News

Our next free workshop is Take Your Social Enterprise from Idea to Reality, on Thursday 30th November, 10:30am – 12:30pm, at Bailliefields Community Hub. Delivered by Emma Ives, Business Advisor at Firstport, this practical workshop will help you to think about how to break down your idea into smaller elements – to hopefully get you started more quickly.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), in collaboration with Volunteer Scotland, has released their 2022 Scottish Charity Survey Report, which measures trust and confidence in the charity sector, including awareness of OSCR as the Scottish charity regulator.

The National Centre for Resilience has launched its new Third Sector, Community and Practice Fund, with grants of up to £15,000 available. Open to community groups, practitioners and third sector organisations, the fund’s theme is “Building Resilience to Natural Hazards through Local Community and Place-Based Approaches”. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 31st January 2024.

The Clothworkers’ Foundation has recently expanded the eligibility criteria for their Open Grants Programmes, and now offer capital grants for digital infrastructure projects. They will also consider applications for products and software (such as websites, databases and apps). The foundation is hosting a webinar on these changes on Thursday 7th December, 10am – 11am.

Scottish Government has launched a new consultation on the introduction of a new benefit to help older people with fuel costs, and are seeking people’s views. The Pension Age Winter Heating Payment aims to replace the UK Government’s Winter Fuel Payment in Scotland. The deadline for responses is Monday 15th January 2024.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), are looking to hear from people receiving health and care services from nurses and midwives in Scotland. To gather these experiences, they are holding an online workshop on Monday 11th December, 12pm – 1:30pm.

The Fairer Falkirk team is beginning the process of creating a new anti-poverty strategy, and are looking to engage with these groups to ensure their views are heard and considered when creating the strategy. They are looking to work with local third sector groups and organisations, to ensure local people’s views and experiences are reflected in the new strategy. This stage of engagement will end in early December.

Last year, Strathcarron Hospice received £10,000 from Grangemouth Rotary Club to purchase Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which many patients within the Hospice’s In-Patient Unit have been able to use. The VR headset is now being trialled with Strathcarron patients in their homes across local communities.

LinkLiving is currently accepting referrals for their next Moving On Up programme, which is due to start in January 2024. Moving On Up is a 2 tiered programme for young people aged 16 – 19 years old living in Falkirk District, which provides the opportunity for young people to learn new skills, build confidence, realise their goals for the future, and meet new people.