Sector News

Manchester City Council is asking you to help them decide how they balance their budget for 2025/26, while protecting frontline services and delivering on your priorities. Your views on savings options of up to £41.5m which have been identified for 2025/26 and beyond, plus proposals on how much you pay for council tax, can help shape the decisions.

Have your say here by 12 January 2025. 
 

Big Give’s Christmas Challenge runs from 12pm on 3rd December to 12pm on 10th December. By matching donations, the collective effort can make an extraordinary impact on some of the world’s biggest challenges.

The Christmas Challenge is the UK’s biggest collaborative fundraising campaign, championing a wide range of charitable organisations. Whatever the cause, from global poverty to gender equality, from climate change to mental wellbeing, every donation has the power to be doubled. Enabling thousands of charities to make an even bigger difference.

The Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester has committed to providing a 3-year small grants programme prioritising victims and witness within Greater Manchester based
VCSE victim support organisations.

 On International Men’s Day 2024 (Tuesday 19 November), Greater Manchester becomes the first city-region in the UK to launch a dedicated plan for tackling gender-based violence against men and boys.

Plan sets out how Greater Manchester will tackle domestic abuse and sexual assault and harassment towards men and boys, raise awareness of support services and reporting mechanisms, and expand training for professionals.

North Manchester Together are providing a training and development programme over the next four months, with a combination of in-person and online sessions across various venues within North Manchester.  

The training is completely free with lunch provided and travel costs reimbursed to all VCFSE groups based and/or delivering activity in North Manchester only.  

You can find the programme of events and register on Eventbrite here 

The National Databank provides free mobile data, texts and minutes to those who need it most and Manchester Central Library are part of the large Digital Inclusion hub network. Drop by and ask for the National Databank to receive support with accessing a SIM card on 3rd December, 11am-3pm, 1 St Peter’s Square, Manchester, M2 5PD.

To receive support via the national databank with a sim card, you must fall into the following eligibility criteria:

• 18+ years old
• From a low income household

You must also qualify for one of the following statement:

In the fifth episode of Season 9 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe speaks to Tracey Torley, director of Cracking Good Food and a Spirit of Manchester award winner for community and business collaboration. Tracy discusses her journey into food advocacy, stemming from her West Indian heritage, and her impactful work with organisations aimed at alleviating food poverty and promoting sustainable cooking practices. Tracy also shares the operational challenges and successes of her initiatives, including kitchen kit redistribution and community cooking workshops.

In the fourth episode of Season 9 of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe speaks talk with Jan Iceton, Board Chair of Smart Works Greater Manchester, about their impactful work supporting unemployed women aged 16-66 across Greater Manchester.

Residents and businesses across Greater Manchester can now have their say on ambitious proposals to protect green spaces and support the natural environment for generations to come.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is inviting people to give their views on the city-region’s first Local Nature Recovery Strategy, which has been developed to address the loss of nature and biodiversity across Greater Manchester in recent decades.

The winners of Voluntary Sector North West’s (VSNW) first ever Funding and Commissioning Awards were announced at VSNW’s conference and AGM on 14 November.

The VSNW Funding and Commissioning Awards 2024 highlight and celebrate outstanding achievements in supporting the VCFSE sector across the North West. The awards were created to recognise the dedication and innovation of grant funders and commissioners whose work has transformed communities and driven positive social change.

Two of the award winners were nominated by Macc. They are: