The Office for Civil Society (OCS) with the purpose of providing better support for front line civil society organization by transforming local infrastructure services intends to make £30 million available for them in short-term funding.
Transforming Local Infrastructure will fund partnerships of local infrastructure organizations to rationalize and transform the support services which they provide to front line civil society organizations.
Partnerships
OCS wants infrastructure organizations to work together more efficiently and effectively. This means that a significant part of Transforming Local Infrastructure will be about funding projects which result in merger, collaboration or sharing of services across an upper tier local authority area. If there is more than one infrastructure organization in your local authority area this means working in partnership to develop an application that will show how you will work together to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Supported activities:
– local collaboration and consolidation making efficiency savings and creating more effective organizations through asset consolidation, merger of back-office functions and shared services
– redesign and integration of services to meet the changing needs of groups and communities, so they are valued and supported locally, and play a crucial role in brokerage
– better links with local business; more peer to peer support within local voluntary sector, and stronger partnership with the local statutory bodies, particularly the relevant local authority
– sustainability in the long-term without ongoing support from central government.
Who can apply?
You can apply if you meet both of the following criteria:
You are an infrastructure organization.
Infrastructure organizations mean civil society organizations whose main or only purpose is to support the work of other groups in the voluntary and community sector. This purpose will usually appear in the governing document of your organization or will be apparent from the work you have carried out. If supporting other organizations is not an explicit purpose in your governing document doing such work must be within the scope of the work your governing document allows you to do.
You are one of the following types of organizations:
– a registered charity
– a voluntary and community unincorporated charitable association
– a community benefit society registered as an industrial and provident society
– a community interest company
– an organisation of another type if you operate as a social enterprise and principally reinvest your surpluses for social benefit.
How much funding can organizations receive?
Grants are available:
– between £250,000 and £400,000 per local authority area or up to £600,000 for local authority areas with a population of over one million people (Birmingham, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire and Surrey)
– for up to 18 months
– mainly for revenue funding
– but can include up to £5,000 of capital funding.
Last date for registering your interest in the programme on OCS online resource is August 5, 2011
For more information and details, you can visit this link.
