Here you can keep up with the latest from Reading’s 900+ voluntary organisations and other voluntary sector news from around the area.
Trustees’ Week – Highlights from NCVO Conference
13 November 2018Happy Trustees’ Week! This week we recognise the incredible contribution and dedication made by approximately 700,000 volunteer trustees across the country. Trustees are volunteers who take on ultimate legal responsibility for a charity and set its strategy so that it can best achieve its charitable objects. Reading has over 900 voluntary and community groups with hundreds of ...
Windrush Compensation Scheme – meeting on 13 November 2018
12 November 2018Are you part of the ‘Windrush generation’, or a long-term Commonwealth citizen in the UK, and have faced issues establishing your status? The Home Office are working to put in place a compensation scheme for those who have suffered loss through no fault of their own. They are currently consulting on how the scheme should work. Talk ...
Berkshire West CCG strategy and future funding for the voluntary sector
8 November 2018Consultation to be launched Many of you will have attended the Listening Event that RVA hosted at Shehnai in June, to gather initial views as a foundation for developing a CCG strategy for working with the voluntary sector across Berkshire West (Reading, Wokingham and West Berkshire). And now you will be wondering what has happened since ...
Social Prescribing – Coming of Age
8 November 2018The King’s Fund hosted a conference on 6th November bringing together established and developing Social Prescribing (SP) services, NHS acute trusts, GPs and many voluntary organisation interested in being part of the Social Prescribing movement. The conference kicked off with a breakfast discussion about how social prescribing can help reduce the demand on secondary services for ...
‘Choose a charity that aligns with your values’ – it’s Trustee Week next week
7 November 2018Next week is national Trustee Week: an annual event to showcase the great work that trustees do and highlight opportunities for people from all walks of life to get involved and make a difference. There are approximately 850,000 volunteer Trustees in England and the UK is ranked the 6th most giving country in the world! This ...
Reading Buses Charity of the Year 2019 – open until 9 November 2018
7 November 2018Applications to be the Reading Buses Charity of the Year 2019 are open until Friday 9 November 2018 Reading Buses are inviting local charities, and national charities who work with local people, to apply to become their Charity of the Year 2019. For 2019, they are looking to work with a charity that supports people affected by ...
Purple Tuesday – accessible shopping day on 13 November 2018
7 November 2018The Oracle shopping centre is taking part in Purple Tuesday on Tuesday 13 November 2018 to demonstrate the accessible features they have for shopping. Come along for a free cake, a chat, friendly faces and guidance on accessible shopping in our centre from 10 am to 3 pm, next to Pravins on the Lower Mall. A Mencap ...
Hut at Knights Way, Emmer Green – bidding opportunity
7 November 2018Hut at Knights Way, Emmer Green The above Property is currently vacant and the Council has decided to grant a lease. In accordance with the Third Sector Premises Policy Statement agreed on the 16 February 2016, voluntary sector organisations have a period of 8 weeks to submit a bid for the property. Description of property Standalone hut Residential location Facilities: ...
Wellbeing Forum for the Voluntary Sector – 12 December 2018
7 November 2018Reading Voluntary Action is hosting the next Wellbeing Forum for the Voluntary Sector on Wednesday 12 December from 10.00 am to 12.00 pm in the conference room at RISC We are currently finalising the programme for the Forum which will include: Social Prescribing An update on Reading’s Social Prescribing service, jointly delivered by Age UK Berkshire and Reading ...
Nationwide Community Grants – open until 7 December 2018
6 November 2018The Nationwide Community Grants is a new funding initiative by Nationwide Building Society to help tackle the Housing Crisis in Central England. Grants of up to £50,000 are available to support charities that help vulnerable people with their housing needs (Berkshire is included in the Central region, so organisations in Reading, Bracknell Forest, Slough, West Berkshire, ...
Saving money on gas and electricity bills – free advice and information sessions
6 November 2018With the cold weather just around the corner, Citizens Advice Reading’s Energy Team are about to start going out and talking to groups about how to save money on gas and electricity bills. Their work is two-fold. One-to-one appointments for clients Firstly they run face-to-face appointments for clients to help them understand how to cut the cost of ...
Public health services in Reading – consultation open until 6 January 2019
6 November 2018A consultation on public health services in Reading is open until 6 January 2019 Reading Borough Council is consulting on the provision of public health services over the next two years, to ensure it focuses on the health and wellbeing issues that are most important to the people of Reading. Continuing to provide public health services which ...
King’s Fund Cascading Leadership programme – open until 30 November 2018
6 November 2018The King’s Fund Cascading Leadership programme, which supports peer-to-peer leadership in the voluntary and community sector, is open for applications until 30 November 2018. Cascading Leadership provides a free opportunity for leaders working in health and care organisations of any size in the voluntary and community sector in the UK to develop their leadership skills and ...
CEO Forum
5 November 2018The voluntary sector CEO Forum provides opportunities for networking and peer support with other charity CEOs from across Berkshire. The focus for this forum will be the relationship between the CEO and the trustees. Helpful for anyone who reports directly to a board of trustees or a management committee. A light lunch will be provided. Please email advice@rva.org.uk for ...
NESTA Future Ready youth funding – open for expressions of interest until 10 December 2018
1 November 2018The NESTA Future Ready Fund is a £250,000 fund to support high-potential, early-stage interventions to test and further develop interventions that promote wider skills in secondary-age (11-18) young people, focusing on social and emotional skills and resilience. They are looking to fund between 5 to 7 projects for between £35,000 to £50,000. They will also offer non-financial ...
Looking for funding? Workshop 7 Nov on Costing your Services
1 November 2018It’s that time of year when many of you will be working on a funding strategy or budget for the coming year, or you may already be involved in quite a few funding applications! If you need some assistance on working out how you will cost your services to accomplish full cost recovery in this changing ...
Winter watch – helping vulnerable families stay warm this winter
31 October 2018Winter Watch is run by Reading Borough Council and a number of local voluntary and health services to make sure that no-one suffers from cold in their homes during the winter months. Winter Watch is available to Reading residents who are on a low income and either over 60, have very young children, have a disability ...
Is your organisation worried about cyber crime? Free advice available
31 October 2018Cyber crime is generally where someone unauthorised has got access to a computer system – often by hacking into the system or spreading a virus to it. Examples affecting organisations are: Cyber criminals have accessed your network and stolen personal information about your customers and are demanding payment for its safe return. This is also known as ...
Cultural Commissioning Symposium
31 October 2018Reading, Place of Culture are holding a Cultural Commissioning Symposium on 29 November 2018, from 9.30am to 1pm, at Reading Town Hall The Reading Cultural Commissioning programme aims to mainstream the commissioning of cultural activities for social outcomes. This will be done in two ways: by making public service commissioners more aware of the potential for arts and cultural organisations to deliver effective interventions around their ...
Reading Family Aid’s Christmas Toys and Teens Appeal 2018
31 October 2018Reading Family Aid’s Christmas Toys and Teens Appeal is asking residents to donate new and ‘as new’ toys for 0-16 year old disadvantaged Reading children this Christmas. The donation points are open until Sunday 2 December, after which scores of volunteers will sort, pack and deliver the items to their grateful recipients. Donation points are located ...