There are a number of Council Services which are available to provide funding advice and assistance.  They will all work across the voluntary and private sectors delivering a variety of services from funding support and advice to bid writing and everything in-between.  The services are provided by three teams who have a wealth of experience and knowledge. These teams are the External Funding Team, the Sports Development Team and the Community Development Team.

 

External Funding Team

The role of the External Funding Team is to support medium–large scale (over £50,000) funding bids both for the voluntary & private sectors across the Borough and to ensure maximisation of external funding into the Borough.

Key areas of work include:

• Maintaining a strategic approach to funding to ensure the most appropriate bids from Halton are submitted and avoid internal competition;
• Undertaking funding searches for specific projects;
• Bid writing and development of supporting documents;
• Dissemination of funding information to targeted audiences;
• Increasing our training offer in order to empower colleagues and ensure the highest quality bids are submitted;
• Participation on key forums;
• Lobbying funders, and participation on key forums to ensure Halton gets its fair share of funding and to receive timely updates on policy and criteria changes;
• Developing strong partnerships with Council colleagues and the third and private sectors where appropriate, to submit joint bids.

We are a Council-wide service and work with Strategic Directors to establish their future key funding priorities. We are also aware that funding opportunities come along with very short deadlines and we have to remain flexible in our approach so ensure that these opportunities are not missed.

If you wish to make an enquiry or request help with funding on your project or other such help then please fill out the enquiry for that can be found in the shared documents area and email it to funding@halton.gov.uk or contact a member of our team.

For more information and the latest funding opportunities Click here

 

Sports Development Team

The Sports Development Team implements a number of far-reaching development programmes, working in close consultation and partnership with a range of national, regional and local organisations, including Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust, Sports Coach UK, National Governing bodies of sport and Halton Primary Care Trust.

The team has a number of grants and bursary’s that are available for assistance with club development, individual sports people and sports coaches in the Borough.

They are also a part of the Halton Sports Partnership. The Partnership provides a collective view of local sport dealing with all aspects of; facility provision, trends and demands, areas of concern and priority, publicity, inclusion, increasing participation and lobbying on behalf of sport. Thus making the Partnership a coordinated voice of sport and recreation within Halton.

• To provide a Forum to share good practice;
• To assist and support with access to funding;
• To contribute to the strategic development of sport by linking with other bodies as appropriate;
• Equality of opportunity and access for all;
• To act as a lobby for sport;
• To raise the profile of sport and its value both within and outside the sports environment;
• To promote the aims of the Halton Sports Strategy;
• To provide training and development opportunities for volunteers, club administrators, officials and coaches.

For more information click here or call 0151 511 8282 or email Sports.Development@halton.gov.uk or on twitter @haltonsportsdev

 

Community Development Team

The Community Development Team works with local residents, community and voluntary organisations and agencies across Halton to positively tackle issues that affect the quality of life for the residents of the borough.

The team enables and encourages the community to develop their skills and knowledge to ensure they can take an active role and have influence in decisions that affect their lives.

The service provides:

• Capacity Building & Training;
• Funding Support;
• Support & Advice to Community and Voluntary Organisations;
• Networking at a Neighbourhood Level;
• Community Involvement and Participation;
• Tools and Techniques for Consultation and Community Planning;
• Small Grants to Community Organisations and Voluntary Youth Groups;
• Leadership and Network Opportunities for Community Development Practitioners across the Borough.

There is a team of six Community Development Officers. Each of the officers has responsibility for an Area Forum.

For more information contact Nicola Goodwin on 0151 511 8105 or email Nicola.Goodwin@halton.gov.uk or on twitter @HaltonComInvolv

 

Halton St Helens VCA

Whether you are a small group running completely on volunteers or a larger organisation, finding the right kind of help with policies, procedures, your management committee or other ways of improving what you do and how you do it can be a minefield and you sometimes need a bit of a helping hand. Here at Halton & St Helens Voluntary & Community Action (VCA), we want to help you in the best way possible for you.

If you know you need support in a particular area, say starting a group or how to get a committee together and just want to read through some information, please contact us to see if there is something there that can be of help.

If you’re interested in Volunteering and want to find out more from one of our Volunteer Centres then have a browse through our Volunteering section here. We have a host of opportunities in the St Helens, Widnes and Runcorn areas.

If you’re passionate about Health and Social Care and want to keep up to speed with what is happening then find out more about your Local Healthwatch.

Halton & St Helens VCA is an infrastructure organisation that provides advice, information and development support services to voluntary, community, not-for-profit and faith organisations and volunteers in the Boroughs of St Helens and Halton.

The organisation is an incorporated registered charity (charity number 1106001, company number 2539153) operational since 1932, and has bases in Tontine House, Church Street, St Helens Merseyside and in St Marie’s, Widnes, Cheshire.

The organisation is affiliated to the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) and undertakes five core functions:

1. Development – Identifying local need, working with others to develop appropriate action and working strategically to benefit the local voluntary and community sector.
2. Liaison – Helping to maintain links with a wide range of voluntary and community organisations and promoting cross sector relationships.
3. Representation – Enabling the local voluntary and community sector to present its views to statutory and public sector bodies through consultation, networking, fora, seminars and workshops etc.
4. Services – Funding information and advice, training, legal, financial, management and constitutional advice and information, meeting space, newsletters and mailings.
5. Strategic Partnership – Working with the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP), helping to develop the voluntary sector compact, participating in neighbourhood regeneration and working with other statutory bodies at a strategic level.

Halton and St Helens VCA is also affiliated to Volunteering England (VE) and undertakes to deliver a volunteer recruitment, placement and support service to residents of the St Helens and Halton as well as voluntary and community organisations seeking volunteers. The core functions are:

• Developing Volunteering
• Promoting Volunteering
• Brokerage (information and referral for voluntary opportunities)
• Enabling participation in volunteering
• Providing information, training and research into volunteering
• Commenting and campaigning on volunteering

To contact Halton & St Helens VCA please call (01928) 592405, e-mail info@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk or Tweet @HSHVCA