London Plus News

Our Blog: The 32 Tales of Covid
London Plus is working with Simon Petherick on our project: ‘Tales of Covid: London and the Pandemic’ to be published this year. Read our blog to explore a taster of the stories we’ve collected so far from charities and community groups in London.

Support your local vaccination drive
Are you looking to help the vaccination effort in your local area? Volunteer centres in many parts of London are actively supporting the NHS by recruiting vaccine volunteers. Find your local volunteer centre in our directory.

Our Job Board – List your vacancies for free!
We’ve launched our job board exclusively for our network members looking to promote their opportunities for free. If you are a member and would like to list job opportunities on our website, please email us.

Sector News

NAVCA to take over Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation from NCVO
NCVO and NAVCA reached an agreement which saw the Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation (VCQA) transfer to NAVCA from 1st January 2022. Read more in NAVCA’s press release.

Events & Training

Working better together in the Social Integration space
12th January, 2.00 – 4.00pm
The Citizenship and Integration Initiative’s (CII) online workshop is for civil society organisations, decision-makers and funders who want to explore practical ways of working to influence change together. The CII will discuss their report and secondees will share tips from their work within the GLA as civil society representatives.

Bayo: Collaboration in Fundraising Workshop
19th January, 10.30 – 11.30am
The Ubele Initiative, Mind, Best Beginnings & Young Minds have developed Bayo, a digital space to find collectives, organisations & services in the UK run by and for the Black community that supports mental health & wellbeing. This Bayo fundraising workshop has been designed to support Black-led collectives, initiatives and community-run services.

UK Poverty 2022: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK
19th January, 11.00am
What is the picture of poverty in the UK at the start of 2022? The Joseph Roundtree Foundation’s webinar launches their flagship annual UK Poverty Report, which looks comprehensively at trends in poverty across all its characteristics and impacts.

London Assembly (Mayor’s Question Time)
20th January, 10.00am
The Mayor’s Question Time meetings take place ten times a year and are used to question the Mayor on the full range of matters within his remit, including policing, the fire service and transport. Watch it via the broadcast link.

Resources

How to write an inclusive job advert
Charity Digital’s guide offers charities practical advice to make their job adverts more inclusive. This can help bring in more diverse talent and people with new perspectives, backgrounds, and skills.

Revisiting your internal culture in 2022
Charity Digital’s guide explores how charities can positively rebuild their culture in 2022, guided by what their team are telling them internally.

Thrive LDN: Help Yourself and Others
Thrive LDN have created a space for Londoners including simple tools, ideas and inspiration to help promote good mental wellbeing and to support others.

New Grant Makers & Foundations
Charity Excellence has a Funding Finder online directory with lists of newly registered grant making charitable trusts & foundations for charities & community groups.

Deliver an inclusive and accessible volunteer journey
Get Out Get Active, in partnership with Volunteering Matters, have launched a Volunteer Management Toolkit to provide organisations with a step-by-step guide to building an inclusive volunteer programme.

Charity Comms: Accessible communication
Charity Comms resource aims to provide a starting point to help charities foster more inclusive comms, including a step-by-step guide and checklist of do’s and don’ts.

Catalyst: How to be an accessible facilitator
In this Catalyst blog, Adam Tweed from AbilityNet shares ways to make the online events you facilitate consistent and accessible for your colleagues, volunteers and beneficiaries.

Blog: Loneliness in older adults
What Works Centre for Wellbeing’s blog explores research on loneliness to help increase action and knowledge on loneliness, civil society, community and connection.

Funding

Youth Music Recharge Fund
Grants of up to £30,000 are available per year for up to three years to charities, voluntary groups, CIOs, CICs and co-operatives which support children and young people to make, learn or earn in music.
Deadline: 15th January, 5pm.

Connected Futures Fund 
The Connected Futures Fund aims to join up local services so that young people furthest from the job market receive consistent support for their complex needs. 
Deadline: 17th January, 3pm.

Hospice UK Community Grants Programme
The Dying Matters Community Grants Programme is aimed at community-led arts and culture projects, with a focus on equality & inclusion, and which approach the subject of dying in an innovative or creative way.
Deadline: 21st February.

Tackling Loneliness with Transport Fund
Organisations are invited to apply for grants of up to £500,000 to pilot projects that aim to reduce loneliness through transport schemes.
Deadline: 28th January.

Let’s Create Jubilee Fund
The Arts Council England Let’s Create Jubilee Fund will support voluntary and community groups to develop creative and cultural activities as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
Deadline: 28th February.

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.

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.

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.

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

London Health Inequalities Strategy: Beyond the Data
Beyond the Data [PDF] is part of The Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy, and documents reflections from strategic partners addressing health equity in London, community leaders and representatives, as well as coordinators of COVID-19 ‘champions’ programmes in the City.

COVID-19 Study: Lived experiences of the pandemic among Black and minority ethnic women
Forward UK’s study aims to build a richer picture of the lives of minority ethnic women in the UK during the pandemic, particularly women of African background. It examines their lived experiences, from finances and childcare to wellbeing and relationships in their household.

Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England
In March 2021, the government launched a Call for Evidence to inform the development of England’s first Women’s Health Strategy. In December the government published their Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England to build on this.