Come and join our supportive team in this full time (35 hours per week) role.

We are looking for a creative individual who can identify the most important issues
for Nottingham’s voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector. You
will be able to recognise opportunities for the sector and produce strong communications which demonstrate how NCVS can help to influence positive
change for local communities.

The role will work collaboratively with a range of team members across the whole of NCVS to strengthen and integrate our communications and marketing materials - including this e-bulletin!

Our ideal candidate will be a skilled and enthusiastic communicator, able to interpret and adapt information for diverse audiences, with proven experience across a range of communication channels. You will have a flair for writing powerful and engaging stories which illustrate the impact of our work and the value of Nottingham's VCSE sector.

Salary: £26,945 - £29,945 per annum

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Monday 6 November 2023.

Share our full advert (pdf) with your networks.

Please help us to promote this vacancy as widely as possible, because this role could soon be helping your organisation to get noticed. 

We're pleased to announce that NCVS is part of a new Active Travel social prescribing pilot project in Nottingham. The trial will give healthcare professionals and social prescribers the ability to refer patients to services that promote walking, cycling and wheeling delivered within the community.

Locally, the project is called 'Travel Well' and is led by Nottingham City Council in partnership with the Nottingham City Place-Based Partnership, Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (NCVS) and Nottingham City GP Alliance (NCGPA).

The Travel Well project recognises that an active lifestyle can have a positive impact on both mental and physical wellbeing, and aims to help support people to build activity into their daily lives for lasting healthy changes.

There are many links with our previous GreenSpace green social prescribing project and we're delighted that the team behind GreenSpace (Kate Lisle and Laura Armitage) are continuing their work with NCVS in new roles, now known as Active Travel Social Prescribing Community Development Coordinators.

This job title can seem a bit of a mouthful, so you will see us shortening it to ATSP Community Development Coordinators! The name reflects the interconnectedness of these projects and the continuity of personnel allows Travel Well to benefit from Kate and Laura's impressive contributions to the GreenSpace Test and Learn pilot.

Kate and Laura are busy consolidating and transitioning their project work as Travel Well builds up to a full service launch in January 2024.

In our last NCVS e-bulletin we highlighted the new GreenSpace NG app. The app is designed to get people across Nottinghamshire out and about, experiencing the benefits of being outdoors while exploring the fabulous green spaces we have on offer around the county (more in the Notts TV story below).

Hot on the heels of GreenSpace NG comes another app to encourage Nottingham people to enjoy walking. Supported by the Active Travel Fund, Nottingham City Council and NCVS have partnered with health and wellness company Go Jauntly, to deliver a series of new walks in Nottingham. Residents and visitors will be able to try more than ten miles of walking routes across Nottingham.

The Go Jauntly app, which includes tips on nearby points of interest, places to eat and public toilets, is available to download for free on the App store or Google Play.

Kate and Laura helped to create the Nottingham walking routes on Go Jauntly. Over the coming months they will be working with local community groups to enable you to upload your own walks on the app.

Laura and Kate took the GreenSpace NG app to Notts TV last week with an appearance on Notts Today (Tuesday 17 October 2023). They were interviewed by host Al Booth. Were you watching?

You can catch up on demand at
https://nottstv.com/programme/notts-today-tuesday-17th-october/

Laura and Kate's interview starts at 16:07 and ends at 22:05.

The refreshed Change Grow Live (CGL) The Place service (formerly known as
Jigsaw) provides support for young people, young adults (up to the age of 25) and
children and families in Nottingham City.

The service has been redesigned and extended to include much needed support services for:

• young people under 18 who are using or at risk of using drugs and/or alcohol
• young adults up to the age of 25 who are using drugs and/or alcohol
• an all-age support package to children, young people and adults who
  are being impacted by another person’s drug and/or alcohol use.

There is also a package of training and support for professionals in Nottingham around substance use.

If you would like more information about training, or if you have any general questions about the new service launch, please contact Service Manager, Habib Akhtar on 07738 488020 or email habib.akhtar@cgl.org.uk.

Opportunities for other organisations and partners to visit the service are being planned and invitations will be sent out soon for a mid-November launch event.

Vanclaron has begun a unique outreach project to assist children and young people (up to the age of 25) with additional needs from BAME communities to participate in activities to improve wellbeing.

The project is funded by Nottinghamshire County Council under the local community fund. However, Vanclaron is keen to find ways to include children from Nottingham City, where possible.

The programme is operating once a month over the next nine months from Bramcote Memorial Hall on a Saturday. The first session ran on Saturday 21 October 2023.

Sessions will provide a variety of reflexive wellbeing activities tailored to suit different ages, needs and abilities. This includes art-full wellbeing therapy sessions, ‘Beatsfit’ which brings music and movement together using simple percussion instruments, an indoor gardening club, healthy food taste testing, and more.

Booking is required. Please get in touch to check on eligibility.

Referrals can be made through an organisation or self-referral by sending an email to stephanie.boateng@vanclaron.co.uk or madeleine.leather@vanclaron.co.uk.
Alternatively, call 07354 716602 or 0115 784 9407.

Deadline for applications: 11.59pm on Monday 11 December 2023

Nottingham Women's Centre is inviting small, grassroots organisations (with a turnover of less than £10,000) to apply. Grants up to £300 are available.

Money granted should then be used to deliver short activities and/or events during LGBT+ History Month (February 2024) or International Women’s Day (8 March 2024).

Deadline for applications: Friday 3 November 2023

This grant is one of three grants underneath Asda's 'Grassroots Grants' programme and aims to support the increased running costs groups are facing because of the cost of living crisis, along with essentials.

For this grant round, community groups can apply for funding to recruit, retain and train new volunteers, as well as covering ongoing volunteer-related costs.

Other grant programmes are available from Asda Foundation.

Application deadline: Friday 15 December 2023

This is a match funding scheme. Big Give has partnered with New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture (NPAC), a network of arts supporters who are passionate about increasing philanthropic support of the arts and culture sector, to launch this inaugural Arts for Impact campaign aimed at supporting arts and culture charities working to achieve societal impact across the UK.

Big Give will provide match funding for organisations over a period of seven days between 19 and 26 March 2024. Interested arts and culture organisations are invited to apply now.

You can apply for three tiers of match funding - £2,500, £5,000, or £10,000 - and the fund includes donations targeted at specific geographical locations around the UK which NPAC and its partners have identified as needing particular support.

Advance notice: this programme will open for applications at 10am on Wednesday 1 November 2023.

This programme recognises that small, local, "specialist" charities play a unique role in helping people rebuild their lives.

Lloyds Bank Foundation is committed to supporting charities helping people who experience complex issues that don’t have simple solutions, such as homelessness, domestic abuse and addiction. These complex issues make life much harder for people; deepening trauma, impacting their health, leading to poverty and destitution, and preventing people from being able to fulfil their potential.

Applications are open to charities with an annual income between £25,000 to £500,000 where the main focus of your charity is to provide support for one of these eight themes:

• addiction
• asylum seekers and refugees
• care leavers
• domestic abuse
• homelessness
• offending
• sexual abuse and exploitation
• trafficking and modern slavery.

Unrestricted grants of £75,000 over three years will be awarded, alongside tailored development support.

Lloyds Bank Foundation is holding a webinar on Thursday 9 November 2023, from 10.30am to 12 noon, to discuss eligibility for this programme and answer questions. Register here.

Full details can be found on the Lloyds Bank Foundation website. 

The Cost of Living Fund (COLF) provides grant funding alongside Recovery Loan Fund (RLF) loans to eligible charities and social enterprises who are supporting people in the 30% most deprived areas of England and delivering products and services to people impacted by the cost of living crisis.

This is determined by using a measure called the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which looks at several key factors in the area. You will be able to check if you operate in a qualifying area using their Postcode Checker. Currently the grant is only available to organisations operating in IMD 1-3.

There is no standalone grant funding. Organisations can only receive a COLF grant if they are successful in applying for a RLF loan.

The fund is intended to help organisations better support people impacted by the cost of living crisis. It's not designed to support organisations that have been impacted themselves by inflationary costs.

Not sure if this fund is for you? Email loans@sibgroup.org.uk with any questions after reading more on the Social Investment Business website.

This in-depth article focuses on volunteer motivation, and you can continue reading in full on the NCVS website.

Leaders of Volunteers already know that volunteers are the unsung heroes of our society, dedicating their time, energy, and skills to support various causes and organisations. Understanding what motivates individuals to volunteer is not only intriguing but also essential so that Leaders of Volunteers can effectively harness that power effectively.

The latest international and national data on volunteer motivation provides valuable insights into this phenomenon, shedding light on what drives people to give back.

In recent years, volunteering has gained increasing attention, with more people recognizing the immense value of their contributions. According to the latest data, the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the volunteer landscape. With the crisis, we witnessed a surge in people volunteering to help their communities, reinforcing the idea that individuals are motivated to volunteer in times of need.

However, as time has moved on, volunteer numbers have fallen. This makes it ever more important that Leaders of Volunteers are getting the best return from our recruitment and retention efforts...

This is a crucial opportunity for frontline workers and others for improved future working. Importantly, the event will result in recommendations / actions for the city. 

Thursday 9 November 2023, 9am to 1pm
Notts County Football Club, Meadow Lane Stadium, Meadow Lane NG2 3HJ
Free to attend, with free lunch and parking

This event, organised by Nottingham Financial Resilience Partnership, is for those working either in the field of tackling or preventing financial difficulty, or in the field of mental health. The date has been chosen to coincide with the national 'Talk Money Week' from the Money and Pensions Service.

There will be presentations from national, regional and local speakers, and participative discussion workshops.

You must reserve your place in order to attend.

20 - 24 November 2023

Safeguarding Adults Week is promoted by Ann Craft Trust, a national charity based at the University of Nottingham, which exists to minimise the risk of abuse of disabled children and adults at risk.

Safeguarding Adults Week is an opportunity for organisations to come together to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues. The aim is to highlight key safeguarding key issues, start conversations and raise awareness of safeguarding best practice.

Each day, Ann Craft Trust will be focusing on a different safeguarding theme which relates to how individuals and organisations can safeguard themselves and others.

If you would like to know more, have a resource you would like to share, or have any questions, email ann-craft-trust@nottingham.ac.uk.

Thursday 9 November 2023, 6.30pm to 8pm
Online via Zoom, free to attend

Join New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) as they share findings from the Everyone’s Environment programme’s engagement with young people, people from ethnic minority communities, Disabled people, and older people, to explore their priorities in tackling the climate and nature crises.

This webinar will share what has been heard and consider how trustees can support the charities that they govern as they take action on the social impacts of the environmental crises.

Thursday 11 January 2024, 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

Thursday 25 January 2024, 10am to 12.30pm

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 29 November 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

Wednesday 15 November 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 6 February 2024, 6pm to 8pm

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

Thursday 22 February 2024, 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 24 January 2024, 12 noon to 2pm

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 14 November 2023, 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Originally scheduled for Tuesday 7 November, this session has been moved to 14 November. 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 16 January 2024, 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

Tuesday 20 February 2024, 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

Monday 8 January 2024, 10.30am to 12.30pm

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 14 November 2023, 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 cost of living funding and recovery support as well as other general funding.

Cost: £10 per participant

Wednesday 22 November 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

Thursday 9 November 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 10 January 2024, 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 21 February 2024, 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 8 February 2024, 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

Wednesday 17 January 2024, 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 severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD). This is 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.

Employability and Skills Community of Practice
Tuesday 14 November 2023, 1pm to 3pm

This is a bi monthly forum where people come together to learn about employability and skills in the context of severe and multiple disadvantage (SMD). It explores ways we can work with people to build on their strengths and interests and empower people through employment and learning opportunities to support their recovery and resettlement. It considers how staff and volunteers can build employability and strength-based working into their roles and organisational policies.

Register here

Working Residents Community of Practice
Tuesday 28 November 2023, 1pm to 3pm

A bi monthly forum where we work together to better understand the barriers to employment, training and education opportunities for people living in supported accommodation settings. We explore the challenges for both staff and service users and ways we can work together to share good practice and make positive system changes.

Register here

Do you run a food bank in Nottingham city?

Nottingham Financial Resilience Partnership (NFRP) runs a group (meeting quarterly) for all food banks in the city, but there may still be some they don't know about or haven't been able to get hold of.

NFRP wants to be sure that the group represents all Nottingham city food banks so it can help you to have a voice, give useful information for food banks, share best practice and provide mutual support. The data on emergency food poverty presenting at food banks is also helping key decisions to be made in the city. Get involved now.

If your food bank is not yet part of the group, or you need to check, please get in touch. Email info@nottinghamfinancialresilience.org.uk or emma@financialinclusionsupport.co.uk or call 01332 460466.

If you're running a Warm Space this winter, you are encouraged to register your location with the Warm Welcome map. Every space needs to re-register, even if you were part of the campaign last year.

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the details yet, you can log back in and update your space and add more details at any time, but it really helps the Warm Welcome team to know in advance where and when spaces are planning to run.

Restart a Heart Day takes place on and around 16 October each year. In recognition of this campaign, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) is offering communities a free 1-hour familiarisation session on CPR and defibrillators to make sure you know how to save a life.

Training is provided by a small group of volunteers looking to increase confidence within local communities in the basic skills of lifesaving i.e. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).

Email communitytrainer@emas.nhs.uk to find out how to book a session.

Applications for the 2024 PhD Studentships are open with a deadline of 12 noon on Friday 15 December 2023.

The Co(l)laboratory Doctoral Research Training Program, a partnership between Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham is inviting people from the local community to apply for paid, full-time and part-time community-centred PhD research projects that aim to improve the lives of communities across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

The PhDs have been created to solve real-life problems in the community, designed following input from researchers and those involved in community organisations.

Applications are open now, and the project team is looking for individuals who don’t necessarily have a standard academic background. Those with experience and passion for creating positive change in the community are invited to apply. Successful applicants will undertake a paid, three-year period of research on the fully funded Doctoral Training Programme, resulting in a PhD qualification.

Please note that you don’t need to know anything about PhDs in order to take part!

As we're informing you about community-centred PhDs, we have been asked to highlight another PhD-related research opportunity calling upon Nottinghamshire residents.

Nottingham Trent University (NTU) researcher Dr. Rachel Handforth (Senior Lecturer in Doctoral Education and Civic Engagement) is currently recruiting participants for a paid group discussion, aiming to understand how residents of Nottinghamshire perceive PhD research degrees. 

If you would like to take part in this research, you will need to attend one 90-minute discussion group in November 2023 and answer a short follow-up email in March 2024.

You will receive a £20 electronic high street shopping voucher for taking the time to participate and share your views, which will be e-mailed to you after you have attended a group. 

You can review the participant information sheet here.

If you would like to take part, please complete this online form and you will be contacted with arrangements to attend a discussion group.

Are you a Nottingham creator or artist who would like to be involved in next year's Light Night? Light Night 2024 will take place on on Friday 2 February and Saturday 3 February 2024.

Nottingham Light Night is co-ordinated by Nottingham City Council and It’s in Nottingham, with potential for public funding from Arts Council England following a recent award submission for the event.

Proposals are being invited from Nottingham cultural institutions, not-for-profit organisations, religious buildings, schools and individual artists to participate in the event. You can be involved either working independently, or as a part of a collective.

You can participate by proposing an event or installation in a city centre public realm space, hosting in your own venue, or submitting a proposal for a funded artistic commission.

Deadline for responses: Friday 10 November 2023

This is a youth-led survey which aims to gather the views of thousands of young people on policing and police complaints. The survey is open to young people aged 13 to 25 years across England and Wales.

Responses will be used to produce national recommendations for change.

Deadline for responses: Friday 3 November 2023

The NHS England Social Prescribing team is seeking the views and experiences of Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs) in their role through this survey. This includes all SPLWs, some of whom may be employed by voluntary and community sector organisations.