Do you: Share our vision of Tower Hamlets as a place where communities thrive? 
Have experience of managing or processing charity finances, or are a qualified accountant? Care about inequality and the power of diverse communities? 

THCVS are looking for a new trustee to take on the role of Treasurer. This is an unpaid role which will help trustees monitor finances and plan for our long-term sustainability. You will work closely with the CEO and other senior staff as well as our external accountants and independent examiners.

Please send your CV and a cover letter (maximum two pages) explaining why you are interested in this role to eleanor.healy-birt@thcvs.org.uk by 9.30am Thursday 23 March 2023 

Monday 20 March / 6.00 to 8.30pm / Online and In person / The Greenhouse, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9DA

Join us for the March meeting of the Tower Hamlets SNB. The meeting will take place hybrid and in person with networking and refreshments available. If you have access needs, please contact us on info@thcvs.org.uk in advance of the meeting.

Wednesday 29 March / 11am-2.30pm / On-line

Using Impact and Evaluation Data in Practice: This training programme is for programme managers, fundraisers, and directors responsible for service improvement. Through a series of three case study based training modules, we look at how a fictional CEO, Mary, approaches impact measurement; identifies the type of evaluation best for her services; and how she addresses challenges she encounters along the way.

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.

Monday 20 March / 5.30 to 8.00pm / Tower Hamlets Town Hall Whitechapel Road, E1 1BB

The next Interfaith Forum meeting is being held at the new Town Hall in Whitechapel - come along and be one of the first to have a tour of the new facilities! Many faith and community groups are on the frontline of supporting people affected by the cost of living crisis, putting a strain on already overstretched resources. It is more important than ever that faith and community groups are informed about funding opportunities and support that is available. Hear from speakers from THCVS and Space Hive that will inform and empower local groups to support their communities and raise funding.

Wednesday 29 March / 5.30pm / Positive East, 159 Mile End Rd, Bethnal Green, E1 4AQ

New to Tower Hamlets? Looking for more LGBT+ groups and events? Come and find out about the Tower Hamlets LGBT+ Forum! They would like to welcome anyone who is interested in getting involved to come along from 5.30pm to find out more over a cup of tea, possibly a game or a short quiz. You are also welcome to stay for the forum meeting which starts at 6pm. For more information or further questions please email lgbtforum@elop.org

The Tower Hamlets Women’s Network (THWN) have just released their latest report: Women Poverty and Equality in Tower Hamlets: Mind the Gap. The THWN aim to shed some lights on the realities of women living in Tower Hamlets and help to raise their voices and concerns in regard to tackling gendered poverty, in addition to understanding race as a large determining factor of this reality.

The purpose of this survey is to find out about how LGBT+ people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets experience discrimination and view their LGBT+ rights. The Equality Act 2010 identified 9 protected characteristics that makes it unlawful to be discriminated against based on your sexual orientation or gender identity.
Give 2 mins of your day to answer anonymously! The survey is aimed at those who live, work, study or socialise in the borough of Tower Hamlets. Please only complete this if this applies to you.

Wednesday 22 March / 2.00 to 4.00pm / L&Q, 29-35 West Ham Lane, E15 4RP

This ELBAToolkit session will be presented by a social media expert from L&Q focusing on how organisations can make the most of social media. Topics of focus will include:

• Channel building
• Tips on getting your message across
• How to use analytics and data
• Tips on content creation

For more information and to sign up, please email community@elba-1.org.uk

Tuesday 21 March / 11.30am to 12.30pm / Online

Compass Wellbeing delivers a range of training and capacity building programmes for VCSE organisations, service users and the local community. Their training programmes are delivered in partnership with organisations or individuals that have expertise in the field to ensure we provide a quality resource that meets the needs of all participants.

Courses at the Tower Hamlets Recovery College are for anyone who lives, works, studies or cares for someone in Tower Hamlets and wants to find out more about mental and physical health recovery and wellbeing and for anyone who has experience of using mental or physical health services in TH. Courses cover a range of areas that might support recovery. This term, there are courses in Bengali and Somali, Courses for Young Adults and more!

The Mentoring Lab provides youth mentoring training by sharing high quality mentoring with youth practitioners committed to building high impact and transformational relationships with young people. The Mentoring Lab offer programs from Level 3 Certificates to CPD courses. They have a range of courses to suit all needs ranging from Introduction Mentoring or Mentoring tools and techniques to designing mentoring projects. They also offer bespoke packages to target your organisation's exact needs. Please see our full range of courses and further information here.

Tuesday 25 April / Tuesday 23 May / Thursday 29 June / 9.30am to 12.30pm

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 local services and opportunities are more in line with what people want.

Have your say survey invites people in Tower Hamlets to share their views on health and social care issues that Healthwatch may research in the future. Healthwatch would like to know which research topics they think are important or concern them the most by filling in a quick online survey. The findings from this survey will be used to formulate a plan to support the development of their research programme.

Help Amplifying Lives to find the top 10 list of interventions & priorities to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ethnic minority communities in East London & aid with the recovery as we continue to move through the pandemic. This survey is open to all communities living in East London and community organisations, health and social care providers, commercial organisations and academics working in, and for East London. Data collected will be kept anonymous. For more information, please contact info@amplifyinglives.com

In the last year East London NHS Foundation Trust, Barnardo’s, North East London Foundation Trust, ELBA and Infused Media, have been working together to create Be Body Positive. The website will provide support and guidance to help young people nationwide overcome challenges around eating, body image, physical and mental self-care. 

Tuesday 21 March 9.30am to 12.30pm / Idea Store, 321 Whitechapel Rd, E1 1BU

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on 21st March, the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid "pass laws" in 1960. Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled, racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries, however still today, too many individuals, communities and societies continue to suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings. 

Join the LBTH Hate Crime Team at the Idea Store Whitechapel who will be promoting hate crime partnership support services and the No Place for Hate campaign.

Tuesday 21 March / 12.15 to 2.30pm / Bernie Cameron Community Centre 32 Merchant Street, E3 4LX

Parents and carers of children and young people with epilepsy are invited to join in to share and learn about how to support children and young people with Epilepsy. Join Network 6 Primary Care Network and Rise 2 Shine for a chance to meet others and to ask a clinical specialist your questions. Limited spaces available. Light refreshments provided. Call Rujie for more information: 07393 019523

Fridays from 12.00 to 1.00pm & NEW SESSION Tuesdays from 5.00 to 6.00pm (starting 4 April) 

Join the Bromley By Bow Centre (BBBC) for a chat & a cuppa, to meet new people and to find out what's happening locally. These sessions are open to the LGBTQIA+ community & allies. Please contact Ricky to sign up on 020 8709 9700 / ricky.sian@bbbc.org.uk

Saturday 25 March / 4.00 to 8.00pm / Bernie Cameron Community Centre,
32 Merchant Street, E3 4LX

What's included: FREE Admission, Health & Wellbeing Presentation, Windrush Exhibition by Gillian Amuir, Local Community Recognitions, Complementary Catering and Refreshments, Cultural Celebration: Alexander D Great (Calypsonian, Britain Got Talent Contestant), DeeVine (Soca artiste), Music by DJ Kori and Networking opportunities. For more information, please call 07863 101 045 or e-mail David_nacrc@yahoo.co.uk

Friday 31 March / Big Advice Day

The FSI’s quarterly Big Advice Day is a chance for you to speak to an advisor about pretty much anything charity-related - and it's free! You'll be able to arrange a time with your advisor for your session (to be held either online or over the phone). The only criteria to access free one-to-one advice is that you need to be a member of the FSI with an income of under £1 million. 

Deadline: Wednesday 22 March @ 4.00pm EDT

The Citi Foundation announced its first-ever Global Innovation Challenge request for proposal to support community organisations around the world that are developing innovative solutions to advance food security. This inaugural challenge will provide a collective $25 million to 50 organisations working to pilot or expand ideas and projects that are designed to improve food security and strengthen the financial health of low-income families and communities.

Deadline Friday 24 March @10am

Are you part of a community, youth or voluntary group? Has your group got a project idea to connect local people with the natural world? Do you know an urban space that would be ideal for a transformation? Kew Gardens are looking for seven groups to join Grow Wild’s Community Programme, each will receive £2000 to transform an urban space

Deadline: Wednesday 5 April 

On behalf of East London Foundation NHS Trust (ELFT), Compass Wellbeing CIC invites local voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations to come forward, as part of ELFT’s continuing commitment to early intervention, early help and to bolster emotional health and wellbeing in the communities it serves with children and adolescent mental health services. Funding amount: £302,500 per annum / Funding duration: Initially 2 years with an option to extend by 1 year.

Deadline Wednesday 5 April @ noon

Grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 will be available to organisations seeking to deliver innovative, well designed projects that support Clarion residents and the wider community to address digital exclusion. The Fund is designed to support Clarion residents and the wider community to get online and stay online, and to use the internet as an everyday tool, safely and confidently.

Applications are open on a rolling basis; however to be considered for Round 12, applications must be submitted by 12 noon Wednesday 5 April.

Deadline Friday 14 April

The Community Ownership Fund is a £150 million fund over 4 years to support community groups across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to take ownership of assets which will help communities take over local assets, such as community centres, pubs and shops, that are at risk of closure.

Deadline Monday 17 April

Just Food and Climate Transition (Just FACT programme), in partnership with Wen with research by Platform London are excited to be launching this new scheme which will award £200,000 worth of grants to Tower Hamlets projects over the next 2 years! 

The scheme, launching today, 6 March is suitable for local organisations and groups addressing issues around food justice and climate change. Over 5 years, people in Tower Hamlets will be working together to design and create the building blocks for a local food system that is democratic, environmentally sustainable, and people-driven. 

There are two new grant funds, which are open for applications:

• Community Hub Fund (£1,000-£10,000) : For projects that will create space for conversation, learning and action on food and climate issues  
• Community Lab Fund (£10,000-£40,000) : For larger scale projects that create new community-led food systems and have the potential to reduce carbon emissions 

This project has been funded by the National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund.

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

 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.

The new proposed Mayor's Community Grant Programme funding aims deliver services between October 2023 to March 2027 and will include the following five themes: 

• Tackle the Cost-of Living crisis- Focusing on improving financial and economic wellbeing of residents
• Accelerate Education- Focusing on improving educational attainment and development of children and young people
• Culture, business, jobs and skills- Focusing on increasing employment and skills opportunities for socially excluded residents
• Invest in public services- Focusing on improving wellbeing of residents and reduce isolation and inactivity amongst older people
• Empower Communities and fight crime- Focusing on addressing inequalities experienced by people reflecting different equality groups and address community safety issues impacting residents

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.

The 30th year of the Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs (DBACE) gets under way with applications open from Tuesday 31 January. This could be your chance to secure: Up to £20,000 investment to start or grow your enterprise;
Membership to MeWe360's Incubator programme, including 12-months of business support with MeWe360 and Deutsche Bank's high calibre industry & business mentors. DBACE offers a range of fantastic resources to support you with your application.

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 have offered their time to assist charities to complete applications to the many funds that have emerged as a response to the current crisis. They 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