Case study: Forming a consortium – Voluntary Sector Alliance

Who are the partners?

  • Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
  • Care Network Cambridgeshire
  • Caring Together

When was the consortium formed?

Formally June 2023, informally October 2022

Why was it formed?

We formed the Voluntary Sector Alliance through a belief that:

Together we are stronger than apart, and together we can create real change and social impact by supporting more people to leave hospital safely, to help avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital and to aid independence at home for the population of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Our aim was to achieve a true integrated and collaborative approach to serving the population of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough by leading the way in providing a Single Point of Access for Voluntary and Community Sector Support for Hospital Discharges and Admissions Avoidance. This helps us to:

Reach people earlier in their journey from hospital bed back to home

Provide information and support at the right time

Ensure wrap around support for people before they leave hospital and after

Using our collective resources support and reconnect people into their communities

What were the first steps?

We came together to work on a Nesta 100 day challenge across the acutes in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, – to find better ways to support discharges from hospital. Following the completion of the challenge, we continued to meet as voluntary sector partners, as we could see that there were ways in which our services already worked in synergy together. Spending time together to understand the offerings of each organisations, we started informally to reach out to one another with the aim of improving outcomes for the people we support.

What are the benefits?

There are many benefits in working together. The people that we support have access to all of our services in a more holistic manner, and don’t feel passed from pillar to post – the aim is that each person we support has access to all of our offerings and to the connections / signposts and referrals we can assist with, helping them to truly feel supported and integrated into their community.

Each organisation represents the whole Alliance at meetings and events and in raising awareness of the services that we offer.

Importantly, our teams report a much more positive working environment, and state how much they enjoy working more collaboratively with people from other organisations, taking away the need to ‘chase referrals’ or feel we are in competition with each other.

What were the main challenges and how did you overcome them?

The main challenges were in the initially stages of coming together. It does take time for trust to form and build and become business as usual within partnership work. It involved somewhat of a culture shift within our organisations, but everyone was fully invested and could see the benefits of our partnership approach.

What are your top 3 tips for any organisations looking to form a consortium?

Look for true synergy between offerings, avoiding duplication, but consider additionality of services.

Be transparent, open and honest with each other, it is important that you can have difficult conversations as well as nice ones.

Stay focussed on the mission and the reasons you want to work together. Leave egos at the door and work together for the benefit of the people you support.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough + Voluntary Sector Network – Update Bulletin – August 2024

The August edition of the Voluntary Sector News is here. Please get in touch with Sandie Smith or Debbie Drew if you would like to know more about any of our work. Please pass this on to colleagues who may be interested.

Annual State of the Sector Survey 2024: A Crucial Insight into Local Organisations 

At the beginning of the year, Support Cambridgeshire—a partnership between CCVS and Hunts Forum—launched the Annual State of the Sector Survey for 2024. This survey is a vital tool for gathering data on how local organisations are coping with the current economic and social landscape, which continues to evolve due to the changes and impacts of recent years. 

Despite persistent challenges, the survey reveals that local groups are still grappling with many of the same issues they faced last year. The findings indicate that the difficulties are intensifying while the sector remains resilient. The demand for services is rising, volunteers’ expectations are shifting, and funding remains a constant challenge. The long-term effects of these trends will become clearer in future surveys. Nevertheless, the sector’s determination to persevere remains strong. 

The survey also highlighted some intriguing trends that the partnership will consider as it moves forward. A notable finding is the increased desire for in-person interactions after prolonged online activities. While virtual engagement is still needed, a balance will be sought by incorporating more face-to-face networking and training sessions. 

We must not take our local charities and community groups for granted. Their work is still #NeverMoreNeeded, as countless individuals rely on their services. Support Cambridgeshire remains committed to providing the necessary support and guidance to help our local voluntary sector thrive. However, we need others to join in this effort to prevent more groups from closing and more services from disappearing. Together, we can ensure that our local organisations continue to prosper. 

If you prefer an accessible version, then please click HERE

Good Goverance Code – your views matter

Want to give your views to help improve governance in the sector?If you have views on governance in charities, now is the ideal time to share them. A public consultation has opened, on the Charity Governance Code.  Complete this consultation survey  by 11 August to give your views on how to make it better. The Code is a voluntary tool to help charities and their trustees develop high standards of governance. Your comments will be used to develop a new version of the Code due to be published in the first half of 2025. More information on the consultation.

Young People’s Programme / The Allan Lane Foundation/ Apply anytime

The Allan Lane Foundation

Funding to Support Disadvantaged Young People (UK – excl Greater London)

 

What is available?

The Allan Lane Foundation is offering grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 to charities and not-for-profit organisations working with young people aged 12-21 who are socially excluded or marginalised, and who may have experienced significant issues within their lives.

The grants can be used to support a range of activities, including core costs, project work, and capital expenditure.

The Foundation is particularly interested in supporting organisations that focus their work on:

• Young people within the criminal justice system or those at risk of offending

• Looked after children or care leavers

• Those with significant mental health concerns or complex needs

• Young people who have been traumatised by challenging family backgrounds, neglect, violence or abuse

• Those that have fallen through the gaps in care and/or education

• Those already affected by, or vulnerable to, exploitation

• Whose experiences could seriously impact their transition into adulthood

 

Who can apply?

To maximise the impact of its grants, the Foundation will only fund smaller organisations. Organisations that work across a local area, such as a village, estate, or town, must have an annual income of less than £100,000 to be eligible. Organisations that work across the entire UK must have an annual income of less than £250,000 to be eligible.

 

A small number of grants have already been awarded to work with young people, including funding for a crisis drop-in for young people who have been sexually abused in Dundee; a young parents project in Bolton; funding for a youth worker to support teenagers with autism in Northern Ireland; a drama and arts project aimed at young people with a history of offending in Jaywick, Essex.

 

How to apply

Applications can be submitted at any time.

The next meeting an application could be considered at is in October 2024.

To find out more and apply please visit: Young People’s Programme – The Allen Lane Foundation

Police and Crime Commissioner – Police and Crime Plan Survey

Police and Crime Commissioner, Darryl Preston has launched a widespread public consultation on policing and crime in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The consultation has been launched to help inform the content of a new Police and Crime Plan for the county. Following conversations with members of the public, several priority areas have emerged which can be captured within the five broad themes included in the graphic below:

 

The partnership working is key to the successful delivery of strategic policing and crime priorities therefore they would also be grateful if you, or a member of your organisation could respond with views against each of the questions – your feedback is very important to them and will help contribute to the final plan content.  

The survey runs from noon on 15th July 2024 until 17:00 on Friday 16th August.   

Click here to carry out the survey

 

They are happy to receive this feedback via email if helpful and they would also be happy to organise a brief Teams meeting if helpful.  

Alternatively, you or a member of your team can visit and complete the survey online, telephone the Commissioner’s office on 0300 333 3456 or email cambs-pcc@cambs.police.uk to provide your views.

Case study: Forming a consortium – Fullscope

Fullscope emerged back in 2017 when some funders challenged a group of like-minded charities to come together to think about how to do things differently for children and young people at risk of poor mental health.

We have evolved and changed hugely since then.  See our Strategic Plan for 2023 – 2026 for further information about our current aims and ambitions.

Who are the partners?

Blue Smile, Centre 33, The Kite Trust, YMCA Trinity, Cambridge Curiosity & Imagination, CPSL Mind and Ormiston Families.

What were the first steps?

  • ·During 2018, our founding partners worked to turn their shared vision into a coherent plan, working together and with local consultancy Taproot to review the current landscape for both children and young people’s mental health and consortia models, coproducing a successful application to National Lottery Fund in 2019.
  • ·In June 2021 we asked researchers at UCL School of Management to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the Fullscope consortium to help us to review our work to date and to plan for our next phase of funding and work together.

Fullscope’s work

  • We deliver pilot projects, do research and work closely with other organisations to make the important changes that we believe are needed in children and young people’s mental health
  • The Fullscope core team work closely with the partnership board, our Collaborative steering groups and the wider Fullscope Community, with a focus on our values and approaches.
  • “By working together with partners we are creating a system that fully supports young people, ensures there are no gaps, and enables them to thrive.” – Beth Green, Centre 33.

 What were the main challenges and how did you overcome them?

Early on we adapted to COVID-19 by moving online to engage more with the mental health system. System working can be complex and change can be slow; it requires a focus on relationships and open-minded collaboration, with system partners’ involvement at the decision and design stage.

What are your top 3 tips for any organisations looking to form a consortium?

Have a clear purpose, aligned motivation, core team with mandate and central infrastructure.

 

Update and opportunities for groups from the Talking Together Team

Invitation to Quote: Professional Storytellers

Talking Together in Cambridgeshire’s Festival of Stories 2025 will run from Wednesday, 19 February to Wednesday, 26 February.  The focus of this festival will be everyday stories, and they will be shining a light on the fantastic, free, or low-cost activities which can be found on their 50 Things to Do Before You’re 5 App.

Their Festival of Stories events empowers parents and carers to bring a sparkle of magic to the everyday by sharing stories and books with their young children, and in doing so help boost the communication, language and literacy levels of children from birth to 5 years old.

They offer professional storytellers the opportunity to apply for a grant award to run interactive, verbal storytelling sessions for families of children aged from birth to five, at venues to be decided, across Cambridgeshire (not including Peterborough) over the festival period. More details can be found on their website.

They strongly advise those interested in applying to attend one of their pre-application online Storyteller Information Sessions which will be held on the following dates:

Date

Time

To book a place

Thursday 1 August

6pm to 6.45pm

https://forms.office.com/e/cJa6QePZSZ

Monday 5 August

6pm to 6.45pm

Tuesday 6 August

9am to 9.45am

Quotations must be submitted via email and received by Talking Together in Cambridgeshire by midday on Monday, 12 August 2024.

Should you wish to speak with someone about this grant award process, please contact helen.wootton@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Community Funding Programme – closes in one week!

In 2024 – 2025, Talking Together in Cambridgeshire is also offering five community groups the opportunity to apply for funding to run four events for families which will help parents and carers learn more about how to support their young children (aged two to five) communication, language and literacy development. The four sessions will run at least three weeks apart between November 2024 and March 2025.

The Funding Application Guidance, including the Stage One e-application form, can be found on our website. All e-application forms should be received by midday on Friday 26 July 2024.

If you would like to speak with someone about the funding process, please contact Helen Wootton at helen.wootton@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

An Introduction to Making It REAL training – funded places!

They are also excited to let you know that they will be rolling out the new one-day Introduction to Making It REAL course from September 2024. Places are limited, so please book soon!

The Making It REAL approach is based on the Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction and Modelling (ORIM) framework, which highlights four approaches parents can take to create a home learning environment that supports children’s early literacy development. Participants will learn how to support parents to:

·         Create opportunities for children’s literacy development in the home environment

·         Recognise and encourage children’s literacy milestones

·         Interact with children positively and support real-life literacy tasks and

·         Act as models of literacy users, so children see parents use literacy in everyday life

They will be working closely with Cambridgeshire Skills who will be offering funding to cover course costs for those who meet the eligibility criteria. More details about the course including the dates, eligibility criteria and how to book a place can be found on their website: Making it REAL (cambslearntogether.co.uk).

Get Activated this summer

Families across Cambridgeshire are in for a treat this summer. Local organisations are teaming up to offer free and low-cost activities all over the county. Look out for #GetActivated for fun and healthy activities run by the county council, district councils and their partners. There will be many options for play, cycling, walking, sports, crafts and other activities to keep families busy and having fun over the summer. They will be adding some Get Activated posts to our Facebook page over the summer, so do look out for those and feel free to share them.

For more information about the hundreds of activities on offer, please see https://shorturl.at/rtdGt

If you’d like to know more about their work, please do contact us via helen.wootton@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

GSK Community Health / Small charities / 12 August

About:

The new GSK Community Health programme is funded by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in partnership with The King’s Fund, a leading independent health charity working to improve health and social care. The programme is designed to run alongside the GSK Impact Awards.

Charities will need to demonstrate how their organisation is supporting communities that experience health disadvantage and how their work helps tackle this issue.

Examples include but are not limited to:

  • Working to make health services more accessible, appropriate or welcoming to the communities they serve.
  • Supporting communities to access health services.
  • Providing specific services to communities to support their health and wellbeing, increase uptake of screening services, improve healthy lifestyles or other similar activity.
  • Using focused interventions to ensure parts of the community that have traditionally been under-served or have experienced marginalisation have access to appropriate services.

 

Link Here

The deadline for applications is 12 August 2024 (5pm).

Link :

What is available?

The new programme will support up to 15 charities with £10,000 in unrestricted funding plus access to free training and development valued at £3,500.

Eligibility

Small charities that are working, located and registered in the UK can apply as long as they:

  • Are a registered charity by the application deadline of 12 August 2024.
  • Have existed for a minimum of one year by 12 August 2024.
  • Have a total annual income of between £20,000 and £150,000 as shown in their most recent accounts.
  • Are independently constituted from any national umbrella organisation.

Organisations led by and supporting people from under-represented backgrounds, people from ethnic minority communities, people with disabilities and people from the LGBTQ+ community are encouraged to apply.

Launch of Vital Signs 2024: Cambridgeshire’s Latest Community Insights

Cambridgeshire Community Foundation’s Vital Signs report shares the latest insights on the state of Cambridgeshire’s community, reporting on key social themes such as local economy and employment, health and wellbeing, housing and homelessness, and more.

Understanding the needs and issues in our community is the first step to addressing them effectively. The latest Vital Signs report will help the Foundation guide funds to the problems and areas that need them most.

Michael O’Toole, CEO of Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, commented:

“Creating impact through philanthropic giving is maximised when we deeply understand our communities. Vital Signs is an important part of helping the Foundation and our supporters understand the challenges and opportunities within the communities we serve. This understanding of needs ensures that the incredible generosity of our donors is targeted to help deliver positive, meaningful change across Cambridgeshire.”

The report compares different districts in Cambridgeshire, to reflect the wide-ranging issues across our county, and it looks at how the county compares with the UK more widely.

Click here to read the report

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