Does your organisation need money?

Peter Thorpe is the Voluntary & Community Sector Funding Advisor based at Hastings Voluntary Action. He helps groups to improve the effectiveness of their fundraising, with a particular emphasis on organisations that support people to improve their skills and employability.

The Funding Advice Service includes:

Reviewing funding applications and offering feedback

Training courses on funding and fundraising issues

Publicising funding sources in the HVA newsletter, BME News, and elsewhere

Providing specific funding information and advice for organisations

Loaning fundraising books and guides

For more information contact Peter Thorpe on 01424 444010 or email: peter@hvauk.org

Join the fundraising e-group

Peter Thorpe runs an email service for local voluntary and community groups, with updates of funding sources and fundraising courses. If you want to keep up with some of the latest opportunities and changes as they happen, you can join this group by sending your name, your organisation’s name and your email address to peter@hvauk.org

HVA to administer Hastings Borough Council small grants

Hastings Borough Council has asked Hastings Voluntary Action to take over the administration of some elements of the Council’s Community Partnership Grant Aid provision. HBC will continue to look after the Community Partnerships Fund, which provides funding for larger and well established local projects, but with effect from April 2008 HVA will administer the Community Group Transport Fund and the Small Grants Fund.

The Community Group Transport Fund

....provides financial assistance to local organisations and groups. The scheme aims to improve the quality of life of certain groups in our community by eliminating the financial burden of coach transportation thus making leisure and recreational facilities more accessible.

The scheme is open to all Community Groups but priority will be given to applications from youth and young family activity groups based in Hastings and St. Leonards. The amount available for 2008/9 is £5,000, the majority of which will be distributed to pay for spring/summer excursions. The deadline for these applications has now passed, although a small amount will be retained to distribute later in the year for “out of season” trips. For groups planning a trip between October 2008 and March 2009, bids must be submitted by 29th August 2008.

An application form and full guidance notes can be downloaded in either MS Word or PDF format by clicking one of the following links:

Communty Transport Form and guidance in Word

Community Transport Form and guidance as PDF

The Small Grants Fund

Now has a page of its own on our website, because this helps us to identify how many people visit our website for this specific item.You can find out more about The Small Grants Fund here. 

The Health Improvement Fund

For 2008/9, Hastings & Rother Primary Care Trust has set aside £30,000 to provide small grants to groups within Hastings & St. Leonards*. The scheme will be administered by HVA alongside the HBC scheme, sharing the same deadlines and similar processes. Groups may bid for up to £1,000 towards projects which in some way support the PCT’s “Choosing Health” programme. The deadline for bids to the first round is 25th June 2008, and application procedures and forms are now available for download by clicking on the links below:

Health Improvement Fund Application in Word           Health Improvement Fund Application as PDF

Health Improvement Fund Guidance in Word             Health Improvement Fund Guidance as PDF

*note - a similar scheme is being developed to cover the Rother area … contact Rother Voluntary Action for details

East Sussex County Council's Seedcorn Fund

There is now a specific page on this website covering the East Sussex CC Seedcorn Fund