23.06.09: Brighton Marathon launched Sunday 18th April
The Marathon is offering two categories of Charity Entry – “Red” & “Magic”. Note, that any one charity will be limited to a combined total of 25 entries from the two categories initially. A view on further access to entries will be taken one month after entries have opened. The idea of this is to try to expand the time period for access to our charity entries; limiting buy-up to this number initially, increases the chances of charities of all sizes and financial ability, having a chance to participate. Patrick Cox, Founder and CEO at the Small Charities Coalition who is well known for his running of marathons around the world dressed as a giant pair of testicles for his other charity Male Cancer Awareness Campaign welcomed the launch of the Brighton marathon with "very much a small charities focus".
If you are a charity interested in taking up Brighton Marathon Charity Entries, please email us at info@brightonmarathon.co.uk or call 08453 100088 to leave a message.
02.06.09 OTS bulletin: Online application for Modernisation Fund grants open
From 1st June to 17th July, third sector organisations with an annual turnover of between £150,000 and £750,000 are invited to apply online for a £1,000 bursary from the Government's Real Help for Communities Modernisation Fund Grants Programme which is being delivered by Capacitybuilders.
The £1,000 bursaries will allow organisations to buy at least two days of advice and support to explore how they can become more resilient and work more closely with others, including through collaboration or merger. From the Autumn, £10,000 grants will be available to help organisations which have gone through Phase One of the programme and would like to take further significant steps towards collaboration or merger.
You can find out details of how to apply via the following link below: Modernisation Fund
You can find details of the other support available from Real Help for Communities on our website via the following link: Real Help for Communities
27.02.09 Free fundraising training for small charities
The Small Charities Coalition are delighted to have teamed up with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and the Institute of Fundraising (Institute) to offer free one day fundraising training to friends of the Coalition with an annual turnover below £100,000.
The training will look at fundraising planning and Gift Aid, and offer a practical and engaging day for trustees, staff and volunteers of small charities to address their fundraising needs.
Panikos Efthimiou, Training Manager at CAF and leader of the training days say: the aims and outcomes couldn’t be simpler. ”The idea is that each of the delegates will walk away with a draft fundraising plan and a good understanding of how Gift Aid works and making [Gift Aid] work for them once they start putting their fundraising plan into action”.
Lee Grant, Project Manager – Tax-Effective Giving at the Institute says "In the current economic climate, voluntary organisations should maximise every donation they receive and Gift Aid is a simple way to do it. It doesn’t cost the donor anything extra and can increase voluntary donations by nearly a third".
If you would like your charity to be part of these free training days, visit www.smallcharities.org.uk, complete the online form and state your charity’s needs. Remember, in joining the Coalition you must be prepared to share your own skills, experience and knowledge with other fellow small charities.
10.02.09 Small Charities Coalition launches its Valentines Day Perfect Match Campaign
This Valentine’s day, the UK will spend a staggering £1.6 billion on showing their perfect match they care. Small Charities Coalition is driving a campaign to offer an alternative way to find an ideal match with relationships that will remain long after the roses have wilted.
There are 164,000 small charities and many struggle on a daily basis suffering from a chronic lack of resources, skills and expertise, despite having an abundance of passion and commitment. The Small Charities Coalition offers a voluntary sector matchmaking service, matching small charities with other organisations that have the skills, experience, and in some cases resources, that the small charity lacks.
These skills and experience may come from a fellow small charity who is a Coalition friend or from a Coalition supporter. Supporters are usually larger charities, public or private sector organisations. Benefiting from the Small Charities Coalition is free. All they ask is that Coalition friends donate 24 hours of their time over a year to help their fellow small charities.
Patrick Cox, SCC founder said: ‘The Small Charities Coalition is about helping small charities to help themselves, and enable them to have access to the considerable expertise of their larger counterparts in the charitable sector or those from other sectors. The more charities that sign up, the more charities we can help.’
Find your ideal match at www.smallcharities.org.uk
12.12.08 British Red Cross and Beatbullying sign up to the Coalition
We can confirm that British Red Cross and Beatbullying have signed up as supporters of the Small Charities Coalition.
British Red Cross will encourage senior managers to become trustees of small charities and share their connections and expertise. "We hope that Board level experience will contribute to our teams professional development, whilst keeping them in touch with a range of different client groups - at an often far more intimate level than many large charities can achieve!" says Roger Smith, Director of HR and Education Services at British Red Cross.
Beatbullying have pledged that all 30 of their staff will donate a minimum of 24 hours of their time per year and have reported a high level of interest in staff becoming trustees of small charities. "This is an important aspect of staff development" said Emma-Jane Cross, Chief Executive at Beatbullying, "as well as a contribution to emerging and small charities".
Beatbullying have also teamed up with the Small Charities Coalition in delivering mentoring skills training in 2009 to charity staff that may be thinking of becoming mentors to small charities.
If your charity is looking for a quality trustee or feel you'd benefit from having a mentor, join the Coalition today.
01.12.08 Small Charities Coalition launches its website
On Monday 1 December the Small Charities Coalition launched its brand new website at a special event hosted by Google UK. Guests heard from David Locke, Executive Director of Charity Services at the Charity Commission and Debra Allcock Tyler, Chief Executive at the Directory of Social Change who highlighted the importance of small charities in the sector and the important role that they play within communities. Representatives of small charities also got the opportunity to gain insightful knowledge and advice from one of Google's web experts into how they can maximise the impact of their own website.
This event will be followed by another in the New Year that aims to team talented student web designers with small charities to build and develop their very own websites.
If you are interested in being matched with a talented web designer, become a friend of the Coalition and highlight your need in our survey.
Patrick Cox addressing guests at the website launch