Small Charity Week celebrates and raises awareness of the essential work of the UK’s small charity sector who make an invaluable contribution to the lives of millions of individuals, communities and causes. The week is organised as a series of activities and initiatives to support and raise awareness of the thousands of small charities that, every day, make a huge difference to vulnerable communities across the UK.

Small charities strengthen the bonds in communities, helping local people to build vibrant, confident places where they can thrive, fulfilling their creative, human, and economic potential, tackle inequalities and create stronger communities. 

For small charities week 2023, we would like to celebrate the local grass roots community focused charity, The Power Movement. The Power Movement are dedicated to improving the health, well-being and opportunities of all members of the community including children and the elderly. They believe that everyone deserves the chance to lead a healthy, fulfilling life, regardless of their circumstances. To achieve this goal, they offer a range of free services that are designed to help people of all ages and backgrounds to learn new skills, stay active and feel connected to their community. The Power Movement delivers events throughout the year and have regular sessions for children and adults during the week. @poweruk_official @ThePowerMoveme1

THCVS would like to applaud and say thank you to the small charities, their staff, volunteers, trustees and supporters across Tower Hamlets for their dedication, effort and contributions they provide to our communities everyday. @SmallCharity_Wk #SmallCharitiesTogether

If your organisation would like to be featured in future issues of the THCVS bulletin, please contact tracy.allen@thcvs.org.uk.

There is still time to take part in the THCVS #StateOfTheSectorSurvey. We need your help to gather data to understand the pressures across the VCS in Tower Hamlets. The purpose of the survey is to:  

• Understand the challenges and current issues in the sector
• Address the situation by advocating to statutory partners and funders
• Enable THCVS to respond with appropriate support

Results of the survey will be published on the THCVS website and in our news bulletin so that it can be used to advocate to strengthen the position of the sector. 
 
The survey is anonymous however you may enter the name of your organisation and email address if you want to be entered in our prize draw of three x £50.00 prizes for your organisation. If you would like to speak to someone about the survey please email jane.bell@thcvs.org.uk. Deadline 5 July

Thursday 22 June / 10.00am to 1.00pm / Tower Hamlets Professional Development Centre 229 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6AB

Join the Health and Wellbeing forum to find out about the Health Determinants Research Collaborative (HDRC) and to give you the chance to tell us how you would like to be involved and how research can help your organisation. We will have presentations from LBTH on the new HDRC Programme and Queen Mary University (QMUL) on research approaches.

Tuesday 20 June / The Birdcage (15+) 'A gay comedy that broke boundaries' / doors open @ 6.00pm, film starts @6.30pm

Tuesday 4 July / Strictly Ballroom (PG)
"A maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner" / doors open @ 6.00pm, film starts @6.30pm

Tuesday 18 July / The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (15+)
'Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret' / doors open @ 6.00pm, film starts @6.30pm

Light refreshments provided. To book your place, please contact Ricky on registerricky.sian@bbbc.org.uk or call  07507556908

Saturday 24 June / 10.30am to 12.30pm

The TH Women's Network are honoured to invite members to the June 2023 gathering under the theme: Women in Focus. LBTH and the Mayor in particular want to improve services and provisions for women and girls in the borough. 

Our input as a collective and or as an individual woman is very important and you are invited to participate in a conversation and contribute to this vision with your presence and your voice. Women attending the gathering will be gifted with a free entrance to Kew Garden! Not a member of the TH Women's network? Join the network here!

Information Session: Monday 26 June / 4.00 to 5.00pm / Online

elop's highly rated Foundation Certificate in LGBT+ Affirmative Counselling is underway for the spring. elop are now allocating places on their autumn course, which starts on 9 September.

This unique course is currently the only LGBT+ Affirmative Counselling Certificate in the UK – and the only counselling certificate that is taught in a Queer environment. It is open to all LGBT+ community members and allies and is suitable for people ready to start their counselling journey and those who work in support roles and want to gain additional counselling skills. Successful completion of the Foundation Certificate is an entry pathway to elop’s professional counselling qualification, which will launch in 2024.

For more information and an application pack, contact elop’s Training and Education Team at training@elop.org.

SAfH have launched a short survey to capture the views of adult men from minoritised ethnic groups in east London on mental health and wellbeing in the community. The survey will take approximately 5-8 minutes to complete, and responses are anonymous.  

The survey will help SAfH to shape current and future work and make recommendations to other local providers, such as the NHS or local authority, about the best way to support Black, Asian and Minoritised ethnic men in our community.

This survey is part of SAfH wider men's wellbeing project, which aims to learn more about how best to support men from Black, Asian and Minoritised ethnic groups in our community with mental health, while offering a range of social support groups to improve wellbeing. 

The Equalities Hub is key to the new direction for the Council’s equalities provision, providing a central strategic focus, responding to the community’s needs and issues. The Hub will be vital to bringing about a more coordinated approach to equalities in the borough. If you want to find out more on how to get involved or if you have information you would like to share with the networks please get in touch.

Sun’s out, fun’s out! Join in for the Summer of Wellbeing 2023!
From June to September, Well One is partnering with local health and community organisations in Tower Hamlets to bring you eight free, family-friendly festivals.
Enjoy music, stalls, delicious food, wellbeing activities, health advisors, workshops, face painting, sports, games, and more! Everyone is welcome to attend. Don't miss this chance to have fun while taking care of your wellbeing. #SummerOfWellbeing

Wednesday 21 June / 11.30am to 2.30pm / Community Hub 35 Ronald St., E1 0DT

Join in for a fun & interactive session. This event is aimed at adults with learning disabilities living in Tower Hamlets. It's a chance to have your voice heard, discuss important issues and meet new people. Light lunch included. 

Starting Tuesday 27 June 2023 / 10.15am - 11.30am/*12.00pm / Ground Floor Meeting Room, Newby Place Health and Wellbeing Centre, 21 Newby Place, E14 0EY

There will be 5 sessions that occur on Tuesdays (*27 Jun, 4 Jul, 18 Jul, 1 Aug, *15 Aug). A wellbeing support group run by NHS Health and Wellbeing Coaches alongside Talking Therapies to help support those with low mood and/or anxiety. What to expect:

• Understand how low mood, depression & anxiety can affect you
• Learn relaxation techniques
• Explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviours
• Share your experience in a safe space
  
• Sessions will be delivered in English and refreshments will be available.

To register you must be aged 18 or over and registered to one of the following GP practices: Aberfeldy Practice, Chrisp Street Health Centre, Gough Walk Practice, Limehouse Practice.

Thursday 29 June / 9.30am to 12.30pm / registration from 9am / Professional Development Centre, 229 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6AB

Improving local health and care services by learning how to work together better: As people of Tower Hamlets, you know what is needed to improve health and wellbeing in the borough. The Council, the NHS and Community organisations in Tower Hamlets can do better at listening and working with people to make sure health and care services better address people’s needs. You can help shape this so that local services and opportunities are more in line with what people want.

The North East London Health and Care Partnership have launched the ‘Big Conversation’ to understand our communities’ thoughts about health, care and wellbeing. It will help them focus on what matters to local people in north east London and to work with them to improve quality and outcomes and address inequalities. 

As part of the 'Big Conversation' they have launched a survey for residents to complete. Have your say and complete the survey here. There will be a series of ‘Big Conversation’ events happening throughout June and July. These are open to everyone to come and talk about what is important to them. 

Under the umbrella of their Alumni Programme, the switch are running an exciting new campaign to celebrate what their students have achieved since leaving education. They are looking for anyone who went to a Tower Hamlets school to share their career journeys so that they can inspire the next generation of professionals. Participants will receive a £25 voucher

Please help LBTH shape a new campaign from Tower Hamlets, Hackney and City of London on Misogyny and sexual harassment in the night time economy.

The campaign will be directed at men aged 18-30 using role models to challenge misogynistic behaviour, male ‘entitlement’ and negative views about women which have enabled unsafe spaces for women. The campaign will try to urge men to challenge their own/others behaviour using role models who they identify with.

Your Small Charity Week discussion panel are:

• Mary Rose Gunn - The Fore
• Alex Van Vliet - Lloyds Bank Foundation
• Martha MacKenzie - Civic Power Fund
• AmickyCarol Akiwumi MBE - Money4YOU

Join them as they discuss how funders can support the small charity sector better and answer some questions from you.

Wednesday 21 June / 10.00am to 12.30pm / Online

The Children’s Society are holding a free Professionals’ Learning Events in Tower Hamlets. This event will bring together a broad range of multi-agency professionals and will provide bespoke training around identifying, referring and supporting young carers. This event will also provide attendees with the opportunity to understand the factors that can influence a young carer’s likelihood to remain hidden; associated vulnerabilities of being a young carer; and how a whole systems, whole family approach can be utilised to better support young carers.

Wednesday 28 June / 1.00 to 2.30pm

Voice4Change-England in collaboration with Club Matters would like to invite you to attend this free online workshop. The Workshop will address the following:

• Identify the key roles and legal responsibilities of committee/board members
• Explore sound practice principles considering the recruitment, retention and succession planning of committee/board members
• Share top tips on how to govern their organisation effectively

The workshop is available only to V4CE Grantees and Members! If you are neither, please register for a free membership and enjoy many more great benefits. 

Thursday 29 June / 2.00 to 4.00pm / on Zoom 
 
Would you like your volunteer programme to be more diverse, innovative, ambitious, equitable and person-centred? Join this interactive and practical peer learning session to discuss ideas and actions with other local Volunteer Managers. 

The Vision for Volunteering is a ten-year collaborative project designed to create a better future for volunteering. The Vision will be introduced to us by Sarah Tranter, Learning and Storytelling Officer for the Vision for Volunteering at NCVO. You will then discuss ideas with other volunteer managers on what actions organisations could take individually and collectively towards the vision themes: 

• Power: how to ensure the power of volunteers and communities is both supported and recognised
• Collaboration: how to increase collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, from volunteers to other community organisations to corporates
• Experimentation: how we make space for experimentation and doing things differently 
• Equity and inclusion: how we can make sure volunteering is accessible and welcoming to everyone, everywhere. 
• Awareness and appreciation: how to make sure that volunteering is valued and can be a part of everyone’s life 

Wednesday 28 June / 3.30 to 5.00pm / Online

This webinar focuses on climate risk and community resilience in London, facilitated in partnership with Bloomberg Associates, GLA and the London Communities Emergencies Partnership. This workshop will explore London's risk to extreme heat.

Thursday 29 June / 4.00 to 7.00pm / St. Hilda's East Community Centre, 18 Club Row, E2 7EY 

The Activate event will be a great opportunity for those in the local community to come and meet the Mind Tower Hamlets, Newham and Redbridge team and have a little taster of some of the things they want to do. They are very much open to also hearing what those in the local community would like.

Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 July / @9am / Mile End Stadium

As part of the NHS75 celebration, local health and care teams are encouraged to join the walk, jog, run, volunteer or simply come and watch – it’s up to you! The parkruns take place every Saturday morning across the country for friendly enjoyable 5k events, 2k Junior parkruns and more. For this NHS75 special event we would want as many NHS health and care folks there on the day! No booking required – just run up. #NHS75parkrun #NHS75

Wednesday 12 July / 2.00 to 4.30pm / Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, E1 6LS

The East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) invite you to the East London Community Fayre - a celebration of 75 years of the NHS! The Community Fayre is a fantastic opportunity for VCSE organisations to come together, network, and celebrate the incredible work of the NHS over the past 75 years. The event is free to attend for all members of the public

Thursday 20 July / 1.00 to 4.00pm / Mile End Hospital Gardens Bancroft Road, E1 4DG

After a 4 year hiatus, it's time to reconnect and reunite across Tower Hamlets Together, our health and care partnership!

Come along to meet people working across Tower Hamlets, learn about each other's programmes and services, and enjoy refreshments, lunch, giveaways, wellbeing activities, games in the Mile End Hospital Gardens and a celebration of the 75th birthday of the NHS!

LBTH are looking forward to a summer of fun in parks! Their summer holiday activities will include sports and adventure play, arts and crafts, cooking, growing and planting and nature sessions.

All activities are FREE and open to all families who live, work or study in Tower Hamlets. There are activities to suit all age ranges from 3 – 18 (25 SEND). Children must be accompanied by adults. You can just turn up to most activities although spaces are limited. Some activities require advance booking.

Do you have an idea for a community project in your local area that you want to raise money for? Spacehive, a community fundraising platform helps communities raise funds to improve their local areas: everything from spruced up playgrounds and new street markets, to city farms and learning hubs. Together with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Spacehive can help you crowdfund the money you need to bring your idea to life. You could get as much as £10,000 towards your fundraising total. 

Deadline: Friday 23 June @12 noon

The community grants programme ORT manages a small community grants programme which provides around £50,000. This supports locally led charities and groups to deliver projects in the area which focus on:

• Promoting Health, Wellbeing and Inclusion
• Further Education, Skills building, Training and Entrepreneurship
• Engaging Young People in Positive Activities
• Connecting Older People
  

The grants given have a positive impact in the local community and the relatively small sums given can allow transformative and creative schemes to take place, as well as enable the delivery of some key services in the area. Click here for the ORT area map. Click here here for a copy of the application form.

Deadline: Friday 30 June

The THICN YOF grants scheme has been designed to support local young people. Grants from £1000 to £5000 are available for activities for young people on the Isle of Dogs. For more information, contact zakaria.hussain@osmanitrust.org

Monday 17 July 2023 @ 2pm

Come along to this informal session to find out how your voluntary group, CIC, social enterprise, church, school, sports club or charity can use the free easyfundraising platform to benefit from unrestricted funding.

Becky from easyfundraising will show you how your volunteers, staff and supporters can use the easyfundraising platform to raise donations for free for your organisation when they shop with leading retailers. What to expect:

• A live demonstration of how the website works
• Instructions on how to get your organisation set up
• Tips on how to raise as much as possible
• A Q&A session with Becky

If you would like to set up your free easyfundraising page ahead of this session, you can do that here: www.easyfundraising.org.uk/tower-hamlets. For more information, contact becky@easyfundraising.org.uk

Deadline: Monday 17 July

Funded and supported by Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group, the Old Ford Community Panel is a panel of local residents. The Panel are excited to launch the 2023 programme to help provide residents of Tower Hamlets and Havering more opportunities to make a difference in the local community. Residents can apply for any of the following Grant strands:

• Micro Grants – (up to £1,000)
• Resident Led Ideas – (up to £5,000)
• Grants to organisations – (up to £5,000)

Residents can email Elma.Arifagic@clarionhg.com for an application form or call 20 3840 0769 for an informal chat.  

Deadline Monday 7 August

NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North Thames has opened 3 new funded opportunities: research internships, career development fellowships and springboard grants.

Anyone working in or with mental health services across the North Thames region can apply, including staff from NHS Trusts, local government, public health, social care or community care organisations, charities and the voluntary sector. They would particularly like to see applications from staff who are currently under-represented in research, including those working in East London and Essex, people from minoritised backgrounds, and those working in areas of mental health and social care with limited opportunities to engage in research. 

Deadline Tuesday 15 August

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme wishes to commission research on interventions aimed at reducing loneliness. Although social isolation and loneliness often come together, they are conceptually and empirically distinct from each other. This call is primarily interested in intervention aimed at reducing loneliness. The PHR programme is predominantly interested in interventions that are likely to have impact on populations at scale, addressing health inequalities and the underlying wider determinants of health

Does your charity support nature, connecting your community with the great outdoors, or aim to do a spot of tree planting? If so Aviva Community fund have some +Extra funding to help get your Crowdfunder started!

Crowdfunder has partnered with Aviva, WWF, and RSPB to launch the Save Our Wild Isles Community Fund, and they’ll give you £2 for every £1 you raise, to help your project reach its fundraising target quicker.

Rolling deadline until 30 September

Wakefield Tetley Trust will offer grants from £500 to £6,000 for local initiatives that support their fund priorities to support marginalised communities and individuals by:

• Supporting urgent work 
• Supporting core activities and services
• Making a practical difference  

Grants of £6,000 will be exceptional; most awards will average £3,000. Please get in touch with them first if you intend to apply for the maximum amount. Organisations with an annual turnover under £600,000 and a track record of delivery are eligible to apply. Deadline for applications are open on a rolling basis, but the round will close when funds are allocated and no later than 30 September.

Deadline Tuesday 31 October 2023

Magic Little Grants is open for applications for £500 grants. It has simple 20-minute application process and an outcome within six weeks. Organisations must be in their first year of operation or have an annual income under £250k. Funding can be used to launch new projects, support existing ones, or cover core costs.

Fund Priorities: EECF has two funding streams: the Isle of Dogs Grants Chest and the Millwall Park Endowment Fund. Both funds will award grants to support positive community activities across their geographic areas of benefit. Through their grant-making, they aim to fund high-quality projects or services that will make a positive and long-lasting difference to local residents. Grant Amount: Grants of up to £10,000. Please click here to read the full guidelines.

Charities and not-for-profit organisations working with children and young people can apply for Project Costs grants for up to £15k from BBC Children in Need. No deadline.

The National Databank provides free mobile data, texts and calls to people in need via Good Things Foundation’s network of local community partners. Think of it like a ‘food bank’ but for internet connectivity data. Community organisations can apply to access the databank, enabling them to provide data to people in their communities who need it.

Do you run a community group or any small organisation that supports One Housing or Riverside residents? One Housing have made £250,000 available in 2022/23 through their new Community Fund to help fund projects that promote opportunities and wellbeing and tackle poverty in our communities. If you’ve got an idea that could make a difference, they want to hear from you.

This funding aims to help communities across the UK to address climate change.

National Lottery Community Fund are looking for projects that focus on the link between nature and climate. They want to fund projects that use nature to encourage more community-led climate action. The NLCF expect these projects to bring other important social and economic benefits. Like the creation of strong, resilient and healthy communities or the development of ‘green’ skills and jobs.

Grants of between £300,000 and £500,000 are available, with grants of £50,000 to £150,000 over 12 to 18 months also available to constituted groups or clubs, voluntary or community organisations, registered charities, CIOs, SCIOs, CICs and more. The deadline for applications is ongoing.

Grants of between £300 and £10,000 are available for charities, voluntary groups, schools, and local authorities in England to carry out projects that will improve their local community. The aim of the grants programme is to support communities to thrive by funding projects that build strong relationships in and across communities. The deadline for applications is ongoing.

Do you require support with putting together or reviewing funding applications? The East London Business Alliance (ELBA) is a charity brokering opportunities to connect the corporate and community sectors. They are currently offering volunteer support to organisations who need help with writing and reviewing grant funding applications.

Employee volunteers from across ELBA's member companies are able to assist you with writing the application and/or reviewing a completed application. In some cases, they may be able to write a grant funding application on your behalf.

Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions, please contact Orlaith: orlaith.mcguinness@elba-1.org.uk