£950K grants scheme launched to support community transport initiatives in West Northants

/in /by

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has launched a new £950k grants scheme to create new and support existing community transport initiatives in West Northants, as well as support the expansion of current grant funded transport projects and services.

This grant funding will be available over the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26 for eligible community transport projects from 1 April 2024, following £547,181 funding from Central Government via the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) and £60,337 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), in addition to £342,000 of Council funding.

The grant funding will be allocated to community transport projects and services that meet identified needs and assist the Council in achieving one or more of its corporate priorities, including improving accessibility to employment, healthcare, leisure and education services; addressing unmet needs where there are gaps in the commercial bus network provision; and connecting rural communities to the locations they need to access. 

Find out more on the website.

Warm this Winter

/in /by

Northamptonshire Community Foundation have launched their annual Warm this Winter Appeal to tackle fuel poverty and to keep the older and vulnerable residents who are experiencing financial hardship across our county fed, warm and well as the cold weather hits.

This appeal has been running every winter since 2010 and has raised over £255,000 to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our local communities.

please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/warmerthiswinter23

Their Winter Wellbeing Funding Programme is now also open with grants of up to £2,000 available to Northamptonshire-based groups focusing on supporting vulnerable older people this winter.

Projects must meet two out of five aims:

Keeping the home warm.

Dressed for warmth.

Staying warm at night.

Eating well OR

Keeping active.

For more information, please see here https://www.ncf.uk.com/warm-this-winter

A View From The Turret On VINs AGM

/in /by

VINs Annual General Meeting 2023

VINs Annual General Meeting took place on the 9th of November 2023.

The AGM PowerPoint can be seen here

The AGM Minutes can be seen here

Our Annual Snapshot can be seen here

Our certified Accounts will be posted in due course

So why you ask is an Annual General Meeting worthy of a view from the Turret: Simply that on 5 separate occasions the word challenging, VIN and our future direction was mentioned: All these comments are based on a stark reality. Every year VIN (like hundreds of other charities) forecasts its deficit and works tirelessly to reduce that deficit against a landscape of short-term grants and reducing contracts.  We know it’s a tough world for Local Authorities, under pressure from Central Government and with a w hole host of transformational pieces of work to conclude.

 

I would still class VIN as a smaller organisation in the grand scheme of things: We recently held a Roundtable for small and micro VCSE organisations. Nearly all agreed that partnering up and sharing resources was the future, in recognition of a reality that collaboratives and coalitions are best able to flex and bid for funding streams in a new world. However, there is always this inbuilt assumption that the mechanics of Partnering, from how it works to what implications it has on Governance Models, Mission Positions and Delivery Provision is somehow self-taught. These skills must be acquired, and Infrastructure has the ability when well-funded to provide this. I do not know of any other existing mechanism that does or could.

What impressed me and scared me in equal measure was the amount of work these smaller organisations undertake. Many are on the precipice. If they close, communities will be so much the poorer, but the future for many looks dim.

These organisations are going to be vital in working to the Local Area Partnership Agenda on local health inequality: They are going to be vital in engaging with communities over the wider determinants of health (a principal plank of any Integrated Care System) and crucial in finding local preventative solutions to long standing health inequality issues. To give them a chance requires giving Infrastructure a chance: Fund Infrastructure to a suitable level and there’s every possibility that more organisations can join the party. The best parties are where the audience is mixed and varied.

Annual Snapshot 2022/2023

/in /by

VIN’s Annual Snapshot (2022/2023) is now available and can be viewed here. 

The VIN CEO states:

It’ always difficult to define the level of detail required for our Annual Review. As an organisation we want the content to be as clear and concise as possible yet provide readers with an understanding of our Infrastructure Role and of our Projects.

This year we have introduced a simple star rating system which hopefully makes sense. The star system is underpinned by some of our project management methodology but without lengthy and drawn-out facts and figures which for many are unappealing to digest.

We hope you enjoy its content.

The Annual Snapshot will be circulated to key stakeholders across West Northamptonshire over the next few weeks.

 

Trustee Week – Nic Jackson (Trustee of Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire)

/in /by

It’s Trustee Week which is a national celebration of the work Trustees do in Charities.

To kick off the week here is a few thoughts from one of VIN’s latest Trustees, Nic Jackson.

Nic says:

In 2023 I’d been out of a corporate environment for a couple of years. I really missed being part of a team and working with others towards a common goal. I was introduced to the idea of becoming a Trustee for a charity to bridge that gap. When I attended the first Board meeting as a visitor, everyone’s passion for the cause was clear. It was really inspiring to see and hear the difference the organisation was having and going forward it has been great to be a part of the Strategic vision and in moving VIN forward. I wondered what I’d have to bring with no sector experience, but my questions seemed to add value, and it’s been interesting to start to learn about VIN and their objectives. There is so much experience in the ‘room’, I feel I add another perspective.

I was asked about my aspirations: For me it’s about learning more about VIN and the sector and understanding the value I can add in supporting the organisation. A natural aspiration for me is around the team at VIN and in the future I’d love to continue supporting them in their development. Helping VIN to continue to support organisations and individuals, and seeing the impact they are having as an organisation is important to me.

 

Trustee volunteers play an important in role in governing and shaping our local organisations. If you want to profile one of your own Trustees then contact russell.rolph@voluntaryimpact.org.uk with a paragraph or 2 of text and a photograph if possible.