Sirius Minerals Foundation – New Funding Round Open For VCSE Groups
Small Capital and Training Grants are now open with a deadline of 14th March 2022. Grants are for between £500 to £5,000 for VCSE organisations in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland. The funding is to support organisations with capital costs or essential training for volunteers and staff. The funding is aimed at projects that meet one of our two aims for this grant round:
- Venues and facilities to make repairs or purchases, refurbishments or extensions which will enable them to re-open existing spaces or create new space that will allow additional services to be run or new beneficiaries groups to be supported.
- Organisations to purchase equipment or fund coaching qualifications, essential staff training or similar that will allow them to extend their existing work to more sessions or to more people or to a new beneficiary group.
Full details and the guidance can be found on our website here:
https://www.siriusmineralsfoundation.co.uk/current-funding/small-capital-and-training-grants-open-round/
Pioneering Care Partnership – Job Vacancy
Healthwatch County Durham Communications and Marketing Officer
Responsible to: Project Lead
Accountable to: PCP Chief Executive & Board of Trustees
Located: Durham-Meadowfield Industrial Estate/home working
Scale/Salary: PCP Band 4
Hours: 30 hours per week
Closing Date: 02 February 2022
Interviews: 07 February 2022
Job Description
Person Specification
Please visit www.pcp.uk.net/vacancies for an Application Pack.
CV’s will not be accepted as part of the application process.
Current Contract Opportunity – Direct Payment Support Service
Please find below an opportunity the Council is currently advertising which may be of interest to organisations. If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact Procurement team on 01642 444151.
Title: Direct Payment Support Service
Contract Reference: DN592355
Description: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is undertaking a procurement process to provide a Framework of Direct Payment Support Services. The aim is to ensure that Direct Payment Recipients and/or their authorised representatives are able to choose the support that they need in order to receive and manage their direct payment and employ personal assistants. The Services will be provided to Clients who have eligible needs and have expressed an interest in receiving a Direct Payment.
Department: Adults & Communities – Adult Care
Deadline for Submission of Bids: Before 14:00:00 Hours on Friday, 11 February 2022.
Contract Start Date: 1 May 2022
Contract End Date: 30 April 2024
Details of Extension Periods (where applicable): 2 x 12 Months
Further Details: Available via NEPO portal www.nepo.org , registration is free and once you have expressed an interest in the opportunity you have immediate access to the documentation.
If you need some guidance on how to submit your response through the NEPO portal, please visit the NEPO website training section at https://www.nepo.org/suppliers/learn to access the Navigating the Portal suite of videos. These also include useful information on how to manage your online ProContract account.
Arts Council England – Guidance for Applicants
We’re pleased to announce that the Guidance for Applicants to become a National Portfolio Organisation or Investment Principles Support Organisation is now available to read.
We know that the impact of the pandemic continues to be significant and that this makes planning especially challenging. We’re publishing this guidance now to give those of you who are thinking of applying plenty of time to prepare your application before the deadline on 26 April 2022.
In addition to the Guidance for Applicants, we’re sharing a number of other resources to support you in making your application, all of which are available in various formats.
Below you can find a breakdown of what we’re sharing with you today and the steps to take if you’re planning to apply.
And if making an application isn’t right for your organisation, we’ve got some additional sources of funding and support you might find useful.
Get the guidance and templates
Guidance for Applicants
The full Guidance for Applicants contains everything you need to get started, including who can apply, what we’ll ask you in the application form and how we’ll make our decisions.
You’ll be able to download two versions of the guidance:
For National Portfolio Organisations – organisations applying to deliver our Outcomes
For Investment Principles Support Organisations – organisations applying to support others to embed the Investment Principles in their work.
Important: In early February, once we have received our financial settlement from the Government, we’ll be publishing an addendum to this guidance. We strongly advise that you do not submit your application until you’ve read the addendum.
Information sheets
We’ve also published a set of information sheets to support you in preparing your application:
- Access Support
- Equality and Fair Pay
- Supporting Practitioners
- The Importance of Good Governance
Templates
When you make your application, we’ll also ask you to submit some information using our templates.
- Activity Plan for Outcomes (for NPOs)
- Activity Plan for Investment Principles Support Organisations
- Investment Principles Plan (for both NPOs and IPSOs)
- Financial information (for both NPOs and IPSOs)
You can access a how-to guide, video walk-through and completed example for all four templates.
Steps you can take now
If you’re interested in making an application, here are some actions you can take now to get started.
- Let us know if you have access needs
If you have any access requirements, please get in touch with us and we’ll make sure you have everything you need to make an application. We’ll share our key documents in accessible formats, and if there is something missing that you need, we’re happy to provide it.
- Come to a briefing session
In February and March we’ll be holding further online sessions where we’ll talk through the Guidance for Applicants in more detail and answer any questions you might have. Like our November briefing sessions, these will be recorded.
- Do your background preparation
It’s essential that you read Let’s Create, our strategy for 2020-2030, in order to prepare your application. We’ve also published a Delivery Plan, which sets out the steps we’ll take from 2021 to 2024 in order to realise the vision of Let’s Create. And to support that, we’ve launched a resource hub to help organisations and individuals understand and embed our four Investment Principles in their work.
You should also make sure that you’ve scheduled time to discuss your application with your board. Your board or oversight group will have an important role to play should you be successful with your application and it’s important that they understand their responsibilities.
- Decide whether to apply to become an NPO or an IPSO (or neither!)
National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) will receive funding to deliver one or more of our Outcomes, while Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs) will support other individuals and organisations to embed our Investment Principles in their work.
Read the full Guidance for Applicants for each programme to make an informed decision about which programme is the best fit for your organisation.
Becoming an NPO or IPSO isn’t right for every organisation. So be sure to explore whether National Lottery Project Grants is a better fit.
IS PROJECT GRANTS A BETTER FIT
- Book an introductory conversation
If you’re not currently an NPO, you must have an introductory conversation with one of our team in order for your application to be eligible.
Conversations will take place between 31 January and 8 April 2022. You can book yours now through our Customer Services team and you need to do so by 4pm on 24 March.
If you are currently an NPO, you don’t need to have an introductory conversation, but if you’d like one, you can book this through your Relationship Manager.
PREPARING FOR YOUR CONVERSATION
- Start planning your application
Using the Guidance for Applicants, information sheets, and templates, you can start planning your application. However, we recommend you don’t do much detailed work on your application until you have read the addendum to our guidance, that will be published in early February.
We’ve also made a Word version of the application form available, in advance of the application portal opening on 14 February 2022.
- Register on Grantium
You’ll apply through our online application portal, Grantium.
You must have a user account and applicant profile set up in Grantium in order to be able to apply, and we’ll need to validate your applicant profile before you can get started.
If you’ve already got an account and profile, make sure they’re up to date.
Access Grantium and take a look at our guidance for using the portal.
- Keep an eye out for further guidance
In early February, once we have received our financial settlement from the Government, we’ll be publishing an addendum to this guidance. We strongly advise that you do not submit your application until you’ve read the addendum.
We will also be publishing a Relationship Framework, setting out how we’ll work together if you’re offered funding, and sharing planning figures with current National Portfolio Organisations.
We’ll be in touch again when these documents are available for you to read.
An open and fair process for everyone
During the key application and decision-making period from February to October 2022, we’ll be reducing our day-to-day interaction with applicants to help ensure that the next NPO and IPSO application process is – and is seen to be – an open and fair process for all applicants, whether currently in the national portfolio or not.
We’re therefore asking all organisations interested in applying to the 2023-26 Investment Programme (whether existing NPOs or new applicants) to speak to the Arts Council about their application in two ways only –
- Through an Introductory conversation
- Through the Customer Services team
Arts Council colleagues will not be discussing the investment process with organisations outside of these methods, unless in exceptional circumstances. So if you have any questions or want to book an introductory conversation, please get in touch with our Customer Services team. You can also find all our published information on the 2023-26 Investment Programme here: artscouncil.org.uk/Investment23.
Alongside this, if you have a Relationship Manager at the Arts Council, they’ll be reducing their engagement with you. For example, they will generally not be attending openings or press nights or attending board meetings during this period, but they will continue to undertake all the work required by them to monitor our funding agreement with you.
We will also avoid externally profiling the work of applicants to the 2023-26 Investment Programme until application decisions have been sent out in the autumn.
Thanks for your understanding and help with this.
Got a question?
If you’ve got a question about your application, you’ll probably find the answer in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), which cover everything from eligibility and governance to reporting and monitoring.
If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, you can get in touch with our Customer Services team. They’re available 10am-4pm, Monday to Friday, via phone, email or Livechat.
Not the right funding programme for you?
Becoming a National Portfolio Organisation or Investment Principles Support Organisation isn’t right for every organisation, and there’s other ways we can support.
National Lottery Project Grants are always open for applications to deliver arts, libraries and museums projects.
We also regularly open other funding programmes for both organisations and individuals.
North-East Changing Futures – Volunteer Vacancy
Changing Futures North East is a charity based in Hartlepool that supports families and children across Teesside is in need of Volunteer Independent Visitors.
Role Name & Details – An Independent Visitor (IV) supports children & young people living in care across Teesside. You might be 18 or 80 years old. You might have lots of experience working with children and young people or none at all. What really matters is that you want to guide, advise, listen and befriend young people and are willing to be a stable presence in their lives for two or more years. You will spend quality time with them and do activities together usually twice a month. We provide full training and support.
Webpage: https://www.changingfuturesne.co.uk/volunteer/independent-visitors/
Contact Details: ( send questions to/ enquiry to) – admin@changingfuturesne.co.uk or ring 01429 891 444
In Harmony Food Revolution – Volunteers Needed
