As Trustees' Week approaches (7 - 11 November 2022) NCVS Group Development Officer David Saunders talks us through the ‘5-minute guides’ for charity trustees

First introduced during Trustees' Week in November 2020, the guides are particularly useful whether you are a new or well established trustee. What makes them so good? Well each can be read in just 5 minutes and they break down the basic essentials of trusteeship into bitesize chunks.

Initially, there were 5 guides covering Charity purposes and rules; Making decisions; Managing finances, Managing Conflicts of Interest and What to send to the Charity Commission.

Last year a 6th guide on Safeguarding was added and now there is a new 7th on Political activity and campaigning by charities

Charity Commission Model constitutions

With the exception of the Small Charity Constitution none of the other model constitutions could be amended unless the user subscribed to a PDF editor/writer.  Some charities chose to retype the whole documents, not something I support as it substantially increases the work the Commission needs to do to check the document fully complies with charity law.

However there is now good news!  

The Charity Commission has published new editable word format versions of all of its model governing documents

Editable 'Word' format versions of model constitutions

Charity fundraising – a guide for trustees

Rounding off some very helpful changes made by the Charity Commission, they have now published some useful key fundraising principles for trustees. This guidance sets out 6 principles trustees should follow to manage and control fundraising

Fundraising - a guide for trustees

• If you have any questions about making best use of these guides or using the model constitutions, please email NCVS Group Development Officer, David Saunders.

The next joint meeting of the Children and Young People's Providers Network (CYPPN) and the Vulnerable Adults' Providers Network (VAPN) will take place on Thursday 17 November 2022, from 10am to 12 noon, via Zoom.

 At the last meeting, we had a chance to hear from Robert Dixon (Head of Business Growth, Nottingham City Council) about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and its local priorities. Alex Reader (Economic Development Programme Manager, Nottingham City Council) will attend November's meeting to answer any queries or issues for those of you who are considering submitting a bid. Bids must be submitted by 5pm on Thursday 24 November 2022

Nottingham City Council (NCC) has been allocated over £8.6million to spend on the UKSPF up until 31 March 2025. Any legally constituted organisation can make a bid application. This includes charities who can submit bids and be project deliverers where they are providing a service to benefit other organisations or individuals.

For more information on Nottingham’s Investment Plan, plans for delivery, outputs and outcomes and open calls, please go to: UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) - Nottingham City Council

 If you would like to attend the meeting on 17 November, please register your place. Registration will remain open until 4pm on Wednesday 16 November (the day before the meeting). It is important to register your attendance so that you are sent the Zoom meeting link.  

NCVS is at the heart of Nottingham’s voluntary sector, and prides itself on keeping the voluntary sector connected to issues affecting it.

NCVS is currently leading the GreenSpace Green Social Prescribing Test and Learn Programme in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. We are seeking an experienced project manager to explore the learning from the GreenSpace programme, creating opportunities to embed the learning into broader social prescribing activity across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System (ICS).

This work will support the ICS to deliver its Personalised Care vision to maximise independence, choice, control, good health, and wellbeing throughout people’s lives, focusing on ‘what matters to them’.

Fixed term post for 2 years

Hours 35 hours (fulltime) or 28 hours per week

Salary : £32,000 per annum pro rata

Location : hybrid working-home based and NCVS office at Loxley House NG2 3NG

Closing date: 12pm Tuesday 8 November 2022 (please note this position has been re-advertised with a new closing date)

Interviews: Wednesday 16 November 2022

For an informal conversation about this post please contact Maria Willis by email maria.willis1@nhs.net or call 07824 012085

This is a fortnightly, short get-together, for networking and sharing around what is happening on the ground from the cost of living crisis organised by Emma Bates, lead for Nottingham Financial Resilience Partnership (NFRP)

This networking opportunity, for hearing and gathering what is actually unfolding on the ground/ in experience, is to help ensure we can all respond to the crisis as well as possible within the city.

There is no expectation of attending - it is there as an opportunity due to the fast moving situation.

It does not replace existing meetings such as the NFRP main meeting, or any of its sub groups. It is for more immediate front line, on the ground issues from this crisis only and listening - as relevant, any issues will be fed in to NFRP/ its sub-groups.

The dates are fortnightly on a Friday, next one 4 November 2022 up till Christmas and then it will be reviewed. Emma Bates will be logged in every fortnight at 10am. She will log out by 11am.

Individual grants are available for between minimum £500 and maximum £5000

Applicants must be a fully set up community group, charity or Community Interest Company (CIC) with a functioning non-personal bank account.

An application must relate to an existing or proposed community garden or similar site. There must be no query over access to the space (such as restrictions imposed by ownership by another body).

Eligible costs could include, for example, site preparation (including hire of small mechanical tools such as rotavators), hand tools, plants, trees, shrubs, containers and seating. 

Closing date 12pm Friday 31 January 2023

Bids must be submitted by 5pm on Thursday 24 November 2022

Nottingham City Council has been allocated over £8.6m to spend on the UKSPF up until 31 March 2025 on the three local priorities of Communities and Place, Support for Local Businesses, and Employment and Skills. UKSPF will be delivered through a blend of:

• Grants to public or private organisations
• Commissioning third party organisations
• Procurement of service provision
• In-house provision - some community level interventions may require a commissioning or in-house approach (delivered by Nottingham City Council),

Any legally constituted organisation can make a bid application. This includes charities who can submit bids and be project deliverers where they are providing a service to benefit other organisations or individuals.

 Nottingham City Council has been holding technical workshops for the three priority strands. The last remaining workshop focuses on Business Growth (Monday 7 November 2022 from 1pm to 2pm). If you would like to join that workshop, Microsoft Teams meeting link can be accessed from https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/ukspf.

For more information on Nottingham’s Investment Plan, plans for delivery, outputs and outcomes, and open calls, please see the link above.

You can also ask questions about the UKSPF grant process at the online Joint Providers Network meeting, hosted by NCVS, on Thursday 17 November 2022. See the News and Views section above.

In order to help organisations deal with rising costs and inflationary pressures, Keyfund are pleased to announce that they will shortly be launching a new Flexible Finance Fund. This is a revolving facility available up to £150,000 that can be drawn and repaid flexibly, as needed for an initial period of up to five years. Any balance at the end of five years then converts into a standard loan, repayable over three years.

This is intended to help keep cash flow smooth by covering (bridging) gaps plus also provides flexibility to maximise opportunities. This is part of a wider set of products, designed by KeyFund to help organisations deal with rising costs and inflationary pressures.

The Flexible Finance Fund is open for applications now and you can discuss your particular funding requirements by contacting info@thekeyfund.co.uk

The funders are inviting applications for projects which assign children or young people either an adult mentor or a key or case worker to act as a trusted adult.

The trusted adult grant round is open until Friday 25 November 2022.

The YEF will invest up to £12.5 million to fund and evaluate six to ten projects in England and Wales that are categorised as Mentoring or Key and case worker projects. 

The focus of this round is on supporting children and young people who have been or are at high-risk of being affected by violence, offending and/or exploitation (often referred to as ‘tertiary level prevention’). Specifically, children and young people who are primarily aged 10 to 18 years old, and have one or more of the following key characteristics or unmet needs:

• Affiliation with groups (often referred to as gangs) involved in crime, violence and trafficking.
• Affected by serious violence, criminal or sexual exploitation (as perpetrators and/or victims).
  
• Part of families with history of harmful or challenging behaviour and repetitive cycles of abuse, trauma and neglect.
  

And are:

• In contact with services that target youth offending and/or affiliation with groups involved in violence and/or child criminal or sexual exploitation.
• Have been in custody or known to the police and multi-agency safeguarding teams.

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 one of seven government Green Social Prescribing Test and Learn sites. It's 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.

The women’s voluntary sector is operating in a context of both increased difficulty and opportunity. Increased attention, awareness, and media coverage of issues like sexual harassment and violence against women and girls, pay gaps, women in leadership, and trustee representation have brought issues of gender inequality to the fore in the sector.

A new tranche of research and media exposés have revealed gender inequalities, discrimination, and assault against women within charities. Women’s organisations within the VCS have historically not received recognition for their important work.

Sessions

• Representation, and feminist values and methods
• Timebanking and Empowering
• Girls' and young women's volunteering
• Mapping the Women's voluntary sector

Tuesday 8 November 2022 10am -3.30pm

online via Zoom

Radford Care Group have launched a new friendship group ArtSpeak for people aged 50+, called Meet Me at 25 Prospect Street

It is a full activity day where people can engage in a range of things from fitness and games to writing and arts and crafts

The Meet Me at 25 Prospect Street Day is every Wednesday 

Morning session 9:30 am - 12:00pm

Afternoon session 1pm-3.30pm.

Choose between the morning and afternoon session or attend for the full day.

The kitchen will be open for affordable, light lunches between 12pm and 1pm 

 £20  for the whole day or £10 per morning or afternoon session

Thursday 12 January 2023, 10.30am to 12.45pm

An online course giving a basic understanding of roles and responsibilities in the safeguarding of adults and how to respond to concerns.

Cost: £25 per participant

Tuesday 31 January 2023, 10.30am to 12.45pm

An online course giving a basic understanding of roles and responsibilities in the safeguarding of children and young people and how to respond to concerns.

Cost: £25 per participant

Wednesday 23 November 2022, 1pm to 3.15pm

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

Cost: £25 per participant

Wednesday 9 November 2022, 10.30am to 11.45am

An interactive online session for Trustees (or members of Management Committees) of organisations whose activities put them in contact with vulnerable adults or children.

Cost: £15 per participant

Wednesday 25 January 2023, 10.30am to 12.30pm

This two-hour online session covers the basic information for all trustees, whether you are new to the role or long-established.

Cost: £20 per participant

Wednesday 22 February 2023, 10am to 12.15pm

A new interactive hands-on workshop for organisations and community groups who want to practice their skills and would welcome constructive feedback to further develop their skills in writing successful funding applications.
Cost: £20 per participant

Wednesday 15 March 2023, 11am to 1pm

Do you manage a space, office or building? This new two-hour online session will take your Fire Wardens and/or Fire Marshal through the basics. As a result, they will be better equipped to carry out these very important roles.

Cost: £20 per participant

Wednesday 18 January 2023, 10.30am to 12.30pm

This two-hour online session is intended for trustees who have completed our 'Being a Trustee' course, who want to further develop their involvement and awareness of trustee duties and improve their personal skill set.

Cost: £20 per participant

Tuesday 7 February 2023, 10.30am to 12.30pm

Are you acting as secretary or note taker, or do you need to record meetings? Learn how to take effective minutes and make your task easier. This two-hour online session replaces our previous face-to-face three-hour course and will take you through the process of producing a 'minute'.

Cost: £20 per participant

Wednesday 15 February 2023, 6pm to 8pm

This new two-hour online session will explain the basics of health and safety, then take you through the process of carrying out a risk assessment in an organisational environment.

Cost: £20 per participant

Tuesday 22 November 2022, 1pm to 2.15pm

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

Tuesday 15 November 2022, 10am to 11am

This one-hour online session aims to share some ideas about how best to deal with the inevitable disagreements, personality clashes and conflicts that arise from time to time among a team of volunteers.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 8 February 2023, 10am to 12 noon

For some time, we’ve been asked about training that goes beyond the basics of managing and supporting volunteers. In this new two-hour online session, we’ll explore some of the real-life issues that you are facing.

Cost: £20 per participant

Thursday 24 November 2022, 10am to 12pm

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.

Cost: £20 per participant

Thursday 26 January 2023, 6pm to 7pm

A one-hour online session to help your volunteer role descriptions stand out, ensuring you attract enthusiastic volunteers.

Cost: £10 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 PDU Programme Manager for more information: enquiries@pdunottingham.org

Join our free online hub www.pdunottingham.org

Follow us on Twitter @NottinghamCVS #PDUNottingham.

The training session will focus on domestic abuse criminal offences and police powers, as well protection orders. Presented by Natasha Hermans, In-House Barrister at the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ)

Free online for Nottingham City and County employees

Wednesday 9 November 2022, 10am-11am

Nottingham City Council is looking for groups or organisations that are interested in running and managing any of the following properties taking on a lease and full responsibility for the site.

They would like to hear from organisations that can show :

• A robust funding model and sound governance arrangements
• Experience or good knowledge of managing a large multi-use site
• A commitment to use the building to deliver services for local young people and their families
  

For further information and to arrange viewings please contact Aamer Iqbal on 0115 8764786 or email No later than Friday 4 November 2022

Based on insights and experience drawn from work with a number of Integrated Care Systems across England these sessions will explore what partnership working looks like across teams and organisations. 

This series is for anyone involved in change and transformation, delivery of new integrated care services, organisation development and partnership development working in health and social care systems across England. 

General learning outcomes for the programme: 

• Understand and explore a ‘Leading Transformation’ topic 
• Feel confident to apply some practical tools 
• Learn, share and grow with colleagues in similar situations

Various dates available all sessions are online

Organisations that are looking for support on a short-term project or piece of work could collaborate with a team of University of Nottingham students this spring.

Over the six weeks that make up the Nottingham Consultancy Challenge you will act as a client, benefiting from well researched ideas and recommendations. Your team will act as consultants and by the end of the programme they will have prepared a presentation to demonstrate their outcomes alongside a professional report for you to take away.

Each member of your team will have earned a place on the Challenge through a thorough application process, demonstrating their commitment and enthusiasm to take part. They will gain work experience with a real organisation whilst they study, with access to learning materials and support from the Careers and Employability Service throughout.

The deadline for project submissions is Friday 18 November 2022, the Challenge will begin on Monday 20 February 2023 and finish on Friday 31 March 2023

Please contact George Lycett for more information.

The Christmas at Wollaton light trail is one of the popular highlights of the festive season. It is a visually stunning multisensory experience where visitors enter an enchanting world of light and music.

For the first time, the event organisers, Kilimanjaro, are donating 500 tickets for the first week of opening to local Nottingham and Nottinghamshire charities. The tickets can be used for their supporters, volunteers and those in need, so they can enjoy the trail free of charge. The tickets will be valid for the first week, from Friday 2 December to Thursday 8 December 2022

Please note you must be a Nottingham or Nottinghamshire registered charity to apply. 

The Government has set a national target to increase the amount of waste recycled in England to 65%, while keeping waste that ends up in landfill below 10%. Nottingham is already a national leader in capturing energy from waste that is not recycled, and they only send around 8% of waste to landfill. However their recycling rates need to be improved and Government is also introducing new collection rules on Councils with regards to recycling and food waste collections to deliver more consistency across England.

To achieve these targets set by the UK Government, Nottingham City Council has been developing a new strategy for how waste and recycling is collected from homes and businesses in the city.

Alongside specialist consultants, the City Council has explored options that will allow them to comply with the changes needed and to improve recycling rates and reduce carbon emissions. This will support the target to be a carbon neutral city by 2028, whilst providing a cost-effective and good quality waste management service for residents and businesses in Nottingham.

To help the City Council shape the final strategy, they want you to tell them your thoughts on waste and recycling in Nottingham.

Closing date Wednesday 14 December 2022

The Office for Veterans’ Affairs and the Office for National Statistics will be launching the Veterans’ Survey this autumn. This is the first ever exercise to collect feedback from the veterans’ community across the UK.

The online survey will be launched in November and will be live for 12 weeks, giving ex-UK Armed Forces personnel and their families the opportunity to provide direct feedback to the government on their experiences, access to and use of services for veterans.

Responses to the survey will help the government better understand the experiences, needs and wellbeing of the veteran community, and to guide future action.

The government is looking for a wide range of views and would like to encourage as many ex-UK Armed Forces veterans and their families to share feedback.

This link will allow you to enter your contact details to be notified when the survey goes live.