It was discussed in the last Steering Group meeting that it was time to discontinue the forum which is part of the Alliance membership due to lack of use. The forum hasn’t been used since 2019 and we thought it was time to develop the Alliance more therefore from next week the forum will no longer be accessible. However, we will be looking into starting a private Facebook group which will be linked to the Essex Alliance Facebook page
Any updated information on the private Facebook page will be announced on the ‘news’ section of the Alliance website.
As well as the forum, we will also be removing the official sign up membership process. After a few years the Essex Alliance has become more of a community, a platform where you can share voluntary sector news and information with all newsletter sign ups. Therefore, instead we will only ask that you sign up to our newsletter if you’d like to stay up to date with any sector news within the Essex area.
If you have any information which you would like shared on the Essex Alliance newsletter please email [email protected]
Extra funding of £4.45m is being distributed to the voluntary and community sector (VCS) across Essex to help contain and respond to Covid-19.
Voluntary organisations and community groups across Essex have since March 2020 been helping to meet residents’ need for practical, financial or emotional support through the pandemic. Food projects, advice services, mental health and domestic abuse charities and local projects helping people to shield, self-isolate, get tested or get vaccinated have all played their part (see examples below)
As we emerge from lockdown, needs are expected to grow and change again as residents hit by the pandemic pick up the pieces. People will be dealing with the mental and emotional impact of what they’ve been through and the changes and uncertainty ahead.
£1m goes to Essex Community Foundation for grants up to £20,000 for voluntary organisations
Essex County Council will distribute £1m directly in grants up to £50,000 for medium-sized frontline organisations.
NCVO’s Funding Central funding database has been free to very small charities (under £100k) and very cheap for larger ones (£20), but will close at the end of this month. The Charity Excellence Funding Finder is the only completely free UK non-profit funder database and, whilst it’s hugely popular, with 3000 logins a month, I fund everything myself and can’t afford to pay for marketing to make charities aware of it. Help me help others, by including a link on your website, sharing this with your network, in your newsletter and/or by posting on social media. A post is below.
Charity Excellence Funding Finder is not only a completely free funder database, but also one that finds 100’s of other free funder databases and online funder lists, making funding research simpler and quicker, and giving you click through to a huge range of funders. Updated weekly, it also has the latest Covid funders and 120+ core funders, plus the 50 Charity Excellence downloadable funder lists; everything is free. To access it, register at www.charityexcellence.co.uk
Want to join the 10th year of SSE’s biggest programme? Looking to start, build or scale your social impact organisation in 2021? Register interest in The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, jointly funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. Free learning, a grant, a mentor. Plus you’ll learn alongside others in similar roles and become part of the amazing School for Social Entrepreneurs family.
You’ll need even greater resilience, skills and networks to survive and thrive in these challenging times. Register interest and they’ll email you when applications open.
2020 was our biggest programme to date, seeing us distribute £500 grants to 938 charitable organisations delivering sports or physical activities across the UK. With the support and contributions from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery. 45% of groups who received Magic Little Grants were brand new organisations to our platform.
We are delighted to announce that our 2021 programme promises to be even bigger and better than ever. This programme is now live and accepting applications until 31st October 2021 (application deadline). Not only are we partnering with our usual funding trust, Postcode Community Trust, but we are also partnering with 5 additional funding trusts to distribute £1m pounds worth of funding to 2,000 charitable organisations on Localgiving.
The subject of gambling and its associated harms is currently a hot topic and is acknowledged by health experts as a serious addiction with far reaching negative consequences. It negatively affects relationships, finances, physical and mental health, not just for the gambler but also for those around them.
There are estimated to be around 450,000 disordered gamblers in the UK, including around 75,000 women, and 55,000 people aged under 18. Research suggests that, on average, for every person who is gambling in a disordered way, 6-10 other people are affected, and women and children are disproportionately at risk of experiencing gambling-related harm. Despite the prevalence of gamblingrelated harm, the harms are largely hidden, with fewer than 1% women affected accessing support.
Gambling disorder is a recognised mental health disorder and has been found to lead to the initiation and exacerbation of major depressive episodes, anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, as well as generating intense guilt and shame, impaired decision-making and difficulties sustaining personal and work relationships. Women consistently score higher on measures of psychological distress and are more likely to have experienced domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and past trauma, all of which are risk factors for disordered gambling.
GamCare runs established treatment and support services available to men, women and young people to ensure that where difficulties with gambling exist, they can be tackled through open, nonjudgemental conversations and access to free, specialist treatment and support. GamCare’s National Gambling Helpline took over 38,000 calls last year from men and women affected by gambling-related harm and over 10,000 people accessed free treatment through the treatment network across England, Scotland and Wales. 19% gamblers and 80% affected others calling the National Gambling Helpline were women, with rates of female gamblers seeking support rising at twice the rate of men.
Two-hour (flexible) FREE interactive, online workshop for professionals working with women and families in the East of England We are able to offer you free training and support to provide you with knowledge of how women and young people are affected, the confidence to have conversations about gambling, and awareness of how and when to appropriately signpost and refer on.
In the session you will:
< Learn about the risks and impacts of gaming and disordered gambling
< Discover screening methods to assess the impact of gambling on people’s lives
< Learn how to ask questions about the impacts of gambling-related harm on people’s lives
< Gain vital knowledge about referral pathways for support and treatment
< Understand the issues specific to women and young people
Organised by the Charted Institute of Fundraising – East Anglia
Spring is almost upon us, the days are growing in length and the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is becoming brighter as more people receive their vaccinations and we have a road map for the easing of lockdown restrictions over the coming months. For some this may be very welcome but it also brings with it further challenges, uncertainties, anxieties and stresses for some – both from a personal as well as a professional basis.
To help those in fundraising across the region (and beyond!), our next virtual event on Thursday 25th March is going to be all about Wellbeing. We have Susanne Reid, who is a qualified and experienced health and wellbeing professional starting the session, and will focus on lots of self-help as well as some practical things we can all do.
Then we will be joined by Gavin Lamb, a Fundraising Manager as well as a mental health first aider at Ormiston Families along with Emma Ihsan, Head of Corporate Partnerships from MIND (national) and who manages a large team. They will be sharing their thoughts about taking care of your mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. There will be plenty of practical advice as well sharing of information to help you develop an action plan which can be a useful tool and aid communication with your line manager.
After the session we’ll also be sending out some follow-up information sheets to build on what was covered.
We are changing our services. We are considering all stages of the journey of applying for and managing grant funding.
We want to speak to people who:
– have considered applying for funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
– have applied for funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund
– are actively preparing an application for funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
– have been successful in their funding application – have been unsuccessful in their funding application
– are waiting for a decision to their funding application – have managed grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund before
– are actively running a project with the National Lottery Heritage Fund now
– have completed a project with the National Lottery Heritage Fund in the last 6 months If none of these apply to you, that’s okay.
We would still like to hear from you, but we will need to know a bit more detail about what research you’d like to contribute to, and what topics might be relevant to you.
These workshops will give you the skills and confidence to intervene if you think someone is feeling suicidal.
Suicide is the leading cause of death in men and women aged under 45 in England. Suicide is a preventable death. Suicide is indiscriminate and can touch any of us.
Our Suicide Awareness Hub is here to offer training, support and education on what we can do. Suicide is a societal issue and therefore as a society we need to know how to respond and where to get help.
So what do we do?
The Hub will give you the skills and confidence to be an informed friend for someone who is at risk of ending a short term problem with a long term solution.
We have a FREE workshop consisting of two 2 hour sessions (virtually for now). These cover:
Who is eligible to apply for the grant, how much you can claim and details of the funding criteria for businesses that have been severely affected by the COVID-19 restrictions, regardless of whether they pay business rates.
This is a discretionary scheme to help businesses which have had to close, or been able to trade but have been severely affected by the COVID-19 restrictions, regardless of whether they pay business rates.
COVID-19 – Additional Restrictions Grant (discretionary scheme)
This grant is only available whilst Uttlesford District Council’s area is subject to national and localised restrictions where businesses are mandated to close. This will cover COVID restriction affected businesses in Alert Tiers 2, 3 and 4.
These businesses will take priority on funding, but applications are invited from other businesses who satisfy the scheme criteria and have either been forced to close or have been severely affected by Tier 2, 3 & 4 local restrictions or the widespread national lockdown.
Please read the following guidance before submitting an application online.