Sector News

Afghan Community Response Survey
The London Afghan Community Response Survey is for Community, Faith and Voluntary sector groups working directly with Afghan communities. Help contribute to the collective understanding of the needs of Afghan arrivals by registering for the next wave of the survey. The published results of the first monthly questionnaire are available to read.

Young Londoners Research Programme
This programme is funded by the GLA, in partnership with Rocket Science, Partnership for Young London & Young Harrow Foundation. Grants of up to £8,000 are available to explore young people’s access to and views on youth services. This research will help develop and trial innovative youth-led approaches to services.

Charity Governance Awards 2022
National and local charities, large and small, are encouraged to enter the Charity Governance Awards for free. Shortlisted charities are invited to an exclusive awards ceremony in May. The winner of each category will receive a £5,000 grant, with runners-up also receiving cash prizes.

Charity Commission – Safeguarding Guidance
All charities have a responsibility to ensure they don’t cause harm to anyone who has contact with them. Read the updated responsibilities to keep everyone who comes into contact with your charity safe from harm, including volunteers, staff and beneficiaries.

Wellbeing

24/7 NHS Mental Health Support 
Every mental health trust in London has put in place a free telephone service, open 365 days a year, supported by trained mental health advisors and clinicians, to enable children, young people and their families to get free urgent mental health support 24/7.

The Jo Cox Foundation Loneliness Directory
The Foundation have a directory of organisations supporting those experiencing loneliness. They have also launched a loneliness Chatbot to help direct people to the best support possible. If you are feeling lonely, send “Hi” on Whatsapp to 07902 922 908.

Barnardo’s Boloh Helpline
Barnardo’s have announced the expansion of its services to support the mental health & wellbeing of adult asylum seekers in the UK. The Helpline will offer advice, signposting, emotional support and 8 free sessions of therapy by qualified Barnardo’s therapists. They can also offer practical support such as food vouchers and access to digital devices.

Five Ways to Wellbeing
Good Thinking has co-created culturally competent mental health and wellbeing resources with faith communities. They aim to help identify ways to improve your mental health & wellbeing that align with your beliefs and values. The series includes Humanism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, with more to come in the new year.

Events & Training

Webinar: Digital trends for 2022
16th December, 1.00 – 2.00pm
Charity Digital’s Head of Marketing, Chris Hall, discusses the digital trends for 2022 for charities. This webinar aims to help charities understand and apply new digital tools to boost fundraising, advance service delivery, improve operations, and much more.

Volunteer Management Conference 
26th January 2022, Central London
The Volunteer Management Conference 2022 offers a programme of workshops and networking. It looks next steps for transforming volunteering operations, the future of volunteer management, recruitment and retention, as well as changes affecting the volunteering landscape.

HEAR Network: What is trust and why do we need it now more than ever?
28th January 2022, 4.30 – 6.00pm
In partnership with brap, HEAR Network are hosting a Zoom event to examine, discuss, share and learn about trust. How can trust be damaged or strengthened? Contact Christine to reserve a place or find out more.

Funded Digital Skills Training for Londoners
Dagile works with Londoners to strengthen their career prospects and employment success. Apply for free expert tuition in Digital Skills and Leadership from London South Bank University and Ravensbourne University London. Obtained qualifications are accredited by OCN London.

Design Hops Digital Course
A Design Hop is a free course to learn step-by-step methods for designing your charity’s online services. It teaches charity participants a step-by-step method for user-centred digital design, unexpected insights and simple digital solutions. It’s open to staff and core volunteers from UK non-profits.

Resources

Winter Preparedness Guide
The VCS Emergencies Partnership has a winter preparedness guide with links to access information, advice, government guidance and bespoke maps to respond to a range of different crises and needs.

Ignite Your Potential Film 
Made by young people, about young people, Ignite Your Potential is a documentary where young Londoners share how youth activities have changed their lives.

Insights from the Festival of Ideas
The Festival of Ideas brought Londoners together to celebrate and explore collective visions and plans for strong communities across the capital. You can now explore the Festival of Ideas insights here, which include seven key elements and an A-Z of Building Strong Communities.

Responding to the climate emergency
In this blog, Kirsty McNeill, from Save the Children, outlines 5 ways in which charity leaders need to respond to the emergency crisis. No matter the size of your charity, we can all make changes.

Translated information for migrant and refugee Londoners
London in your Language aims to help improve health awareness and access to healthcare for migrant & refugee Londoners. The website is available in English and Farsi, with ‘Learn English’ pages and subtitled videos with GP and NHS specialists on important health topics.

Access – Successful Charity Playbook
Are you looking to create a successful charity website? Have a look at Access’ resources to learn more about best practices for Not For Profits on how to ensure your website is performing the very best it can.

How to create readable and accessible content
If you want your organisation to be fairer, more inclusive, and further reaching, take a look at Charity Digital’s blog, which has a checklist to help you create more well-rounded content.

Funding

Women & Girls Match Fund
The Women & Girls Match Fund is a match funding campaign for charities that are working to improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented women and girls in England and Scotland.
Deadline: 11th January 2022.

The Arnold Clark Community Fund
The Fund is open to all UK charitable organisations and local community groups, with up to £1,000 available. They are currently only accepting applications from organisations whose work falls into the following categories: food banks, toy banks, housing and accommodation & poverty relief.
Rolling Deadline.

Connected Futures Fund 
The Fund aims to join up local services so that young people furthest from the job market receive consistent support for their complex needs. It is open to partnership applications from local authorities, charities, not-for-profits, employers, and related organisations and must be focused on a distinct geographic area.
Deadline: 17th January 2022, 3pm.

Connect Fund
The Connect Fund currently has four programme areas: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Post Covid-19 Recovery; Peer Networks and Challenge Funds. The average grant size varies across the different funding strands.
Rolling deadline.

Volunteering Futures Fund
The Volunteering Futures Fund is available for organisations to increase access to volunteering with a strong emphasis on including young people, those experiencing loneliness, those with disabilities and those from ethnic minority backgrounds. Full applications open in January, and Arts Council England will award grants by the end of March 2022.

Community Business Crowdmatch
Up to £10,000 of match funding is available to back community businesses such as community-owned shops, hubs, pubs, sports facilities, local landmarks and more. You will need a crowdfunding project to apply for funding.
Rolling deadline.

Berkeley Foundation – Resilience Fund
Over the next four years, the Berkeley Foundation’s Resilience Fund will invest £900,000 in strengthening the youth voluntary sector. This will provide support for local and grassroots charities to invest in their ability to prepare for and adapt to challenges, building resilience for the future.
Rolling Deadline.

Reports

Civic Strength Index Report
The Civic Strength Index is a report and tool that aims to begin to measure what makes a strong community commissioned by The GLA and The Young Foundation. It has been co-developed with communities, civil society organisations and a steering group of experts to map where factors of civic strength exist and thrive across London.

London Voices: the journey to full participation
The London Voices project from Trust for London offers recommendations for Government, funders and other stakeholders on how to better engage with under-represented groups. The research is based on a survey of over 100 civil society organisations, 20+ interviews and focus groups, which maps the challenges and opportunities for civic & democratic participation in London.

Volunteering in England during Covid-19: The Policy Response and its Impact
This briefing presents findings from the final stage of research on the experiences of those working with volunteers within organisations & communities in England during the pandemic. This builds on the first stage of research, published in July 2021, which looked at the challenges in the initial stage of the pandemic.

Involving Young Londoners: A toolkit for peer research
Partnership for Young London and the Greater London Authority have collaborated on a toolkit [PDF] for youth sector organisations looking to involve young people in research design and delivery.