Women attending the 'Learning for Work' programme funded by ESF at Sunderland Women’s Centre.

The ESF Community Grants Programme run by the Community Foundation has made its first grants totalling over £100,000 in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. Awards of up to £12,000 were made to 11 groups, including Tynedale Women’s Training Group, Killingworth Community Consortium and Sunderland Women’s Centre.

Willa Allan from Sunderland Women’s Centre said:

“We have been awarded £12,000 from ESF which is absolutely fantastic news! It means that we can now deliver our ‘Learning for Work’ programme over the next 12 months that allows women to gain, at the very least, entry level qualifications. They will then be able to go on to further education or training that will ultimately result in employment.”

The next deadline for applications is 26 April 2012. The programme is open to not-for-profits, community groups and charities, with annual income averaging under £200,000, that run activities in disadvantaged areas and which help unemployed individuals overcome barriers to training and employment. Interested groups should click here to read our ESF Guidance or contact Sue Martin for further information.

Helen Dawe, Trustee of the Time Exchange, with volunteers at its allotment in Newcastle.

The Women’s Fund has awarded £14,000 in its latest series of grants to seven community and voluntary groups that support women in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

Time Exchange in Arthur’s Hill, Newcastle, was just one group that was successful in its bid for funding, and was awarded a grant of £1,500. It will use the money to employ a female sessional worker to support women-only drop-in gardening sessions on its allotment plot in the Wingrove area of the city.

Helen Dawe, a trustee of Time Exchange said:

“This money is a great boost to our environmental project, it means we can now run women-only gardening sessions that are particularly important for people who feel more comfortable in female-only groups, for example vulnerable young women or women from the Asian community.”

You can support the Women’s Fund and local women’s projects by attending the International Women’s Day Networking Lunch on Thursday 15 March. Tickets are now on sale at £30 each or £300 for a table. For more information or to book your table email Katy Vanden Hehir or call 0191 222 0945.

Anyone who books to attend the lunch is also eligible for preferential rates at the Entrepreneurs Forum Achieve conference. Click here to download the pdf for more information and quote your booking for the Lunch when ordering your tickets.

In December 2011, North East groups took a share of £30,000 match funding from a national Localgiving.com pot of £125,000, with Women’s Health in South Tyneside (WHIST) being the top fundraiser from our region, securing a whopping £5,000!

Corinne Devine from WHIST said:

“We are delighted to have come top in the North East for match funding from Localgiving.com. We put our success down to sending mass emails out to all our contacts, highlighting it on our website and Facebook and featuring it in our newsletters. This money will be a real boost to our work.”

For more information about joining Localgiving.com, or if you are having trouble completing your application, email Jane Roberts-Morpeth.

The Women’ Fund was established in 1999 by Dame Margaret Barbour, and has been enhanced by contributions from women and other supporters throughout the area to support women in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

Applications for grants up to £3,000 are sought from community and voluntary groups that support women to achieve their full potential, give access to information and assistance on social, health or economic issues and provide training and support services.

The work must be exclusively for women who are over the age of 18 and for specific project work. Organisational core costs can be part of the application but not the main focus.  For example, volunteer costs for a particular activity, rather than a general contribution to volunteer costs.

For more information, including restrictions on the type of grants that are offered by the Women’s Fund click here.  Please ensure that you say in the project description section that your application is for the Women’s Fund.

Closing date for applications is Friday 30 March 2012.

The Sir Tom Cowie Fund

The Sir Tom Cowie Fund at the Community Foundation aims to give disadvantaged and disabled children and young people opportunities to fulfil their potential. The focus is on schemes which help young people achieve goals, improve skills and explore their talents. Sir Tom’s motivation in establishing the Fund was a recognition that not all young people had the same life chances, but that through engaging with voluntary and community projects, they could be helped to overcome barriers and succeed in life.

There is now a call for applications to the Fund from voluntary and community groups based inSunderland only. Please note, if your organisation is not based in Sunderland, you should not apply even if some of your work covers the city.

Groups can apply for grants of between £1,000 to £10,000 to support projects and activities that work with young people in the ways described above. Children and young people benefitting may be aged between 8 to 25.

The preference with grants from this Fund is to support a project or activity in full, or to make a major contribution towards the full costs. Applications where any grant from the Sir Tom Cowie Fund would only be a small part of a bigger scheme are unlikely to be supported.

To apply online click here.

The closing date is date is Friday 24 February 2012.

UK Land Estates Fund

The UK Land Estates fund is looking for applications from projects supporting local people in Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland.

Grants awarded are usually for £1,000 or less although higher awards are occasionally made. Click here to apply online or email Gill Lowing for more information.

The Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash Grant Programme will provide grants of between £500 and £1,000 to support community groups undertaking work that helps people of all ages feel more included in their community, builds their skills and increases their sense of achievement.

The programme is open to groups in Northumberland, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside or Sunderland. To be eligible for a grant groups will need to:

• Be working in a disadvantaged or deprived area
• Be small local groups with an income of less than £100,000 in the last reporting period, run by local people
• Have limited access to other sources of income

Full information about the programme is available on our website www.communityfoundation.org.uk. Make sure you watch the Newcastle Evening Chronicle for more news about Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash.

Applications must be made online using the Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash Grant Programme Application Form by midnight on 9^th March 2012. Eligible applications will be considered by a grants panel and applicants notified of decisions the week beginning 23rd April 2012.

Women enjoy an inspiring speech by Fiona O'Connor at last year's International Women's Day Networking Lunch

Tickets are now available to purchase for the 2012 International Women’s Day Networking Lunch taking place on Thursday 15 March from 12.30pm at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead, and  kindly supported by Deloitte.

This year Elena Dickson, Marketing Director from family business Dickson’s the Pork Butchers, will deliver an inspiring speech about women in business. She said:

“I am delighted to have been invited to speak at this year’s International Women’s Day Networking Lunch. It is a great opportunity for women in business to not only network, but also raise money for the Women’s Fund at the Community Foundation that is doing fantastic work enabling women from Tyne & Wear and Northumberland to reach the potential, no matter what their background.”

Deloitte is also in its third year of supporting the lunch. Jane Taylor from Deloitte said:

“It is great that Deloitte can support the lunch for a third consecutive year. Deloitte’s own Women’s Network provides business women with role models and forums in which to develop professionally and, similarly, the Women’s Fund goes a long way in helping women grow and build their self-esteem through community work.”

Tickets at the early-bird rate cost £30 each or £300 for a table of ten. This will go up to £35 per head or £350 per table of ten from Monday 20 February. To book your ticket call 0191 222 0945 email Katy Vanden Hehir or click here for more information.

Hexham Youth Initiative has been awarded several grants from the Northumberland Group Fund

Specials Laboratory Fund

Applications are being sought by the Specials Laboratory Fund from community and voluntary groups in Prudhoe and surrounding areas that provide activities focused on health, well-being and social care.

Grants of up to £2,000 for support are available, click here to read the full guidelines and to apply online. The deadline for applications is 10 February 2012.

Northumberland Group Fund

The Northumberland Group Fund is open for applications from community groups based and working in Northumberland that are providing support and development for young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET).

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to groups that can demonstrate they are making a sustainable difference to the prospects of NEET young people in Northumberland by providing educational training, skills-based training or employability skills.

Click here to apply online.

Fredrick Milburn Fund

The Frederick Milburn Fund is open to applications from voluntary and community projects that have a connection to the River Tyne.

Projects supported can include those related to activities on the river, involving communities situated on the river or projects with a link to the heritage of the river. Grants up to £2,000 are available, click here to apply online using our regular Community Foundation application form. The deadline for applications is 16 March 2012.

Kellett Fund

The deadline for applications for the Kellett Fund is fast approaching. The closing date is 12 noon on 10 February 2012.

The Kellett Fund supports projects that improve the welfare of active older people in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland and Chester-le-Street. Grants of up to £30,000 a year over three years will be available.  Mark Pierce, Head of Policy, Projects and Programmes at the Community Foundation, said:

“We are particularly interested in projects that go the extra mile to involve older people. The recent National Development Team for Inclusion report on the co-production of services for older people is well worth a read by any group thinking of applying for Kellett funding.”

Click here to read the full report.

Click here to read full details of the fund. If you wish to discuss a possible application email Mark Pierce or call 0191 222 0945.

Sir Tom Cowie 1922-2012

We were very sad to hear of the recent death of our Patron and long-standing supporter, Sir Tom Cowie. Speaking about Sir Tom, Ashley Winter OBE, Chair of the Community Foundation, said:

“As well as being a very astute and highly successful businessman, Sir Tom was one of the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland’s earliest and most significant donors. He served on our Board for many years and then became one of our Patrons. His philanthropy leaves a legacy of dozens of organisations and thousands of people that have benefited from his generosity. Our thoughts and good wishes go to his family and close friends.”

Sir Tom’s philanthropy will go on supporting people in our region for generations to come through his own Sir Tom Cowie Charitable Trust, which mainly supports causes in County Durham, and through the  endowment fund he established at the Community Foundation, which supports disadvantaged children and young people, mainly in Sunderland but also in South Tyneside and Gateshead. A round of grants from the Fund here will be made in the Spring. You can find out more here.

Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash Grant Programme

The Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash Grant Programme will provide grants of between £500 and £1,000 to support community groups undertaking work that helps people of all ages feel more included in their community, builds their skills and increases their sense of achievement.

The programme is open to groups in Northumberland, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside or Sunderland. To be eligible for a grant groups will need to:

• Be working in a disadvantaged or deprived area
• Be small local groups with an income of less than £100,000 in the last reporting period run by local people
• Have limited access to other sources of income

Full information about the programme is available by clicking here. Make sure you watch the Newcastle Evening Chronicle for more news about Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash.

Applications must be made online using the Sport Relief 2012 Community Cash Grant Programme Application Form by midnight on 9^th March 2012. Eligible applications will be considered by a grants panel and applicants notified of its decisions the week beginning 23rd April 2012

Funded by Sport Relief, an initiative of Comic Relief, registered charity no: 326568 (England and Wales), SCO39730 (Scotland).