included.

Please book with my colleague Laura whose details are below

Garry Poulson
Director 
Chairman Suicide Prevention Action Group 

If you would like to book to attend this event please get in touch with Laura at laura@vcwb.org.uk.

At the end of 2019, CCB applied to the Government’s Analytical Volunteering Programme (https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/careers/analytical-volunteer-programme/), through the NCVO (https://www.ncvo.org.uk/) for support with data analysis in conjunction with our loneliness and social isolation project. We’re delighted to report that CCB have been matched with two volunteers.

Marine Roux is from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Adam Secret is from the Home Office. Both have the ideal mix of skills and experience in researching and working with data that we need to make sense of the many indicators that, in combination, will give our project fresh insight into the scale and nature of social isolation amongst older people in Berkshire.

With help from Marine and Adam, we hope to develop a tool that will enable us to quantify the numbers of people within any given geography within Berkshire, based on an appropriate range of criteria. This should give the communities we are working with some valuable insights into the appropriateness of the range of current social activities taking place already, as well as the scale of potential demand for new social activities that target specific, under-represented groups.

For more information on this project, please contact Tim Parry at tim.parry@ccberks.org.uk

Hallmark Levels 1 – 3 are quality standard marks for Village Halls & Community Buildings

They demonstrate to your Community and stakeholders (e.g. Insurance Companies, banks & funders) that your building meets the basic standards (L1) through to exceptional standards (L3) of quality provision.

They also act as an internal audit to reassure Trustees/Management Committees that they are meeting legal obligations and serving the community as directed by their constitution.

Hallmark training has been scheduled for the following dates, please click on the link to book your place:

26th March, 10am – 12pm at Ashhampstead Village Hall, Hallmark 1 (West Berkshire Halls): https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/hallmark-1-training-ashampstead/

18th May, 10am – 12pm, Hurst Village Hall, Hallmark 1 (Wokingham Village Halls): https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/hallmark-1-training-hurst/

21st May, 10am – 12pm , Hampstead Norreys, Hallmark 2: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/hallmark-2-training-hampstead-norreys/

After you have achieved HALLMARK 1, you can attend HALLMARK 2 training. After attending this course and a short site visit you could attain a HALLMARK 2 certificate.

In the Autumn of 2020 we plan to work with L2 Halls to help them achieve HALLMARK 3 (the highest standard)

What does training cover? Training covers a great deal, but in essence covers the following;

Hallmark 1 focuses on the management and administration of the charity.
Hallmark 2 focuses on health, safety, security and licences.
Hallmark 3 requires the hall to be working with the community and its users, including stakeholders; marketing the hall and building its profile in the centre of the community.

The aim of Hallmark is to:
• Establish good practice
• Encourage improvement in established customs and procedures
• Gain recognition for obtaining good standards in management of the hall
For any questions or further details please contact: Kate.Meads@ccberks.org.uk