Get Funded!

Clinks Supports voluntary organisations that work with offenders and their families. Provides members with free access to GRANTnet. GRANTnet holds over 4,000 UK and EU funding programmes. Membership is free to volunteer-run organisations, otherwise, it’s £25.

Raise Funds on eBay http://www.paypalgivingfund.org.uk/index.html Donations or Run an online charity shop or Hold a Special Online Auction. Donations: How it works 1. Your charity registers. 2. Your supporter lists an item on eBay, choosing a percentage of the sale price to donate. 3. If the item sells, the seller is paid and posts the item to the buyer. 4. PayPal Giving Fund collects the donation from the seller, claims Gift Aid on your behalf, and passes on 100% of the funds raised to your charity. OR Put a Donate button on your charity website. https://www.paypal-donations.co.uk/index.html

Voluntary and Community Action Offers access to two databases containing 40,000 sources of funds. They buy into this, so they can search for you, but would prefer personal visits to do your own searches. The databases are Trustfunding and Grantfinder.

FUNDING ALERTS: By email you can get bi-monthly alerts in “Action!” newsletter. funding@action-centralbeds.org.uk Website: http://www.voluntaryworks.org.uk VCA, Bossard House West Street Leighton Buzzard Bedfordshire LU7 1DA Telephone: 01525 850559 Fax: 01525 376281 Email: mail@action-centralbeds.org.uk Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 9.30am – 3.00pm or by appointment at other times.

Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation Manage funds from Luton Airport, Comic Relief etc. http://www.blcf.org.uk/grants/ They support schemes that support health, well-being, children, young people, sports development. Money can also given for volunteer staffing . How this works is that each volunteer is valued at £12 an hour.

Local Giving http://localgiving.com/ Helps local charities and community groups to raise money online. Helps you claim Gift Aid, no matter how small you are. Even helps those too small to be registered with the Charity Commission or OSCR. Each charity or community group is validated before registering with Localgiving.com, so you can be confident that your donations are going to bona fide charitable organisations. Within four miles of the Houghton Regis Town Council offices, 3 charities are registered. Why not register yours, too? Once they’ve been validated, charities pay a small fee of £60 a year + VAT (to cover maintenance of the system,  processing of donation payments, and customer care) and, in return, they can create their own unique webpage on Localgiving.com. They have their own URL which they can use to promote themselves on emails, letterhead, business cards etc; they have access to the big Match Fund campaigns run by Localgiving.com; they can use the many fundraising tools on offer such as e-cards, button links, and training material; take online donations and Direct Debit sign-ups, and much more. 

Big Lottery Fund http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk_eng BLF Awards For All Awards for All gives groups a quick and easy way to get small Lottery grants of between £300 and £10,000. Funds projects which address the issues, needs and aspirations of local communities and people. Will fund a wide range of community projects aimed at developing skills, improving health, revitalising the local environment and enabling people to become more active citizens. TIPS: BLF is looking for outcomes. Requests for funding should try to meet criteria of what they will fund, as above. So mention those things in your application. 

TYPES OF FUND It’s important to apply to the right fund. Change the emphasis to make sure it’s targeted properly. Arts Council England Between 2011 and 2015, Arts Council England will invest £1.4 billion of public money from the government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery. Supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Funds arts activities that engage people in England, or that help artists and arts organisations carry out their work. Apply for Funding There are several different schemes to look into. For example, the PRISM fund was established for educational and heritage purposes. The digital R&D Fund for the Arts http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/ supports research and development projects that use digital technology to enhance arts' audience reach and/or explore new business models. The fund focuses on: user-generated content and social media, digital distribution and exhibition, mobile location and games, data and archives, resources and education and learning. 

Heritage Lottery Fund http://www.hlf.org.uk/ Funds projects which focus on heritage. Heritage includes many different things from the past that we value and want to pass on to future generations, for example: People’s memories and experiences (often recorded as ‘oral history’ or spoken history); Histories of people and communities (including people who have migrated to the UK); Languages and dialects; Cultural traditions such as stories, festivals, crafts, music, dance and costumes; Histories of places and events; Historic buildings and streets; Archaeological sites; Collections of objects, books or documents in museums, libraries or archives; Natural and designed landscapes and gardens; Wildlife, including special habitats and species; and Places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history. If you are interested in applying for a grant between £3,000 and £10,000, you can submit an expression of interest form online to find out if your project is suitable for the programme. 

Sport England http://www.sportengland.org/ Must fit with Sport England's Youth and Community Strategy. Applications must be for between £300 and £10,000 and total project costs must not exceed £50,000. Projects must be deliverable in 12 months from the date of our award letter. Projects must be focused on sports that are recognised by Sport England. DOES NOT fund repeat or regular events. 

AWARDS FOR ALL Big Lottery Fund BLF – funds voluntary and community sector, parish and town councils, social enterprises and schools. BLF make no assumptions, and decisions may be made by people who do not know your area or location. So make sure all the relevant details are in there. Examples of what can be applied for: 

• Hire purchase IT equipment, 

• Building and refurbishment 

• Training, updating equipment, transport costs, venue hire. Examples of what cannot be applied for: • religious and political groups. But BLF can fund these organisations to carry out or deliver something else. 

TIME PERIOD : Grants can be confirmed within 60 days of application. 

BLF – REACHING COMMUNITIES This fund is for Registered Charities, Voluntary Organisations etc. Available funds £10k to £500k. £500k towards a maximum of £750k project. £50k towards a maximum of £200k project. Funding for 1 year up to 5 years. Can cover things like salaries, recruitment, training, rent, lighting, the capital cost of building and engineering works, and land purchase. Decisions are made within 2 months if the application is up to £40k; if more ££ wanted, then 4 months wait for a decision. 

BLF – BUILDINGS £100k to £500k open to town and parish councils. Must achieve at least one of the BLF Outcomes.  

Things to help with applications: 

• Say what the problem is 

• Say what the proof of the problem is, e.g consult with people.

 • Say what the solution is 

• Say how the solution meets BLF outcomes. 

BLF – Heroes Return Funding is available to fund travel and accommodation for a WW2 veteran, and any family or helper. http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/globalcontent/ programmes/uk-wide/heroes-return Browse the Tools and Resources Pages on NCVO website http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp/tools-resources 

TEN TOP TIPS (from NCVO) 

• Never ask for anything. Sell an investment opportunity 

• Understand funders' strategic aims and objectives - that means don’t apply if you don’t qualify. 

• Get very clear on your own strategic objectives. At the start state clearly who you are and what you are about.

 • Get very clear on your own operational plan

 • Success sells more than sympathy • Share frustrations too 

• Tell a story • Wherever possible make a personal appeal 

• Don't make an application, develop a relationship 

• Finally: Fundraising is hard Read More About These Tips

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Wash and Squash, Stack and Pack

This can crusher device is just fantastic ... I only wish I could make things like this. Maybe every neighbourhood centre should have one ... !

Are recycling bins too small for some families? With collecting being done every two weeks instead of weekly, and say if you have a family of six, the question is being asked, are these bins big enough?

It could be a case of people not squashing down their materials enough, so here are a few of my tips

I have stood in my recycling bin several times, to squash it down, but of course, it isn't practical or safe for everyone to do that. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to end up in hospital. Plastic bottles and cans can be crushed, but if you want to avoid cutting your hands or ruining your shoes, look for a mechanical device. 

There's some wonderful pneumatic or electric can crushers on YouTube at http://j.mp/16lLIvY  if anyone fancies making one. There are many can crushers under a tenner on eBay. http://j.mp/16lLNzE

Here are a few things to consider about using a can crusher:

Space savings - Crushing cans allows you to store more in a smaller space, which is useful if you have limited garbage/recycling storage space. Compacting cans takes up less room in bins.

Transport savings - Crushed cans also take up less room during transport to recycling centres. This can help you fit more in each load.

Easier for recycling - Some recycling centres prefer or require cans to be crushed before collection so they take up less space during sorting/processing. Crushing makes the cans flatter and denser.

Handling convenience - Crushing cans makes them less messy and easier to handle when emptying bins. Flattened cans are less likely to puncture garbage bags.

Potential injuries - Can crushers have moving parts that could potentially pinch or cut fingers if safety precautions aren't followed carefully. Youth should use it under adult supervision.

Not always needed - If you have plenty of storage/bin space and your recycling centre doesn't require crushing, it may not provide much benefit over just recycling loose cans.

So in summary - for most homeowners with average storage/recycling needs, a can crusher is a good choice to save space and make transport/recycling easier. Just use proper safety techniques to avoid injuries from the crushing mechanism.

Other tips:

- Wash and squash, flatten cereal boxes.

- Stack and pack, - some plastic pots will stack, the ones that won't write to the manufacturers and ask them to redesign their products.

- Tear cardboard down to magazine size.

- Don't put recycling in plastic bags - you just create more work in the sorting process.

- If there is a handy piece of hardboard cut to fit on top of the inside of the recycling bin, you could press down on that.

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Shared Space and Blind People

Shared Space presents difficulties for blind people because the schemes rely on eye to eye contact between road users. Where there is no kerb, a blind person does not know for sure where the footpath ends and the road starts. Dogs for the blind and long cane users are trained to wait at a kerb. Tactile surfaces are not recognised by dogs for the blind.



A study carried out in 2009 by University College London recommended that a kerb of 60mm or greater would be needed in order to be detected when stepping up and stepping down and induced the greatest confidence in what they were and what they signified.(Effective Kerb Heights for Blind and Partially Sighted People) 



Tactile signage could help to indicate safest places to cross, for example, at a courtesy crossing.



The differentiation of areas by colour on shared surface streets is seen as useful for those who are partially sighted. 



Instead of a kerb, a textured area may be introduced, between the shared space and the safe space. If a guide dog went into this area, the person steering the dog might recognise the change in surface and decide to steer themselves back to the safe zone.(RambØll Nyvig Report pdf)



BBC Discussion indicates tactile safe surface is a success.



twt fbk

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Alan's Winter Wonderland - in Spring 2013 !

Taken on 24th March 2013

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