Category: Funding

Finding Funding

Events, Funding, HGN Events, Local Groups Leave a comment

Thank you to all for joining us at the Small Funds for Small Groups workshop yesterday.  We were buzzing with ideas by the end and all felt more confident in describing the impact of what we do, and writing funding bids.

Herefordshire Community Foundation gave us some useful insight into the funds available – and an open invitation to get in touch with any other questions we have.

There is a short summary below of some of the good advice for those that couldn’t make it…  and there’s more training in two weeks – Volunteer Recruitment – book on!

Clear Aims: A clear, simple aim for your project or organisation is so important! As are clear activities, and evidence that these activities will have an impact. Evidence could be as simple as a conversation. The simple template we used in the session is here

Many funds will need groups to be constituted. HVOSS can help with this – it’s a simple process. We the Network are are members so can access some of their services at a low (or no) cost.

Some funds that are more suitable for environmental projects:
Gillian Bulmer Fund, Becket Bulmer Fund and Glencora. Most funds are listed here

There is a new online form so the process is more streamlined now. If you’re not sure about where you fit – they are more than happy to talk to you.

If you’ve got a project that you think fits under the remit of Herefordshire Green Network and you’d like to be part of a larger HGN bid – please get in touch with Kate.

We’ll be running this workshop again in November, at the monthly gathering.  Hope to see you there.

FREE TRAINING – Fundraising and Recruiting Volunteers

Events, Funding, HGN Events, HGN news Leave a comment

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had a few more people to carry out the great ideas, or a pot of money to do them with?

A couple of ways coming up that we can building our skills and resources…

Small Funds for Small Groups – a locally-focused workshop here in Herefordshire

10am to 1pm Monday 2nd July

The Kindle Centre, Hereford

We’ll:

  • Look at an example completed small grant application
  • Hear from Herefordshire Community Foundation about grants available right now
  • Identify grants that could help us make great activities for our h.Energy weekend
  • Work on the first step of our own applications – how we describe what we do, and the impact of it, so that a funder will listen!

Tea, coffee and pastries at the start!

You should leave with at least part of a funding bid written – well worth a morning’s reflection.

Places are free but limited – please book here and we’ll confirm your place by 22nd June.

If you’re raring to go now, here is a fund with a deadline in two weeks – if you’d like support completing it please email events@hgnetwork.org

Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

July will see some free, live, online sessions with our events and publicity coordinator Rebecca who is also an experienced volunteer management trainer. All welcome!

Three lunchtimes: 17th, 18th and 19th July covering: recruiting volunteers, keeping them on board and making sure it’s all legal too.

Sign up here

If you’re not sure what an interactive online workshop might look like, Rebecca will be able to explain after the funding workshop face-to-face!  The beginning of the online sessions will also include an orientation.

h.Energy 2018 – making it happen!

Community, Events, Funding, HGN Events One comment

Many of you out there have been involved with h.Energy over the past 8 years since it started in 2010. This countywide festival of sustainability couldn’t have happened without you. You have opened your homes & farms, put on community events, offered us ideas, creativity, expertise, time, music and flapjacks …

This year for the first time ever we are asking you for money.

We aim to fund h.Energy 2018 properly, and take it back out to the whole community of Herefordshire. And we need your help with this.

We already have some funding to support the event, but we are currently urgently seeking local sponsors & supporters. Your support may feel like small change to you but it will be enormously helpful to us…

Here is the link to our Crowdfunder site: ‘h.Energy 2018 – help make it happen’. 

Any level of funding is welcome. If everyone gave a very small amount we would raise a very large amount of money.

If you happen to be in a position to mention this opportunity to friends who might be local sponsors that would also make us very happy! Please ask them to contact kate@hgnetwork.org for further details.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

… & heres that all important link again …

 

 

Food Rescue – what next..

Food, Funding, HGN news Leave a comment

This is a call out to those of you who came along to our HGN Gathering on Food Rescue in January…

Along with the Herefordshire Food Poverty Alliance we are starting an exciting conversation about developing some funded local projects. Many of you had projects that you were beginning to set up or talked about that evening: a local community fridge, a local food hub, food social clubs, school holiday food clubs, local gleaning projects and also of course a local Food Rescue inspired by the work of Worcester Food Rescue.

If you have bright ideas and local connections or would just like to be part of taking these conversions further please could you get in touch asap (email kate@hgnetwork.org), so that we can make sure that your project idea is firmly in the pot as funding bids are developed.

Please pass this message on to others who you think might otherwise miss it…

Dean Organic Fund …

Food, Funding, Land Use, Permaculture Leave a comment

… for small-scale organic/ecological growers and food businesses:

The Organic Research Centre, a leading independent research charity, has launched the new Dean Organic Fund at the Oxford Real Farming Conference. The fund offers interest-free loans, typically ranging from £5,000 to £25,000, to small-scale organic/ecological growers and food businesses.

The Dean Organic Trust was established in 1993 by Jennie Bone and following her death in 2016, the Dean Organic Trust’s assets and a legacy from Jennie Bone’s estate were transferred to the Organic Research Centre to create a significantly larger Dean Organic Fund.

Professor Nic Lampkin, from the Organic Research Centre, said, “The Dean Organic Fund is a rare opportunity for small-scale organic and similar operations to access interest-free loans. Jennie Bone was passionate about conserving wildlife in the farmed environment and she widely encouraged and promoted the environmental benefits of organic farming and growing. We are delighted to continue Jennie’s fantastic legacy and will look forward to receiving applications from eligible businesses.”

The Organic Research Centre is inviting applications for interest-free, unsecured loans from organic farmers and food producers who wish to expand their enterprises by investing in equipment or stock or would benefit from other working capital. The fund is also open to those producers that are not certified organic but whose operations are closely aligned with organic principles. The loans are repayable over periods of up to five years and applications are welcome from companies, sole traders, community or social enterprises and charity-owned businesses.

Further details and application packs are available through the Organic Research Centre’s website: www.organicresearchcentre.com or by email to Nic Lampkin on nic.l@organicresearchcentre.com.

Grow Wild Spaces Grants

Funding, Land Use, Local Groups Leave a comment

Grow Wild which aims to transform communal spaces by sowing and growing UK native plants has announced that local voluntary, community, parish and town councils, youth groups, health authorities , health boards, prisons and secondary schools; etc. can apply for grants of between £2,000 and £4,000 to create a “Grow Wild Community Site.

Grow Wild projects can include an unloved area that organisations want to reclaim for their local community or perhaps somewhere that’s a bit neglected or run-down and applicants want to turn it into an inspiring space for everyone.

Projects should work with one or more of the following groups; young people aged 12-18; Students and young people aged 18-25; people living in urban areas; people experiencing disadvantage and reduced access to services; adults that are less engaged with their community and environmental activities.

The closing date for applications is midday on the 15th January 2018.

 

More information here: www.growwilduk.com

Funding to Get Active!

Funding, HGN news Leave a comment

Hooray!! HGN have been successful in securing – and now receiving – some funding from the wonderful Awards for All for our work in Herefordshire 🙂

 

Press release with more details below here –

For the past 7 years an alliance of more than 40 of Herefordshire’s Transition Town, environmental groups & organisations has been meeting regularly to share ideas and provide support for energy saving projects in the county.

Over this time the alliance (now called Herefordshire Green Network – HGN) has supported a number of significant projects including the development of 4 local car share clubs, 4 community energy projects and many local events and home energy saving projects.

Although initially coordinated by the local organisation New Leaf, HGN is now entirely independent with a volunteer steering group, and has been awarded funding by Awards for All.

Coordinator of Herefordshire Green Network, Kate Gathercole said “The Awards for All funded ‘Get Active’ Project will provide a package of support for the important work of our membership in towns and villages around Herefordshire. This will include the provision of workshops and website resources alongside the development of materials to ensure the replicability of the inspirational local projects across the county”.

The work of HGN groups in their local communities is often highly respected, and groups are constantly developing new ways of engaging their communities in energy saving initiatives. Monthly ‘HGN Gatherings’ are also a popular feature of the Herefordshire Green Network’s current activities with a regular monthly discussion night at De Koffie Pot in central Hereford. Kate commented, “Funding will enable us to bring along guest speakers to these workshops, ensuring that we are informed by external as well as our own local voices”.

Funding will also support the involvement of HGN in significant local events such as Spring Greens, Hereford River Carnival and the sustainability festival h.Energy.

 

£1000 TravelFund Grants

Funding, Local Groups, Transport Leave a comment

TravelFund grants are currently still available to Herefordshire businesses and organisations, offering up to £1000 for workplace facilities to support sustainable commuting and business travel.  This includes facilities such as pool bikes, changing facilities, video-conferencing, and home working IT equipment.

The closing date for this year’s funding  is 31 October 2017 – so act soon!

Funding can be offered for up to 100% of the cost of the facilities and installation.

Further details and the application form are available online at:www.herefordshire.gov.uk/travelfundgrant

 

If you have any queries, or would like any advice on what sort of facilities would be suitable, please do not hesitate to contact Tina Kilner from Herefordshire Council’s Choose how you move team atmove@herefordshire.gov.uk

 

 

Both this scheme and the Cycle Stand scheme are part of the Choose How You Move (Access Fund) project, funded by the Department for Transport, supporting access to work and education in Herefordshire.

Keep Herefordshire Warm

Built environment, Community, Funding, Local Groups Leave a comment

Please share this message from the Keep Herefordshire Warm team with anyone who you think might benefit from this help over the coming winter months:

 

Get £140 off your electricity bill for winter 2017-2018 under the government’s Warm Home Discount Scheme

Thousands of households in Herefordshire may be eligible for a £140 reduction to their electricity bill if they act quickly. For winter 2017-18, some energy suppliers are closing applications soon and householders are being urged to seek advice and apply now if they think they may be eligible.

The discount is available to those on a low income, and in receipt of certain means-tested benefits. As long as your energy supplier on 9 July 2017 was part of the scheme, you may be eligible if you or a member of your household receives employment related benefits, is over 65, or has a disability; if you live with a child under 18; or if you spend a significant portion of your income on energy bills. The criteria varies between energy suppliers, so if you think you may be entitled to the discount, Warmer Homes Stafford are advising you to contact them to check your eligibility.

The discount is also available to those receiving the Guarantee Credit element of the Pension Credit, in which case an application is unnecessary as this ‘core group’ will be contacted in Autumn 2017 by the government.

In recent months, the UK’s ‘Big 6’ energy providers have announced electricity price increases that look set to cost their customers an additional £100 in household energy bills each year. To those who are eligible, the £140 Warm Home Discount can help to negate this increase.

Oliver Rothwell, Project manager for Keep Herefordshire Warm said:

“Those households who have the least to spend on energy bills are likely to feel these price increases the hardest, including households on the lowest incomes or where particular health conditions call for extra heat at home. We are delighted that the Warm Home Discount is returning and is able to benefit some of Herefordshire’s most vulnerable households”.

Keep Herefordshire Warm are urging householders to apply as soon as possible, as some applications are set to close as early as October. Funding is allocated on a ‘first-come, first-serve’ basis, so those who meet the criteria must act quickly to confirm their receipt of the £140 discount.

“It is vital that applications are made as soon as possible to ensure that Herefordshire residents don’t miss out” said Oliver.

If you think you may be eligible, please contact Keep Herefordshire Warm for free on 0800 677 1432

If an eligible applicant is successful, £140 will automatically be deducted by the provider from their winter 2017-18 energy bill by the end of March 2018. The Warm Home Discount is separate from, and will not affect, any Cold Weather Payments or Winter Fuel Payments.

Garway Community Centre Appeal

Built environment, Climate change, Community, Economics, Energy, Environment, Funding, Local Groups Leave a comment

Garway Community Centre has been shortlisted for the M&S Energy Community Energy Fund! The groundbreaking new Community Centre is in the running to receive a £12,500 grant from the nationally recognised M&S Energy Community Energy Fund. Having made it this far – Garway community now need your help to get the campaign over the finish line.

 

What makes the Garway Community Centre special?

The Garway Community Centre is a unique eco build, and the first of its kind in the UK. It’s a cutting-edge ‘Passivhaus’ design that’s clean and very cheap to run due to its highly energy efficient mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system (MVHR) which helps to dramatically reduce energy use compared to a traditional build. It really is something special – you can read more about the technology on the Garway campaign page.

 

How can you help?

  • Cast your vote – voting is open! And they we need as many votes as possible to be awarded the grant. Here’s the link to the the campaign and voting page – https://www.mandsenergyfund.com/projects/garway-new-community-centre-2 You’ll find lots more information about the MVHR system and the project itself on there.
  • Spread the word! and tell as many people as possible about this important local project. It’s the first of its kind in the UK and we want the whole country to know about it – it’s a game changer. Please share this with your friends, family and colleagues.
  • Make a donation – as well as the M&S Energy Community Energy Fund grant, there’s a crowdfunded campaign to help raise even more money to really get the Community Centre off to a flying start in December. Any and all donations are very welcome – plus, there will be some tasty rewards for early backers!

 

What is the money going towards?

The M&S Energy Community Energy Fund grant will be put towards funding the MVHR system.

Any additional money raised through the crowdfunding will also go towards essential equipment for the Centre, and the large range of facilities and activities it will offer. Discover the many ways the Centre will be used by watching the latest video: https://youtu.be/aGdCeFjI30k

 

Thank you for your help and support – let’s win this together.

 

Visit the campaign page to vote: https://www.mandsenergyfund.com/projects/garway-new-community-centre-2

 

1 2