Recession Resources
Last updated 12 August 2009
Hardship Fund - NEW
CDF [Community Development Foundation] is working with Office of the Third Sector (OTS) to deliver the new Hardship Fund.
The Hardship Fund will provide grant support to third sector organisations in England delivering front-line services to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in society that have been affected by the recession.
Grants of between £50,000 and £250,000 will be available to organisations with a turnover of at least £200,000 that are in financial hardship which is impacting on their ability to deliver services in the following areas:
- Health and Social Care
- Housing Support
- Education and Training
- Information, Advice and Guidance
Grants will be paid from October 2009 and need to be spent by September 2010.
More information about how to apply and the guidance notes for applicants can be found at www.cdf.org.uk, or by calling 0113 246 1561.
Learning & Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) - NEW
How can LSIS help providers be more responsive to employers and their training needs during the economic downturn?
Becoming more employer-responsive is even more important in times of economic uncertainty.
15 Questions you should ask yourselves
The Charity Commission has teamed up with the Confederation of British Industry to urge charity boards to ask themselves 15 key questions about how well placed they are to cope during the recession.
The questions, which cover strategy, governance, financial health and making best use of resources, were compiled following a series of focus groups with charities last month.
Andrew Hind, chief executive of the commission, said charities' survival depended on their having the courage to address fundamental issues. "Asking these key questions will help boards review their options, make the hard decisions and gain a clear understanding of the challenges they face and the best ways to tackle them," he said.
A Charity Commission spokeswoman added that the commission had asked the CBI to endorse the questions to emphasise their urgency.
Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, said: "Businesses up and down the country are having to make tough decisions about the measures they need to take to ensure they survive the recession and emerge from it stronger. That means stripping out the nice-to-haves and focusing on core activities. Charities are no different in this sense."
The document will be sent in this week's commission newsletter to every registered charity and will also be available on its website.
NCVO - National Council for Voluntary Organisations
NCVO have put together a guide for voluntary and community organisations on surviving the recession, from key advice to crisis management. Visit their Recession Resources web page.
They are also interested in hearing from you on your organisation's experiences during the recession.
NAVCA - Recession Resources and Support
The economic recession challenges the local third sector as demand for services rises whilst funding gets tighter.
These NAVCA web pages are intended as a resource to assist your work supporting local groups and organisations.
They will inform you of the support available from NAVCA and bring together in one place the best resources from other organisations relevant to your work. They will be regularly updated - so keep checking.
This will work best if you let us know of any useful resources you come across so we can add them to this site and share them with all NAVCA members.
If you have any information please contact Barney Mynott (barney.mynott@navca.org.uk)
Visit the NAVCA Recession Resources page at http://www.navca.org.uk/localvs/recession/
The University of Hull
The University of Hull has secured £1 million funding to offer much needed support to local people and businesses hit by the recession.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) today announced that Hull is one of fifty-eight successful bidders - made up of universities and colleges - to receive cash from the Economic Challenge Investment Fund. With an emphasis on rapid action to meet local needs, the University and its partners will help people and businesses in the region hit by the recession.
The University's funding is made up of £500,000 from HEFCE and £500,000 from Yorkshire Forward.
Practical help is on offer, whether in the form of vouchers for unemployed people to take up short courses and help with looking for work, or work placements linked to study for finance professionals changing courses.
Businesses benefit too, with courses for workers on short-term taking master classes in key managerial and financial skills, internships with companies and placements of graduates with research expertise to support new product and process design.
Contact the university on 01482 466466
How resilient is your organisation?
Tools for Success online self-assessment tool
A new online self-assessment tool, produced by the Centre for Charity Effectiveness at Cass Business School and funded by Capacitybuilders as part of the Modernisation Fund Grant Programme is available.
It asks some big questions to help identify key areas where you already meet the basics for sustainability and those where you need to do more work.
On completion, you can print a report listing all your findings and giving advice on areas to be strengthened.
The tool is sitting on the KnowHow NonProfit website, which is an online knowledge resource for the nonprofit sector.
Information that you enter into the tool will be confidential.
Access the Self Assessment Tool (registration required)
Visit the Modernisation Fund web site
Toolkit to measure rural sustainability
Experts have devised a new method of measuring rural sustainability. They seek to address the need for a more sophisticated approach to measure the sustainability of rural settlements.
The project aims to help public authorities, local communities and professionals reach a balanced view about rural sustainability. It was commissioned by a range of organisations, including the Rural Services Network and the Commission for Rural Communities.
Documents describing the sustainability process are available on a dedicated website at www.ruraltoolkit.org.uk.
Although website visitors must register to download the documents, doing so is free of charge.
