We're working in collaboration with fundraising website easyfundraising to provide you with a simple way to generate additional income for your voluntary and community sector organisation or group.

Easyfundraising, which has been running since 2005, enables people to support charities simply by shopping online. It does this by turning everyday online shopping into free donations for a nominated cause of the customer's choice.

Thousands of leading online retailers, including Amazon, eBay, Argos and John Lewis, will make a small donation to your organisation whenever your staff, volunteers and supporters use the easyfundraising website or app to shop with them.

Green social prescribing is a way of connecting people to nature-based activities and green groups, projects and schemes in their local community for support with health and wellbeing. Often this will be through a referral from a Link Worker based at a GP practice or another primary care professional.

Our scheme in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, called GreenSpace, is all about improving people’s mental health. Green providers, social prescribers, voluntary organisations and community initiatives will help connect many more people with nature-based activities, helping everyone to feel better.

To celebrate Love Parks Week, the GreenSpace project team at NCVS is encouraging you to get outside, if you can, and share a picture of your favourite park or green space with us on social media.

The aim of our GreenSpace programme is to connect people with nature-based activities and green groups in their local community to support their health and wellbeing.

Love Parks Week (23 July-1 August 2021) provides a great opportunity to celebrate the importance of our green spaces and encourage people to get outdoors and connect with nature.

Tuesday 14 September 2021, 10am-11am, online via Zoom.

Join us via Zoom to meet Sue Heyes, Severn Trent Community Fund Officer for the Nottinghamshire area, as she takes you through the Severn Trent Community Fund criteria and answers any queries you may have.

NCVS is hosting this 'Meet the Funder' event to help you assess if Severn Trent Community Fund could support your group/organisation, and how to apply to the fund. Join Sue Heyes from Severn Trent and Pauline Dorey, NCVS Group Development Officer, to learn how to make the best of this funding opportunity.

A small grants fund has been opened to support voluntary and community organisations with addressing low vaccine take up in communities across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

The Inequalities Small Grants Fund for Communities has been set up by the Integrated Care System (ICS) for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and is being overseen by the Nottinghamshire Local Resilience Forum.

Grants of up to £500 are available to support groups.

Charities and community/voluntary groups can apply for grants from a new government programme to take over local assets such as pubs, theatres and parks.

The first round of the government’s Community Ownership Fund (COF) will close on Friday 13 August. It will distribute £150 million over the next four years.

Phase Two of the Movement for Good Awards is now open. Recognising the vital importance of longer-term funding, Ecclesiastical plan to give 30 charities £10,000 each to help them bring ambitious new ideas to life.

Ecclesiastical will also award an additional £50,000 to two of the winning charities to help them get more ambitious projects off the ground.

One charity can then qualify for a further £100,000 in funding to realise their plans and transform their ideas into practical solutions that benefit society.

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising is providing bursaries, to enable fundraisers to develop their skills and experience through attending their upcoming Fundraising Convention 2021.

Bursaries are available for fundraisers in small charities (annual income of £500,000 or less) and out of work fundraisers (made redundant or lost their job in fundraising in the last six months).

For all bursaries, you must be living or working in the UK, able to demonstrate a genuine commitment to the fundraising profession and able to show that you would not be able to access the conference without the award.

Please see their website for further eligibility criteria and the application process.

The application deadline is midday tomorrow (30 July).

Join us online, on Wednesday 4 August, 10am-12noon, for our next Leaders of Volunteers Network meeting.

Nottingham’s Leaders of Volunteers Network (LoVN) is the meeting place for anyone with an interest in volunteering. Share your experience, give and receive advice and network with people who understand volunteers and volunteering.

Please register your place to ensure you are sent instructions about how to join the session on Zoom.

If you have any questions about LoVN or this event, please contact Dave Thomas at davet@nottinghamcvs.co.uk

Tuesday 3 August 2021, 10.30am-1.45pm

An online course giving a basic understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the Designated Safeguarding Lead Person.

Before registering for this Designated Lead course, participants should ensure they have attended the NCVS Introduction to Safeguarding Children and Young People course (or alternate refresher training) within the last three years.

This interactive course is delivered over one session, but divided into two parts, allowing for a 45 minute break and reflection between part one (10.30am - 11.45am) and part two (12.30pm - 1.45pm). You are required to complete both parts.

Cost: £25 per participant

Tuesday 24 August 2021, 10.30am-11.45am

Safeguarding responsibilities should be a governance priority and Trustees have a duty of care to those involved in, or affected by, their activities.

This one-hour online training will cover the trustee role in safeguarding and reasonable steps to protect from harm those who are accessing services.

Cost: £15 per participant

Wednesday 11 August 2021, 10.30am-12.30pm

This session will explain what the Charity Commission expects of you as a trustee and what you should know. You will learn about the size of the charity sector, a little about the types of legal structure available for charities and what guidance and support there is to enable you to fulfil your role.

Cost: £20 per participant

Thursday 19 August 2021, 10am-11.15am

For organisations and community groups who are new to applying for funding, or for those in need of a refresher. Relevant for groups applying for Covid-19 funding and recovery support as well as other general funding.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 18 August 2021, 10am-12.15pm

A two-hour online course for Leaders of Volunteers to start to develop an understanding of some of the legal requirements that relate to your volunteering programme.

The course is suitable for staff and volunteers working with teams of volunteers and anyone with an interest in volunteering. It will be helpful for those who are new to working with volunteers or those with some experience who are looking to improve their understanding.

Cost: £20 per participant

The PDU aims to promote and facilitate collaborative learning and the sharing of good practice among professionals and volunteers from all sectors, in Nottingham and neighbouring areas, who work with people experiencing multiple disadvantage (understood as a combination of mental ill-health, substance misuse, homelessness, offending and domestic abuse, among other issues).

Contact our coordinator Filipa Santos for more information by sending an email to enquiries@pdunottingham.org or calling 0115 934 8428 or 07483 354 441.

Join our free online hub www.pdunottingham.org

Follow us on Twitter @NottinghamCVS #PDUNottingham.

There are no upcoming events with open registrations. Check this space for new events being announced soon and sign up to the PDU email bulletins to be the first to hear about new events. Sign up via this link.

You can watch the recordings from some of our past virtual events in the PDU online hub. Follow this link to find them within the Workstreams section. Please note you will need to sign in or sign up for a free account first.

Pro Bono Economics (PBE) is providing charities with pro bono support from a dedicated economist to help them with their ad hoc data needs. That might include data analysis or visualisation, spreadsheet tasks or short pieces of research questions.

Charities can receive approximately 1-5 days of support over a 1-2 month period. 

NCVO is looking for voluntary/community organisations to share their concerns and experiences about the government's lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.

In a recent statement, NCVO said it had no plans to change things itself and encouraged VCSE sector organisations to 'take their time to consider, plan and clearly communicate' what the changes will mean for their organisation and those they work with.