Crowdfunder launched to raise £10,000 for children with care experience to create lifelong memories this summer
intandem, Scotland’s national mentoring service for children and young people with care experience, has today (Wednesday 31st May) launched a Crowdfunder campaign, aiming to raise £10,000 to help children create lifelong memories this summer.
All children deserve the opportunity to have fun and try new things to help set them up for a positive future. For children with care experience, the summer holidays may not offer the same opportunity to create these happy memories and they can miss out. Especially as the rising cost of living means many families in Scotland are struggling to stay afloat.
The intandem programme is managed and facilitated by Inspiring Scotland and will match every donation made during the campaign . All money raised will allow mentors and mentees to do something a bit more special during the summer holidays like visiting a zoo or theme park during their weekly meetups.
Julia Abel, Director of Funds at Inspiring Scotland said:
“We all have those memories of during the summer holidays – a trip to the beach, enjoying an ice cream or going someplace new. Those all-important things to talk about on the first day back at school.
“Many children with care experience, especially this year with the rising cost of living, are missing out. We want to go the extra mile and raise money for mentors and mentees to be able to do something a bit more special.
“intandem mentors provide children and young people with a consistent adult role model in their lives who is that one step removed from the day-to-day, who will empower them to be more confident and to feel heard.”
intandem mentoring is a proven model, where mentees have reported increased self-confidence, self-esteem, social relationships and has even seen many children and young people more positively engaged with their local community. Mentors help their mentees set goals and encourage resilience and confidence to succeed in life.
Donations can be made at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/intandem-summer-activities
Creative Communities Glasgow programme launches
The Creative Communities Glasgow programme launched today (Wednesday 24 May 2023), thanks to £745,000 funding from Glasgow City Council’s Communities and Place Fund, part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Facilitated by Inspiring Scotland, the new Creative Communities Glasgow programme will support community organisations in the area to develop and run cultural and creative projects with a focus on wellbeing for those who may face barriers to accessing cultural activities.
Applications are open until 30 June 2023 for grants up to £80,000, and the programme will run from August 2023 until March 2025.
Erica Judge, Director of Funds at Inspiring Scotland said:
“We know from the work the Inspiring Scotland team has done so far through our previous Creative Communities programme that there is a need and great appetite for these projects in Glasgow, where there is also an incredible hub of creativity and network of peer support already in place to build upon.
“Each Creative Communities funded project is community-led and as a result is unique, personal, and reflects the strengths, interests, priorities and talents of the people taking part.
“Taking part in cultural activity is known to have many benefits including strengthening community ties, improving mental wellbeing and reducing loneliness. We would encourage applications from community-based organisations in Glasgow seeking to explore people and communities’ creative sides and experience the benefits in terms of building relationships, improving happiness, and providing stigma-free pathways to other forms of support for those who need it.”
Previous Glasgow projects included Maryhill Integration Network’s Museum of Things project, which supported refugees and asylum seekers to create an exhibition of objects related to their experiences of leaving their home countries and becoming New Scots, and Stronger Together Enterprise, who provided dance and drama classes to children and young people from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said:
“The Creative Communities programme will support local organisations in Glasgow develop and run creative projects which will help the wellbeing of people in communities across the city. Previous projects of this kind in Glasgow have brought real benefits to a range of different groups.”
Applications and further information are available at the Creative Communities Glasgow web pages
The application deadline is midday 30 June 2023.
Specialist Volunteer Network at the Tech for Good Summit
Inspiring Scotland’s Specialist Volunteer Network (SVN) team supported the Tech for Good Summit hosted by the Scottish Tech Army (STA) on Thursday 20th April. In this blog Tommy Seymour highlights the important work done by the SVN and STA, as well as his key takeaways from the event.
‘Come ready to listen, leave ready to act’ was the strapline of the third annual Tech for Good Summit, hosted by our friends at the STA. Since the STA’s inception in 2020, they have recruited over 2,000 tech volunteers and have worked with more than 300 organisations across Scotland.
Both the Inspiring Scotland’s SVN and STA provide a powerful and unique resource for the Scottish Third sector, and the last few years has seen a signposting partnership and collaboration develop with a number of Specialist Volunteers donning STA hats, and vice versa.
This partnership was shone under the spotlight with Inspiring Scotland’s SVN Executive, Elaine Crichton, joining Joanna Allen – Head of Projects and Programmes at STA, and Dr Jansev Jemal – Director of Pro Bono Economics; for a panel discussion on ‘Skilled Volunteering – Opportunities for the Third sector.’
In this panel Elaine talked about Inspiring Scotland’s SVN, of over 500 Specialist Volunteers who were called upon to support over 200 charities last year. Elaine was able to provide an example of the essential work done by the SVN, talking of a charity receiving a VAT rebate of £27,000 through the intervention of a Specialist Volunteer. An important saving as this equates to the salary for a project worker for a year in the charity sector!
According to Elaine:
“When a tech request is made through SVN we find a lot of the time the issue is not knowing what you don’t know.”
We have a number of incredible tech and digital Specialist Volunteers who can help organisations explore digital and enhance IT business systems so that they work for you.
Our Specialist Volunteer, Michael Woo – Associate Director at Protiviti, always stresses how there is a mindset shift needed to embrace tech, and not just submitting the IT support request when something breaks.
Tommy’s Tech for Good takeaways:
- Alastair Forbes, Founding Director and CEO of STA, highlighted some key findings from an NCVO 2021 survey which stated 81% of charities changed how they used tech during the pandemic – and the Tech for Good movement, bridging the gap of what’s currently out of reach for the Third sector. He described a Tech for Good UK industry of 30,000 employees – which would effectively double if the wider UK Tech industry of 3 million dedicated 1% of their working hours to Tech for Good.
- Over 80% of UK charities see tech as an opportunity, with around 50% of those seeing themselves as just at the start of their digital journey. UK Pro Bono Association partner, Ed Mayo of Pilot Light, described skilled volunteering as good for business, with powerful messaging around “give back, get back.”
- Madeline Hutchinson, Global Head of Tech Philanthropy at Morgan Stanley, whose Glasgow’s Women in Tech group supported the SVN with development days and a mentoring partnership over the last year. Madeline described skilled volunteering as Win – Win – Win! It provides Third sector organisations with access to tech; opportunity for volunteers to challenge and stretch themselves, gaining experience in end-to-end delivery; and for companies who support skilled volunteering to showcase talent development and retention.
- Fiona Burton, Managing Director of AND Digital, Edinburgh, explained skilled volunteering and the fundamental mindset of businesses and Boards who encourage it, as being visionary and future thinking.
With staff and financial resources being stretched further than ever, it’s important that charity staff and leaders focus on what they do best – this is where support from SVN can step in.
Even if you have a seedling idea, reach out to the Specialist Volunteer Network or find out more about our work and we can connect you with experts to support you through discovery and design, and plug you into the Tech for Good Ecosystem.