Resources

Optimise your fundraising potential

Fundraising effectively has become a heightened issue over the pandemic, with many charities seeing reduced donations, a rise in costs and an increase in demand for services.

Some societal shifts we’ve experienced over the past year and a half could potentially become permanent and, indeed, 48% of charities we surveyed in August 2021 said they believed the pandemic has changed fundraising forever. So how can we adapt our practices to maintain a steady flow of donations?

With over half of charities (55%) acknowledging that one of the main challenges in the year ahead will be adapting to new ways of fundraising, our in-house experts share their recommendations for maximising your charity’s fundraising potential.

Whether that be by optimising your digital fundraising, ensuring you land a charity grant, or improving your relationships with your donors, our resources aim to help you adapt to the new fundraising landscape and ensure those much-needed funds reach our communities.

With the pressures of funding, combined with increased demand on services due to the repercussions of the pandemic, writing winning grant or funding applications has never been more important.

Increased demand for funding has left funders inundated with applications and competition is rife. Understanding how to put together a great application will increase your chances of gaining the funding you need for critical projects, however large or focused they are. Making sure that you are able to clearly define your organisation’s need for funding and how it will benefit the beneficiaries and communities you serve is vital.

Monica Brown, Head of Advisory and Programmes at CAF, outlines some key aspects to help you make the most of your grant applications.

In this webinar the CoRAY team share an up-to-date summary of the evidence base on how young people’s mental health and wellbeing has been affected by the pandemic.

Join the CoRAY team to hear what the latest research says about how the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 11 – 16 years has been affected by the pandemic and what young people themselves are concerned about this summer.

In this webinar we share an up-to-date summary of the evidence base on how young people’s mental health and wellbeing has been affected by the pandemic.

The Centre for Youth Impact talks about how youth provision measurement can become a meaningful part of working with young people and what are the five ways to make it possible.

For many, matters of measurement in youth provision are a deeply contentious issue. However, I’d argue that, when done well, and in the right circumstances, measurement can become a meaningful part of working with young people that ‘goes with the grain’ of practice.

Over the past few years I’ve worked on two projects that are ambitious in the way they try to tackle the known issues in evaluating youth provision.

• the Youth Investment Fund (YIF) learning project – a shared evaluation of open access youth provision; and
• development of the Centre for Youth Impact’s approach to measurement

In this video Rachel Werner will go through what you need to know to become more grant ready, whether you are new to grants, and/or re-evaluating how your organization seeks out grant funding,

Girlguiding asked over 2,000 girls aged 7 to 21 across the UK for their views on a range of areas across their lives. The results this year show girls’ and young women’s happiness has been in decline for over a decade, but the last three years have seen an acceleration in this trend.

This snapshot of the Girls' Attitudes Survey explores what girls have told us. And how you can use the Girlguiding programme and resources to build their confidence, develop new skills and improve their wellbeing.

Watch this webinar with expert advice on hiring top talent, faster. The webinar includes best practices for hiring in an extremely competitive talent market.

Khulisa ensures young people affected by trauma or adversity have the social skills and emotional support they need to thrive. This year's Impact Report, marked by a global pandemic, it recognises that all young people have experienced trauma of some kind.

Khulisa ensures young people affected by trauma or adversity have the social skills and emotional support they need to thrive. This year, marked by a global pandemic, we recognised that all young people have experienced trauma of some kind.

From bereavement and anxiety to having to isolate in unstable home environments, we knew they would need our support more than ever. Normal delivery of our intensive, therapeutic group programmes for young people in schools and prisons was affected by multiple lockdowns and uncertainty over how we could continue delivery safely.

In response we;

• Pivoted quickly to providing support online through a suite of webinars, toolkits and digital content to meet the increased demand for our services.

• Provided universal support to all students, regardless of their background, through a blended social and emotional learning programme delivered as part of the school curriculum.

• Consolidated, and reduced expenditure and launched an emergency fundraising campaign to ensure we could maintain critical support for vulnerable young people.

• Returned to in-person delivery as soon as schools re-opened to support the most at risk young people through our Face It Programme for 11–18 year olds.

Delivered by Catch22 and Redthread, The Social Switch Project is switching the narrative on how social media’s relationship to youth violence is understood, tackled and solved.

New research into the impact of COVID-19 on online harms revealed that more than two thirds of young people interviewed had seen content online that was either violent or explicit during lockdown. In light of the increased amount of time young people spent online during the pandemic to learn, socialise and for entertainment, London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) commissioned an in-depth exploration of online harms, ‘acceptable’ use and regulation, that included the voices and experiences of young people, whose voices were missing from the body of existing research.

The Social Switch Project, a collaboration between charities Catch22 and Redthread, carried out interviews with vulnerable children and young people that use its services, frontline youth workers, police and tech platforms.

Research showed that 97 per cent of Catch22’s child sexual exploitation referrals have an online or social media element – with substantial increases related to online grooming and abuse. Consultation with young people also showed that more than 70 per cent of young people had seen content during lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 that was either violent or explicit, which included videos of suicide, nudity and extreme violence. They also described social media as ‘toxic’ and found it led to a negative impact on a young person’s mental health and wellbeing.

Young people cited unwanted contact online from adults, companies and bots, while there were also complaints of cyberbullying, threats and sharing of explicit content.

There were also examples cited of young people receiving responses a long time after a complaint, which caused them to relive the event or incident.

The data provides much-needed context on the wide-reaching implications of the pandemic and the need for services and training for professionals, parents and guardians during this time.

Further findings include:

• Young people want to see better training for professionals and guardians in relation to online behaviour
• Young people felt responsible to report content, but also felt the ‘damage’ had already been done
• Children and young people want to see improved monitoring, swift action and accountability from tech organisations, rather than the responsibility being placed on the user
• Police are ‘one step behind’ developments in technology and so need to develop stronger relationships with tech companies
• As well as harms, young people highlighted significant benefits to their online world – in their education, their social lives and in their identity

Youth funding and capacity building charity Impetus has partnered with Bank of America to launch a new training programme for aspiring leaders from ethnic minority backgrounds working in the UK youth sector.

The Impetus Leadership Academy aims to support the development of future leaders and their organisations, to contribute to the national conversation on issues facing young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and ultimately improve the effectiveness of the sector. Building on Impetus’ training toolkit, the programme offers masterclasses on key leadership topics including financial and impact management, fundraising, and presentation skills and draws on input from experts working on issues of race in the workplace and in leadership. It is designed and delivered by people of colour for people of colour.

The course, which is fully funded for successful applicants, will be delivered as a mix of group sessions, mentoring and networking, running over the course of a year.

Recruitment is now underway for the first cohort of 12 participants – applications close 30 July; for eligibility criteria and information on how to apply visit https://www.impetus.org.uk/leadership-academy

Creative Teaching – Opportunity for Supplementary Schools in Camden.

Teachers will learn how to use Drama in Learning an inspire young people aged 7-11 to have fun whilst learning. Two spaces per setting, funded by John Lyons Charity but small fee applies.

For more information please contact NRCSE: mon@nrcse.org.uk

This guide for Parents on MyTutor about teen mental health, has useful tips and advice for parents to help their teens overcome body image issues, academic anxiety, peer pressure, and cyberbullying, and links to other important mental health resources.

Your child’s teenage years are an exciting time, but they can be tricky too. With hormones going wild and bigger pressures at school, challenging mood swings are par for the course. With mental ill-health on the rise though, you’ll want to keep watch on whether their moods are normal, or if they need a bit of help.

Today one in five teens has a diagnosable mental health condition. And on average, people wait 8-10 years after first experiencing mental health problems before seeking help. Of course, if problems are noticed and tackled when they first come up, you can help your child with the tools they need to be happy sooner rather than later. If you think that your teen needs some professional help, find out if they can see a school counsellor, or if it’s more serious, their GP can help you work out a plan of action together.

There are lots of common issues that you can help your teen with if you have the right tips.

Click the button below for a break-down of some key pain-points, and what you can to do help as a parent.

This Summer Inner wings are running a confidence building programme aimed at 7-12 year old's at the Calthorpe Community Gardens. Join them for 5 fun filled sessions and begin the journey of discovering your superpower!

This Summer, Inner Wings are running a confidence building programme aimed at 7-12 year old's at the Calthorpe Community Gardens. Join them for 5 fun-filled sessions and begin the journey of discovering your superpower!

Finding Your Superpower is a Confidence Building programme that will help children take the fear out of failure and realise their unique and unlimited potential.

Over 5 engaging sessions, children will build their confidence and begin the exciting journey of discovering their superpower!

Each session of Finding Your Superpower was designed using the insight of experts in education to ensure that key skills are targeted effectively. Every session in the programme begins with a warm-up game, concludes with 5 minutes of mindfulness practice and has frequent opportunities for children to reflect on their learning.

Inner Wings use fun and engaging activities, such as improvisation and storytelling to build an environment in which children can take risks and build their self efficacy. With multiple opportunities for collaborative working and reflection, children will learn the value of their contribution and begin to develop a growth mindset.

Free for 7-12 year olds, there are 20 places and if you would like to take part you must commit to all 5 sessions that take place from August 9th-13th.

Keep an eye out to book your place shortly!

Check out their website: https://www.innerwings.org/

Skills Exchange Project are a non profit organisation who seek to guide and mentor at risk youngsters, by using the skills they already have. They aim to channel these young people into progressive and law abiding ventures and guide them into fulfilling areas in business, that they may not have known existed or had access to. Their services also include mentorship, personal finance and life skills.

Skills Exchange Project (S.E.P.) have experienced facilitators in Post 16 education with CELTA, PGCE and AET qualifications. They also have vast experience in FE colleges and Adult centre’s in and around London.

They have an ex city worker with an IAG certificate and ACSI accreditations from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments to guide our beneficiaries through the much demanded Introduction to Trading.

These workshops will be held several times a week. If demand increases then we will increase the frequency of the workshops.

The Skills Exchange Project are committed to giving mentorship and direction, providing workshops and surgeries to young offenders, at risk youth and young people from both the BAME and wider community.

To find out more and learn about their services click the button below.

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YPF Trust asked a group of independent consultants from the INTEN partnership, to look at the work of the Foundations both before and during COVID-19, and also to consider what the future might hold for their model of working with children and young people.

Blog from the INTEN partnership.......

Five years ago, John Lyon’s Charity observed with dismay the decline of youth services in the London boroughs.

Years of austerity had taken their toll, and many local authorities had reduced or even withdrawn their support. Small local charities and community groups, at the forefront of work with children and young people, were in a desperate strait, with far too many going under. John Lyon’s Charity concluded that this just had to be addressed.

But how? The answer, it was believed, was to build afresh a local system of support. One that could encourage a positive spirit of collaboration among front-line organisations, and engage the local authority and businesses, and anyone else who could help. At the same time a method was needed to raise funds locally, and from further afield, and direct money where it could make the biggest difference to children and young people.

And so in 2015 the first Young People’s Foundations were established, in Brent, Barnet and Harrow. Others followed in Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Outside London, Young Manchester was set up in 2017.

What have they achieved? YPF Trust asked us, a group of independent consultants, to look at the work of the Foundations both before and during COVID-19, and also to consider what the future might hold for their model of working with children and young people.

We were impressed by what we found. Each Young People’s Foundation is small (typically with three to five core staff) but together they have raised a total of £19.3 million for local work with children and young people. Of this over half (£9.8 million) is sourced from outside the specific local authority area.

In a few cases, notably in Westminster, some substantial resources have been raised from the private sector. However, elsewhere such efforts, while still worthwhile, have been less productive. A reflection of the woeful state of corporate social responsibility in this country, perhaps?

The Foundations’ good local knowledge has enabled the distribution of funds deep into the local community, reaching parts which have previously been overlooked, and where very frequently the need is greatest. They have often deployed funding in ways which have drawn on the resourcefulness of young people and their families, and involved young people directly in the funding decisions in creative and thoughtful ways.

Most importantly, the Young People’s Foundations have been able to win trust locally. Sometimes this did not happen straightaway. Initial suspicion of anything new is, after all, not uncommon. But, quite quickly, they built successful relationships at every level. In our view this was hugely helped by their founding principles that they do not compete with local front-line organisations and that they do not deliver direct services themselves.

Overall, the nine Young People’s Foundations have already brought together a total of over 1,200 organisations into collaborative local partnerships, driven by the perception that they can achieve more together than by acting alone. Around 500 of these are small local charities and community groups, working at the front line with children and young people, and including for example supplementary schools, which have been largely neglected by ‘mainstream’ organisations.

During COVID-19, the pool of existing relationships established by each Foundation triggered fast and effective actions, helping local agencies across sectors come together in the interests of children and young people and their families. For example, the Young Barnet Foundation, partnering with Inclusion Barnet and Volunteering Barnet as ‘Barnet Together’, was highly instrumental in setting up a local COVID Response Taskforce. Working closely with Barnet Council, Barnet Together co-ordinated food banks, meals delivery, and shopping collection services, to help isolated people, families and children at risk across the borough.

We were struck by the commitment of all the Foundations to understand and respond to local needs. For example in 2018, Young Harrow Foundation carried out an assessment of the needs of local young people aged 10-21. This was a coordinated effort involving 51 charities, Harrow Council, Harrow Youth Parliament, 24 trained youth peer leaders, 8 schools and colleges, and 30 community volunteers. This exercise alone collected the views of 4,358 young people, a figure any market research company would be proud of!

In all of this, we noted the cultural diversity within the Foundations, and their deliberate efforts to reflect the communities in which they operate. For example, across the nine organisations, 39% of trustees and 47% of staff are from BAME backgrounds.

In many ways all this represents a flying start for this model of local collaboration. Certainly, credit is due to some enlightened funders, notably John Lyon’s Charity and the City Bridge Trust, who have provided core funding, and also the local authorities that have embraced the opportunity.

If the network expands to other places around the country there will of course be some challenges, for example to sustain the integrity of the model, to attract the modest levels of core funding which make this way of working so much easier, and to build on – and not displace - valuable existing activity.

At a time when young people’s health, well-being, and future prospects are under pressure as never before, and when we are also seeing renewed (and long overdue) appreciation of the benefits of social infrastructure, replication and roll-out of the Young People’s Foundation model is well worth considering.

The YPF Trust is looking for a CEO! We are looking for an experienced, charismatic, and enterprising CEO who has a strong track record of using strategic leadership and management to achieve high impact within the charity sector.

Have you got what is takes to lead the Trust through its start-up phase, supporting the engagement of a wide range of local and national stakeholders to learn from and build on our existing network of YPFs, using your understanding of the challenges faced by children and young people.

We are seeking a CEO who will not only manage the YPF Trust as an organisation within its own right, but also provide leadership, innovation, and strategic direction for the expanding Young People Foundation (YPF) Network.

To find out more information and to apply for the role:

Chief Executive Officer, 4-5 days per week job with YPF Trust | 203665 (timewisejobs.co.uk)