the echo We’ve supported non-profits to access more than £11million in grant funding

Over £11 milliOn Over 11 years!

HealtHwatcH DuDleyWelcoming over 100 new Information Champions

FeaturinG

september/OctOber 2019

september/OctOber 2019

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Bingo? Knitting? Wartime songs? Nope! This certainly wasn’t what we experienced when we visited the Alzheimer’s Society Working Age Dementia Café. Keeley, Integrated Plus, tells us more about the group. “Dementia is not a natural part of ageing is 1 of 5 key messages promoted by the national Dementia Friends campaign. It is indeed true that dementia can affect younger people. I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick, John and Steve who are all living with dementia. The group meets at The Oakfield Centre, Brettell Lane in Brierley Hill. It takes place on the last Wednesday of every month from 7pm till 9pm. Anyone who has been diagnosed with any form of dementia under the age of 65 is more than welcome. The group would love to see some new friendly faces! When I popped along to meet the group I received such a warm welcome. Led Zeppelin was playing in the background and the group told me they were known as “The Rockers.” This was so refreshing. Patrick and John were having a go at a rock music themed word search and Steve was amazing us all with his musical knowledge. Later in the evening the group got creative and made different models out of

clay which they all seemed to enjoy. Even the less creative amongst us found it quite therapeutic! What struck me the most was the bond between the group members, not just the gents but also their wives and daughters. Maureen, Louise and Sandra all told me that they enjoyed attending the group and found the element of peer support invaluable. When I asked the guys what they liked most about the group John said that he loves the company, Steve agreed and Patrick said he liked the biscuits! I love his honesty, a man after my own heart… I’d recommend this group to any younger people living with dementia and their carers. I really enjoyed myself and I’m sure that others would too. Patrick, John and Steve all met one another on Alzheimer’s Society’s Living Well With Dementia Course and have since become great friends. You can find out more about the course and the café by contacting the local branch on 0121 521 3020 or by visiting the website. Before I came to work for Integrated Plus, I worked for Alzheimer’s Society as a Senior Dementia Friends Officer. I had the pleasure of training up volunteer Dementia Friends Champions who delivered Dementia Friends Information Sessions. These Sessions help the public gain a basic understanding of dementia and learn some of the small things that they can do to help people with dementia living in their community. Awareness-raising is so important as with the right support and understanding people with dementia can have the opportunity to live well. Within Integrated Plus, my colleagues and I have supported 140 people living with dementia to access the support that they need and to help them remain active in their communities. The Working Age Dementia Café was a great example of a group of friends who are living well and enjoying one another’s company. To find out more about how you can become a Dementia Friend please visit the website: https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/

Alzheimer’s Society Working Age Dementia Café.......................................Deafscope: Breaking down barriers for the Deaf community...............................Healthwatch Dudley welcomes over 100 new Information Champions..................Over £11 million over 11 years! Dudley CVS supporting non-profits.....................

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Deafscope: Breaking down barriers for the Deaf community Deafscope is a brand new online Deaf community directory, set up by Ishtiaq and Kerry, BSL communicators with first-hand experiences of the barriers faced by the Deaf community. Deafscope aims to connect the community, break down barriers and highlight the amazing Deaf-friendly and Deaf-owned businesses around the West Midlands, the UK and eventually around the world. Bringing together Deaf-friendly and Deaf-owned businesses, services and events in one place means people will be able to see how that business or service can communicate with them along with all the other features they need to see, their location, special offers, contact details and more. Businesses can add listings to the directory to feature products, services, images, social media and website links, special offers, an introduction to their brand and more. The reviews function is designed to build a trusted source of information about accessible businesses and services. It’s not only businesses that can feature their services on Deafscope. Deaf-owned or Deaf-friendly charities, voluntary groups, nonprofits and public services such as healthcare services, can register their services, events and activities free of charge. Ishtiaq and Kerry are keen to get networked so that the website features a whole range of services that reduce the barriers that the Deaf community can face.

And it’s not only a website that lists services, but it can give people ideas. Deaf-owned and Deaf-friendly business can inspire others to set up similar things in their own areas; did you know there’s a Deaf Gym in Bradford? There are also plans for an app and to offer practical support to the Deaf community such as helping people find jobs, training people, nurturing Deaf-owned enterprise. On top of that, being based in Lye means they can offer space, training facilities and events locally! We’ve helped them to start networking locally and they’ll be linking with the Dudley Deaf Focus Group which is supported by Healthwatch Dudley. Deafscope is also planning a Deaf Community Day for next month.

To keep informed about Deafscope, follow on social media:

Facebook: DeafscopeTwitter: @deafscopeWebsite: deafscope.co.uk

Read the full story on the Dudley CVS blog:https://bit.ly/2n6u4Qb

Take a look at their film on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBNHY44O-08

really interesting, as it will help me to better support my colleagues at Lloyds Bank where I am an Access Network Representative. Lloyds Banking Group supports employees through a wide range of networks, we have ‘Rainbow’, which helps and connects our LGBTQ colleagues, ‘Breakthrough’ for women in the workplace, ‘Reach’ supporting colleagues from an ethnic minority background, ‘Family Matters’ for parents and carers and ‘Access’ supporting people with disabilities. Lloyds Bank also has employee assistance programmes to help colleagues who are struggling. Having a connection with Healthwatch will fit in really well as if people in our network want to share experiences of health and care with an independent body, I can now point them in the right direction. I have been supporting colleagues as an Access Rep for ten years and finding the right information can sometimes be difficult. Often people who see me have had a recent diagnosis and where I can, I put them in touch with support groups or other people within the organisation who are in a similar situation. I found out about Information Champion training that Healthwatch Dudley provides to help organisations, charities and groups better connect people with health and wellbeing information. Joining the Information Champion Network will make such a difference. I now have even more up to date and accurate information as well as new contacts. Some health websites contain obsolete or inaccurate details with broken links, which can be really frustrating. It’s been great to learn about where to find trusted health and wellbeing information on the net. I am encouraging all of our other reps to contact their local Healthwatch and make the same links as me so we can provide even better support across the country which will help to make our network even stronger.” Lorna Wilson, Lloyds Bank Access Network Representative. For more information or to register for free training, visit: http://healthwatchdudley.co.uk/infopoints/ or call 03000 111 001.

Healthwatch Dudley welcomes over 100 new Information Champions

During the last five years, hundreds of people from local organisations and community groups, have joined Healthwatch Dudley to network with other people in information giving roles. The unique training enables people to learn, share and practice how to help people to get information using trusted online resources. In the last year alone, over 100 new Information Champions have come on board from a wide range of organisations including Mary Stevens Hospice, Springs Church, Brett Young Dementia Gateway, Dudley borough Assisted Living Centres, Trading Standards, Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (Occupational Therapy), Barnardos, Home Instead Senior Care, Camphill Village Trust, Dudley Carers Network, YMCA, Age UK Dudley, Abberley Street Day Centre, Stonewater Housing, Solutions 4 Health, Just Straight Talk, Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust, Dudley Council Public Health, Dudley CCG, Chawn Hill Church, Victim Support, Top Church Training and Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, to name but a few! The network now also includes GP practice staff such as receptionists, healthcare assistants and Practice Managers, as a result of NHS England funding allocated through Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group, which has supported practice staff to become care navigators. The idea is to help people to play a greater role in their own health and care, by being signposted to non-medical services to improve personal health, wellbeing and independence. The Information Champion Network was recently recognised with a Better Connected ‘Forging a Future for All’ award by a partnership between the Dudley, Stourbridge and Halesowen News, Dudley Council and local partners, at the launch of the new vision for Dudley borough. Lloyds Bank Access Rep Lorna tells us why she joined the Dudley Community Information Point Network “Finding out about Healthwatch Dudley has been

Did you know that over the last 11 years, we’ve supported nonprofits to access more than £11million in grant funding? You probably didn’t because we only recently realised this ourselves!Becky, Small Groups Officer, and Martin, Funding Officer, at Dudley CVS tell us more... “Given that Martin and I have recently completed our eleventh year at Dudley CVS, we thought it would be interesting to pull together all of our data about successful funding applications we’ve worked on. We’re both pretty staggered by (and proud of) the results. Martin and I joined Dudley CVS within a month of each other back in 2008. Over those years we’ve worked together and helped each other to offer the best support possible to all types and sizes of not-for-profit. My role is about helping people that want to establish or develop their not-for-profit by providing them with information, guidance and support on a range of topics they’re likely to run into, including:- What type of not-for-profit? Such as the concept of social enterprise, the definition of charity, appropriate legal structures- Planning, including long term vision, mission, purpose-setting, project planning, reviewing the organisation, financial planning- Roles and responsibilities of the people that lead not-for-profits, including governance training for directors and trustees- Connecting with others, which is becoming increasingly important- Governing documents and registration- Compliance – including regulatory obligations, insurance, reporting and policies and procedures- Profile-raising- Asset development and asset transfer- Fundraising and income-generation When I support groups with funding, it tends to be as part of wider support to help a group become established and ‘funding ready’, such as Dudley Feelgood Choir (https://bit.ly/2nOjyx4), Wall Heath Tennis Club (https://bit.ly/2oB3bnU) and Bayer Street Allotments (https://bit.ly/2n7pqRM), though I do also help groups to identify appropriate funders for their work or projects and they do the rest. The idea is to give support in a way that helps groups

to become more skilled and confident in putting applications together. Martin’s role focuses on income-generation and because of this, he primarily supports organisations with larger bids. Martin says, “Like the support groups give to their beneficiaries to help them to increase their skills, confidence and ability to do things for themselves, the way I work with groups can start quite intensively with a lot of handholding until they are in a position to work on an application themselves with me on hand to review it before it’s submitted. Lots of the people I worked with years ago are now flying with their bidwriting! I supported Dudley Voices for Choice (https://bit.ly/2nPR5qw) who received £415,720 at the end of 2018. What stood out for me was how the group involved their beneficiaries throughout the process as well as the enthusiasm of the partners in the project led excellently by Sarah. Overall 80% of the organisations I have supported during the last 11 years have received funding.

Over the last eleven years, between us, we’ve supported:

261 organisations

With 614 successful applications

To 113 grants programmes

Totalling £11,764,436.65 (65p!) Of course, this only covers the work that Martin and I have done to support organisations as that’s the data we have to hand. The real total over that eleven years is likely to be much higher if we could incorporate the support that our previous colleagues gave too. On top of that, for obvious reasons, we can only include the successes that our groups have told us about, which doesn’t always happen. Nonetheless, there’s some interesting things to say about the figures we’ve got. The largest single grant was for £800,000 from the Football Foundation to a local community football club (one of Martin’s)

Over £11milliOn Over 11 years! 261 nOnprOFits, 113 Grants prOGrammes, 614 successFul applicatiOns suppOrteD

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- The smallest grants were two £30 grants from TESCO and the Blakemore Foundation to help the Seniors Luncheon Club get started in 2009 (they’re still going now!)

Here’s a breakdown by grant size:

86% of grants were valued at £10,000 or less. The majority of grants (35%) were for under £1,000, while 33% of grants ranged from £1,000-£5,000. This means well over half the grants (68%) were awards of up to £5,000. 18% of grants were between £5,000 and £10,000 in value. I think this suggests that most of these awards are contributions towards project costs, rather than core funding.

Which funding programmes have been the most accessed by the groups we’ve supported over the last decade?

67 of the 113 (59%) funding programmes made one grant only (that we know of), the remaining 41% gave multiple grants amongst the groups we supported. When we support groups, we help them to identify the most appropriate funders for their needs, matching projects to funders’ interests areas and criteria. This is why there is a spread of 113 grants programmes.

Within that, the ten most prolific grants programmes were:

- Dudley Council’s Community Forums (including previous Area Committee funding)- Awards for All (National Lottery Community Fund, formerly Big Lottery Fund)- Dudley Borough Small Grants Fund- Grassroots Grants- Rant About the Grant- Improving Physical Activity Fund- Reaching Communities (National Lottery Community Fund, formerly Big Lottery Fund)- Dudley Council’s Small Grants Fund- Ibstock Enovert Environmental Trust (formerly - Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust)- BeActive Coaching Bursary

What’s staggering in this list is that 6 of the ten programmes no longer operate and have not been in operation for some years now (programmes that have come to an end are: Dudley Borough Small Grants Fund, Grassroots Grants, Rant About the Grant, Improving Physical Activity Fund, Dudley Council’s Small Grants, BeActive Coaching Bursary). This chimes with our knowledge and our increasing encouragement of groups to look to new sources of income as grant funding opportunities continue to reduce, because the four remaining funders may not be able to increase their level of award.

What else can we say about these grants programmes? We can see how much they have granted the Dudley borough groups we’ve supported:

An enormous 55% of funding awarded to the groups we’ve supported has come from Reaching Communities, that’s £6,507,553.00 of the £11,764,436.65 total! This is perhaps due to a combination of the size of grants available through this programme, its popularity as a programme and the relatively high success rate it enjoys. Other popular programmes like Awards for All and the Community Forums give smaller grants (up to £10,000 and £5,000 respectively).

Martin says, “As regards Reaching Communities I have a success rate of almost 60% in both number of successful applications and grant values. 50% of the groups I’ve supported with Reaching Communities have received repeat funding from that programme. These include Phase Trust (3), Dudley Counselling Centre/Dudley Community Church (3), Beacon Centre for the Blind (2), Age UK (2) and Headway Black Country (2).

As for high-value grants, some of my highlights are:

£538,524 over 3 applications to an organisation that supports older people

£513,525 over 3 applications to a disability charity

£1,238,328 from 10 applications from a faith-based organisation that supports vulnerable and disadvantaged people

£679,411 across 4 applications from an advocacy charity

£646,272 from 4 applications by a health-based charity

7 applications with a family support charity, totaling

£289,0167 applications supported with a young persons

charity, totaling £1,019,71015 applications supported from a charity that empowers disadvantaged people, totaling

£566,4656 successful applications supported from a young

persons advocacy charity, totaling £614,592″

The National Lottery Community Fund (formerly known as the Big Lottery Fund) which runs Reaching Communities, features elsewhere in this top ten, with Awards for All, Advice Services Fund and the Youth Investment Fund accounting for around 10% of money awarded. So what does the picture look like if we combine the programmes run by one funder?

Unsurprisingly, the National Lottery Community Fund makes up 65% of the total money awarded to groups we’ve supported over the past eleven years.

Other funders have contributed as follows:

- Football Foundation 6.8%- Young People’s Fund 2.62%- Dudley Council 2.51%

- BBC Children in Need 2.42%- Lloyds Bank Foundation 2.39%- Building Better Opportunities 2.38%- Sport England 1.89%- Ibstock Cory Environmental Trust 1.6%- Grassroots Grants 1.3%- Remaining funders combined 11.25%

The National Lottery Community Fund is still keen to fund Dudley borough organisations and we have great links with John Goodman, the Funding Officer from The National Lottery Community Fund who covers our patch. John is available at our office on Wednesdays to meet organisations interested in accessing funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. To arrange an appointment, email John at john.goodman@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

A new fund for Dudley borough

Finally, Dudley CVS has recently launched a new fund for organisations that can develop and provide creative support for people who frequently use unplanned emergency care services (such as calling 999, attending A&E or Urgent Care Centre).

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support this work and there are no deadlines. For more information, visit: https://interests.me/org/dudleycvs/story/177364”

Read the full story on the Dudley CVS blog:https://bit.ly/2mTbpr6

w: bhillcivic.co.uk

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Dudley CVS TEAM MEMBERS:Helena Norman, Communications OfficerBecky Pickin, Small Groups Development OfficerMelissa Guest, Healthwatch Dudley, Communications Officer Keeley Waldron, Integrated Plus Link Worker

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