News Article

Not-for-profit organisations in North East England are in line for a share of more than £6.8m of new funding to develop innovative ways of helping people move into work, deliver regeneration and boost the third sector’s contribution to economic growth.

The investment, approved yesterday by One North East, means that more than 270 different organisations in the region could receive support for work on economic regeneration over the next five years.

Once the fund goes live, organisations will be able to bid for funding for activities including:

• Testing ways to work with partners on the barriers preventing people from playing a full role in the economy
• Developing new ways of generating income or becoming more sustainable
• Delivering specialist training, coaching and mentoring
• Managing community buildings
• Playing a partnership role in physical regeneration

This project builds on the success of a pilot Third Sector Capacity Fund launched in 2007. This provided grants to 19 different projects, ranging from a social enterprise creating websites for third sector organisations, to the development of an employers’ guide to hiring staff with learning disabilities. It also incorporates learning from sub-regional projects in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, the Tees Valley and County Durham.

Robin Beveridge, One North East’s Inclusion and Skills Partnership Manager, said: “The third sector has an important role to play in the life and economy of the region and innovation is one of its strengths. With this funding, not-for-profit organisations can play to that strength by finding ways to increase their capacity, and that of the people they serve, to contribute to economic growth.

“Whether that’s by getting involved with the physical regeneration of a deprived area, trying out a new approach to getting people back into work after a long time out, or building leadership in the third sector to increase its influence, this significant investment will boost the valuable work already being carried out by  organisations across the region.”

The fund is expected to go live later this year, and will be managed by an independent organisation with experience of working with the sector and with grant funding. This organisation will be appointed through a competitive tendering process in the coming weeks.

The Community IT Academy in Newcastle received just over £23,700 during the fund’s pilot phase. It used the cash to develop new and improved websites for a range of third sector organisations at a fraction of the usual cost, and to give them specialist training to manage the sites effectively.

Manager Lewis Atkinson said: “We wanted to test the service because so many voluntary groups were coming to us for help.

“Many of them had websites already, but they were either very complicated to maintain so were ending up completely out of date, or groups were paying a third party to manage the site for them – a cost which many voluntary organisations can’t sustain. Others were looking to create an online presence for the first time, but simply couldn’t afford even the basic price for the commercial development of a website.

“By using what’s called open source code, which doesn’t have licence costs attached to it, we could create sites at a fraction of that cost and make them really easy for organisations to maintain.”

The third sector is the Government’s umbrella term for not-for-profit organisations such as charities, community groups and social enterprise. The sector as a whole employs 4.4% of the region’s workforce and is supported by more than 140,000 volunteers.

Ends.

For more information, contact Claire Mason (press office) on 0191 2296429 or 07765220755, or by emailing Claire.mason@onenortheast.co.uk