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Charity and Voluntary Sector
BIG: Young paratrooper Harold Herbert waited to jump. Below, a mass of blazing fields, crippling shell fire, and the sight of comrades being cut down as they fell from the sky. As bullets ripped through the fuselage of the Horsa glider the plucky 20-year old summoned his courage and leapt into the abyss.
Now 68 years on Harold will return to the scene of Operation Market Garden, one of the most audacious, though ultimately ill fated allied offensives of the Second World War, and the largest airborne operation in history under the BIG Lottery Fund’s Heroes Return programme.
HL: With the latest Government statistics showing a 27% rise in homelessness in the capital, a website has been re-launched to help those at risk of homelessness access the advice they need. Homelesslondon.org offers a one-stop-shop for information on the rights of those who are homeless and links to over 1,600 services that may be able to help.
CO: The first awards from the £10m Investment and Contract Readiness Fund have been announced by Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society. The fund has pledged almost £1m to 8 small social ventures to help them scale up and do more for society. The grants will allow them to buy the top quality specialist support that will make them more attractive to investors & commissioners, and which they hope will enable them to raise £23m in further investments & contracts.
Last week Big Society Capital announced £37m of investments into social investment finance intermediaries to support new projects that will benefit society. Some charities are not yet ready to take on repayable finance from Big Society Capital, which is why the Government has established the Investment Readiness Programme, which will give ambitious charities & social enterprises access to money so that they can grow and better serve communities & people most in need.
