Friday 30 September 2011

Macmillan Coffee Morning

30th September sees the Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning.  PAVO held one at its staff day on the 27th September.  We had a table full of home baked cakes, a raffle and old book sale.  All in all we raised an amazing £103 for a very worthy cause, and got to eat lots of cake too!

Are you having a Macmillan Coffee Morning?  Let us know how you got on, and we'll post it on the blog.

NatWest Community Force Awards

Just to let you know that there are several Powys projects who have got through to the voting stages of the Natwest Community Awards.

Once registered you are entitled to three votes - so spend your votes wisely!

Go to:  http://communityforce.natwest.com/projects/ to cast your vote today

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Ponthafren nominated for Natwest Community Force Awards

Ponthafren Association has been nominated for The Natwest Community Awards:
please vote at http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1854 



Ponthafren Association is a registered charity that provides support, information &
education to those members of the community experiencing mental health
issues &/or social exclusion or isolation. We offer a community resource for
mental wellbeing. 



Ponthafren members have formed their own Public Relations
Group; this group goes out to community groups, schools & volunteering
fayres, giving PowerPoint presentations about the work Ponthafren does and
the support it has to offer. They are able to share their lived experience
with others and this helps reduce the stigma that is still attached to
mental health issues within local communities. Staff, volunteers and members
regularly attend community events in order to promote the Association.

Bright New Futures - Opportunity

Is your organisation interested in working with PAVO towards a bid?  Would you like to be part of the Bright New Futures programme with PAVO?


If the answer is yes, please register your interest with Yvonne Owen-Newns, PAVO's Children and Young People's Facilitator on 01597 822191 by 13th October 2011.


The Bright New Futures programme, is making £12 million available for projects across Wales, working with young parents and/or young disabled people aged 14-25.
The programme will fund between £200,000 and £1 million for projects running between three and five years that seek to achieve the following outcomes:
  • Young parents and/or young disabled people are less isolated and have increased wellbeing through improved social networks and stronger relationships
  • Better services are delivered which are joined up and are tailored to meet the individual needs of young parents and/or young disabled people
  • Young parents and/or young disabled people have increased confidence and skills to successfully manage transitions and lead full and active lives
  • Learning from the programme is used to inform future policy, practice and services for young people in transition.

PAVO Autumn Roadshow - coming soon!

PAVO Autumn Road Show
Coming to a town near you!


Llandewi Village Hall
4th October 2011
1.00 - 3.30

Come and meet your local development workers


Staff will be available to support you around any of the following:
  • Can Do ‘Ideas into Reality’ Fund
  • Undertaking a health check of your organisation
  • Running your organisation, including trustee and governance, group structures
  • Finding funding
  • Making funding applications
  • Thinking about sustainable funding?
  • Thinking about social enterprise?
  • Community cohesion - what does this mean to you?
  • The new equalities Act - and your group
There will be coffee,tea & cakes and a presentation on Powys Enterprise Ltd and information about free electricity for community buildings !

To book on call: 0845 009 3288

We look forward to seeing you there.

Monday 26 September 2011

Ponthafren Project - update

Those of you who are regular visitors to the blog, may recall that Ponthafren Association in Newtown, were successful in receiving a Gwir Vol grant towards ‘Anim8 2 Motiv8’ - a series of taster workshops to capture young people’s thoughts and ideas on what inspires them to volunteer. This will then be followed by a series of animation workshops involving young people, with the aim of producing a DVD on the ‘story’ of what Ponthafren does and the benefits of volunteering.


Well the good news is that this project is nearly completed. The public relations group will be available to come out to youth volunteering events to share it with your groups. Please ring 01686 621586 if you would like us to come out and show the animation to encourage youth volunteering.


Thanks to Ponthafren for the update - if you take up the opportunity we'd love to hear from you.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

VILLAGE SOS DEADLINE LOOMING - 1 MONTH TO GO!!

The Village SOS Competition aims to support voluntary organisations to start community businesses to reinvigorate village communities.

The scheme will help groups with business ideas to support enterprises and activities which tackle specific problems faced by villages and their residents.

Grants of £10,000 to £30,000 are available.

All applicants must:

  • Have an idea for a community enterprise.
  • Be based in a rural area with a population of less than 3,000.
  • Be registered on the Village SOS website.
  • Consult their local communities before putting forward a proposal.

For more information go to: http://villagesos.org.uk/

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Thursday 20th October 2011.

If you require any support through the application process, get in touch - we are here to help!


Tuesday 20 September 2011

NEW - CAN DO IDEAS INTO REALITY

Following on from the highly successful Can Do Communities Scheme, PAVO is pleased to announce the new Can Do ‘Ideas into Reality’ grant scheme.

Up to £2000 will be available for groups supporting identified local need and activity, for small scale capital projects, that will make a big impact.

Groups wishing to apply will go through a funding health check with a PAVO Development Officer. This useful tool, enables us to ensure your group is eligible, reducing the volume of paperwork that usually accompanies an application.

Groups will be expected to find match funding of 33%, e.g:

Application to fund for £2000

Match from group £660

Total Project Costs £2660

Projects should fit one of the following criteria:

  • Creating or refurbishing facilities available to the community as a whole or adapting them to ensure equal access to disabled people as required under the Equality Act 2010.
  • Acting to improve the built or natural environment for local people
  • Improving the well-being of the community by encouraging activities and healthy life styles
  • Providing facilities or activities which reduce poverty, inequality, discrimination and social disadvantage
  • Encouraging training that targets vulnerable or excluded people
  • Stimulating community businesses and social enterprise
  • Assisting the promotion of job opportunities and increased incomes
  • Involving people of all ages and abilities in the community and addressing the needs of socially excluded groups
  • Strengthening the cultural and linguistic identity of the community

For more information:

Go to: www.pavo.org.uk

PAVO Help desk: 0845 009 3288

e-mail: info@pavo.org.uk

Thursday 15 September 2011

Huge online giving growth despite economic woes, reveals new research

Online charitable giving rises by 85% in three years

Online charitable giving has risen by a massive 85% in the past three years despite an ongoing economic downturn, according to new research produced by leading not-for-profit sector research consultancy nfpSynergy, working with Mission Fish UK, eBay for Charity and the Institute of Fundraising.

Delegates at the Institute of Fundraising’s annual Digital Fundraising Conference, to be held in London on Monday (19th September), will hear the most up to date findings about online fundraising, including how online social networks like Facebook and Twitter are changing the giving landscape.

The research – contained in the second edition of the report Passion, persistence and partnership: the secrets of earning more online – explores the dramatic rise in use of social media, smartphones and mobile internet, both by the public and by charities, in particular in relation to supporter engagement and fundraising. (The first edition of the report was published in in May 2008, the latest report will be available online soon).

Online communication is becoming more immediate and more personal. Now nearly half of all mobiles are smartphones and already 40% of smartphone owners use mobile internet each month. At the same time, use of social media has become more widespread, with social networking now accounting for 1 in 8 of all UK internet visits, arguably now the single biggest activity online in the UK.

Charities are seizing the opportunity to reach out to their supporters, rather than waiting for visitors to arrive at charity websites. Latest figures show that 71% of charities now use Facebook, with 62% using Twitter and 50% using YouTube – showing charities can now engage far more frequently with their friends and followers, often in real time.

The research highlights how online fundraising is now generating a similar return on investment to other forms of income generation. Charities raise £170k per staff member in their online fundraising team, ranking between donor recruitment (£137k) and major gifts (£210k).

Nick Aldridge, MissionFish CEO and chairing the Digital Fundraising conference, says “While online donations remain some way behind online retail - at almost 10% of UK retail - our research indicates that many charities are beginning to generate real returns from their online activities. At the same time, our report also clearly shows that charities are taking a more sophisticated and holistic approach to online communication – looking beyond the money at how to develop deeper relationships with potential supporters”

Tom Lodziak, Digital Media Manager at the Institute of Fundraising and member of a specialist panel who will be taking questions from delegates, comments: ”We are seeing increasing numbers of younger donors embracing digital giving options. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter seem to be driving charitable behavior amongst certain groups and this research shows that online giving has risen massively despite a tough economic climate.”


(Source: Institute of Fundraising)

PRINCE'S COUNTRYSIDE FUND - re-opened for applications

The Prince's Countryside Fund was established to help rural areas in the United Kingdom to become more sustainable. The focus areas for the Fund are:

  • projects to improve the sustainability of British farming in areas of deprivation;
  • projects to improve the sustainability of rural communities; and
  • projects to reconnect people with the countryside.

The total amount of funding available in each round is approximately £250,000. The maximum level of funding for individual projects will be £50,000. The Fund can pay for a portion or the entirety of the costs of a project and applications for capital, project and resource funding will be considered.

Applications will be accepted from organisations that can demonstrate the support of the community which will benefit from the project and show evidence of consulting the community.

The Fund has reopened to applications with a deadline for receipt of applications of Friday 14 October 2011.


http://www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/


(Source: Grantfinder)

Wednesday 14 September 2011

PAVO AUTUMN ROADSHOW

PAVO Autumn Road Show
Coming to a town near you!

Llandewi Village Hall
4th October 2011
1.00 - 3.30

Come and meet your local development workers

Staff will be available to support you around any of the following:

  • Can Do ‘Ideas into Reality’ Fund
  • Undertaking a health check of your organisation
  • Running your organisation, including trustee and governance, group structures
  • Finding funding
  • Making funding applications
  • Thinking about sustainable funding?
  • Thinking about social enterprise?
  • Community cohesion - what does this mean to you?
  • The new equalities Act - and your group

There will be coffee,tea & cakes and a presentation on Powys Enterprise Ltd and information about free electricity for community buildings !

Powys Environmental Partnership - Small Grants Scheme

The aim of the scheme is to encourage and support community-led environmental projects in Powys. The closing date for applications is the end of September, the grants will be awarded by mid-October and the project must be completed by the 31st of March next year.

For more information contact Heather Delonette via e-mail atheather.delonnette@powys.gov.uk or by phone on 01597 82 6165

Tuesday 13 September 2011

Big Lottery Fund Realising Ambition Programme Opens

Voluntary and community sector organisations throughout the UK may apply for grants of up to £3 million to support projects that help young people between the ages of 8 and 14 years avoid pathways into offending. Funding is available for between three and five years and will be offered with a package of tailored specialist support and technical assistance.

Realising Ambition is a £25 million Big Lottery funded programme with the aim of building the UK evidence base of what interventions work in helping young people avoid pathways into offending. The programme intends to support approximately 20 applications from across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A consortium led by Catch22 has been appointed by the Big Lottery Fund to identify the best projects.

The Big Lottery Realising Ambition programme aims to make a real difference to the lives of children and young people at risk of becoming involved in crime, to enable them to fulfil their potential.

The Realising Ambition programme seeks to achieve the following:

  • More children and young people benefit from opportunities and support enabling them to fulfil their potential, avoiding pathways into offending.
  • Organisations working with children and young people have better evidence of what works in avoiding pathways into youth offending and are able to replicate the most effective approaches.
  • Big Lottery and others learn about how they can best identify and support the replication of proven practice.

Interested organisations should complete an online application form which is available on the Catch22 website:

http://www.catch-22.org.uk/

Expressions of Interest are due by 9.00 am on 10 October 2011. Full proposals will be invited and should be completed by December 2011.

(Source: Grantfinder)

Tuesday 6 September 2011

BT COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS - DEADLINE APPRAOCHING

Currently there are nine million people in the UK who have never used the internet. BT Community Connections is an award scheme which offers community groups the chance to get online and help people discover the wonders of the internet.

If your group helps the community access the internet and improves people’s ICT skills, you could be eligible to apply for a year’s free broadband.

For more information go to: http://www.btcommunityconnections.com/


The deadline for entries is the 15th SEPTEMBER 2011.




Monday 5 September 2011

Children and Families Organisation Grant Scheme for all-Wales Third sector organisations

Organisations must be working on an all Wales basis.

The Deputy Minister for Children and Social Services has announced the opening of a new round of the above grant scheme. This will open on 1 September 2011 and completed applications for funding to commence on 1 April 2012 are to be returned by 3pm 31October 2011. Applications received after this date will not be considered.

Welsh Government’s (WG) Well Being Activity Grant.

Applications between £1,000 and £5,000 are invited from projects that promote and support the delivery of well-being activities. The aim of the grant is to support the priority areas outlined within the Powys Public Health Strategic framework and be core to the Our Healthy Future priority areas for action:

v Reducing smoking prevalence

v Increasing physical activity and healthy eating

v Reducing the harm associated with alcohol and substance misuse

v Reduce the number of teenage pregnancies

v Increase health in the workplace

v Increase immunisation and vaccination rates

v Reducing accidents and injuries

v Increasing mental well-being

v Reducing inequities in health

They will be looking for applications that:
  • Focus on the delivery of local health and well being activity and information.
  • Continue to promote local Health Challenge Wales initiatives including Change 4 Life.
  • Focus on geographic areas with a high avoidable morbidity rate.
  • Are evidence based.
  • Provide a clear indication of how outcomes will be evidenced.

The grant cannot be used to:

  • Fund salary costs.
  • Fund the training of statutory, public or private employees; however payment for training third sector employees and volunteers to deliver health improvement or protection work is permitted.
  • Part- fund an activity or project that is already receiving funding from the Welsh Government. However it can be used to undertake work that is in addition to an existing commitment or to communicate an activity which is receiving funding from the Welsh Government.
  • Commission a consultant to advise on a strategy, action plan, programme or project.
  • Fund public sector policy development, conferences, workshops or meetings.

For a copy of the application form please contact PAVO on 01597 822191. Completed forms need to be returned to Marie Grannell (marie.grannell@wales.nhs.uk) by 30th September. The Strategic Health Improvement Group will be reviewing applications and outcomes will be known by 24th October.

Thursday 1 September 2011

NEW - PAVO GRANT SCHEME - CAN DO IDEAS INTO REALITY

Following on from the highly successful Can Do Communities Scheme, PAVO is pleased to announce the new Can Do ‘Ideas into Reality’ grant scheme.

Up to £2000 will be available for groups supporting identified local need and activity, for small scale capital projects, that will make a big impact.

Groups wishing to apply will go through a funding health check with a PAVO Development Officer.

Groups will be expected to find match funding of 33%, e.g:

Application to fund for £2000

Match from group £660

Total Project Costs £2660

Projects should fit one of the following criteria:

  • Creating or refurbishing facilities available to the community as a whole or adapting them to ensure equal access to disabled people as required under the Equality Act 2010.
  • Acting to improve the built or natural environment for local people
  • Improving the well-being of the community by encouraging activities and healthy life styles
  • Providing facilities or activities which reduce poverty, inequality, discrimination and social disadvantage
  • Encouraging training that targets vulnerable or excluded people
  • Stimulating community businesses and social enterprise
  • Assisting the promotion of job opportunities and increased incomes
  • Involving people of all ages and abilities in the community and addressing the needs of socially excluded groups
  • Strengthening the cultural and linguistic identity of the community

For more information:

Go to: www.pavo.org.uk

PAVO Help desk: 0845 009 3288

e-mail: info@pavo.org.uk


HOT OFF THE PRESS - NEW LOTTERY FUND


Under our Bright New Futures programme, we are making £12 million available for projects across Wales, working with young parents and/or young disabled people aged 14-25.
The programme will fund between £200,000 and £1 million for projects running between three and five years that seek to achieve the following outcomes:
  • Young parents and/or young disabled people are less isolated and have increased wellbeing through improved social networks and stronger relationships
  • Better services are delivered which are joined up and are tailored to meet the individual needs of young parents and/or young disabled people
  • Young parents and/or young disabled people have increased confidence and skills to successfully manage transitions and lead full and active lives
  • Learning from the programme is used to inform future policy, practice and services for young people in transition.