A chance to meet one to one with the Council’s dedicated funding search officer

Brighton & Hove Community Works are offering organisations a free funding search in partnership with the Communities, Equality & Third Sector Team at Brighton and Hove City Council. This service is your chance to meet one to one with the Council’s dedicated funding search officer, who will help you in your search for sources of funding using the national database Grantfinder.

You will talk through and select your organisation or project requirements, which will generate a list of potential funding sources. The results are prepared in a report that is emailed directly to your organisation. To achieve the most beneficial results from the search, a clear idea of your funding requirements should be identified before attending.

When

Appointments take approximately one hour and are available on the following dates between 10am and 2pm:

  • Tuesday 27 March
  • Friday 27 April
  • Thursday 17 May
  • Friday 29 June
  • Tuesday 17 July

Where

The service will be hosted in the Community Works offices in Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton.

Bookings

To book a place or for further advice contact Donna Edmead on [email protected] or 01273 291112.

Small Groups Network

Next meeting of Community Works Small Groups Network
Date: Thursday 8 February, 9.30-12.30
Venue: the Bridge, Lucraft Road, Brighton, BN2 4PN
Cost: Free
For more information and to book a place visit http://bhcommunityworks.org.uk/voluntary-se…/…/small-groups/

Would you like to work with a university student researcher?

The Psychology department at Brighton University is looking for community projects who would be interested in working with an MA student in the new year. The students have to carry out a piece of social research in partnership with a local community organisation.

The research can be wide-ranging, but often takes the form of an evaluation of a service, product or other area of provision.  This could be to enable a service to be improved, to identify gaps in provision, and/or to feed into funding proposals for future work.

As well as providing students with an opportunity to put their research skills into practice, these placements provide the participating organisation with a report which you can use to help raise funds or show the value of your work. You would need to be willing to meet with the student several times and share information about your organisation’s plans and practices.

The students need to begin their placements in January and complete their research by May 2018.

If you want to find out more, or register your interest, please contact Dr Helen Johnson ([email protected]) before 6th December.

Community Works Mentoring programme to relaunch March 2017

Community Works are now accepting applications for their mentoring programme for 2017-18.

The mentoring programme supports people working or volunteering in voluntary and community organisations by providing one-to-one support from experienced, volunteer mentors.

The dates for the programme have been set and begin this March with two drop-in information sessions for anyone who wants to find out more about the programme. Both sessions will be held at the Community Works offices in Brighton on:

  • Tuesday 14 March, any time between 2.00pm and 6.00pm
  • Friday 24 March, any time between 10.30am and 1:30pm

Community Works member organisations can book a place at one of these sessions to find out more about the programme and ask all the questions you need both as a potential mentor and mentee.

To book your place, or if you are unable to attend but are still interested in the programme, get in touch with Lisa or Peter on [email protected] or 01273 234023.

For more information visit:

http://www.bhcommunityworks.org.uk/members/services/mentoring/ for mentees

http://bhcommunityworks.org.uk/business/be-a-mentor/ for mentors

Legal Structures for Social Enterprises Workshop 27th February

The Platform have organised a workshop looking at legal structures for social enterprises:

Whether you are thinking about launching a trading arm, starting up a new organisation entirely or want to review your current structure, this interactive session gives you the chance to ask questions specific to your situation and leave feeling confident on what form is right for YOU!

Mon 27th Feb

Wagner Hall, Regency Road

1:30pm – 4:00pm   Cost £37.76

Book your place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/legal-structures-the-scope-for-social-enterprise-tickets-31349892372

Sara Osterholzer
Social Enterprise Coordinator
The Platform
9 Russell Place Brighton BN1 2RG
01273 468200

What is a CIO?

Community Works are running a free session on Tuesday 7 March so you can learn more about the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) structure, including the differences between a CIO and a Community Interest Company (CIC). The session will be led by Tim Smith of GSFW Solicitors, who has extensive expertise in charitable structures and advises groups regularly on these issues.

There are limited places available, so for more information and to book your place please visit: http://bhcommunityworks.org.uk/how-to-charitable-incorporated-organisation/

Community Works workshop on How to become a CIO

This short session is an opportunity to learn more about the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) structure, including the differences between a CIO and  a Community Interest Company (CIC).

The session will be lead by Tim Smith of GSFW Solicitors, who has extensive expertise in charitable structures and advises groups regularly on these issues.

The session will cover the following areas:

  •     what is a CIO and the requirements
  •     the main reasons for choosing a CIO structure
  •     reasons not to chose a CIO structure
  •     association ‘v’ foundation model
  •     how to go about setting up a CIO and demonstrating your charitable objectives effectively
  •     what the challenges of adopting a CIO structure are
  •     the process for converting to a CIO from another structure eg CIC
  •     the differences between a CIO and CIC
Details

Date: Tuesday 7 March 2017

Time: 6.00pm-8.00pm

Venue: BMECP, Fleet Street, Brighton BN1 4ZE

Cost: Free

Who should attend

The session is for those looking to formalise their group’s structure or change it, and wish to explore the option of a CIO. It will focus on CIOs but is also relevant to those who’d like to know more about the differences between a CIO or CIC structure.

Places will be prioritised for members of Community Works and will be allocated on a first-come-first served basis. Community Works will, in the first instance, allocate one place per organisation.

To book

http://www.bhcommunityworks.org.uk/how-to-charitable-incorporated-organisation/

Support for local organisations in developing use of Social Media Platforms

Second year undergraduate students on a social media module have been tasked with using three different social media platforms or apps (e.g. memes, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc.) in order to implement a social movement or community cause.

Five groups of three students per group will be attached to a local community or voluntary organisation to support them in improving their use of the three platforms that are most appropriate to the audience they wish to reach.

Students will have the opportunity to select the group they wish to work with, and, depending on the number of responses we receive you may or may not secure a group to work with you. Their assignment allows them ‘to work on a specific campaign or promote clearly defined aims of a larger project’.

They will work from university or home, (so not on your premises) between 23rd March and 18th May when they will submit their ideas to a student and staff panel for constructive criticism.

If you would like to pitch for a group to work on behalf of your organisation please:

1) Send a brief outline of what your organisation does and how you wish to use social media to [email protected] by 8th March.

2) Come along to the Moulescoomb campus on 23rd March between 10  and 1.00 to explain your brief to students and to meet the groups.

Get one-to-one advice on Disclosure and Barring Service

Safety Net will be running monthly DBS surgeries, in partnership with Community Works, where you can get free advice about DBS (previously CRB) checks for your organisation. It’s also an opportunity to bring in completed DBS forms for checking and ID verification.

Surgeries will take place on the first Thursday of the month from 10.00am – 3.00pm at Community Base

The first session will be Thursday 2nd February.

You need to book an appointment in advance. Email [email protected] or call 01273 414981.

These sessions are only open to Community Works members. Membership is free to groups with an income under £35,000 per year. Information about how to join is on the Community Works website.

DBS ID verification is only available to groups that have already arranged to use Safety Net for their DBS checking. Contact Safety Net to arrange this.

 

Upcoming training courses by Community Works

Community Works is running the following training courses in the near future. For more information & updates, please go to their website.

  • Tuesday 13 December 2016: Getting to Grips with Monitoring and Evaluation and the Community Insight tool
  • Thursday 19 January 2017: Keeping Adults Safe
  • Wednesday 25 January 2017: Develop your volunteering strategy