July Newsletter
My time this month has mostly been taken up with preparing the grounds for our very important bid for funding from the Learning & Skills Council for a two year contract.The funding mainly comes from the European Social Fund and amounts to the colossal sum of £25 million over two years. This seems a lot of money but the LSC have to spread it out between all aspects of adult education, covering people from the age of 16 right through to those now on retirement. There is a particular focus giving money to disadvantaged groups including long term unemployed people, asylum seekers and those from ethnic minority groups.
Disability also features in the list but unfortunately there was only one section specifically devoted to disabled people and that is for one project worth £550,000. obviously it is a very big ask for U Can Do I.T. to win a competitive tender of this dimension but we have worked very hard at it and think we are in with a good chance.
The section we are actually applying for is number 2.2h and requests the tenderer to give NVQ qualification training to 150 beneficiaries. I will be able to report more fully on the bid next month. The bids have to be in by 16th August and we expect results in September.
Fundraising has been our main activity. This is extremely difficult these days with an enormous amount of competition for the funds available. Unfortunately U Can Do I.T. does not have an income flow of fees from beneficiaries because most of our students do not have sufficient funds to pay for the lessons themselves or indeed to make any significant contribution.
On 6th July we had a good meeting with Jenny Field who is the senior manager with Bridge House Estates. We will be making an application for funding in six months time when the three year period from our last application expires. Jenny has been extremely positive and helpful to U Can Do I.T. and we have received significant support from Bridge House in the past.
Another meeting which took place on 6th July was with Sue Rozelaar of Shaw Trust with Chris Garbett. We are delighted that Shaw Trust have agreed to be partners with us in our bid for funding from the ESF. We are also acting as partners to them in their bid for funding from Job Centre Plus. They are a magnificent organisation and have excellent training centres.
On 7th July we had a tutor seminar meeting to discuss fundraising possibilities. Andrew Coutts who has recently joined us as a fundraiser on a part time basis made a presentation. The idea was to invite tutors to participate in the fundraising effort by approaching local business organisations and charities for local funding. Six tutors have agreed to enter the scheme which will have to be well managed if it is to receive results. We do need as many people as possible to assist in the fundraising activities and the main thing is to tackle someone you know like your own Bank Manager or local supermarket to see whether they have any funds at their discretion however small these may be.
On 12th July we had an informal Trustees meeting to discuss the future in general terms. Sukie Hemming and Herschel Post were particularly keen to discuss the charities tactics over the next six months. We carefully considered what the situation would be if we were not successful in the ESF funding round and concluded that we would have to take a decision at that time in relation to the financial situation when the results of the bid are known.
On 14th July I had a very successful lunch with Ruth Fitzgibbons who is extremely energetic and delightful person and who has agreed in principle to join the U Can Do I.T. Board for one year with particular emphasise on drawing people into the charity and concentrating on fundraising. Ruth will be an enormously helpful addition to the team. Her enthusiasm for any cause she takes on is legendary.
On 20th July two interesting meetings took place. First with Richard Williams of Employment Opportunities and the second with Julie Derham of The European Language Centre. I am pleased to report that both of these organisations have agreed to become partners with U Can Do I.T. on our bid for ESF funding.
On 21 July Lisa Oram and I went to see Allen Kaye of Edexcel who are an Awarding Body authorised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. This was a very successful meeting. We explained to Allen that we were going to try and develop new NVQ’s for those people whether disabled or not who like to work from home. This is an extremely arduous undertaking but it is a crucial part of our bid for funding and therefore extremely important. I am very pleased to report that Allen was extremely interested in the proposals and agreed to support our bid for funding.
On July 22 July I attended an evening seminar put on by the LSC to provide information for all groups working with disabled people to meet and discuss bids for the LSC funding. About 30 people attended and some very good presentations were given. This was followed by a discussion at the various tables and participators were able to give their views about specific aspects of the bidding process.
The month also included the regular weekly management meetings both with Avril Hanning who is Head of Administration and Chris Garbett on Outreach and Fundraising.
Anthony
