Thousands of people in West Cumbria are set to benefit from over £200,000 of funding from Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), the parent body organisation for Sellafield Ltd.  A total of £204,098 has recently been awarded to 11 different community groups in West Cumbria via the NMP Community Fund.

The Fund, managed by Cumbria Community Foundation, distributes money to local projects that can change the lives of local people in greatest need across West Cumbria.  In total, it will distribute up to £440,000 of NMP funds this year.  NMP granted over £2.5m of funding via the NMP Community Fund between 2008 and 2013.

In this latest wave of funding, projects received amounts ranging from £2,000 to over £50,000.

£50,000 was awarded to the Friday Night Project run by Inspira. NMP ‘s continued support of the project will enable it to carry on delivering high quality activities for young people in community venues across Allerdale.

Mike Priestley, Area Manager for Inspira in the West said: “We are delighted to receive this funding from NMP. The money allows the continuation of a very successful and popular project which has engaged hundreds of young people on Friday evenings improving neighbourhoods and providing healthy, positive activities. It’s a great investment in community well-being.”

£37,500 was also awarded to Phoenix Business Enterprise, in Cleator Moor to run Drop-in ICT centres across Copeland. The project gives people the opportunity to have computer access and learn essential ICT skills, which is important for people trying to find employment.

Joanne Crowe, Operations Manager at Phoenix Enterprise Centre said: “This funding will ensure that at least 400 unemployed Copeland residents will be able to get supported access to the internet in order to find jobs.  NMP’s funding will bring positive benefits to some of the most vulnerable in our community and will allow them to compete equally for jobs in this digital age.”

Other community groups to receive funding from the NMP Community Fund included: Cumbria Housing Partnership, Derwent and Solway Housing Association, West Cumbria Carers, Citizens Advice Allerdale, Bolton Low Houses Preschool/Play scheme, New Rainbow Preschool Whitehaven, Phoenix Youth Project Cleator Moor, Egremont Youth Partnership and Allerdale Credit Union.

Ian Hudson, Nuclear Management Partners General Manager, said: “There are hundreds of community groups in West Cumbria making a real difference to the lives of local people.  We are proud to support these groups and understand how important it is that they receive the funding they need.  The allocation of £204,098 is the first wave of funding to be granted this year via the NMP Community Fund. Similar amounts will be granted to more groups later this year through our very successful partnership with Cumbria Community Foundation.  We are looking forward to seeing how our funds are being used to benefit people living in our communities.”

Willie Slavin, trustee of Cumbria Community Foundation and Chairman of the West Cumbria Grants Panel, which is responsible for allocating the grants said: “The excellent working relationship between Nuclear Management Partners and Cumbria Community Foundation, developed over the last five years, has effortlessly clicked into place to continue supporting a range of projects that make a significant difference to the well-being of the West Cumbrian community. The extended partnership work has brought a high degree of diligence to the grant making process that ensures the funding is targeted at the most effective projects.”

The panel of committee members meet every ten weeks to discuss applications and award projects with NMP Community funding. The deadline for applications for the next round of funding is October 17, 2014.

We are currently looking for an experienced, full-time administrator to join our team at Cumbria Community Foundation. The post is based at our Head Office in Dovenby near Cockermouth.

You will have excellent communication skills, relevant experience and the enthusiasm to work in a busy office atmosphere.

If you’re looking for an opportunity where you can make a difference, want to work with an established organisation with a varied and interesting work load, then download a Job Description and email your CV and covering letter to ellen@cumbriafoundation.org

Closing date for applications: 9am Friday 12th September 2014
Interviews: to be held Friday 19th September 2014

Successful applicants who have been invited for interview will be notified by email by Tuesday 16th September. If you have not heard by that date, please assume you have been unsuccessful.

Two hard-working community groups in Wigton had their efforts officially recognised this week when each was presented with a cheque from the High Sheriff of Cumbria, Martyn Hart.

The High Sheriff’s Crimebeat Fund, administered by Cumbria Community Foundation, enables community groups to provide activities for young people who are involved or in danger of becoming involved in crime or anti-social behaviour.

Wigton Youth Station received £1,700 towards their ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ pilot programme. It aims to inform and educate young people about all elements of criminality within the youth justice system. Sessions run weekly and include activities on perception of young people, consequences of crime and drama workshops.

Angela Bicknell, Centre Manager for the Youth Station said: “Support like this is extremely important and enables young people to demonstrate the positive contributions they have to make within their communities.”

Borderlines provides weekly angling sessions for young people who are unable to cope with mainstream education and have been involved in anti-social behaviour. They received £2,126 from the fund.

Chris Bowman, Borderlines Company Secretary and angling instructor said: “This project develops skills around team building, effective listening, practical angling skills, raising awareness of environmental issues and encouraging responsible behaviour towards each other and the various locations we fish at.”

Martyn Hart said: “A large part of my work is spent meeting the outstanding groups and individuals in our county who – so often voluntarily – provide selfless, invaluable assistance to others.

“I have witnessed the significant individual and social benefits that participation in angling can bring to young people. The use of angling and the environment together with a personal and social development approach has great potential to engage and transform outcomes for some of the most disadvantaged young people.”

For further details about the fund, click here or contact Annalee Holliday on 01900 825760.

A multi-use games area is soon to be opened at the Kirkby & Furness Community Centre thanks to a wind farm windfall.

The Kirkby & Furness Community Centre is the latest project to benefit from RWE Innogy UK’s Kirkby Moor Wind Farm Community Investment Fund. The Community Centre is turning rundown tennis courts into a multi-use games centre that will play host to five-a-side football, tennis, netball and basketball games. The fund which is administered by Cumbria Community Foundation, recently awarded £2,000 for the much needed repair work.

Roger Rushton from Kirkby & Furness Community Centre said: “Not only will this new facility offer the four sports where previously there was only tennis, but it will now be free of charge to all residents of Kirkby. People of all ages can join one of the village sports clubs or can just get a group of friends together and turn up for an informal game anytime the courts are free.

“We are very grateful to all our sponsors, both national and local, who have made this exciting re-development possible.”

Work on the games area is already underway and could be ready for use by the end of August.  The Community Centre is also in partnership with the village school, who will start using the new facility from September.

Katy Woodington, RWE Innogy UK Community Investment Officer said: “The Kirkby & Furness Community Centre brings people together and provides local and easily accessible sports facilities. The multi-use games area will provide further opportunities to improve health and fitness and we’re delighted the Kirkby Moor Wind Farm Community Fund could help to make this project happen.”

Annalee Holliday, Grants and Donor Services Officer at Cumbria Community Foundation said: “This fund provides a valuable, long term, sustainable and reliable source of income for the local communities in Kirkby Moor. The support from RWE Innogy UK provides assistance to groups in the area who are helping to meet the priority needs of their community.”

The Kirkby Moor Wind Farm fund is administered by independent charity Cumbria Community Foundation. Applications for funding must be received by Friday 15th August for a decision on 9th September. For more information on the Kirkby Moor Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund or to apply online, click here or email annalee@cumbriafoundation.org.

For more information on Kirkby Moor Wind Farm visit www.rwe.com/kirkby-moor

Due to our continuing growth we currently have a vacancy for a part time Grants and Donor Services Officer with a focus on Neighbourhood Care Independence programme. The post is based at our Head Office in Dovenby near Cockermouth.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the successful applicant will work with our existing grants and donor services team to ensure funds and programmes are delivered to the highest standard.  The successful candidate will ensure that the Neighbourhood Care Independence Programme is meeting its targets and delivering a successful programme as well as overseeing a small number of other grant making funds. You will have excellent communication skills, relevant experience and the enthusiasm to lead on this interesting programme of work.

If you’re looking for an opportunity where you can make a difference, want to work with an established organisation with a varied and interesting work load, then download a Job Description and Application Form.

Closing date for applications: Sunday 31 August 2014
Interviews: to be held week commencing 8 September

Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), parent body organisation for Sellafield Ltd, is proud to announce its renewal of a partnership which will see the company fund £500,000 of community projects that support children, young people and families across West Cumbria.

After five years of working with Cumbria Community Foundation, NMP has committed to continuing its support of the organisation which grants funds to help those most in need in our communities.

Since 2009 the partnership has helped £2.5m of NMP’s funds to reach more than 50,000 people living in West Cumbria.

At a launch event on 22 July 2014, NMP’s new chair Tom Bishop confirmed his ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of people in West Cumbria. He said: “It is right that we continue our commitment to the people who live and work in West Cumbria and the CCF partnership has played an important role in enabling us to target support where it is most needed since we began operating here.

“Successful organisations can play a vital role in the communities in which they operate.  I am absolutely committed as chair of NMP to see us continuing to provide opportunities that can help local people achieve all they can.”

The priorities for NMP and its partnership with CCF centre on supporting those community groups providing invaluable services to children, young people and families across West Cumbria.   NMP will provide up to £500,000 for community based organisations to provide services and activities that benefit people in Allerdale and Copeland.

Willie Slavin, Chair of CCF’s West Cumbria’s Grant Panel said: “The fund couldn’t be more welcome or better timed with the climate of cuts in public spending and increasing social need. The support from NMP will be a key source of assistance to groups who helping to meet the priority needs of their community.  The fund’s priorities are taken from the ‘Communities that Work Plan’, jointly agreed and launched in 2009 by Jamie Reed MP and Sir Tony Cunningham MP.”

The aim of the stakeholder co-production workshop event was to begin development of project proposals to be funded by Cumbria Community Foundation through the new NMP Community Fund.  It was the start of a process to support effective partnership working and maximisation of resources.

During the workshop, we held a session to identify priority need in West Cumbria and any current gaps in funding. The photos below are from this session.

We also welcomed input around measuring outcomes/impact as we are implementing a new outcome monitoring framework. We held a session on how organisations currently measure success. We discussed what tools are used and how these tell us if what we are doing is working.

How we measure success

1. Case studies – show activity/impact & development
2. Use baseline & post project assessment
3. Where am I now – how did this impact
4. Wheels – initial assessment / achievements/attainment/goal setting/show progress
5. Track journeys across workshops
6. Show progress into learning/work
7. Understanding of opportunities & how access them
8. Value in systematic approach to evaluating impact – shared learning via networks such as “Youthwork Copeland”
9. Social Value – Housing  & Communities Trust – Wellbeing Indicators
10. Personal outcomes & progress made against indicators
11. BLF – agreed outcomes & outputs
12. Business Plan – associated monthly reviews
13. Feeding into annual report against plans
14. Stories – evidence of project funding being recycled locally and grow local economy
15. Activity sheet – self assessed status (related to confidence etc) over time
16. Triangulation – assessment by young person/parent/school of progress over time
17. Growth in emotional intelligence – how does my behaviour impact on others?
18. Reflective processes – maximise benefit to beneficiary
19. Statements/comments from external observers not just direct beneficiaries
20. Pre-post recording  – base line / distance travelled
21. Must be relevant to need being met
22. Personalised goals & aims for individual one to ones

Question
1. Is anyone measuring growth in support/social networking beyond immediate peer group e.g. Facebook etc.?
2. Expanded role for young evaluators?
3. Is there a role for looking at data from social media to explore what it might be telling us

Barriers to measuring success
1. Story telling – labour intensive
2. Capturing benefits derived from outside project funding
3. Self-selecting samples based on peoples willingness to have data/activity recorded
4. Forums for consideration of consistency e.g. glossary of terms
5. Equal opportunities – personal & intrusive questions
6. Putting words into beneficiaries mouths & limiting questionnaires
7. Too much evaluation – finding the right balance is essential
8. Capacity of staff
9. Knowledge on how to measure success – Training needs so everyone in organisation values importance of measuring success
10. Resources (time / staff / cost)
11. Keeping info up to date
12. Perceptions

A group of teenagers from Aspatria are heading out on an adventure of a lifetime through the World War One Battlefields thanks to Cumbria Community Foundation.

Beacon Hill Community Bike Club is set to take on the ‘Hell of the North’ – a 200 mile cycling journey in northern France and Belgium – during the 100th anniversary year of the start of WW1.

And the dream trip has been made possible with financial support from not one but two grant funds managed by the charity.

The new Aspatria Community Asset Fund gave the group £1,000 for materials to fix and restore the second hand bikes given to the teenagers taking part in the challenge.

And the Mary Grave Trust awarded individual grants to some of the teenagers who otherwise would not have been able to take part.

Eighteen teenagers and a few adults will be led on the WW1 Centenary Battlefield Tour by History Subject Leader Daniel Gee. The route starts in Dunkirk, heads to Ypres, visits the Menin Gate Memorial, before heading via war cemeteries to Arras, Valenciennes and ultimately to Roubaix along the pave trails and finishing with a spin around the open air velodrome. The toughest section of the ride will take in Vimy Ridge, a significant monument memorial site.

Daniel Gee explained the benefits of the trip: “These students have had few opportunities to travel, many have never left the UK. For some, the Coast2Coast ride four years ago was the furthest they had ever been from home. Previous challenges have proven that EVERYONE needs help and support at some stage and that EVERYONE has something to offer to help others. The challenge is about helping people find their real strengths and sharing them with other members of a team. It’s physically demanding, has required commitment and dedication to train for in the form of both regularly organised club training rides and personal commitment and effort.”

Andy Beeforth, Chief Executive of Cumbria Community Foundation, is pleased to be supporting ‘The Hell of the North’ – a phrase coined by journalists who visited the Western Front in the aftermath of WW1 and also the common name for one of the toughest races in the cycling calendar which follows their route, the Paris-Roubaix.

He said: “As 2014 is the centenary year for the start of WWI, this challenge is of both sporting and historic significance. I’m sure the teenagers will gain a great deal by visiting some of the Western Front’s most famous battlefields and the graveyards which will bring the scale of the war into sharp focus. I firmly believe that giving young people in this county the opportunity to take on a physically demanding challenge abroad will teach them a great deal about themselves and their strengths as well as the rich history in northern France and Belgium.”

Cumbria Community Foundation today celebrated raising more than £105,000 with its Winter Warmth Appeal.

The money was given to older people in Cumbria who struggle to keep warm in the winter.

 More than seven hundred grants were distributed which means more than 1,000 people benefitted from the warm generosity of others.

The Winter Warmth Appeal, now in its fourth year, has seen the money raised rise tenfold from £10,000 in 2010, to £105,000 this year.

A quarter of this year’s total came in through one ‘fun’ fundraising idea, ‘The Big Sleep’ saw 167 people sleeping in a field behind the Low Wood Hotel in Windermere attracting £23,000 in one night in February.

Andy Beeforth, Chief Executive of Cumbria Community Foundation, said: “Our trustees set a challenging target for us to raise £100,000 to keep older people warm and safe in the winter. I am blown away by the warm generosity of the people in this county in their support of this appeal and I am very proud that we exceeded the Trustees expectations.  I am grateful to the Low Wood Hotel and the Berry family for their support and to the Age UK offices around the county and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in Barrow who have helped direct the funds to older people in need.”

Cumbria Community Foundation will celebrate the success of the Winter Warmth Appeal by sharing a cake with a group of older people at an exercise class organised by Age UK South Lakeland.

The celebration will be at 11.45am on Wednesday, 28 May, at 11.45am, at Holme Parish Hall, Holme, near Kendal.

Sonia Mangan, Director of Age UK South Lakeland, said: “Every day Age UKs across the county work with older people with a range of complex problems and situations. We know that more and more people are struggling financially and these grants have enabled us to work with people on a very practical solution – offering a small grant towards the cost of heating when it is most needed. Successful appeals like this one really do change lives and we would like to add our thanks to all those people who worked hard to make it happen.”

Cllr Ben Berry, whose family kindly hosted The Big Sleep in February, said: “The Winter Warmth Fund is all about helping our neighbours when they need us most. With The Big Sleep we’ve made it easy for anyone, young, old, fit or able to raise money for this vital local charitable cause and I’m very proud to be involved with that.”

Here is a link to a video which features a couple of people who have benefitted from a Winter Warmth Grant this year and tells the story through a short film:

Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart has helped raise awareness of the appeal by sleeping out in the Pennines in one of the highest and coldest places in Cumbria in January, he said:

“Cumbria has some of the highest instances of fuel poverty in the country. Our traditionally built homes are difficult to heat and frequently off the mains gas grid, which make heating them very expensive. When your income is fixed, as is the case for many retired, elderly people, rises in energy bills can quickly become unaffordable, and the only choice left in the worst cases is to endure a cold home. It is completely unacceptable that an average of 300 people in Cumbria alone will die from the cold this Winter. The Cumbria Community Foundation plays a hugely important role in helping vulnerable older people meet the costs of heating their home. I was only too happy to do anything I could to help raise awareness of the Winter Warmth Appeal and the foundation’s fantastic fundraising efforts.”

Click here to view the ITV Border news piece where Pam Royle spoke to Chief Executive Andy Beeforth and asked him why he thinks the campaign has been so successful.

More than 300 guests attended a Grand Charity Dinner held on 22 March at the Shap Wells Hotel.  The event was co-hosted by Cumbria’s outgoing High Sheriff, Diana Matthews, and current High Sheriff, Martyn Hart.  £20,000 was raised, which will benefit the High Sheriff’s Crimebeat Fund, administered by Cumbria Community Foundation. The funds primary purpose is to support young people in danger of becoming involved in the youth justice system.

Guests were entertained by historian and television personality, David Starkey, and there was a lively auction of specialty items and experiences donated by generous local businesses and individuals.  In addition to a sumptuous meal, the dining room itself was a feast for the eyes of  “a cornucopia of interesting people” (as one guest put it) from all over the County (and beyond); beautiful table arrangements with stunning tulips from Holland which could later be purchased for a donation to the Crimebeat Fund.    

Martyn Hart says: “It was a fun and tremendously well-supported evening and a wonderful way to begin my year as High Sheriff; we’ve certainly hit the ground running!” 

The High Sheriff’s endorsement can help support local charities, particularly those working with the most vulnerable, by raising the profile of their valuable work within the County. 

“It is my intention to encourage people, particularly the young, to maximize their potential and self- esteem by helping others, and the substantial funds raised at this event will help support these exceptional local initiatives.”

James Carr, Chairman of Cumbria Community Foundation and himself a former High Sheriff said: “The Fund has given out almost £40,000 to groups across Cumbria. The money encourages young people to be involved in challenging activities, which can be shown to serve a purpose in diverting and deterring them from anti-social behaviour and crime. It offers young people a great chance to show how constructive they can be in their communities and what they can do to help themselves and others in their neighbourhood.”