Bulletin Contents - 4 February 2008

' The BiG Idea' Project Launch Event

Making Local Petitions Work

Engaging with Every Child Matters

Courses for Community Energy Projects

Allen Lane Foundation

Match Fund from v

Sport England

Spark

' The BiG Idea ' Project Launch Event

Thursday 7 February 2008
The Devonshire Dome, Buxton
4pm - 5.30pm at the Devonshire Dome, followed by a visit to the British Legion premises between 5.45 – 6.15pm with a follow up session between 6.30 to 8pm.

Vision Buxton would like to invite you to join us in celebrating the launch of the Big Idea:

‘ The Enterprise Centre for Buxton ’

The BiG Idea project is an exciting arts venture arising from the vision of a network of creative people in Buxton, who have recognised the need and benefit for artists, voluntary organisations and businesses to develop ideas together in a shared space.

Their vision is of a range of artistic, voluntary, community, enterprise groups and start-up businesses working together, developing relationships, exploring their own and collective aspirations, collaborating, co-operating in creative ways to deliver benefits to the local community.

This perception of the value from close collaboration and the need for a shared workspace has grown over the past few years as the membership involved in ‘Vision Buxton’ has established networks and partnerships with local creative groups, community and business organisations.

Whilst growing strongly from these roots in the local community, the actual prospect of establishing shared premises for the project has received a strong stimulus with the availability of a suitable building in Buxton.

We have identified a large property located behind the Buxton Museum & Art Gallery in central Buxton, which is inspirational to the BiG Idea project.  It’s a collective creative space for Buxton and the High Peak in which new businesses can flourish in an incubator atmosphere and the aspiring artists/community can find support, resources, interaction and stimulation to develop ideas alongside community groups.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Nicola Anthony from Vision Buxton on 07980 957981 or email nicola@visionbuxton.co.uk 

Making Local Petitions Work

The online discussion forum set up by the Communities Department to discuss the idea of local petitions is focusing for the period to 18th February ‘on the conditions a petition should meet in order to require a local authority to respond’.  This includes the definition of a 'local person' as well as level of support needed.  Contribute at haveyoursay.communities.gov.uk/forums/thread/305.aspx

Engaging with Every Child Matters

The VCS Engage website, set up to strengthen the involvement of the voluntary sector in the government's Every Child Matters agenda, has been expanded with regional information and more on VCS Engage work.  www.vcsengage.org.uk

Courses for Community Energy Projects

The Community Action for Energy programme runs a range of training courses around the country, from Aberystwyth to Aberdeen.  Community groups interested in organising energy projects may be able to access a travel bursary of up to £50.  There is no charge for the course as long as you register as a member first.  See www.est.org.uk/cafe

Allen Lane Foundation

The Allen Lane Foundation is a grant-making trust set up in 1966 by the late Sir Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books, to support general charitable causes.  The Foundation no longer has closing dates.  Applications will be processed continually.

The Foundation is interested in funding work which benefits people in the following groups, or generalist work which includes significant numbers from more than one such group: asylum-seekers and refugees; gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender people; gypsies and travellers; offenders and ex-offenders; older people; people from black and minority ethnic communities and migrant workers; people experiencing mental health problems; people experiencing violence or abuse.  The Foundation will make grants for start-up, core or project costs.  The grants are relatively modest.  Single, one-off grants range from as little as £500 up to £15,000.  Grants repeated for more than one year vary from about £500 per annum up to £5,000 per annum, for a maximum of three years.

To make sure that grants of this size have an impact the Foundation will not fund larger organisations.  The Foundation will make single grants, or grants for two or three years.  It is unlikely to make a second grant immediately after one has finished and if an application is refused, they ask applicants to wait a year before applying again.

Allen Lane Foundation, 90 The Mount, York  YO24 1AR
Telephone: 01904 613223  Fax: 01904 613133
Email: info@allenlane.org.uk
Website: www.allenlane.org.uk

Match Fund from v

v aims to inspire a new generation of volunteers (aged 16-25) in England and to boost the quality, quantity and diversity of youth volunteering.

The Match Fund aims to create an additional £100 million of investment in youth volunteering.  Government money matches up to 100% of any new private sector investment.  The Match Fund aims to inspire more investment in youth volunteering from private companies, charitable trusts and foundations and wealthy individuals.

v, 5th Floor, Dean Bradley House, 52 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AF Telephone: 020 7960 7000
Website: www.wearev.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Itemid

Sport England

Sport England is committed to creating an active nation through sport.  As part of their work to sustain and increase participation in sport and active recreation, they invest in a range of projects across the country. 

There are two funding streams – Community and National:  National Investment – At a national level, Sport England works with and invests in a range of national funded partners.  These include national governing bodies of sport, plus partners with expertise in areas such as coaching, equity and volunteering.  Investment is prioritised in 31 sports, comprising 10 UK priority, 10 English Priority and 11 development sports.  Look at their website (link below) to find out more about priority sports.

Applying for Sport England’s Community Investment Fund is a two-stage process.  Sport England will assess your Stage 1 application, and will only encourage you to proceed to the full application (Stage 2) if your application meets regional priorities or has potential to do so.

All documentation can be downloaded from website below.

Sport England, 3rd Floor Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London WC1B 4SE
Helpline telephone: 0845 8508 508  Fax: 020 7383 5740
Email: info@sportengland.org
Website: www.sportengland.org/index/get_funding.htm

Spark

Spark is an innovative project developed by Communities and Local Government, The TREES Group, Big Issue Invest (part of The Big Issue group) and Eastside Consulting to build and inspire social enterprise to prevent homelessness.  It will scale-up existing social enterprises; support the creation of new enterprises within existing organisations; and share skills, resources and experience between the public, corporate and third sectors.

What's your big idea?  Are you a social enterprise or an established third sector organisation?  Do you have a business case to prevent or tackle homelessness?  Social enterprise offers an alternative to dependency on grants and donations, which offer little long term security for their organisations or for the homeless people they serve.

Apply today to win – Spark has a prize fund of £500,000 provided by Communities and Local Government to invest in organisations preventing or tackling homelessness.  Successful applicants can also win mentoring, an enterprise 'makeover' and potential investment of up to £500,000 from Big Issue Invest.

Applications close on 18th February 2008.
Email: info@sparkchallenge.org
Website: www.sparkchallenge.org