How can we rebuild public trust in charities?

Charity Commission has published a blog post on 'how can we rebuild public trust in charities'.

https://charitycommission.blog.gov.uk/2016/06/28/how-can-we-rebuild-public-trust-in-charities/

HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE RE-OPENS TO APPLICATIONS

Skills for the Future is a Heritage Lottery Fund programme designed to help not-for-profit organisations in the UK deliver paid training placements to meet skills shortages in the heritage sector and to help diversify the workforce.

The new £10 million initiative is open to not-for-profit organisations and partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations in the UK for grants of between £100,000 and £750,000.

The programme aims to:

o Fund high quality, paid work-based training opportunities;
o Provide placements that equip people with the skills to pursue a career in heritage;
o Address identified skills shortages in the heritage sector;
o Increase the diversity of the heritage workforce;
o Enhance the capacity of the heritage sector to deliver sustainable training and share good practice.

All Skills for the Future projects should contribute towards the following three outcomes:

1. People will have developed skills;
2. People will have learnt about heritage;
3. Communities will see more people and a wider range of people engaged with heritage.

Projects must:

o Provide training opportunities between three and 18 months long that are additional to current or recent provision;
o Provide accreditation for the training, where it is available and appropriate to the trainees;
o Maximise opportunities to develop new qualifications or standards where there is a demonstrable need in the heritage sector.

https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/our-grant-programmes/skills-future

(Source: GRIN)

INMAN CHARITY

THE INMAN CHARITY – Generally small grants for registered charities in the UK carrying out medical, social welfare or general welfare activities (next application deadline 31 August 2016)

The Inman Charity aims to fund projects with a social welfare focus and those working with disadvantaged people. The Charity is particularly interested in supporting projects in the following areas:

o Care of the elderly;
o General welfare;
o Hospices;
o The deaf and blind;
o Care of the physically and mentally disabled;
o The Armed Forces; and
o Medical Research.

No minimum or maximum level of funding is specified. Grants tend to be between £2,000 and £10,000. During the financial year ending 31 December 2015 the Charity allocated £293,000 among 68 organisations. The average award was £4,308.  

Application is by letter providing the following information:

o The registered Charity Number, the aims and objectives of the Charity, and any other relevant factors;
o Details of the total amount required;
o Contributions received to date;
o Proposed timing to complete the work;.
o A copy of the latest annual report; and
o A set of the most recent audited accounts.

The next application deadline is Wednesday 31 August 2016.

For further information, visit the Inman Charity website.

(Source: GRIN)

HLF Start-Up Grants Programme Due to Close

Not-for-profit organisations and partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations, including charities and trusts, community, voluntary and friends-of groups, companies limited by guarantee, community and parish councils, Community Interest Companies and social enterprises have one month left to apply for grants of between £3,000 and £10,000.

Organisations that do not have a bank account or constitution already in place, but who want to use a Start-up grant to help them do so, will need to ask an existing not-for-profit organisation to make the application and accept the funding on their behalf.

The funding can pay for activities that:

   - Make a difference to people, heritage and communities in the UK.
   - Have not yet started.
   - Will last no more than one year.

Examples of the types of activity that can be funded, include, but are not limited to:

   - Transfer of heritage to community ownership:
      - Research into the needs and interests of local people and how they want the heritage to be used.
      - Research into the use and management of other similar heritage sites to learn how they have been successful.
      - Training, mentoring and other opportunities for group members to develop relevant skills.
      - Advice on preparation of a business plan.
      - Commission a specialist to conduct a condition survey to identify what repair or conservation is needed.
   - Setting up a new heritage group.
      - Specialist advice on a suitable constitution.
      - Research into what activities local people would be interested in taking part in.
      - Commission advice and support in creating a robust plan for the first year’s activities.
      - Room hire for the first year’s activities.
   - Building capacity and skills of a new friends group.
      - Advice on a suitable constitution and/or partnership agreement.
      - Advice on business related issues, such as VAT.
      - Advice on developing a sustainable fundraising strategy.

From 28 July 2016, the soon-to-be-announced new Resilient Heritage programme will accept applications for grants of between £3,000 and £10,000 for activities currently supported through Start-up Grants programme.

The final deadline for applications to the Start-Up Grants programme is 27 July 2016 (5pm).

https://www.hlf.org.uk/looking-funding/our-grant-programmes/start-grants

(Source: Grantfinder)

Fundraising Regulator will ask charities to pay up to £10,000 a year

Make sure your views are heard !

The regulator has invited submission “in writing by not later than Friday 22 July 2016” to be sent either by email or by post. 

The Fundraising Regulator has today published a discussion paper on its the levy and registration fees, which will see charities pay up to £10,000 a year, with small charities paying proportionately more than large ones.

The regulator proposes eight tiers of payments for charities, depending on their size, ranging from £10,000 for charities with an annual fundraising spend of over £20m, to £250 for charities spending between £100,000 and £150,000 a year.

The levy being proposed by the regulator will require the smallest charities to pay six times as much as the largest ones, as a proportion of their total expenditure.

In a statement released today, the regulator said “stakeholder views are sought on the levy threshold, levy calculation method, proposed levy bandings and its initial period of duration. The new regulator proposes scaled levy payments based on charities level of expenditure on fundraising activity”.

Speaking to Civil Society Media last week, Gerald Oppenheim, director of policy at the Fundraising Regulator, discussed the proposals and the coming discussion paper.

He said that “around 2,000 charities, perhaps just below” would be taken in by the proposed £100,000 levy threshold. He said the regulator was getting this information from the annual returns and reports made to the Charity Commission for the year ending 31 December 2014.

The banded levy would give the Fundraising Regulator an annual budget of “up to £2.5m” from the “1,961” charities that would pay it, as set out in the discussion paper.

The discussion paper proposes that the levy will be set for “2 years and 8 months” from its launch date of 1 August 2016 to the 31 March 2019, in order to allow “both charities and the Fundraising Regulator to plan financially with some certainty”.

Oppenheim said that there would be scope for some charities, who in the last 12 months had found themselves spending £100,000 on fundraising “due to a large bequest, or some other extraordinary financial windfall” who would normally fall outside the threshold, would be able to discuss exemption from the levy with the regulator.

The regulator also proposes that “non-payment [of the levy] may result in the Fundraising Regulator’s decision to publish a list of charities that have not paid” and could “also have the effect of increasing payments that those paying the levy are asked to contribute”.

Oppenheim also said the regulator would propose registration payments for smaller charities and “even non-fundraising charities who are keen to be part of best practice” of around £50 a year.

He said that fundraising agencies would also be able to register with the regulator and that the proposed registration fee for agencies would be around £250.

Registering charities will “be required to agree to a set of agreed terms and conditions about their commitment to the Code of Fundraising Practice”, according to the discussion paper. Once registered, charities will “be able to use a Fundraising Regulator ‘badge’ that will say they are registered with the Fundraising Regulator on their websites and in all printed materials”.

He said that the regulator would not be able to start processing registrations until “at least September or October 2016” due to the need to upgrade the organisation’s current website to allow such a function.

The paper asks for the sector’s “views on the propositions made in the discussion paper”, including whether the £100,000 threshold is the right one for the levy; Whether the proposed “banding” system for the levy is appropriate; and whether or not the proposed “flat rate charges” for membership are correct.

The regulator has invited submission “in writing by not later than Friday 22 July 2016” to be sent either by email or by post.

The de Brye Charitable Trust

The de Brye Charitable Trust was formerly called the Stanley Smith General Charitable Trust.

The Trust offers grants for charitable projects in the UK and overseas that benefit people with physical disabilities, especially:

o The care and housing of older people;
o Orphans and neglected children;
o Physically disabled children; and
o The blind.

Previous grants have been for between £1,000 and £10,000.

During the year ending 5 April 2016 the Trust allocated 26 grants totalling £128,200. The average grant was just under £5,000 and included:

o Adventure Under Sail (£4,200);
o Katie’s Ski Tracks (£5,000);
o The Microloan Foundation (£3,000); and
o Music Alive (£1,000)

Applications may be submitted at any time in writing.

The Trustees meet twice a year to consider applications.

PLEASE NOTE: the Trust does not maintain a website. Further information is, however, available on the Charity Commission website.

Contact details for the Trust are:

George Georghiou
The de Brye Charitable Trust (Stanley Smith General Charitable Trust)
Mercer & Hole Trustees Ltd
72 London Road
St Albans
Hertfordshire AL1 1NS
Tel: 01727 869141  

(Source: GRIN)

Wales Rural Network Funding Roadshow

O ganlyniad i amgylchiadau y tu hwnt i’n rheolaeth mae’n ddrwg gennym gyhoeddi bod Sioe C yllido Rhwydwaith Gwledig Cymru 2016 Hafod a Hendre, Maes Sioe Frenhinol Cymru, Llanelwedd, Llanfair-ym-Muallt ar 28 Mehefin 2016 wedi'i gohirio. Rydym yn bwriadu aildrefnu’r digwyddiad a rhown wybod i chi pan fydd dyddiad arall wedi’i bennu. Os hoffech wybod am y cyfleoedd sydd ar gael i'ch busnes, eich cymuned, eich fferm neu fenter arall drwy Gymunedau Gwledig Llywodraeth Cymru - Rhaglen Datblygu Gwledig 2014 -2020 a ffynonellau eraill yna ewch i: Rhwydwaith Gwledig Cymru Cymunedau Gwledig Llywodraeth Cymru – Rhaglen Datblygu Gwledig 2014-2020

Please accept our apologies but due to circumstances beyond our control the Wales Rural Network Funding Roadshow scheduled for Hafod a Hendre, Royal Welsh Showground, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells on 28th June 2016 has been postponed. We hope to rearrange this event and we will let you know the new date once available. If you wish to Learn about the opportunities available to your business, community, farm or other enterprise through Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Plan 2014 -2020 and other sources please visit the: Wales Rural Network Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020

(Source: Arwain)