Third sector organisations should be given grants for up to 25 years to encourage long-term thinking, innovation and independence, according to the chief executive of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action. Graham Benfield will tell a WCVA conference in Llandudno tomorrow that three-year funding is not long-term funding. “It means one year to set up, one year to implement and one year to close down and search for more money,” he will say.

Weblink

6 October 2008
© Paul Jump, Third Sector Online

On Monday 6 October 2008, Conor Murphy, Minister of the Department for Regional Development (DRD), launched 30 new accessible minibuses for use by Rural Community Transport Partnerships supported by the Rural Transport Fund. This investment updates and increases the number of accessible community transport vehicles across rural Northern Ireland. The £1.3 million investment compounds DRD’s investment to supply transport solutions in rural areas for people who find it difficult to access or use conventional transport because of age, disability or rural location.Kellie Armstrong, CTA’s Acting Director for NI said: “We are delighted the Minister has launched the vehicles during Community Transport Week. This is a fantastic start to the week and focuses attention on the types of services community transport provides in our community. This investment replaces and increases the number of community transport vehicles. The more accessible vehicles there are in the community means the more people can access transport that meets their needs. All vehicles are fully accessible meaning they are fitted with a passenger lift, lower side steps and have high visibility handrails, exit signs and comfortable seating. The design of the vehicles particularly meets the needs of people with limited mobility such as someone who finds it difficult to climb stairs (bus steps) or who use wheelchairs or have a visual disability. Community Transport aims to ensure transport is fully inclusive. This investment in accessible vehicles demonstrates the DRD’s commitment to ensure all needs are met. Getting out and about in a rural area is made easier for everyone”

Weblink

6 October 2008
© CommunityNI

Councils around the country are gearing up for this year’s local democracy week, which takes place from Monday 13 to Sunday 19 October. Resources on offer from the LGA include a resource pack for citizenship teachers, featuring successful lesson ideas from up and down the country, and advice on how to hold political speed dating sessions, mock elections and more. Councils can order the information packs from Ben Dudley, the LGA’s local democracy week co-ordinator, by emailing ben.dudley@lga.gov.uk. There is also a wealth of information online at http://localdemocracy.lga.gov.uk

Weblink

6 October 2008
© LGA

A publication for Co-operatives UK written by consultant Jim Brown ‘Community Investment - using Industrial and Provident Society legislation’ gives an overview and practical guide for activists, advisors and professionals on the use of community share issues. As the first paragraph says, communities investing capital in business ventures serving a social or community purpose is not a new phenomenon, but the Fairtrade movement saw the start of the modern use of IPS legislation. See www.cooperatives-uk.coop/live/welcome.asp?id=2397, or download the publication (pdf, 2. 65MB) directly: www.cooperatives-uk.coop/live/images/cme_resources/Public/Community_Investment_using_IPS_legislation.pdf.pdf

Weblink

6 October 2008
© VoluntaryNews

Organisations are being invited to apply to deliver the £70m Communitybuilders programme on behalf of the Government. The Communities and Local Government department announced the Communitybuilders fund in its white paper Communities in Control in July. The fund will provide a combination of grants and loans to voluntary organisations for projects that stimulate involvement in democracy and local decision-making.

Weblink

2 October 2008
© John Plummer, Third Sector Online

The UK’s first major fund to build permanently affordable homes by Community Land Trusts (CLTs) has been established by independent charitable funders the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Tudor Trust and Venturesome, the social investment arm of the Charities Aid Foundation. CLTs are organisations that create affordable housing, to buy and to rent, for people in urban and rural areas by securing low cost land and building homes that remain partly owned by the communities on a permanent basis. The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Tudor Trust have provided an initial investment of £1.75m towards a £2m fund to support the building of permanently affordable homes by CLTs. Venturesome is underwriting an additional £250,000 and will operate the fund on a day to day basis with Esmée Fairbairn and the Tudor Trust involved in the decision making.

Weblink

2 October 2008
© CAF

Major regeneration projects in some of England’s biggest cities are unlikely to reach their potential if they rely on the government’s latest funding mechanisms, it was claimed this week. Core Cities Group and accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted research focused on Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham and Sheffield to establish whether the new mechanisms are up to the job. They concluded that the community infrastructure levy (CIL) and business rate supplements (BRS) would struggle to generate enough revenue to fund essential infrastructure like transport, schools and hospitals. CIL is a development tax to raise cash for infrastructure schemes and will be introduced next year, while BRS will allow local authorities by 2010 to raise local supplements on the national business rate to finance economic development projects. In order for regeneration schemes to reach their potential, the group and PricewaterhouseCoopers believe two other funding tools should be introduced to support infrastructure.

Weblink

1 October 2008
© NewStart

Research into current levels of understanding and awareness of social enterprise, carried out for the government’s Office of the Third Sector, has revealed a high level of confusion. In those surveyed, when asked to pick out social businesses from a list of candidates the largest number chose Comic Relief or Childline, rather than the likes of Eden Project or Big Issue. And the sector is seen as vague, woolly, worthy, small and inefficient. See Social Enterprise magazine news item http://www.socialenterpriselive.com, or the OTS short summary which has a link to a presentation (PowerPoint style) of the findings.

Weblink

27 September 2008
© VoluntaryNews

Venturesome, the social investment fund of the Charities Aid Foundation, is backing the charity Beatbullying with an unsecured loan of £80,000 to help develop its core services and reach more children across the country. 40% of children who use Beatbullying’s website say that they have skipped off school in order to avoid bullying. One in two primary school children and one in four secondary school children have been affected by bullying. Venturesome’s loan will help Beatbullying to reach more children between 5 and 16 as it expands its successful anti-bullying programmes into new areas of the UK.

Weblink

29 September 2008
© CAF

Second-tier organisations in Scotland have been awarded £6.4m by the Big Lottery Fund. The 15 grants include £981,000 to the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux , £777,000 to the Poverty Alliance and £588,000 to the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations Scotland . The 15 infrastructure organisations received the awards from the BLF’s Dynamic, Inclusive Communities fund.

Weblink

24 September 2008
© John Plummer, Third Sector Online