Sector News

The Childcare Investment Readiness Fund is a £500,000 pilot fund, managed by Social Investment Business on behalf of Department for Education that aims to support early years and childcare social enterprises looking to expand their presence in the early years market.

The Fund will provide grants to early years and childcare social enterprises for the purchase of specific capacity building support to help facilitate their growth and become more appealing to investors. Applicants must have a proven track record and the potential to expand their services into new locations.

Employee absence from work is persistently higher in the public and voluntary sectors than in other sectors, with stress increasingly blamed as the main problem.

Research shows that – on average – the annual absence from work in the public sector was 9.6 days, 8.3 days in the not-for-profit sector and 6.6 days in the private sector. This is costly for the sectors – with the median annual cost of public-sector absence being £899 per employee, which is nearly £300 more than other sector.

You may have seen on the news, or on Barnardo's facebook page, that the Government is planning to take away tax credits in next week’s Budget.

Please see attached to download the Spring 2015 bulletin from the Manchester Safeguarding Children’s Board.
 

The Big Lottery want to help Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations which are delivering important services, but currently facing challenges, to plan for the future. Delivered by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of the Office for Civil Society, the Local Sustainability Fund aims to help these organisations become stronger, more sustainable, and more resilient, to ensure they prosper and continue to support beneficiaries in future years.

There are two aspects to the programme a VCSE Diagnostic Tool and the Local Sustainability Fund.

CLES have 4 office chairs spare to go to a local good cause on a first come first served basis.

If you’re interested contact 0161 236 7036, or email: [email protected]

The women and girls initiative is a funding stream of up to £45 million which The Big Lottery will invest in services for women and girls. The overarching aim of this funding is empowering women and girls to take control of their lives.

Adactus Housing Association have announced the second round of their Neighbourhood Fund for Manchester.

There is £10,000 up for grabs across Manchester with a maximum of £1,000 available for each successful project.

The fund is open to individuals, residents groups, community groups, charitable organisations and social enterprises working in and around areas where Adactus have homes.

The idea behind Skipton Building Society’s Grassroots Giving campaign is to help community organisations, or groups, who only have access to limited funding from elsewhere. Submissions are welcomed from community groups of all shapes and sizes – the programme is looking to support smaller groups who struggle to find funding elsewhere and is not open to registered charities. Grants of £500 are available.

Skipton Building Society are looking for applications from organisations or groups that show a real commitment to their local community.

After a period of consultation, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, one of the UK's largest independent grant-making foundations, has launched a new strategy which focuses on six new priorities relating to the changes it wishes to see in the UK.

To support its new strategy, the Foundation will be making £25 million a year available in grant funding to not-for-profit organisations in the UK who have great ideas that will support the new priorities.