Communities in two of the country’s most significant and cherished designated landscapes are set to benefit thanks to funding provided by DEFRA to the Suffolk Coast & Heaths and Dedham Vale Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
£59,000 of grant support has been awarded through the Sustainable Development Funds, which aim to support projects that will lead to the further conservation and enhancement of the areas.
Successful projects in the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB, which stretches from Kessingland in the North to the southern shore of the Stour Estuary in North Essex, include RSPB Havergate Island for a Spoonbill deep water feeding creation project, and historic Dunwich Greyfriars Trust for ‘Chronicles of Greyfriars’ – a programme of summer activities for children and adults.
Meanwhile in the Dedham Vale AONB, an area covering much of world renowned Constable Country, projects to be awarded funds include National Trust Flatford’s creation of a Valley Farm Kitchen Garden Children’s Project – Grow It Wild, forming a hub for local school children and community workshops, in addition to St Mary’s Church, East Bergholt for a Bell Cage and Church History Education project at the famous location.
QUOTE FROM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FUND PANEL
“Over the past 18 months, millions of people have discovered the benefits of nature and how important our surroundings are for our physical and mental health – highlighting the need to protect them for future generations.
The Sustainable Development Fund is one of several easily accessible grants for a variety of projects to make a real difference in local communities across Suffolk and Essex.
This year we received a wide range of applications and consider the projects selected to most strongly meet the sustainable environmental, social and economic goals of the Fund, so that the unique landscape of the AONB is conserved, making it more enjoyable for all. “
AONB Grants are available to a variety of community and conservation organisations (or individuals) to support projects for the benefit of the Coast & Heaths AONB and the Dedham Vale AONB & Stour Valley.
A further £16,000 is now open for applications across two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The AONB is seeking applications from local community projects that are innovative, socially inclusive, sustainable, that benefit the public and involve partnership working.
Whether you have a project that works in heritage, media, conservation, learning, health, accessibility, and diversity, to give but a few examples, we welcome your applications. Find out more about the Sustainable Development Fund and Stour Valley Environment Fund atdedhamvalestourvalley.org or the Community and Conservation Fund at suffolkcoastandheaths.org.
For more information, contact Oka Last, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Grants Officer, on 01394 445225 or[email protected].
ENDS
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) are some of the UK’s most outstanding landscapes. There are 38 AONBs in England and Wales, and a further eight in Northern Ireland.
The Suffolk Coast and Heaths and Dedham Vale AONBs are two protected landscapes and make up part of the 46 strong family of AONBs nationwide
Both AONBs celebrated their 50th anniversary last year
The Sustainable Development Fund is a fund provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to enable local communities and other organisations to make a difference in AONBs by promoting and achieving sustainable development, partnership, and social inclusion.
On the 22nd September at 16.00 arranged by Citizens Advice Essex in partnership with FRP.
Charities, small and large, will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years. If you’re a charity trustee, what are the warning signs that there could be trouble ahead for your charity?
This timely webinar, provided by experts in charity restructuring and insolvency, examines the lessons to be learnt from charities that have experienced distress and some of the root causes that could have averted crisis if addressed earlier.
The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a charity whose trustees were involved in the awarding of loans totalling over £1.7m to a company they had connections to.
The regulator first opened an inquiry into the MB Foundation (also known as the Mossad Horav Aryeh Halevy) as part of its “double defaulters” class inquiry for failing to submit annual accounts for the financial years ending 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2015.
Subsequent scrutiny of the accounts and information received from the trustees raised several concerns about the charity’s governance, in particular, the trustees’ handling of conflicts of interest, the commission said.
The charity lists its activities as providing financial support to help relieve sickness and poverty.
But the charity’s trustees, which the commission said were all brothers, carried out several transactions with companies and individuals directly connected to the trustees or the trustees’ family members.
This included a total of four loans to a connected company totalling more than £1.7m, according to the regulator.
The trustees had failed to provide any formal documentation in relation to the loans, the commission said, and they did not provide information to demonstrate they had adequately identified or managed conflicts of interest.
The regulator said its inquiry would focus on the trustees’ decision making, particularly regarding loans and investments and whether the trustees had adequately managed potential conflicts of interests.
It will examine if there has been any unauthorised or indirect private benefit,
whether the charity has suffered any financial loss as a result of any mismanagement/misconduct.
It will also assess whether trustees have fulfilled their duties and responsibilities under charity law.
Third Sector was unable to contact anyone from the charity for comment.
To apply for this position please download and complete the three-part application form at the bottom of this page and send it to [email protected] by the closing date of Wednesday 15th September 2021. Interviews to be held on 4th October via zoom.
The Steering Group are attending the Local Infrastructure Inclusion, Insight and Transformation Group, if you would like us to take any discussion points to the group on your behalf, please contact our Chairs Alison Wilson or Sarah Troop.
Virtual coffee meeting
As we continue on the journey of emerging from the COVID pandemic, to hopefully a world that starts to normalise a little, we wanted to take the opportunity to establish informal “virtual coffee catch-up” sessions with our community partners.
Informal in nature, we really would like to see these catch-ups as opportunities to share with you what’s happening within the team, as a place for you to ask questions, to contribute your ideas, and also, as importantly. to let us know what’s happening in your worlds.
The Strengthening Communities Team works across Essex with the aim of addressing societal issues and challenges in collaboration with communities. To give a little insight into our work:
* We lead on activity that supports a variety of different sectors of our community, including those with Learning Disabilities and Autism and our military and veteran communities
* We lead on voluntary sector commissioning, e.g. our infrastructure partners, parish councils, Rural Community Council of Essex etc, with the aim of building resilience and connectivity in communities.
* We run a variety of community grant programmes e.g. Community initiatives Fund, Microgrants Programme and a number of COVID recovery grants programmes.
* We lead on community behaviour change programmes to address a variety of key societal issues including Climate Action, Dementia Action etc
* We lead a multi-partner Social Isolation programme for Essex that includes the United in Kind Programme
* We run a variety of digital communities of place, purpose and interest that engage with communities where they are, e.g. Essex Coronavirus Action, Essex is Supporting Working Parents, Never too Lat Mate, This is Your Life etc
* We deliver a variety of programmes that look at addressing health challenges in our community, including weight management, physical wellbeing and mental health through programmes such as mental health hubs
* Lead on collaborative transformational work such as the Future of Volunteering, including the introduction of Community Emergency Response Volunteers, and the development of Citizen led Communities and Parish Activation So loads to talk about and we hope lots that you will wish to engage with.
We have set these coffee catch-ups for Friday mornings starting on Friday 18th June 2021 and we really hope you can join us. We are keen to engage as many organisations as possible, so we would ask that you promote this opportunity and share the link to the meeting among your networks.
This grant is designed to support small, local, not-for-profit voluntary groups and clubs for adults. The grant can cover Covid19 associated costs with the reopening of these groups and clubs for up to £5000.
The application window opened on Monday 3rd August 2021 and will remain open until all funds are allocated. All funds will be awarded for re-opening as and when the club has been risk-assessed, and it is safe to open.
What Can These Costs Include?
Covid19 related hygiene costs (e.g. hand sanitiser, soap, face masks, gloves, increased venue cleaning and equipment costs).
Covid19 related infrastructure costs (e.g. plexiglass screens, wall-mounted dispensers, signage and increased venue hire costs to comply with social distancing).
Covid19 related volunteer training costs
Subs money covered for one term (up to £40 per child/young person) for families struggling to pay subscription fees to voluntary, not-for-profits children’s/ youth clubs who are affiliated to a national or Essex based governing body.
Who Can Apply?
Small grassroots, local not-for-profit adult groups and clubs in Essex (excluding the Southend & Thurrock unitary authorities) who do not have the support of this kind available through local or national affiliated bodies. For instance, this might be community-based and not-for-profit clubs, uniformed organisations, sports or physical activity groups, musical theatre groups and many more!
Please complete the application form below and return it to [email protected].
To create a robust digital fundraising strategy and campaign with appropriate comms to increase income reach
Develop strategies for growing income and delivering an excellent supporter experience through email, paid social and other digital marketing channels
To carry out our advertising, executing digital campaigns through email marketing and banner advertising
To develop and maintain Google Ads to expand the reach of Age Concern Colchester & North East Essex.
Recruit and coordinate fundraising volunteers, companies, community groups, etc for fundraising on our behalf
Manage and monitor and create engaging content for all of our social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. as well as other marketing and communication materials (including our website)
Work across-team to ensure coordinated and cooperative fundraising approaches
Improve the integration of online and offline channels
Source direct delivery branded products and create WooCommerce store
Write press releases and be the main contact point for press engagement with the CEO.
Skills and experience
Experience working in a digital fundraising/marketing and/or communications role.
Proven track record of digital fundraising, income generation, social media, and use of google analytics and SEO
Educated to a degree level ideally in, Digital Fundraising, Marketing and/or Communications
Have demonstrable experience in producing high-quality written content, presenting compelling cases for support and impact information
Maintaining and developing successful donor relationships through timely and appropriate communications and engagement
Planning and managing digital fundraising and marketing activity
Ability to write clear and jargon-free copy reflecting the brand and values of Age Concern Colchester; to edit and proofread to a high level of accuracy.
Personal Qualities:
Self-starter, motivated, results-driven
Friendly with a positive attitude
Be passionate about all things digital, with a focus on e-commerce
Able to work independently, manage deadlines and prioritise work in a fast-paced environment
Excellent time management skills
Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills
Excellent attention to detail
Good at working as part of a cross-functional team
Flexibility in responding to urgent requests, whilst maintaining and adjusting work schedules.
Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines, producing accurate work
Desirable, not essential:
Experience using Adobe Suite and WordPress, Buffer, Mailchimp, and Facebook Business Manager, Google analytics, Dotdigital. Experience in film & Podcasts.
This is a permanent role for a maximum of 20 hours a week between Monday – Friday 9am-5pm. Salary dependent on experience and hours to be worked.
We aim to be an equal opportunities employer and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.
To join a high-performing team in a charity with a great current and future growth plan apply today.
The Art Ministry is currently seeking new trustees. A trustee at The Art Ministry is not a passive role, as we have no salaried management team, so you will help to actively manage The Art Ministry.
You will engage with our 5 salaried group leaders, 35 volunteers and 100+ service users, as well as other organisations operating in our sector. It’s a great opportunity to broaden your horizons, develop new and/or use existing skills and to make a contribution to a very worthwhile local charity.
Trustee meetings are held quarterly, usually on a weekday evening. Each trustee has a specific remit, such as Fundraising or Volunteer Management, and they all share in general management and responsibility for completing the action points that result from the trustee meetings.
Please click on the appropriate text to see the role descriptions:
More volunteers are desperately needed to support a mobile vaccination service across Colchester.
Community360 (C360) are supporting various local sites across Colchester with the COVID-19 vaccination programme and are looking for volunteers to support this, as the NHS attempts to vaccinate as many people as possible over the summer period.
They have been asked to support the vaccine bus team in the Colchester area. The bus will travel to various locations such as superstores, colleges and at large events.