Funding

The Queen's Speech on Weds 9th, setting out the UK government's legislative programme for the year ahead, didn't have much to immediately grab a charity sector audience.

The Marr-Munning Trust has announced a small grants programme for smaller NGOs based or working in the Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia, or Sub-Saharan Africa. To be eligible, projects should focus on the education of children or skills training for adults.

Next deadline 31st July, http://www.marrmunningtrust.org.uk.

A report from the National Children's Bureau estimates that the 34,000 charities in England which work primarily with children and young people will lose £405 million in statutory funding in the five years from 2011/12 to 2015/16. Along with the section based on this calculation, done with NCVO, there is a second part from a consultation with 74 charities to find out what changes to funding they are experiencing and how they are responding and adapting.

The Institute of Fundraising has published a guide to managing fundraisers, covering recruiting, developing and retaining them.

It follows feedback from members that the fundraising function is often misunderstood at organisational level, and the guide is aimed at both managers and individual fundraisers to help implement best practice. Download 'Managing Fundraisers' (pdf, 2MB).

The second round of the government's Innovation in Giving Fund is searching for established (medium to large) charities that want to use their expertise, networks, assets and capabilities to find new ways to engage people in giving.

Wales umbrella body WCVA is a delivery partner of Jobs Growth Wales, a new Welsh Government initiative set up to create 4,000 jobs annually for out-of-work 16 to 24 year olds. Funding for six months' employment at national minimum wage is available and up to a thousand of the jobs will be funded through WCVA.

Three information events will be held 8th to 10th May, see http://www.wcva.org.uk/news/dsp_news.cfm?newsid=1834.

As we don't cover fundraising issues to any great degree, and due to our unplanned absence, our newsr hasn't had much on the high profile donors tax relief spat.

As announced in the Budget, the government is inviting constructive comments about experiences of regulatory enforcement and compliance in three areas, including volunteer events, and how it could be improved.

The website says that Volunteer Events covers "the sort of compliance and enforcement issues that you might come into contact with when planning and running an event to raise money for good causes". You can see comments already made and add your own at http://discuss.bis.gov.uk/focusonenforcement/.