The consultation is now open

In our last e-bulletin we informed you that Locality UK has been commissioned by Nottingham City Council to undertake research on their behalf, to explore new models and priorities for the City Council's grant programme for the voluntary and community sector.

This research is taking place in partnership with Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS) so that we reach as many local groups and organisations as possible, to hear your views.

There are several ways you can get involved. Please share with your networks.
 

Face to face engagement events

If you would like to contribute your views in person in a workshop setting, we are planning events in different parts of the city. You only need to attend one of these.

• Wednesday 3 May, 10am to 12 noon
  at Bestwood Estate Community Centre, Gainsford Crescent NG5 5HT
  
  
• Wednesday 10 May, 10am to 12 noon
  at New Art Exchange, 39-41 Gregory Boulevard NG7 6BE
  
  
• Wednesday 17 May, 6pm to 8pm
  at Queens Walk Community Centre, The Meadows NG2 2DF

Locality is taking a co-production process with the sector to design a new grant programme and redefine priorities based on a ‘year zero’ approach. This means addressing the question: If Nottingham City Council was just starting to invest in grants from scratch, what would it look like and what would it fund?

At these workshops, you will hear the background to Nottingham City Council funding, other local authority approaches, have the chance to ask questions and share your views and experience.

Please email ncvs@nottinghamcvs.co.uk to let us know which event you would like to attend and to request further information.

Online survey

Please complete this online survey to ensure that all voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations have an opportunity to provide their opinion. Your views are critical in ensuring the Council can develop their approach in a way which has the support of the sector.

We encourage everyone to answer the survey.

The survey is open until Friday 19 May 2023.

Email ncvs@nottinghamcvs.co.uk if you have any questions or would like another way to contribute your views and experience.

We invite you to express interest in attending this significant Nottingham City Place-Based Partnership (PBP) event.

Register now on the Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS) website.

The Race Health Inequalities Summit is on Thursday 11 May 2023 (10am to 3pm) at The Indian Community Centre Association (ICCA), Hucknall Road, Nottingham NG5 1QZ. Registration is from 9.30am for a 10am start. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.

In 2020, the Nottingham City Place-Based Partnership added a Race Health Inequalities work stream to its Executive Programme, acknowledging that structural racism has played a part in increasing health inequalities, poor health outcomes and poor access to services for Nottingham’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. The work stream is led by Clive Foster MBE and Donna Sherratt, with NCVS as the Executive Sponsor.

The summit will allow system leaders to come together to create dynamic and practical solutions to tackling structural racism in services. It will also be an opportunity for voluntary sector organisations to showcase their work to health and care professionals. Voluntary and community organisations play a vital role in shaping and delivering future services to enable system change.

Join the summit where we aim to agree practical and measurable solutions to issues that have significantly impacted Nottingham's communities for generations.

Please register as early as possible and before 4pm on Tuesday 2 May.

This role is delivered in partnership with the Changing Futures Programme.

Changing Futures Ethnic Minority Community Engagement Coordinator

The role is initially for 12 months with a possible extension dependent on funding. Secondments and job shares will be considered.

Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week
Salary: £24,720 per annum
Closing date: 12 noon on Thursday 4 May 2023

We are looking for an individual who can lead on engaging ethnic minority communities, to raise awareness of Severe and Multiple Disadvantage (SMD) and feed back to system partners to develop better services for people with poor or limited access. SMD is defined as having three out of the five sources of disadvantage: homelessness, substance use, mental ill-health, domestic abuse, and contact with the criminal justice system.

People from minority ethnicities are under-represented on the Changing Futures caseload, particularly those from Asian and Asian British and White non-British communities. The programme needs provision for assertive outreach and community engagement into the under-represented communities. This provision will connect with voluntary, community and faith organisations to raise awareness of SMD and how it affects different people.

Please take a look and share our advert (pdf) with your networks.

NCVO's governance round-up for April 2023 includes information on the next phase of implementation of the Charities Act 2022. A number of changes come into force this spring. It's good to be prepared.

As we approach local elections, trustees and charity leaders are also reminded to think about their campaigning role. Charities can campaign on areas which relate to their objects and advance their purposes, as long as these are not party political.

Nottingham-based charity Self Help UK encourages and empowers peer support groups. You can now access online courses and specialist training in their new online Learning Centre.

The Peer Support Group Starter Kit is a practical course that will equip you to start your own group. As an introductory offer, you can try module one for free.

The next priority for Self Help UK's training developers will be creating support and guidance on finding and applying for funding for groups.

Applications are open until 10am on Monday 24 April 2023

This opportunity is funded by Youth Music, thanks to players of the People's Lottery. It is open to all young people aged 18 to 25 in Nottinghamshire or surrounding areas.

Offshoots is offering three grants for music artists to fulfil a creative idea. The only requirement for this grant is that the project must utilise their Nottingham city studio space in some form. Successful applicants will also receive 10 months of mentoring and access to weekly training workshops.

You can apply in the remaining two application windows:
24 April to 12 May 2023
29 May to 9 June 2023

Youth services are able to apply for a grant to cover a wide range of renovations and refurbishments, including work to improve accessibility, insultation, plastering, fittings a new kitchen or bathroom/toilets, roof repairs, replacing doors or windows, asbestos removal, moving an internal wall, damp proofing, fitting a new boiler, rewiring or electrical works or anything else that will improve youth services, enable them to reach more young people or preserve their youth service.

Alongside capital costs, youth projects can also apply for revenue and contingency costs, as long as the total applied for does not exceed £150,000.

Alongside the Refurbishment Grant scheme, the Youth Investment Fund offers youth services the opportunity to build, extend and renovate their projects via its main fund for works over £150,000 with applications encouraged for small, mid-scale and large projects up to £1 million. It’s a flexible approach, helping big and small youth services to improve their offer to future generations of young people.

Round 1 applications are open until midnight on Monday 8 May 2023

Phoenix Way, led by The Ubele Initiative and supported by Global Fund for Children, is a grant-making initiative aimed at transforming Black and racially minoritised communities. It was established in 2020 in partnership with six Regional Leads and with the support of several new UK funders, including The Youth Endowment Fund and the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales.

In 2023, The Phoenix Way is beginning to disseminate targeted funding to Black & racially minoritised community-led groups impacted by the cost of living crisis across England.

Round 1 in 2023 is offering one-off emergency grants for groups working with Black and racially minoritised children and young people. The Phoenix Way’s future funding rounds, including multi-year funding, will open in the summer of 2023.

In this round, they are only looking to fund groups where at least 70% of their leadership, volunteers and beneficiaries are from Black or racially minoritised communities. Please read the full eligibility criteria.

If you would like to be kept informed about The Phoenix Way activities in the Midlands please email support@sahauk.org.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 31 May 2023

This programme is for registered charities and community interest companies (CICs) working with people experiencing inequity because of their race or ethnicity. Organisations can apply for a three year unrestricted grant of £75,000.

To be eligible for this funding, your organisation will be led by the communities you serve, and alongside providing immediate crisis support, you will work with people over the longer term to help them break free from poverty and achieve their potential.

A webinar is being held on 20 April 2023, from 10.30am to 12 noon, to guide you through the eligibility for this programme and have your questions answered.
Register to attend the webinar here.

You can see full details of the funding programme on the Lloyds Bank Foundation website.

Applications are open until Tuesday 23 June 2023

The Women and Girls Match Fund is a match funding campaign for charities that are working to improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented women and girls within the UK and internationally.

The week-long match funding campaign will run around #InternationalDayofTheGirl, from 11 to 18 October. Apply now in order to be considered.

All public donations made to participating charities via theBigGive.org.uk during the week of the campaign will be matched until each organisation’s ring-fenced match funding award of either £2,500, £5,000 or £10,000 is used up.

Charities must be led by, for and with women and girls, with an annual income of at least £25,000, and must be registered on theBigGive.org.uk fundraising website. It is free to register.

Applications from charities that are led by Black and minoritised women and girls, LGBTQI women and girls, or Disabled women and girls will be prioritised in the assessment process.

Full guidelines are on the Big Give website.

Applications are open until Tuesday 31 October 2023

The Magic Little Grants programme has reopened for 2023 - awarding grants of £500 to small charities and community groups across the UK.

The programme is run by Localgiving, alongside six funding partners from the People's Postcode Lottery. 

The fund provides charities and community groups that are either in their first year of operation or have an annual income under £250,000 with the opportunity to apply for a one-off £500 grant.

You can apply under one of the following themes:

• Providing support to improve mental health
• Enabling participation in physical activity
• Enabling participation in the arts
  
• Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
• Supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality
• Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
• Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors.

We’re counting the days and hours to Volunteers' Week 2023 when we will be joining organisations from across Nottingham for a big celebration and information event on Saturday 3 June in the Arboretum.

If your organisation involves volunteers and you would like to be there, contact us for more details and a booking form. You can invite your volunteers to attend (it's free) as a way to celebrate all they do for your organisation.

Of course, if you are planning your own event, please let us know what else you’ll be doing for Volunteers' Week 2023.

Email Dave Thomas at davet@nottinghamcvs.co.uk or call 07564 040767 to find out more.

We’ve spotted a bit of an upsurge in interest in volunteering outdoors in recent weeks. With summer and (hopefully) better weather approaching, the demand from potential volunteers for this kind of volunteering seems likely to increase.

We already have some great opportunities in conservation, gardening, walking and other outdoor activities, but if your organisation is offering outdoor volunteering, particularly in sport, please let us know and we’ll get them onto our database and our Search for Opportunities webpage.

Is your club or organisation planning outdoor activities which require volunteers?

Contact davet@nottinghamcvs.co.uk.

If you haven't already done so, book your free place at the next Leaders of Volunteers Network (LoVN) meeting. Join us for the online Zoom meeting from 10am to 12 noon on Thursday 27 April 2023.

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.

Vaisakhi is celebrated on Friday 14 April – it’s one of the most significant holidays for Sikhs and it is the spring harvest festival.

This Sunday 16 April 2023, everyone is invited to celebrate the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi by joining in with the annual Nagar Kirtan procession in Nottingham. Langar (free food) will be available to all.

The Nagar Kirtan procession starts at 9:30am from Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Gurdwara, 36 Church Street and will end at Gurdwara Baba Budha Ji, Haydn Road at approximately 3.45pm.

Happy Vaisakhi to everyone celebrating.

Thursday 22 June 2023, 11.30am to 2pm
St Ann with Emmanuel Church Hall, Robin Hood Chase, Nottingham NG3 4EY
Free to attend

Diversify Education and Communities CIC invites you to celebrate 75 years of the Windrush Generation arrival in the UK. This event promises to be filled with a lot of Caribbean vibes and cultural heritage on display alongside live steel drum entertainment by King Palace Steel Band and singing by the amazing Lisa Hendrix.

A delicious Caribbean lunch will be served. This event has kindly been supported by St Ann's local councillors.

Booking is essential. Register via Eventbrite.

Monday 24 April 2023, 2pm to 4pm
Online event, free to attend

Hosted by National Voices, this meeting aims to spotlight the voices and experiences of minoritised and marginalised communities in the pandemic. It is open to anyone with an interest in addressing health inequalities, but particularly welcome are people with lived experience of inequality and equality organisations.

The aim of the session is to identify a set of practical lessons on addressing inequalities from the pandemic, and to suggest action for the future. Findings and recommendations will be published and shared with the Covid Inquiry. This is a crucial opportunity to represent the VCSE sector, and people with lived experience in the work of the Inquiry.

Register to join the event via Eventbrite.

Email events@nationalvoices.org.uk with any questions.

Our full Training and Development programme is available to view on our website. All courses take place online via Zoom.

The next available course dates are listed below, but you will find multiple dates for each course at the link above. When you click on a link for the training you are interested in, you will be taken to the registration page on our website.

Please note we now require payment in advance for our training courses.

Please contact ncvs@nottinghamcvs.co.uk if you need more information about one of our courses or encounter any issues with registration.

Wednesday 12 July 2023, 10am to 12.30pm

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 25 April 2023, 10:30am to 1pm

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 31 May 2023, 10am to 12.30pm

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

Cost: £25 per participant

Thursday 18 May 2023, 10.30am to 12 noon

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

Tuesday 18 April 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

Tuesday 16 May 2023, 1pm to 3.15pm

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

Monday 12 June 2023, 6pm to 8pm

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

Tuesday 16 May 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

Monday 22 May 2023, 6pm to 8pm

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 21 June 2023, 10.30am to 12.30pm

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

Monday 3 July 2023, 6pm to 8pm

What is the right structure for your organisation? This two-hour online session will explain your options and provide you with some useful tips to help you through the process of registration and beyond.

Cost: £20 per participant

Tuesday 6 June 2023, 10am to 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

Thursday 29 June 2023, 10am to 11am

In this one-hour online session, we will identify some of the barriers that potential volunteers face to becoming involved in your organisation and share ideas to remove these barriers.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 14 June 2023, 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 5 July 2023, 10am to 11am

This one-hour online session looks at methods that have proved to be effective in volunteer leadership, including the best ways to plan, involve, support and retain volunteers.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 24 May 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

Tuesday 9 May 2023, 10am to 12 noon

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 20 July 2023, 10am to 11am

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 Katie Hall, our PDU Programme Manager, for more information: enquiries@pdunottingham.org

Join our free online hub www.pdunottingham.org

Follow us on Twitter @NottinghamCVS #PDUNottingham.

Tuesday 16 May 2023, 1pm to 2.30pm
Online, free to attend

Join us for a free online workshop where we will be exploring modern day slavery and its intersection with severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD).

This interactive session, run by Nick Clare, Assistant Professor in Economic Geography at the University of Nottingham will include:

• An introduction to the concept of modern day slavery and it's overlap with severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD)
• A more in depth exploration of modern day slavery that includes preliminary findings about how this issue presents itself locally within Nottingham City
• A group discussion into modern day slavery drawing on the insights and experiences of attendees with the opportunity to contribute and shape ongoing research.

Audience: Anyone with an interest in modern day slavery who may also be keen to influence understanding of what modern day slavery looks like locally. We welcome individuals with lived experience of SMD to attend, as well as professionals and volunteers from all sectors.

Please download our event poster to share with your networks.

Attendance to this event is free of charge, but advance booking is essential. Registrations will close on Monday 15 May 2023.

Domestic Abuse in young people's relationships - Teen DASH RIC
Thursday 27 April 2023, 9.30am to 1pm
Free for Nottingham City workers

This three-hour training, developed and delivered by workers from Juno Women's Aid, focuses on understanding and using the Teen DASH RIC. It explores:

• The dynamics of domestic abuse in young people's intimate relationships
• Risk and risk assessment for young people, including using the Teen DASH RIC
• Overview of support services and referral routes for young people experiencing domestic abuse in their own relationships.

Register via Eventbrite

Introduction to working with young men experiencing Domestic Abuse
Free for Nottingham City and County workers

These sessions are suitable for anyone who might have contact with young men experiencing domestic abuse in their relationships.

Learn about young men’s experiences of domestic violence and abuse, understand the barriers they face in getting help, find out about the help that's available and how to access it.

• Tuesday 2 May, 1pm to 3.30pm - register here
• Tuesday 9 May, 1pm to 3.30pm - register here
• Tuesday 16 May, 9.30am to 12 noon - register here
• Thursday 25 May, 9.30am to 12 noon - register here

A government-funded programme has been launched to help voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations in England bid for and win public sector contracts.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has launched the VCSE Contract Readiness programme, which includes a series of online training sessions and webinars for charities hoping to secure local and national government contracts.

The programme will be jointly delivered by the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE), Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) and Voice4Change England (V4CE).

As part of the programme, charities and social enterprises will be offered a range of webinars, short and long courses which will be delivered by SSE. Three course types are available, each designed for organisations at a different stage of contract readiness.

Participants can also access an online hub that contains resources on how to engage in public sector procurement

Applications are open until 10am on Monday 24 April 2023

Sugar Stealers CIC has launched a youth-led music project and is looking for young women and non-binary people, aged 18 to 25, who might be interested in learning how to DJ, make music, host live events and launch a digital platform.

They want to recruit 12 creative people, to join forces and shake up the Notts music scene. The group will receive 10 months of free weekly workshops and mentoring. No previous experience is necessary. The project starts on Monday 15 May 2023 and will run until February 2024.

This opportunity is funded by Youth Music, thanks to players of the People's Lottery.

Musicians from Ashfield, Bolsover and Nottingham are invited to work with OPUS Music to develop musical activities which support the health and wellbeing of people within those communities.

Since 2010, OPUS Music has worked as Healthcare Musicians in hospitals across the East Midlands. They are now offering paid work to two musicians to create local opportunities for people to experience the power of music in their own communities,

They are looking for experienced musicians who feel they may have something to offer to their communities, particularly musicians from communities currently under-represented in their work, including those identifying as from The Global Majority, Disabled or LGBTQIA+ communities, or people who have experienced socio-economic disadvantage.

Please see the News and Views section above for full details of workshop engagement events in May 2023.

You can also complete the online survey.

Email ncvs@nottinghamcvs.co.uk if you have any questions or would like another way to contribute your views and experience.