Camden Future Grants Programme: Survey

Overview

Introduction:

Camden Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) Future Funding Plans

In March 2023 Camden Council renewed our commitment to a £4 million per year VCS investment programme for a further seven years.

This survey seeks your views on the new funding programmes. The results will be used to inform the design of the overall programme.

This survey should take about 20 minutes to complete.

Funding Needs

We know that the last few years have been immensely challenging for the voluntary and community sector.

The context is fundamentally different to that in which we launched our 2016 VCS investment programme. The continuing impact of austerity, rising inequality, the Covid-19 pandemic and more recently the impact of the cost of living crisis have hit our communities hard, and voluntary and community sector organisations have been at the forefront of responding to community need throughout this time.

Camden’s VCS has worked tirelessly to meet increased need, yet at the same time has been impacted by a turbulent funding environment and increased running costs.

Our initial thinking about our new funding programme has been informed through feedback and insights from:

• Surveys by our partner Voluntary Action Camden on the state of the sector in Camden and the impact of the cost of living crisis
• Intelligence from our Strategic Partners Fund annual review process
• Feedback on our funding programmes and an analysis of what has and hasn’t been successful
• Ongoing dialogue with people working in the VCS and other funders

New Funding Proposals

The £4m per year funding programme includes our existing commitments to the Camden Advice Network of £1 million per year and our ongoing annual contributions to London Councils Fund. 

These grant proposals have been developed within the wider framework of We Make Camden and Camden's Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Our future grants programme proposals have three key components which are outlined below. The Funds are working titles only and are subject to change following feedback.

1. The VCS Partners Fund:

Multi-year, unrestricted funding for voluntary and community sector partners.

Successful Organisations will play a leadership role in their communities and contribute to our We Make Camden ambitions around:

• Neighbourhoods
• Equalities
• Social Challenges

2. Community Impact Fund:

To help support the key challenges we face as a borough. Small project grants focused on what we can do together as a collective to some of the key social challenges we face as a borough. For activities rooted in We Make Camden.

3. Organisational Foundations:

Provide support with organisational development and sustainability via Organisational Development grants and by investing in our VCS infrastructure partners.

We’d like to ask you some questions about these plans, based on your experiences.

The New Funding Programme Decisions and Timescales

This is a new funding programme. Most of our current grants come to an end in March 2024. Organisations will need to apply for funding under these new funding programmes.

Applications for the new VCS Partners Fund will launch in Summer 2023 to enable grant offers to be made in Autumn 2023 and give organisations time to plan ahead of the current grants programme ending in March 2024. We are anticipating other programme applications to launch in Autumn 2023, with new funding to start from April 2024.

Some of our grants, such as our Camden Advice grants are ongoing until 2027 and are therefore subject to separate arrangements.

Other Ways to Share Your Views

1. Sign-up to attend one of our workshops to share your insights and feedback in more detail. There will be 4 workshops.

        Dates and times:

• 25th April 2023, 5pm-6:30pm - Online workshop
• 3rd May 2023, 11am -12:30pm - Online workshop
• 3rd May 2023, 2pm-3:30pm - Online workshop hosted in partnership with Voluntary Action Camden, this workshop is specifically aimed at smaller organisations and groups (with an annual income of less than £100,000)
• 4th May 2023, 3:30pm-5:00pm - In person workshop at the Greenwood Centre, 37 Greenwood Place, London NW5 1LB

        Please register via Eventbrite

    2. Stay up to date with funding news and announcements, as well as other            information relevant to the sector (such as events and training) by                      subscribing to our newsletter here

    3. You can contact the Community Partnerships Team by emailing                           vcs@camden.gov.uk