 It has been a difficult few weeks, with a rise in racist incidents and a sense that such behaviour is becoming more normalised. The far right rally in London at the weekend drew around 110,000 people and gave a voice to racist hatred. In communities nationwide, hate crime is increasing, alongside a worrying perception that it is acceptable to single out people who ‘don’t look British.’ Union Jack and St. George flags have been used as a symbol of far right support, with an insidious veneer of “but it's our national flag” in the face of criticism. It is scary, unnerving, and threatening. Many of you will have experienced aggression, or be supporting people who have. You’ll see communities feeling unsafe, feeling frustration with the wider establishment response, or feeling unsure about what we can do. Our role as local infrastructure organisations is to support strong, united communities, which is more important than ever. We are here to listen to and support people, and to build a sense of a shared, positive, inclusive place. We can focus on the positive, call out the aggression, and amplify anti-racist voices. I have been looking for people and places offering me hope, and we can do the same in our roles. Bolstering each other and our community is our superpower right now. I have attached some thinking from the Emergencies Partnership team as they too call out the threat of violence and reality of unrest. This is an internal tool for the Emergencies Partnership team, but might be useful to inform your thinking. I also wanted to share this useful guide from New Ways - When Hate Spills Into Workplaces - A Leaders Guide. It has practical, active steps we can take, and is a piece I certainly find useful to reflect on. It's easy to feel inadequate, and that whatever we do is insufficient in the face of such significant problems. Let’s know that what we has impact, and know that what we do to support inclusive, resilient, thriving communities matters. NAVCA AGM save the date: 13 November 2025 - Elect new trustees and shape NAVCA’s direction The NAVCA AGM will be held online on Thursday 13th November 2025. All NAVCA members are welcome to attend. This is an opportunity to elect new NAVCA trustees and shape NAVCA's direction. Please sign up for the AGM here, and we will be in touch with further information in October. Join the NAVCA Board of Trustees We are excited to announce the opportunity to become a NAVCA Trustee. We are looking for up to two NAVCA members with an understanding of VCS infrastructure and an interest in strengthening communities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations that serve them. We’re particularly looking for people with experience of leading work on volunteering and capacity building, and who aren’t CEOs. If you want to help steer NAVCA’s strategic direction, this is an opportunity to contribute to decision-making whilst gaining professional development, experience of sector leadership and charity governance, and insight into how small organisations operate. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of perspectives on the Board, with trustees from a range of backgrounds, perspectives and experience/age. Trustees joining the Board without prior experience at Board level will be given additional, tailored support to ensure they feel confident and able to fully participate in their new role. Trustees are appointed for a three-year term, with the option to extend for one further term. For an informal conversation about the role, get in touch with us at [email protected]. Download the Trustee Recruitment Pack via the NAVCA website here. Your nomination needs to be received by 5pm on Monday 6th October for vote by members at the AGM on Thursday 13th November 2025. Save the date (and location!) - NAVCA Annual Conference After an energising and exciting conference earlier this year, we're onto planning next year's, and we're pleased to announce that we'll be heading back to Birmingham in 2026. Our 2024 conference was held at Austin Court, a modern venue in central Birmingham, and we're looking forward to returning there for a day of networking, learning and sharing ideas. The conference will be held on Thursday 14th May 2026, with our usual Networking Dinner taking place the evening before, as well as additional networking opportunities on Wednesday 13th May. For now, save the date and keep an eye on this newsletter and our social media for more information throughout autumn. Sponsorship opportunities at NAVCA Annual Conference As we plan the NAVCA Annual Conference 2026, we're offering sponsorship opportunities to organisations looking to raise brand awareness, meet local infrastructure organisations, and build valuable connections. Our sponsors help to make the day as affordable as possible for members, and we'd love to hear from any organisations you work with that might be interested. Download the 2026 sponsorship brochure here to send to your corporate partners, and get in touch with Emily, our Communications Officer, at [email protected] if you have any questions or would like a chat about sponsorship. Building your brand with Few and Far - member workshop Branding is an important topic for members, as more organisations begin to explore rebranding or refreshing their brand in order to make the greatest impact. At our 2025 Annual Conference, we held a workshop hosted by Few and Far, a digital agency that specialises in working with not-for-profit organisations, on branding, digital and more. We know this was a popular topic for members, and also that many of you wanted to attend this workshop but were unable to. That's why we're hosting an online workshop in November, so more members can attend the session. We’re now excited to welcome Colin Grist, Creative Director at not-for-profit digital agency Few and Far, for a hands-on 2-hour online workshop for NAVCA members. Together, we’ll explore the adjectives and archetypes that define your brand today – and where you’d like it to go in the future. By the end of the session, you’ll have a clear “brand personality” that you can use as a benchmark for future brand or rebrand work, making sure it always connects back to your organisation’s story. You’ll take part in the collaborative exercise on the day, then leave with the tools to repeat it with your own team. The event will take place online on 5th November, 11am to 1:15pm, and we have a limited number of early bird tickets available for £100. Book your place here. NEW: Cyber security resources Ensuring that you and your local charities and community groups are cyber secure is more important than ever, which is why we've partnered with the National Cyber Security Centre to provide a new set of resources around cyber security, keeping safe online, what to do in the event of a cyber attack, and more. We've added lots of new resources to the NAVCA website, which are all available in PNG and PDF so that you can share quickly and easily with your networks, including on social media. Log into the website and download the resources here. Policy Event: Devolution and Community Empowerment BillThe English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will bring about significant changes for local government. Join us at this open session for members to learn more about the Bill and its implications, ask questions, and discuss what amendments we might want to push for. This event will take place online on 1st October, 2pm - 3pm. Book your place here. Changes to ministerial responsibilities - September 2025The first two weeks of September brought significant changes in government. We have produced a short document that shows the relevant changes in ministerial appointments directly relevant to local infrastructure. You can view and download it here. NAVCA news Meet Barry, our new Projects OfficerWe're pleased to welcome Barry Knowles to the NAVCA staff team, joining us as a Projects Officer. He will be responsible for leading and supporting NAVCA-led projects, supporting our members to bring about positive change in their organisations and local communities. Barry is a keen advocate of developing community capacity and assets to enable people from all backgrounds to thrive and lead their best lives. Having developed and led projects in the voluntary and community sector in South Yorkshire since 1999, he has wide project management experience in community development and supporting disadvantaged people. Before joining NAVCA, Barry worked at NAVCA member Voluntary Action Rotherham leading the Social Prescribing Service for 13 years. In the role, he led a team of Advisors providing holistic support to targeted patient groups referred by local GP Practices. In the role, he contract managed a network of VCS and localised community anchor organisations to grow capacity within the VCS. He also spent 10 years in North Barnsley working for a Community Partnership to widen opportunities for underrepresented groups to engage in learning and education. Outside work, Barry enjoys keeping active. Running is one of his passions, and he often participates in Saturday morning parkruns in and around his hometown of Rotherham. New NAVCA partnership with Clinks We are pleased to announce that we will be working in partnership with Clinks, who support the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system. Please see a message from them below, and keep an eye on our channels for more information about the partnership. "Clinks is delighted to announce that, following the re-award of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Infrastructure Support Grant for Small and Medium VCSE organisations 2025-29, we will be working in partnership with NAVCA to increase our communications to, and engagement with, local infrastructure organisations and their networks and members. This will enable Clinks to raise awareness of criminal justice priorities, sharing information and developing joint approaches to ensure that smaller, more locally and community-based voluntary sector organisations working with individuals within the criminal justice system and their families are supported and engaged, increasing partnerships and opportunities to influence prisons, prisons and other key criminal justice and statutory agencies. Find out more about Clinks and their work here. Clinks is the national infrastructure charity dedicated to supporting voluntary organisations working with people in the criminal justice system and their families. We support, promote, and advocate for our members and the wider voluntary sector across England and Wales. We have over 500 members, ranging from large organisations through to unstaffed community groups, working across courts, prisons and the community to help people turn their lives around and support families and other significant relationships. We have an unrivalled reach of over 8,300 people working (or with an interest) in the criminal justice system across England and Wales and have established and trusted relationships within the voluntary sector and regular contact and influence with senior decision and policy makers in successive governments. Our area engagement and partnerships team will be in touch through NAVCA over the coming months, however If you would like to know more about Clinks in the meantime, please email [email protected].'' Mind the Future: boosting emotional wellbeing in Sandwell NAVCA member Sandwell Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has led a multi-year project to support young people’s mental health and resilience. The Emotional Wellbeing Programme has reached more than 4,500 young people since 2021, helping them tackle anxiety, isolation, and low confidence. Through creative therapies, sports, counselling and mentoring, young people built resilience, made new friendships, and felt safer at home. SCVO’s role as local infrastructure was crucial – bringing together schools, the NHS, local authorities and community organisations to ensure targeted support, shared learning, and stronger local capacity. We've recently shared the full story on the NAVCA blog - check it out here. linth Foundation launches - eventPlinth, an all-in-one platform to manage your organisation, track impact, and secure funding, are launching the Plinth Foundation, and would like to invite you to their free opening event on Monday 6th October.
The event will focus on two things (1) Introducing the Foundation and (2) Creating an open space to discuss the funding challenges charities are facing, with a focus on uses that are ‘unfundable.’ Plinth also want to do more than just give charities funding, they plan to give grantees: • Free access to premium AI tools • Pro bono consulting to build tech capability • £500 - £1000 in completely unrestricted funding Date: 6th October, 5.30-8.30pm Location: Covent Garden Community Centre, WC2H 9LA Included: Drinks & snacks! Free to attend You can book your space and find out more here. Plinth are also hosting an online event, on Tuesday 7th October, for people who cannot make the in-person event. Find out more here. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2025
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed