A short intro this week because I’ve been up half night the feeling ropey so I’m going to get this out and go back to bed. Luckily everything except these two sentences was written yesterday!

Take care

Dave

I’m going to start with some news from the sales and marketing team at SSE, because, well I can. We’re very excited to have launched a brand new course, Navigating the New Normal. The course will help organisations develop a recovery plan to respond to the challenges emerging from Covid-19 and also build a new peer support network of like-minded sector. There are ten places available, the course kicks off in September and we’re running an online Q+A about the course at the end of August. You do have to pay (£850) but we’ve worked hard to ensure that the content will give you maximum value. You can find out all about it here.

Lloyds Bank Foundation have dug around the back of the sofa and pulled out £7.4 million that they’ll be giving away in grants to 140 small and medium sized charities. Opening at 10am on Monday, the COVID Recovery Fund will offer grants of £50,000 to charities with an income of between £25,000 and £1 million a year that are helping people overcome complex social issues such as dependency, homelessness and domestic abuse. You can get all the details here.

If filling in application form is something you’d also like to do next Tuesday, Power to Change’s Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme is open again for another three hours from 10am. Grants of up to £100,000 are available to community organisations in England who are facing financial difficulties caused by Covid-19. Make sure your on this page on Tuesday morning.

Straight after you’ve submitted your application on Tuesday you can check out the next free webinar in our Recover and Rebuild series at 1pm. ‘Social entrepreneurs parenting through the pandemic’ will give you practical advice and support on juggling parenting with running a social enterprise.

Also handing out the lolly like a beach side kiosk on a hot summer’s day are Firstport, who have opened applications to their Social Entrepreneurs Fund. The fund is a Scottish Government-funded programme that supports individuals in Scotland to test, start, and grow social enterprise ideas. There are currently three separate funds that are open. Find out more.

Black-led social enterprises and charities can apply to Common Call, a grant fund powered by Do it Now Now. The fund is looking for organisations that are creating impact in deprived communities and providing services to people that have been adversely affected by the COVID crisis in terms of physical health, mental health and/or financially. Grants of £1k to £3k are available to UK based organisations. Apply here.

We’ve joined a cross-sector consortium to create the Build Back Better Hackathon, and we’d love you to get involved! On the weekend of the 19th-20th of September, the Hackathon will bring a diverse range of people together virtually to solve challenges focused on health, inclusive work, sustainable communities, food systems, education and more for a better future. Are you an expert in one of our themes? Share your expertise with our teams or submit a challenge for them to solve.  You can get involved in the Build Back Better Hackathon here.

We’ve still got places available on our Digital Marketing and Press workshop on August 11th. It sold out last time and the feedback exceptional (sample quote: “Really clear and useful course – exactly what I needed”). You can book a place from £79 here – it’s great if you’re looking for an introduction to the topic or if you simply want to refresh your skills.

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SSE Fellow Theodora Cadbury is looking to recruit a part time (2 days per week, £150 per day) Organiser to join a small, ambitious non-hierarchical team at her organisation Xenia. The organisation brings migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking and British women together to connect, share and learn together. Applications from people who identify as Black, from an ethnic minority, or from migrant or refugee backgrounds are particularly encouraged. Because the successful applicant will be required to attend Xenia workshops once a month, the post is restricted to women applicants only. The role will combine remote and co-working at an office in Hackney. You can apply here.

After two weeks on holiday I’m back and I bring with me troubling news. I know, it’s the last thing you need at the moment but I feel that it’s too important not to share. According to this article in the Guardian, it’s possible that 2020 could mark the end of the song of the summer as we know it. Clubs aren’t open, Ibiza isn’t really happening and there of course are no music festivals taking place this year.

But never fear, Have I Got Social Enterprise News For You is here to fill the void, with the first ever SSE virtual festival. No need to camp, you can use your own shower and the toilets are clean (I mean I hope they are. You’re in your own house after all).

See you at the front…

@davemcglashan

Kicking us off on the main stage and hailing from the nation’s capital are London Community Response, a supergroup made up of some of the city’s favourite funders.replica watches factory They’ll be taking us through their latest release (of funding), which features top hits such as ‘organisations can apply for up to £50,000 for grants lasting for up to six months’ and fan favourite ‘applications will be considered in the order they are received but they expect to stop taking applications under this wave of funding by the end of July’. More details here.

You’ll have to be quick if you want to catch our next act, the catchily named ‘Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme’. They’ll be sharing details of grants up to £100,000 that are available to community organisations in England who are facing financial difficulties caused by Covid-19. The grants will only be open for applications three hours from 10am – 1pm on Tuesday 28th July. Make sure to put a bookmark here.

My colleague Francis is the unmissable headline act at the theatre stage. He’ll be pulling on his spandex and performing an avant garde dance interpretation* of his latest blog post ‘Social enterprises must be at the heart of economic recovery‘.

*warning – may contain nudity

Children are more than welcome at the festival and at 4pm today we’ll be linking up with the Big School Bell campaign, aimed at all school pupils missing out on their end-of-school traditions. Run by SSE Fellow Kim McCabe, all school children are invited to stand on their doorstep with uniform on, or with something else from school, to mark the end of the 2020 school journey with the last school bell of the year. Check out more details here. 

Kids will also want to investigate Home Debate Club, a weekly live online debate to help young people lead a debate in the home on a pandemic-related question. It helps children to boost wellbeing, connect safely with the crisis and build discussion skills. Think Joe Wicks but for democracy and debate and you’ll be on the right lines. It’s free to take part, best suited to 6-12 year olds and takes place every Wednesday between 10.30am – 11am right here.

It gives me enormous pleasure to announce that we’ll be welcoming husband and wife duo Julia and Hans Rausing to our festival. Julia and Hans hit the omega replica headlines earlier this month when they announced their £10 million Charity Survival Fund, which provides core funding to help small and medium sized charities to help overcome the impact of Covid-19. Be sure to give them a big SSE welcome (and apply to the fund, which offers grants of £5000 – £250,000, by 5pm on 27th July).

Brighton Yoga Foundation will be appearing in the Wellness Arena with their very own Online Festival. They’ll be hosting yoga, movement and talks over Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th. You can register now via their website and pay what you can afford for the workshops. All donations go to the foundation which provides free yoga to those who need it most such as women affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence. Sign up here.

Over in the cinema tent, we’ve got a brand new screening for you. Taking place on Tuesday 4th August at 1pm, ‘Social entrepreneurs parenting through the pandemic’ stars Fiona Small, mum of two, founder of Young Mums Support Network ; Carolyn Whitehead, mum of three, founder of Beautiful New Beginnings and Ian Blackwell, dad of two, founder of Dangerous Dads. They will share their highs and lows of lockdown, give practical advice and support on juggling parenting with running a social enterprise. Book your space here.

The virtual festival will feature lots of award winning talent. Who knows, you may even see SSE Fellows Josh Babarinde (Crackedit) or Angela McKay (Homebaked) who have both been announced as winners of the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize. They’ll receive £10,000, 10 days of business support from experts at Cambridge Judge Business School, and introductions into Cambridge entrepreneurial networks and the UK social sector – read more here.

Finally, if all of this has left you wanting more festival frolics then Power to Change are hosting the Community Business Festival on 13th and 14th August. It’s an online event jam-packed with behind-the-scenes tours, how-to workshops and a chance to hear from some of the inspirational people leading and working in community business. Everything you need to know is right here.

Right, here we are then. Another Friday rolls around. It’s been a fairly quiet week for me – the main point of excitement was when I took my car to be serviced this morning. I only learned to drive last year and know absolutely nothing about cars so it was something of an alien experience for me. “Know where your locking nuts are?” asked the mechanic. This was the first time I’d ever heard the phrase locking nuts, so it sent me into something of a panic. “Got your service book?”  Possibly, was the answer to this one, because I’d certainly never taken it out of the car and I assume that’s where it would be. At least I didn’t crash on the way in, so that’s something.

I’ll provide an update to how many millions of pounds I get fleeced for (they could literally tell me anything), but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while as I’m on annual leave for a couple of weeks.

Enjoy the news and I’ll see you later in July.

@davemcglashan

‘As lockdown begins to ease and sections of the economy cautiously re-open, it’s time for funders to assess where their money can do most good’ writes my colleague Francis in a blog suggesting how funders can best support charities and social enterprises in the next phase of the crisis. You can read more here.

Have you checked out free webinar series, Recover & Rebuild? SSE is sharing expert knowledge and insight from across our network to help you to build back from this crisis. The next one is on social media marketing, on Tuesday 7^th July at 1pm (UK time) – register now. We’ve also shared recordings of previous webinars on managing cashflow in a crisis, impact measurement, managing wellbeing & avoiding burnout, and running a crowdfunding campaign. You’ll hear from SSE fellows and friends who’ve been there and done that. Explore the series now.

Charities and social enterprises across Merseyside, North Wales and Cheshire west of M6 can apply for emergency funding from the Steve Morgan Foundation, which will distribute up to £1m per week until the end of September. Applications are being assessed on an ongoing basis.

Congratulations are in order to SSE Fellow Bela Emerson, who was recently given a Brighton & Hove City Council Covid19 Community Champion award. Bela is also running ‘Community Music Practice: Working with People Living with Dementia’, an online music and dementia course through Goldsmiths University this September. It’s two online sessions and costs £50 to take part. You can find out more here.

Ebay are running a series of free online webinars for charities interested in selling via eBay or for those already selling that want to get advanced tips for how to improve their sales. There are multiple dates available throughout July. You can book a spot here.

We have a couple of job vacancies that we are currently recruiting for – a Director of Finance & Resources (£52,460 – £63,976) and a National Programme Officer (£32,542- £ 33,518, 6 month contract). Both roles can be based anywhere in the UK. Details here.

Crowdfunder have cut fees and made it 100% free for social enterprises looking to raise funds through crowdfunding during the current crisis. You can read all about it here and if you want support to get a crowdfunding campaign off the ground we’ve got an online workshop on July 22nd.

Lloyds Bank Foundation are looking for a partner organisation, consultant or consortium to support their work to provide more funding to BAME communities in England and Wales, starting to address some of the racial inequalities and disparities that exist in grantmaking. If you are interested, the deadline for submissions is before 5pm on Wednesday 8th July. Details here.

Finally, Eat Sleep Work Repeat have an interesting list of ‘the 12 questions every firm should be asking right now‘ with lots of links and articles for you to get stuck into.