West Berkshire Community Champion: help reward someone that goes the extra mile!

We all know someone that goes the extra mile for the good of others and their community. We also know that much of this work goes unnoticed.

West Berkshire Council wants to acknowledge and thank those people within the District for the work that they do and launched the Community Champion Awards 2019. This is your opportunity to nominate an individual or group who deserves recognition for their work in the community.

Nominating couldn’t be easier; nominees simply need to live within West Berkshire and fit one of the following categories:

  • The Pat Eastop MBE Junior Citizen of the Year Award (nominees must be 18 or under)
  • Volunteer of the Year Award
  • Community Group of the Year Award
  • Lifetime Achievement Award

The web page link (www.westberks.gov.uk/communitychampion) is now live and you can complete the nomination forms.

The closing date for nominations is Friday 25th October 2019.


Silver Sunday: Celebrating Older People: Sunday 6th October

The Silver Sunday concept began in 2012 by the by The Sir Simon Milton Foundation and Westminster City Councillor Christabel Flight. The thinking behind the idea was inspired by a report that found more than a third of people over 75 said they were lonely.

The aim of the project was to celebrate older residents, recognise their contribution to their communities and help them get out and about to meet new people. This year’s Silver Sunday will be held on the 6th October.

The first Silver Sunday in 2012 was a success with 2,000 people taking part in 19 events in Westminster. Since then, the event has grown rapidly with around 1,000 events last year with 50,000 older people participating in events. These events included walking football, art classes, tea parties, dances, tai chi, boat rides and cultural experiences.

CCB supports this day and we hope that you’ll be taking part this year. There are some events taking place in Berkshire like the Silver Sunday Tea Dance at Bupa Thatcham Court (please click here to see if there’s one near you.) but if there isn’t one near you, you can organise an event with a multitude of resources available on their website to help you with this.

Just visit their website to find out more, there is a link just below. On the website, you’ll be able to find an event, find out how to organise an event and learn how to volunteer for the day if you are unable to organise an event.

To take part in this year’s Silver Sunday, you can visit their website by clicking here.


Help change the future, come to our Environmental Impact Conference

Are you involved with running a community building? Perhaps you’re on the committee of your Village Hall? Or do you run a community shop or pub? Do you help run and maintain your church or place of worship? If yes then this is the conference for YOU!

Come along to CCB’s Environmental Impact Conference on Thursday 7th November (immediately following our AGM) at 10.15am at Beech Hill Memorial Hall.

This event will be a perfect place and space for you to consider how your Community Building or Village Hall impacts on the local environment and what you and your community can do to improve things.

From simple local solutions to more forward thinking planning, there is something that everyone can do to help reduce the negative impacts that our facilities have on the environment and plenty of steps we can take to enhance it too.

Join us for a morning of information, discussion and networking. The conference will cover:

  • Speakers – Utility Aid, Heat Save, SWA (Architects) & more TBC
  • Simple, easy actions for community buildings
  • Energy efficiency / heat saving
  • Funding
  • Building with environmental consideration
  • Environmental audit tool

Refreshments will be provided. FREE to CCB Members and CBAS Members and £10 to non-members. This training is supported by West Berkshire Council Adult Community Learning and Englefield Charitable Trust. PLACES MUST BE BOOKED: Please click on this link to book a place:


Information & Advice About Going Car Free


GoingCarFree.com is a travel awareness campaign delivered by Wessex DriveAbility, with funding from the Department for Transport. It seeks to give information and advice to people who are giving up driving for any reason to help them get around more easily, using a range of different travel choices and options.

It’s a useful one stop shop that helps people think positively about some of the worries they have if they can no longer drive. It looks at the practical stuff around planning journeys using public transport and what help is available if people are disabled, on using the internet and support to get on-line.

Stopping driving also doesn’t mean people have to lose their independence but it can mean that how people socialise and connect with others may change. Our website helps people find out what’s going on in their local community and how to deal with any concerns they may have about becoming isolated or lonely as a result of stopping driving.

We can help over the phone, by email or in person at our offices as well as online & we work with people who live in Berkshire. Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Wiltshire. Please send an email to hello@goingcarfree.com if you have any questions.


Funding Opportunities September 2019

Some information courtesy of Sough CVS, Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Reading Voluntary Action & Wokingham Involve

Active Mums Community Fund

Grants of up to £750 are available this year only (2019) from Active slough, Slough Borough Council27 September at 5pm. This fund aims to get mums with babies physically active after birth.

Find out more about this fund

The Dream Fund

The Dream Fund is now open for applications. The application form is available to access at the below link and will be open until 15 October at 5:30pm.

The Dream Fund gives organisations the chance to deliver the project they have always dreamed of, but never had the opportunity to bring to life. They ask charitable organisations across Great Britain to think big, be ambitious and collaborate with other not-for-profit partners to deliver their dream project.

Find out more about The Dream Fund

Tampon Tax Fund

The Tampon Tax Community Fund aims​ ​to​ ​support​ ​women​ ​who​ ​are​ ​most​ ​marginalised​ ​to​ ​overcome​ ​barriers that​ ​prevent​ ​them​ ​from​ ​fulfilling​ ​their​ ​potential. ​ The​ ​women​ ​that​ ​will​ ​benefit​ ​from​ ​this​ ​initiative​ ​will​ ​have​ ​had little/no​ ​access​ ​to​ ​support​ ​or​ ​previous​ ​investment​ ​in​ ​their​ ​personal​ ​or​ ​educational development, and/or their social networks.

​This ​programme aims to fund small​-scale interventions, ​​which​ ​will​ ​make​ ​a​ ​considerable difference to the lives and happiness of women and girls by raising the aspirations of girls and young women and combating the influences that affect their confidence.

How much can I apply for?

  • Between £5,000 and £10,000
  • For a duration of up to 12 months
  • Meet one or more of the Tampon Tax Community Fund objectives

They will fund:

  • Volunteer expenses: Budget for training, travel, telephone calls, travel and meals.
  • Activity costs: Budget for resources to facilitate a project/activity; costs that fall outside capital, volunteer or staffing costs, e.g. catering, insurance.
  • Temporary/sessional staff costs: Budget for external consultants and sessional staff that are employed for the specific project/activity that is being funded.

Find out more about The Tampon Tax Community Fund

National Churches Trust – Foundation Grants Programme 2019-2023


Deadline: 26th September, 2019
Grants are available for listed and unlisted Christian places of worship of any denomination in the UK to support urgent maintenance work and small investigative works.


Cash4 Clubs


Deadline: 27th September, 2019
Awards are available for sports clubs throughout the UK to improve facilities, buy new kit and equipment, and increase sporting opportunities.

Ernest Cook Trust


Deadline: 27th September, 2019
Grants are available to registered charities, schools and not-for-profit organisations in the UK wishing to encourage young people’s interest in the countryside and the environment.

Power to Change – Community Business Fund

Grants are available to help locally based and community-led businesses in England to increase their social impact and make them more viable in the long term. For further information please click here.

The Beatrice Laing Trust


The Beatrice Laing Trust is one of the Laing Family Trusts that are administered jointly, with this Trust supporting projects that are in the areas of relief of poverty or advancement of the Christian faith.

The joint administration means that an application to the Beatrice Laing Trust is considered as an application to all Laing Trusts, with administrators and trustees deciding which Trust is most suitable for any grant offered.

The Beatrice Laing Trust state that they welcome applications from:
• Organisations, in particularly Christian organisations, offering practical action to help those in need, offering direct support to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society.
• Charities providing practical services to people with physical, mental and learning difficulties and their families/carers.
• Organisations providing opportunities for training and development to young people, in particular those who are disadvantaged or ‘at risk’.
• Small-scale overseas development projects aiming to build the capacity of local partners to develop long-term sustainable solutions to local problems in countries in the developing world.

Please click here for more info

Facilitation Fund 2019: Countryside Stewardship

The Facilitation Fund is now open until the 4th October. The funding aims to help groups of farmers, foresters and land managers improve the natural environment.

Find out more by reading their manual on how to apply:

Berkshire Community Foundation

Grants awarded support a variety of community groups across Berkshire working to support a wide range of causes; tackling disadvantage, supporting victims of crime, poverty, homelessness, health and wellbeing, isolation and loneliness, education and skills and strengthening the community in general. http://www.berkshirecf.org/

Charity Technology Trust

http://tech-trust.org/

Co-operative Community Fund

https://causes.coop.co.uk/

Garfield Weston Foundation

The Foundation makes a large volume of grants every year to community projects, many of which rely on the time and goodwill of volunteers.

Community

Greggs Foundation

Local Community Projects Funding is offered to organisations supporting people in need

We are interested in projects that improve resilience within your community. 

https://www.greggsfoundation.org.uk/grants/local-community-projects-fund

Henry Smith Charity

The Strengthening Communities grant programme is designed to support small charitable organisations working at grassroots level

Heritage Lottery

Wide ranging support for all kinds of projects as long as they make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities.

https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/what-we-fund

Lloyds TSB Foundation

Every year we make grants to hundreds of small and local charities, investing in their work helping people overcome complex social issues across England and Wales

https://www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk/wefund/

Pocket Parks Plus

We are inviting applications from community groups interested establishing a new pocket park or refurbishing an existing park

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pocket-parks-plus-supporting-parks-and-public-spaces

Shanly Foundation

Lending a hand where needed in the community. The Shanly Foundation primarily supports good causes predominantly within Berkshire and other home counties.

http://www.shanlyfoundation.com/

Sport England Small Grants £300 – £10,000

https://www.sportengland.org/funding/small-grants/

Trusthouse Charitable Trust

Trusthouse is interested in applications for capital projects at community centres in the most deprived urban areas and village halls in remote and economically deprived rural areas

Community Centres and Village Halls

Tudor Trust

Tudor makes grants, and provides other types of support, to voluntary and community groups working in any part of the UK. We particularly want to help smaller, community-led organisations that work directly with people who are at the margins of society: organisations that support positive changes in people’s lives and in their communities

https://tudortrust.org.uk/what-we-do/

Veolia Environmental Trust

Support community and environmental causes

https://www.veoliatrust.org/

Heathrow Community Fund: Communities Together
 
Are you working to boost the community spirit in your neighbourhood? Do you have ideas for creating a community garden, starting an arts festival, tackling loneliness amongst old people, boosting health and fitness or cleaning up the streets where you live? If so, you could qualify for a grant from our Communities Together programme.
 
Grants up to £2,500 per year for up to two years for charities, voluntary groups, schools, colleges, and Community Interest Companies working on in Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Richmond, Runnymede, Slough, Spelthorne, South Bucks, or Windsor and Maidenhead. To apply, your group must have a constitution and a bank account that needs two signatures.
 
Grant application – Round 4 deadline: 25 October 2019

Find out more about Heathrow Community Fund: Communities Together

The Good Exchange and Sovereign Housing Community Asset Fund – round one open until 30 September 2019

The Good Exchange has recently partnered with Sovereign, one of the largest housing associations in the UK, to launch a new fund awarding £60,000 in match funding grants for community projects.

Communities and charities in the south of England (Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight) can apply for grants from the organisation’s Community Asset Fund via The Good Exchange’s charity-owned, not-for-profit, on-line grant matching platform. Grants will be awarded to support a wide variety of projects, from community events to upgrading community centres.

The Community Asset Fund supports community facilities (permanent and temporary such as pop ups) with capital and revenue match funding grants. Grants can be awarded towards salary or core funding applications and for equipment to serve community facilities such as laptops, repairs etc. Larger grants will be awarded for projects such as capital refurbishment, extensions of community facilities or revenue towards staffing etc. Community events such carnivals will also be considered.

Further information
  • Applications up to £500 will be awarded as grants with no match funding required.
  • Applications up to £5,000 and above will require 50% match funding.
  • There will be two grant rounds available (£30,000 each) for the Community Assets Fund. The first is open until September 30, 2019 and the second will close at the end of January 2020.
  • Find out more and make an application.