Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council’s Joint Commissioning Unit (JCU) are hosting a workshop for third sector, not for profit, social enterprise providers who may be interested in the opportunity of hosting Barnsley’s Local Healthwatch. Local Healthwatches have been set up to enable people to have their say about the quality and development of their local health and adult social care services.

Barnsley Council’s JCU is looking for organisations that can demonstrate an understanding of what is required to deliver a Local Healthwatch for Barnsley, along with having the necessary skills and experience for delivering services within this field. In particular, the JCU wish to hear your views on the following matters:

• How to establish and understand the impact of a Local Healthwatch for Barnsley, and the risks associated with its delivery
• How to identify innovative ideas, knowledge and experience around the delivery of a sustainable Healthwatch for Barnsley.

Attendees at the Healthwatch event will be invited to share their views on these matters, and a follow-up questionnaire will also be handed out.

Venue: Barnsley Library, Shambles Street, Barnsley, S70 2JF
Date: Friday 17 February 2012, 10 - 4

The JCU may use this information in preparation for the procurement process for Local Healthwatch, which begins in April 2012.

To attend, contact Jennie Pearce to request an expression of interest form.

Deadline: (for the follow-up questionnaire) 29 February 2012

Contact: Jennie Pearce, Market Development Manager
Telephone: 01226 775 808
Email: jenniepearce@barnsley.gov.uk
Website: http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/local-healthwatch-pathfinders-announced

Together for Regeneration (TfR) and SYFAB are holding an event in Walkley, Sheffield:

Are you part of a voluntary, community or faith group or organisation?
Do you need help in getting your group or organisation started?
Does your group or organisation need some support to overcome barriers and problems, or find funding for its activities?

If these are your first steps into fundraising, or you are interested in building the capacity of your volunteers to fundraise or you are looking to develop a project then this session will be for you.

Before taking your questions, SYFAB will be talking about the SYFAB online services (Funding Search database, Funding News with email alerts and online information sheets) and discussing different ways to fundraise.

Venue: St Marys Walkley, 2 Howard Road/South Road, Walkley, S6 3TN
Wednesday 15 February 2012, 6:30pm - 8:30pm

You must book a place. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. You can be added onto a waiting list for future events if you cannot get a place on this event. Groups on the waiting list will will have priority to book onto future events of this kind.

To book a place please contact Madeleine Gadsby, at TfR, contact details below.

Contact: Madeleine Gadsby, Together for Regeneration
Telephone: 01709 309 119
Email: madeleine.gadsby@tfr.org.uk

The Creme of Nature Community Action Award 2012 is open for entries. The award is aimed at giving something back to communities that have helped to make Creme of Nature a successful hair and beauty brand. Voluntary, faith and community groups whose main objective is to make a difference to their communities may apply. Two cash awards of £10,000 and £5,000 each are available, alongside three runners up awards of £500 worth of Creme of Nature products.

The website states that applications for capital items may be favoured.

Groups that get through to the final will have to promote themselves to their communities and supporters to get online votes for their project from 1 - 18 May.

Deadline: 31 March 2012 (for initial applications - online voting for finalists follows)

Contact: Creme of Nature Community Action Award Team
Telephone: 020 7148 3933
Email: chris@communityactionaward.com
Website: www.communityactionaward.com/index2.html

The Potato Council are offering free potato growing kits for primary schools. Schools need to register as quickly as possible as kits are limited. Supporting lesson plans and worksheets are provided and you can win prizes for your school by entering the competition once you have harvested your potato crops.

There is some additional information on the scheme on the MoneySavingExpert website here, including a reported deadline of  3 February 2012.

So however you like yours…mashed, boiled or roast, get your registration in quick!

Website: http://gyop.potato.org.uk

Eaga Charitable Trust supports projects that promote a better understanding of fuel poverty and more effective means of tackling it. This includes understanding the causes of fuel poverty, how to prevent it and which groups are most likely to suffer fuel poverty. It also includes how best to target assistance to those in fuel poverty or at risk of it.

They do not support physical energy efficiency measures but they can fund evaluation and promotion of targeted energy efficiency strategies.

As well as funding work that fits their general programme, in 2012 the Trust will also be prioritising applications which address one or more of the following themes:

• Fuel poverty and disability
• Fuel poverty and young children
• The links between fuel poverty and migrant communities
• Real and perceived barriers to the take-up of assistance
• Fuel poverty and the climate change agenda
• Fuel poverty definition and target.

Further details about each theme are available on the guidance notes which you can download from the website.

You can look at details of previously funded projects here.

The Trust want to speak to potential applicants at an early stage to discuss their ideas and whether they are likely to fall within their areas of interest.

You can download an application form here.

Deadline: next round 14 May (decisions late June)
Contact: Dr Naomi Brown, Trust Manager
Telephone: 01539 736 477
Email: eagact@aol.com
Website: www.eagacharitabletrust.org/home

Grassroots Grants funded approximately 19,000 groups in England over two and a half years from September 2008 – March 2011. The Community Development Foundation (CDF) has published the final evaluation.

The press release gives a very short summary. You can download the full report or an executive summary from the same web page.

Website: www.cdf.org.uk/web/guest/news-headline?id=677798

The Give As You Rent Appeal is open for applications.

This is an annual scheme run by the University of Sheffield and the Union of Students to support local organisations working with the homeless, vulnerable and displaced in Sheffield.

Funding comes from students in University accommodation who can opt to pay an additional £6 per year as part of their accommodation payment, that money goes to fund projects.

Applications are considered by a committee of students who decide which organisations receive a grant and the size of the donation. Click here for more information.

Deadline: 24 Feb 2012
Contact: Emma Damian-Grint
Email: emma.damian-grint@shef.ac.uk
Website: www.giveasyourent.co.uk/

The Sheffield Funding Forum for January 2012 has a heritage theme…

Venue: Quaker Meeting House, 10 St James’s Street, Sheffield, S1 2EW
Tuesday 31 January 2012, 10 - 12:30

There will be presentations from Karen Boardman of the Heritage Lottery Fund on their funding programmes and Grace Tebbutt, Community Heritage Worker from Green Estate, on support she can offer to groups on developing a heritage project.

Shahida Siddique from Together for Regeneration will also be there to speak to about project advice and support.

The first presentation starts at 10:30. Free tea and coffee is provided from 10am but people are not supposed to take their drinks into the prayer room where the presentations are held.

There is no need to book, just turn up on the day.

Contact: South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau
Telephone: 0114 249 4343
Email: fiag@syfab.gov.uk

You can still have your say on the Rotherham Infrastructure Network Annual Survey….

Voluntary Action Rotherham (VAR) is undertaking their annual survey, looking at the voluntary and community Sector in Rotherham. It should take about 15 minutes to complete online and all responses where contact details are provided will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 for your group.

VAR are undertaking this joint survey on behalf of the Rotherham Infrastructure Network; working with Together for Regeneration, South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau, Rural Action Yorkshire, and Rotherham Ethnic Minority Alliance. The information, which the survey will provide, is vital to all these organisations in developing policies and services, in order to represent and support you efficiently and effectively.

You can complete the questionnaire here.

Alternatively, you can request a paper version by contacting VAR:

Deadline: 31 January 2012
Contact: Wanda Steadman, VAR
Telephone: 01709 829 821
Email: wanda.steadman@varotherham.org.uk
Website: www.surveymonkey.com/s/GNKV2YW

Voluntary Action Sheffield are tendering for an evaluation of the work of their South Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service BASIS funded project. You will need to be available from mid March to mid April.

To download the tender document, click here.

Deadline: 6 February 2012