Jacqui Scott MCIOF’s Post

🎉 A word from our CEO, Jacqui Scott, as we continue our Small Charity Week celebrations 🎉 It's Small Charity Week here in the UK… did you know that 96% of the charities working in the UK are deemed to be small charities – ones with income under £1 million per annum?   Here’s some you might not have realised are small charities… 🐎 Riding for the Disabled Association groups are almost all small charities…run by local volunteers with local Trustees, and often with local landowners lending land and ponies.  🏠 Home-Start UK – a very well recognised name in our area – is also lots of small charities?  Again, local volunteers, trustees and fundraising opportunities!   💙 Age UK – also has lots of small locally registered individual charities delivering its work on the ground.  Not to mention the local charities that don’t have “brand recognition” – I could go through the alphabet naming names – A is for Aspire Ryde; B is for Breakout Youth; C is for City of Sanctuary UK…  What do they all have in common?  Well, in terms of governance – they are all registered charities in their own rights.  (And of course, there are loads of CICs, CIOs, sports clubs etc who would fit the financial criteria of “small”). But to me, what is much more important and compelling about small charities is: 🌟 Local volunteers  🌟 Local trustees 🌟 Local staff   🌟 Local supporters  🌟 Local fundraising opportunities   🌟 Local knowledge… And more than any other charities I have worked with (and there’s been a few now!) small charities are very often founded and driven by people personally affected by the issues they are aiming to address, and are surrounded by more people who care or are affected by those issues too. The passion, drive, enthusiasm – call it what you will – to make a wrong thing right, burns bright in the small charity sector 🔥   Lots of power to your elbows small charities, we’re right behind you. #SmallCharityWeek #SmallCharitiesTogether #Hampshire #IsleOfWight

TOY TRUST GRANTS The Toy Trust generally awards small grants under £5,000 to "such charity or charities or charitable purposes connected with children as they (the trustees) shall in their absolute discretion decide". In exceptional circumstances, the Trust also makes donations to any crisis involving children which require an immediate response. In addition to the smaller grants made by the Trust throughout the year, the Trust's committee can decide to award a larger grant to one or a small number of charities in conjunction with the Trust's annual fundraising events. Applying charities working overseas must have a UK office (applications are not accepted from overseas offices). Grants are available for equipment and services for smaller UK charities working to help disadvantaged children aged under 13 years of age and their families to: o Alleviate suffering. o Bolster existing initiatives. o Encourage achievement through adversity. o Initiate brand new projects. o Provide care. o Purchase vital equipment. o Satisfy basic needs, and o Support children through awful experiences. Projects should: o Be in support of children and projects regardless of faith, sex or disability. o Run for a minimum of 12 months, and o Show real benefit for relieving hardship and suffering to beneficiaries. All grant awards of £2,500 and over are listed on page 14 of the Trust’s annual accounts. The Trust meets 4 times each year to review applications. The deadlines are: 1. Mid-February for its March meeting. 2. Mid-June for its July meeting. 3. Mid-August for its August meeting, and 4. Mid-November for its December meeting. The next application deadline is therefore on Friday 16th August 2024. Further information, guidance and details about how to apply for a grant is available on the Trust’s website. Contact details for the Trust are: Tracey Butcher Charity Coordinator British Toy and Hobby Association 142-144 Long Lane London SE1 4BS Tel: 020 7701 7271 Email: tracey@btha.co.uk Thank you, to @GRIN SW LLP who shared this opportunity, in their daily grant bulletin. Contact @Heaward Solutions for help to make an application. #grant #fundraising #charity #youngpeople

TOY TRUST GRANTS The Toy Trust generally awards small grants under £5,000 to "such charity or charities or charitable purposes connected with children as they (the trustees) shall in their absolute discretion decide". In exceptional circumstances, the Trust also makes donations to any crisis involving children which require an immediate response. In addition to the smaller grants made by the Trust throughout the year, the Trust's committee can decide to award a larger grant to one or a small number of charities in conjunction with the Trust's annual fundraising events. Applying charities working overseas must have a UK office (applications are not accepted from overseas offices). Grants are available for equipment and services for smaller UK charities working to help disadvantaged children aged under 13 years of age and their families to: o Alleviate suffering. o Bolster existing initiatives. o Encourage achievement through adversity. o Initiate brand new projects. o Provide care. o Purchase vital equipment. o Satisfy basic needs, and o Support children through awful experiences. Projects should: o Be in support of children and projects regardless of faith, sex or disability. o Run for a minimum of 12 months, and o Show real benefit for relieving hardship and suffering to beneficiaries. All grant awards of £2,500 and over are listed on page 14 of the Trust’s annual accounts. The Trust meets 4 times each year to review applications. The deadlines are: 1. Mid-February for its March meeting. 2. Mid-June for its July meeting. 3. Mid-August for its August meeting, and 4. Mid-November for its December meeting. The next application deadline is therefore on Friday 16th August 2024. Further information, guidance and details about how to apply for a grant is available on the Trust’s website. Contact details for the Trust are: Tracey Butcher Charity Coordinator British Toy and Hobby Association 142-144 Long Lane London SE1 4BS Tel: 020 7701 7271 Email: tracey@btha.co.uk Thank you, to @GRIN SW LLP who shared this opportunity, in their daily grant bulletin. Contact @Heaward Solutions for help to make an application. #grant #fundraising #charity #youngpeople

Government should do more to support small charities, say almost half of Brits: Almost half of Brits think government should do more to support small charities, with a quarter relying on them once a week, according to new data from NCVO.

This week is hashtag #SmallCharityWeek. It was recently calculated by UK Civil Society Almanac 2023 that in the past 4 years, UK small charity donations have dropped by £4.6 Billion at the same time as donations to large charities have increased by £4.5 billion. That tells us two things: 1. People are still generously supporting causes. 2. Small charities are struggling and many are even closing their doors or merging with others on the edge of closure. In all the years I've worked for charities I've never known a time like this. The reality of a global cost of living crisis and, of course, a national cost of living crisis hits the work of small charities on two fronts. The need for the work of small charities has increased with the economic challenges like those we have been in since the start of the pandemic. People who may have been potential supporters are having to cut personal and family budgets just to keep their own finances in balance. It is a huge challenge for those of us trying to raise funds for the great causes we believe in. Paper Boat is no exception. It is as challenging a landscape for us as it is for any charity of our small size but we will keep going because we believe in the infinite potential of the children we work with. So, here's the challenge. I'd love to add 10 new regular supporters to our donor list this small charities week. As little as £5 a month makes a real difference to the children we serve. If this is you, please click the link below and join us in inspiring & enabling children to change their world. Donate here: https://lnkd.in/eNcuT4ax Now, I am aware that you may not be able to donate, can I ask you to help us by sharing this post? Any interaction makes a big difference. Find out more about Paper Boat at paperboatcharity.org.uk

This Small Charity Week we are celebrating the remarkable work of small charities across Kent and Medway. Here are 12 reasons to give to small charities: 1. Micro and small charities (income under £100,000) make up 77.4% of voluntary sector organisations in Kent.* 2. Support local people in need and build stronger local communities 3. Smaller amounts can make a greater difference to small local charities and communities 4. Small, local charities rarely have big marketing and fundraising budgets, so support is especially valuable... equally, you can be sure your donation won’t be poured into costly advertising campaigns 5. There is a great sense of accountability for the difference donations or volunteered hours have made within small, local groups 6. Local charities understand local issues and how to address them because they see and experience it first-hand 7. There are more opportunities to get involved personally e.g. fundraising or volunteering – great for that ‘feel-good’ factor 8. The impact of giving can often be seen faster through small local groups who are ‘on-the-ground’ and can act quickly 9. It’s a way to give back to and boost your sense of belonging within the local community 10. It’s easy to find a charity or group addressing a certain (often very specific) need that is close to your heart, as well as your home 11. Join the growing number of philanthropists recognising the strength of local groups and distributing funds to those charities close to local needs 12. Protect Kent and Medway’s green spaces for all to enjoy and experience the physical and mental benefits Have we missed any reasons? Add them in the comments 👇 #SmallCharitiesWeek *Kent figures are based on data from the Charity Commission's Register of Charities in England and Wales from 2021/22. The register recorded 3,041 registered charities active in Kent. This is not the full picture for Kent.

Many charitable trusts can eventually find themselves struggling to distribute their income into the charitable objectives they originally set up to help. Now, whilst the reasons behind this can be many and varied, the main culprits overwhelmingly tend to be one, or a combination, of the following: - Identifying beneficiaries to make grants to - Locating new Trustees - The time and effort it takes to run the charity - Charitable objects which have become outdated or are too restrictive Time stands still for no charitable trust and when they've been struggling to spend their income in the last five years (as all are duty bound to do) they will be contacted the Charity Commission, who will outline a few choices available to them. One of these is to wind up their charity, but a far BETTER route to take, and one they'll excitedly extol the virtues of, is to talk to their local Community Foundation, who can breathe new life into a dormant trust by way of a TRUST TRANSFER so that the excellent work they have undertaken for many years can be continued in perpetuity. Dorset Community Foundation manage a number of active funds that have been set up as a result of local, Dorset-based trusts transferring their assets to us in this way. We work with ineffective and dormant trusts to find solutions to the issues they face and have transferred parish trusts, trusts held by local authorities and other institutions across BCP and Dorset into funding programmes that continue to serve their charitable objective. In EVERY case we have been able to revitalise the grant-making to ensure all grants given can have the maximum impact and benefit those most at need in our communities. Like all the other 46 Community Foundations spread out across the UK, DCF are actively endorsed by the Charity Commission so if you know of a trust that is struggling to meet its charitable objectives, please do point them our way as the odds are we’ll be able to help. #charitabletrusts #trusttransfer #community #localphilanthropy #philanthropy #charitablegiving

How is the charity shop sector performing in the current climate? There were some interesting stats to benchmark against in the latest Charity Retail Association report for Q1 in 2024. Out of the 50 charities, representing 3,810 shops who were surveyed, it was great to see that: • Charities saw a 0.8% growth in like-for-like in-store income in January-March 2024 vs January-March 2023 • 77.4% of that income was from donated goods • Gift Aid conversion rate, or a proportion of Gift Aided donated goods, was at 39.1% However, there was a key area to improve on which was charity shop collections income, which is dropping, but the sector predicts this to rise during the summer months and with the Olympics on the horizon. At Nisyst, we are here to help make your charity shop sales and donations as smooth as possible. We can share with you how intuitive our ChariotWeb charity EPoS solution is for charity shops across the UK. #epos #epossystem #charityshop

Can you afford NOT to give to charity in 2024?   With the cost of living crisis, many people are having to rethink their charitable giving and this has led to a cost of giving crisis.   Charities across the UK are struggling with juggling a higher demand for their services with a decline in income and increased costs.    However, if this trend continues, 1 in 5 charities may be forced to shut their doors if they don’t get the support they need, according to research carried out by NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations). In addition, 27% of charities say that they won’t be able to meet the demand for their services in 2024.   The survey shows that only 35% of charities believe they can navigate the crisis through cost cutting, suggesting that many have already cut back as much as they can.  And a quarter of charities are preparing to reduce the volume or variety of services they offer which means many people could lose the vital services they depend on.   We never know when we are going to need the support of a charity; circumstances may mean that we need the services of a housing charity, a health charity, an advice line or a food bank.   So, I ask again, can you afford NOT to give to charity in 2024?    Photo of me in cow onesie which I wore every day for a whole week as a fundraiser. 

OK folks. I don’t often (ever) post personal requests here, but this one’s a passion project for me and if you have £100 that you are looking to donate to a great cause (deadline 30 Aug), then this is the one 👇 The Shakespeare North Playhouse in my home town of Prescot, is taking part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. Last year, this challenge raised £33 million for 1,770 charities. 74% of the charities met their targets and a total of 94,101 donations were made. As well as the direct benefit of the funds they raise, they are really hoping that taking part in this campaign will bring increased visibility and potential new supporters to Shakespeare North Playhouse. This is a match funding campaign to support their engagement work with young people in Knowsley. And if you’re not aware, Knowsley is, according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation, the second most deprived borough in England. The work Shakespeare North Playhouse does is playing a significant part in the much-needed economic regeneration of Prescot, but, most importantly, the educational aspiration of the young people of Knowsley. They need to raise a minimum of £1,000 in pledges but have set, what should be given the fantastic impact the Playhouse has had already, an achievable target of £5,000. The pledges raised can be matched by a Big Give Champion. In the final stage, an online campaign will aim to double the total funding pot, including the amount pledged and matched. £100 is the minimum pledge allowed on the Big Give platform. Pledges are key to the success of this campaign and must be collected by 5pm on 30 August using this form: https://lnkd.in/etAa3U9Z. Pledges will not be paid to Shakespeare North Trust until after the online campaign closes at 12pm on 10 December 2024. You can read more about their plans here: https://lnkd.in/eyZcRfPP Please help if you can. The 93% Club #educationalaspiration #kingscollegecambridge #economicregeneration VWV BICC CABLES Balfour Beatty plc