Increased Financial Support for Borough's Charities and Voluntary Groups
An extra £100,000 to be given to local grassroots organisations
These organisations have become more vital during cost of living crisis
Additional funding is to be given to the borough’s network of voluntary organisations and charities so that they can help residents struggling in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.
Council leader Simon Hogg has outlined proposals to inject an additional £100,000 in funding to local grassroots organisations that benefit residents across the borough.
At the same time, he has announced plans for an independent review of the way the council works in tandem with these community groups with the aim of strengthening that relationship and encouraging more to become established.
In a report to councillors on the finance committee Cllr Hogg wrote, “As a council we can make a real difference to our residents, but we cannot do this alone. We have amazing community and voluntary organisations who support our residents, as we saw so powerfully during Covid.
“These organisations are based in our communities and are therefore well placed to support residents who know them and who can engage with them easily. It’s therefore time to have a real dialogue with our voluntary and community sector, to gain insight and a better understanding of the needs and gaps to make sure we get it right first time.
“To achieve this, we will commission and support an independent needs analysis of the voluntary and community sector; the findings of which will form the basis of any future voluntary infrastructure development in Wandsworth with the aim of making Wandsworth the place in London to start, run and grow a charity.
“We will also support our local voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) to work with local residents, particularly during the current cost of living crisis. To ensure our VCS has the capacity to do this we will invest £100,000 to deliver medium level grants to support ongoing cost of living interventions. This funding will be allocated over the summer to ensure assistance to residents is delivered as quickly as possible.”
Cabinet member for the voluntary sector, business engagement and culture Cllr Kemi Akinola added, “We are truly blessed in Wandsworth to have an absolutely inspiring array of charities, community groups and voluntary organisations that are responsible for some really amazing work across our community, improving people’s lives, supporting the vulnerable and caring for others.
“As a newly elected administration we are committed to working closely with them in support of the vital role they play in making Wandsworth a safer, healthier and better place to live.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
August 3, 2022