The Scottish National Investment Bank’s Post

The impact of further public sector cuts is hurting charities across the country, and here in Sussex. Like many other charities, we are concerned about the potential loss of essential services at a time where need and costs are rising.    In Brighton & Hove, the charity sector contributes an estimated £170m a year to our local economy, with an estimated 7000 people employed here (Taking Account 4 report). Losing this would have a devastating impact on the city - but it is a real risk.    https://lnkd.in/em2N8At4 The Trust For Developing Communities, Community Works

We just completed our biggest single round of funding since the McCarthy Stone Foundation launched, awarding over £170,000. We took a deprivation-based lens to this round of funding, prioritising applicants from areas with higher levels of income deprivation affecting older people. All of our grant recipients work in the 30% most-deprived areas, with most of them in the top 10%. This approach did challenge us to look at applications differently and to weigh certain aspects in a different context. Charities working in more deprived areas face different challenges and often 'look' different (at least they do to me, having read thousands of applications). It is a valuable reminder of the need to question our own beliefs and biases, what 'good' looks like, and whether we should be funding the 'best applicants' and/or 'the best charities' on paper...Clarity on who, what and where you want to fund is absolutely critical. We took a big step forward with that with this round of funding.

Land ownership significantly enhances charity survival, especially in deprived regions. Assets provide stability, generate revenue, and empower communities, crucial for sustained impact. Advocating divestment of land to communities, fostering self-reliance, and safeguarding essential services for vulnerable populations. #charity #survival #community #assets

Attention all non-profit organizations! The TD Charitable Foundation has announced that $7 million in grants are now available through its Annual Housing for Everyone grant program. The program aims to address community needs by addressing gaps in the housing market. This year the program will fund Non-Profit organizations that support independent living for marginalized communities. According to the article, the end of pandemic-era programs, in conjunction with lower-income renters, are contributing factors leading to increases in eviction rates and homelessness for low-income renters.  The TD Charitable Foundation is the charitable arm of TD Bank and, since 2005, has awarded $49 million to non-profit organizations and helped support 550 affordable housing initiatives. If you are a non-profit organization looking to make a positive change in your community, take the first step in securing grants by signing up today for the Certificate in Grant Writing. Let's work together to make a difference in affordable housing initiatives and address community needs. https://bit.ly/4b2jInq https://bit.ly/3sBgGVM #nonprofitgrants , #AffordableHousingInitiatives, and #CommunityNeeds

Interesting report - definitely ready for a reset! And investment in the charity sector.

I have been learning about how #communitybonds are capable of doing such awesome work while giving back to investors. Below details attempts being made to put this to work for the #housingcrisis 💡

[Toronto, ON] "Tapestry Community Capital says housing groups across Canada are aiming to raise $110-MILLION through community bonds to secure #AffordableHousing options. It says at least 11 charitable, non-profit, and co-operative housing providers will be using the funding model to create or preserve more than 3,000 housing units. #CommunityBonds pay out interest and eventually return the initial capital in the same way as more conventional bonds — but the money is directed to social projects, and the not-for-profit entity that initiates one is responsible for the guarantee... Tapestry says the funding efforts come as affordable housing options become harder to find and high financing costs make new rental supply harder to build." https://lnkd.in/ghEcay39

⏰ The VCSE Barometer survey closes today! 🔔 Don’t forget to add your #voice about what is happening in the #voluntary & #charity sector right now! Link is attached on the comment section! ➡ Our interim results tell that 1 in 3 #vcse organisations expect their overall income to decrease over the next 12 months as a result of changes in their local authorities 📣 Could we please help us to take this message to your VCSE members' organisations, charity friends, #trustees. Your voice matter to us! Patrick Butler (The Guardian) mentions in his article “Four councils have gone bust in the past year while others said that only with drastic cuts can they avoid imminent insolvency in the face of soaring social care, homelessness and special educational needs costs. Charities fear community grants are seen as a priority for cuts as town halls retreat to “bare legal minimum” levels of service” https://lnkd.in/emx227Wc Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service Heart of Bucks Voscur VONNE (Voluntary Organisations' Network North East) Medway Voluntary Action NAVCA Bassetlaw Community and Voluntary Service Consortium of LGBT+ Voluntary and Community Organisations Community Action Suffolk Community Impact Bucks Charity Finance Group Bucks Data Exchange Connected Voice Getting On Board Association of Charitable Foundations CERULEAN BLUE ACEVO NCVO Pro Bono Economics Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University

I tried to write an insightful post about more trusts and foundations closing to complete a strategy review. But I just can’t put how I feel about it all into words. Demand is through the roof, the system is broken. Good causes are bridging ever widening gaps and seeing huge demand for their services and many just don’t have the funding to cope. Diversification matters but is really hard to achieve if you are a small organisation. I’m worried. I just know that these strategy review closures will mean that some good causes just don’t make it through the next wobble. For a small vital charity that one grant, the one funder backing them, can change everything. #fundraising #trustsandfoundations Shout out to Jo J. who has been keeping a list of all trusts and foundations who are closed, paused or winding down. It’s a great collaborative resource. https://lnkd.in/eM7WNXcS

The caution is to make sure there is proper board oversight with knowledgeable board members. To ensure that there is transparency between the nonprofit and for profit by making sure someone in the organization understands not only programs but money! $26 million for 78 rooms is over $300k per unit which were probably smaller than 300 sf. You can buy existing units for that price. Seems like the loans should have been reviewed by HCD to make sure they were actually needed for renovation and were not a high interest rate play to leverage the “equity” created by grant funds. Where was the oversight!