Twenty seven voluntary sector groups receive funding

Friday July 8, 2011

Twenty-seven services provided by voluntary sector groups are set to share £1.2 million of funding in the second wave of the council’s £3.9 million grants pot for the voluntary sector – a significantly larger pot than the majority of other London councils.

Last July, thirty-five services provided by voluntary organisations were awarded £2.7 million of taxpayers’ cash from the council’s voluntary sector grants pot.

If approved by Cabinet on Monday, July 18, thirteen voluntary sector services will be funded by Hammersmith & Fulham Council for the first time, including:

• H&F Bike Project (£25,000) – which is establishing a cycling club in the borough, to include training and progression, competition and events.
• Urban Studies Green Service (£10,000) – a service to educate, inform and encourage young people through creative environmental projects.
• Hammersmith & Fulham Action on Disability (HAFAD) (£40,000) – Peer support project to encourage disabled people to access mainstream services.

This latest tranche of funding covers services covered under the categories of Health & Wellbeing, Safer Communities, Arts, Culture & Sport, Environment & Community Transport and Homelessness Prevention and Home Safety.

In total, the council received 70 applications from 51 organisations. This equated to £3.9 million worth of applications received for £1.2 million of funding available.

Cllr Joe Carlebach, cabinet member for community care, said: “This council has one of the largest voluntary sector budgets in London and that recognises the incredible contribution that the voluntary sector makes to this borough. Like councils the length of the country, we are under huge financial pressures as a result of the national budget crisis. However, we will do our absolute best to protect vital organisations and services from the budget pressures that we face.

“Nevertheless, we simply cannot afford to fund every single group and I recognise that there will be a number of disappointed organisations today. We have gone through a careful process to seek the best possible value for money for taxpayers in these circumstances.”

 Successful groups who have received funding include:

Outside Chance – received £18,000 to deliver their ‘It’s Your Choice Scheme which works with local schools to raise awareness of crime and the realities and consequences of crime in order to divert young people from offending.

Outside Chance Chief Executive and Presenter, Ian Ross, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been recommended for financial support by the council yet again. This is set to be the twelfth successive year that we have got funding from the council so we are over the moon, especially as the economic climate is so tough at the moment.

“I am thrilled that the council has again shown faith in us when the competition for funding makes is so difficult. If we achieve funding, it will mean that we will be able to go into more primary schools and speak to more young people before they move up to ‘big school’ so that they do not fall into gangs and crime culture. We have also just achieved funding from the Tudor Trust, which is one of the largest grant making organisations in the country, so this really is good news for us.”

Community Transport Project – received £45,000 to help fund a development worker and to deliver a coach voucher scheme which offers free or low cost coach outings to local older people’s groups.

Project manager, Paula Merrony said: “We are very pleased to be recommended for funding by the council for both the coach voucher scheme and the development worker. Funding for the coach scheme will ensure that groups of older people can continue to enjoy summer day trips to the sea side and stately homes while the development worker will help the project make the changes needed to ensure that we can continue to provide an affordable transport provision for community and voluntary groups in the borough.”

The council says its funding decisions were all made with the aim of maintaining a thriving third sector in the borough that grows its contribution to Hammersmith & Fulham’s society, economy and environment.

H&F is one of the most generous boroughs in London in terms of voluntary sector budgets. The council spends £23 per head of population before the huge voluntary sector commissioning budgets are taken into account. That figure is higher than the vast majority of London boroughs.

Cllr Carlebach added: “The council is still keen to encourage voluntary sector groups to apply for external funding. The recent £1million Big Lottery Fund grant for the White City area is an excellent example of how the community can benefit from different forms of funding from outside of the council.”

The council will be taking applications for the next round of Fast Track Funding in the Autumn with a decision made in Spring 2012. This pot provides grants of up to £10,000 for local groups and last October, 36 community groups achieved funding. The next round of large voluntary sector grants will take place next year.

 Full list of funding recipients:

Health and Wellbeing
Foundation 66 (ARP Charitable Services) -  £45,000
The Barons Court Project - £95,000
Broadway Homelessness and Support (Health Opportunities Programme) - £40,000
HAFAD - £40,000
Mencap - £45,000
Opportunities for All - £35,000
West London Centre for Counselling - £45,000

Safer Communities
Advance - £85,000
Broadway Homelessness Support (Central and Eastern European Support Programme) - £31,000
CALM - £12,000
H&F Victim Support - £20,000
Outside Chance - £18,000
Standing Together Against Domestic Violence - £45,000
Wormwood Scrubs Chaplaincy - £14,000

Arts, Culture and Sport
Albert and Friends - £12,000
Lyric Theatre - £240,000
Staying Put (H&F Bike Project) - £25,000
The Riverside Studios - £15,000
William Morris Society - £15,000

Environment and Community Transport
Groundwork - £30,000
Hammersmith Community Gardens Association - £40,000
HF Community Transport Project (Development Worker) - £15,000
HF Community Transport Project  (Coach voucher scheme) - £15,000
Staying Put (Furnish) - £35,000
Urban Studies Centre - £10,000

Homelessness Prevention and Home Safety
Bishop Creighton House - £58,000
H&F Citizens Advice Bureau - £70,000

 Comparative table of voluntary sector budgets 2011/12:

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