The School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) have, this 2019 New Year, published details of new, free learning and development courses for the leaders of the community business sector in the UK.
This programme helps the leaders of community businesses in England. It focuses on growing income from trading, to improve impact and sustainability. It offers:
A learning programme: 12 days spread over nine months
A Match Trading grant of up to £10,000
A community of people running organisations like yours
Thinking about good practice at Enterprising Communities
”The purpose of this guidance is to help trustees comply with their legal trustee duties when overseeing their charity’s fundraising. It sets out 6 principles to help them achieve this.
It focuses primarily on matters within the Commission’s regulatory remit. It is not a guide to the wide range of laws and regulations that apply to specific types and aspects of fundraising, but it provides links to sources of information about these rules”.
Source: Fundraising for Trustees CC20 The Charity Commission.
Trustee fundraising guidance – full details (pdf)
We detail the key principles of Trustee responsibility here…
Planning effectively
This is about you and your co-trustees agreeing or setting, and then monitoring, your charity’s overall approach to fundraising. Your fundraising plan should also take account of risks, your charity’s values and its relationship with donors and the wider public, as well as its income needs and expectations.
2. Supervising your fundraisers
This is about you and your co-trustees having systems in place to oversee the fundraising which others carry out for your charity, so that you can be satisfied that it is, and remains, in your charity’s best interests. It means delegating responsibly so that your charity’s in-house and volunteer fundraisers, and any connected companies, know what is expected of them. If you employ a commercial partner to raise funds for your charity, the arrangement must be in the charity’s best interests and comply with any specific legal rules and standards that apply.
3. Protecting your charity’s reputation, money and other assets
This means ensuring that there is strong management of your charity’s assets and resources so that you can meet your legal trustee duty to act in your charity’s best interests and protect it from undue risk. It includes ensuring that there is adequate consideration of the impact of your charity’s fundraising on its donors, supporters and the public, making sure that your charity receives all the money to which it is entitled, and taking steps to reduce risk of loss or fraud.
4. Identifying and ensuring compliance with the laws or regulations that apply specifically to your charity’s fundraising
The legal rules that apply to various types of fundraising can be detailed and complex. They cover compliance in important areas such as with data protection law, licensing, and working with commercial partners. There are new rules in the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 which affect some charities that fundraise. You should make sure that your charity has access to sufficient information and appropriate advice to ensure that its fundraising complies with all relevant legal rules.
5. Identifying and following any recognised standards that apply to your charity’s fundraising
These are in the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice. The Code outlines both the legal rules that apply to fundraising and the standards designed to ensure that fundraising is open, honest and respectful. The Commission expects all charities that fundraise to fully comply with the Code.
6. Being open and accountable
This includes complying with any relevant statutory accounting and reporting requirements on fundraising and using reporting to demonstrate that your charity is well run and effective. In your fundraising communications it is about being able to effectively explain your fundraising work to members of the public and your charity’s donors and supporters.
Trustee fundraising check list…(pdf)
The Commission has also published an accompanying check-list for Trustees around fund-raising too.
Investment in Britain’s children, youth and vulnerable communities…
‘The Bright Futures Fund represents a real opportunity for ambitious charities and social enterprises to access the capital they need to expand and scale their work, with a particular focus on those that are working to improve the lives of children, young people and other vulnerable groups throughout the UK.
The Fund has a specific focus on organisations which are delivering effective interventions to improve the lives of children, young people and vulnerable groups. Some of the issues that investees will tackle include helping children to avoid entering foster care; ensuring access to education; and improving the most important early years of a child’s life’.
”Power to Change awards grants to grow and develop community businesses.
The second window for applications to our £10 million Community Business Fund is now open until 31 August. We will also have an application window open in October.
Through the fund, we will award grants between £50,000 – £300,000 to community businesses in England.”
Your community enterprise must meet the following criteria…
Locally rooted
Accountable to the local community
Trading for the benefit of the local community
Have broad community impact
Community Leadership:
There is also a community leader development scheme embedded within the work of Power to Change. The Leadership Academy, in partnership with the RSA, the Real Ideas Organisation and Sheffield University Management School, provides individuals with opportunities to develop their skills.
We’ve partnered with Locality and received funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to help urban communities access the support and resources available for rural communities to set up community-owned shops…’ (Source: The Plunkett Foundation, Nov. 2015)
The programme application process is now open for this new Foundation initiative. See more here.
The Plunkett Foundation have already helped ten urban groups to explore the potential of their urban community owned shop idea. Is the time right for your community?
The Foundation will make grants of between 20,000 and thirty thousand pounds, and it is open to applications from across the UK.
Big Lottery Fund is matching funds from the European Social Fund for projects across England that tackle poverty and promote social inclusion.
Big Lottery Funding and ESF (European Social Fund) money is being deployed through the LEP network in England to offer matching funding to a variety of local projects, which tackle the root cause of poverty, promote social inclusion or drive local job creation.
You can see, currently, 71 opportunities for investment with the fund, of which 25 LEP areas are now live, with more to be available in the autumn of 2015.
The Lottery have partnered with two organisations for the provision of support to applicants and to generate support materials as appropriate. You can register for these here.
Santander offer support to registered charitable organisations, or community groups in possession of a constitution who are already trading.
The Fund offers three thematic awards, improving social inclusiion, skills and training and creating a greener environment.
Levels of funding available will include £20,000 for the Fast Growth category, £10,000 for the enterprising charity looking to increase trading activity and £5,000 Catalyst Growth for organisations nearer the beginning of their journey.