I don’t think there has ever been a time when I’ve been so delighted that today is colder than yesterday. It all got a bit much, didn’t it? Give yourself one point for each of these phrases that were uttered in your household over the last week or so:
- “It’s too hot to sleep”
- “What do you think about a portable air conditioner?”
- “If it gets any hotter I’m sleeping in the car”
- “I think it’s going to break soon” (bonus points if this was said at least five times in the week without any noticeable drop in temperature after it was said)
- “According to my mum it’s raining in (insert location where your mum lives).
Still, at least it’s given us all something else to talk about over Zoom.
Have a great weekend
The second round of the Social Enterprise Support Fund is now open for applications. Grants of £10,000 to £300,000 to organisations in England that had annual income between £25,000 and £1.5 million before COVID-19. Applications close at 1pm on Thursday 20th August. You can apply for the fund here, and our friends at Unltd have written a blog on how to write a strong COVID-19 funding application that you might want to read before applying.
British Gas have also opened a Covid Response Fund. It’s only open to charities or not for profit CIC or CIOs with an annual turnover of between £200,000 and £1,000,000 and the funding is restricted to certain areas (largely across England and in Dundee for Scotland). There is a total of £800,000 available and the deadline to apply is Wednesday 19th August. Apply here.
Last chance! If you know a Brent resident who is unemployed, on benefits or struggling to find enough work, we could support them to start a social enterprise or community project. We’re offering free learning sessions and a £500 grant with our SEIDs Pre-Start Up Programme. All they need to do is complete a short form or send us a voice note before 5pm today: Apply here.
A detailed report into Futurebuilders, the UK’s first social investment fund, has been published. The fund ran between 2004 and 2010 and provided funding to 406 charities and social enterprises. It’s an interesting read – alongside analysing the impact that Futurebuilders had it also makes some recommendations for the role that social investment can continue to play in the charity and social enterprise sectors. Get stuck into it here.
One of the conclusions that the report draws is that social investment needs subsidy to be most effective, so the announcement of £4 million in blended grant funding from the Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund is well timed. Open to charities and social enterprises based in and delivering the majority of their impact in England, grants of between £40k -300k will be used to help organisations that would struggle to meet a viability threshold for the wider loan fund. You can read all about it here.
SSE Fellow Jane Rich is looking for a part time Finance Officer to join her organisation Cambridge Community Arts, which offers community arts courses for adults at risk of social exclusion, primarily due to mental ill-health. The role will be for 7.5 hours per week to be worked over 1-2 days initially based at home, however, a regular presence in the Cambridge office will be required when it is safe to do so. The deadline to apply is 31st August.
Digital agency Manifesto have authored a new report, The Future Charity – How to drive change and innovation across the sector. There are a lot of interesting ideas, from how to prepare for technological change, to securing the right people, and overcoming inertia.
Comms2point0 put together a webinar on digital presentation skills for the Local Government Association that they’ve added to Youtube – there is a plethora of information for anyone who wants to grow some confidence presenting online. You can watch it here.
Campaign group How Do Companies Act are asking businesses, social enterprises, public bodies or charities to sign a letter calling for replicas relojes government to create a stronger legal framework to enable business to take the lead in building a stronger, more resilient and fairer economy. You can read more about the campaign and sign the letter here.
Social Enterprise Mark and The Good Business Club are teaming up for a new series of webinars to debunk the myths around social enterprise. The first webinar takes place at 1pm on 27th August and will explore what a social enterprise is and what it looks like practically to run one. You can register here.
And finally, the deadline for the 2020 Blue Patch Sustainable Business Awards is the 16th of August. Small businesses across the UK and Ireland are invited to come forward to nominate themselves for one of our eight categories. To take a look at the criteria for application and then apply here.
