BSSEC » 2011 » July

Help us make your networking event better…for you!

July 27, 2011

Social Enterprise Mentor is Birmingham’s leading free networking event for social enterprise providing social entrepreneurs and social enterprises the opportunity to meet up and exchanging ideas, best practice and expertise. Once a month the informal ‘non sell’ networking provides the

Continue Reading →

One-fifth of charities and not-for-profits face insolvency risks says new report

July 27, 2011

Voluntary Organisations and the Economic Crisis: Riding the Storm, a new report from FRP Advisory claims that one-fifth of charities and not-for-personal-profit organisations face insolvency risks because of spending cuts. Just under half have scaled back activities in order to reduce

Continue Reading →

Home Office announces £14m VCS funding to help communities ‘reclaim neighbourhoods’ from crime

July 27, 2011

From Third Sector Online here. The Home Office has just announced up to £14m in funds to help the voluntary sector work with communities to tackle crime. Funding is being split into two grants: the Choices Fund and the Community Action Against Crime: Innovation Fund. Applications for

Continue Reading →

Hurd announces £10m ‘Investment and contract-readiness fund’

July 26, 2011

In an open letter on the Cabinet Office website, civil society minister Nick Hurd has announced a new £10m Investment & Contract-Readiness Fund designed to help civil society organisations become ready for new forms of social investment and for new levels of public service contrac

Continue Reading →

iSE social enterprise networking event attracts new faces and new business

July 20, 2011

iSE is celebrating the success of its second networking event held at Eastside Cafe in the heart of the Social Enterprise Zone of Digbeth on Thursday 7 July 2011, from 4-6pm. Everyone commented on how great it was to meet new faces and make new contacts — a number even got some

Continue Reading →

Forming consortia improves charities’ prospects, claims new report

July 20, 2011

Consortia for the delivery of public services: the issues for small and medium-sized charities, a new report published by the Charity Commission, claims that consortia working can result in a range of benefits for smaller charities in particular, with some stressing that consortia wor

Continue Reading →

New residents welcomed with free English lessons

July 19, 2011

Social enterprise Enta has boosted community integration in Erdington by holding free basic English classes for anyone who struggles with the language. The five-month pilot scheme, which has just finished, ran from February at Lakeside Children’s and Family Learning Centre, in Wyrley

Continue Reading →

OCS announces up to £30m in grants for transforming infrastructure support

July 18, 2011

BIG Fund (the non-Lottery arm of the BIG Lottery) has opened a short Expressions of Interest period (to 5th Aug) for organisations wishing to apply to the newly announced Transforming Infrastructure Fund. The criteria/objectives for this fund are very tightly focused. In the guidance

Continue Reading →

Social enterprise goes guerrilla!

July 15, 2011

Last night was a really amazing evening – not as you might think due to the fact that I have a really great social life but because I was invited to my first ever guerrilla event! This was pulled together by ‘Platform Birmingham’ which aims to bring together politicians, the media, c

Continue Reading →

Charity Commission announces new legal form for charities

July 15, 2011

For the first time in four hundred years a new legal form specifically for charities — the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) — has been made available. The Charity Commission identifies the key characteristics of the CIO as follows: It is an incorporated form of c

Continue Reading →

New report says social enterprise must seek investment from big city capital funds

July 15, 2011

A new report on social investment prepared for the City of London Corporation, the City Bridge Trust and the BIG Lottery by ClearlySo has just been published. Investor Perspectives on Social Enterprise Financing says that the concept of social investment is not yet sufficiently widely

Continue Reading →

PM launches ‘Open Public Service’ white paper

July 11, 2011

Speaking in East London this afternoon the Prime Minister launched the government’s long-awaited White Paper, Open Public Service, delayed from last autumn. He said: So let me tell you what our change looks like. It’s about ending the old big government, top-down way of ru

Continue Reading →

nfpSynergy publishes new guide for non-profits on using mobiles and apps

July 07, 2011

nfpSynergy, the research consultancy specialising in charities and the not-for-personal-profit sector, has just published Sending Out an SMS, the new second edition of its guide to helping non-profits make the most of mobile communications and smartphone apps for PR, communication and

Continue Reading →

New report calls for cultural shift decisively in favour of ‘early intervention’

July 05, 2011

The Cabinet Office has just announced publication of the second of Graham Allen MP’s independent reports to government on early intervention services. The general thrust of the report — Early Intervention: Smart Investment, Massive Savings — is that investing in earl

Continue Reading →

City social enterprise plans Barbados office

July 05, 2011

A unique Birmingham social enterprise is planning to open a Caribbean office after joining a recent UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Mission to Barbados to promote entrepreneurship on the island. Harris & Harris Accountancy Services was the first UK accountants to become a Community

Continue Reading →

BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL SOCIAL ECONOMY CONSORTIUM C.I.C., trading as BSSEC. A community interest company registered in England and Wales with company no. 07992674. Registered office: c/o Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES | All rights reserved | Copyright 2013-BSSEC | Created by Citizen Click