There are thousands of third sector organisations in the South East. These
range from small local community groups operating at a neighbourhood level
to large established national and international organisations. Some have no
income at all and rely entirely on the efforts of volunteers; others are,
in effect, medium-sized businesses run by paid professional staff.
For the latest news and policy updates from the Office of the Third Sector,
please see the Cabinet Office
website
The Government Office for the South East (GOSE) is committed to:
- supporting this diverse spectrum of third sector activity
- continuing to promote the Compact, which defines the relationship
between the public and third sector to develop partnerships that formulate
and implement policy across all the sectors.
We also work with RAISE which is the regional body for voluntary/community
organisations in the South East of England. The RAISE website below has
more information.
GOSE also works with members of SE2 which is the South East Social
Enterprise Partnership. The SE2 website below has more information.
Third Sector in the South East
National Funding Organisations
Capacitybuilders: Set up in 2006 to take on
responsibility for the ChangeUp programme, the organisation works in
partnership with other organisations (government and other
infrastructure bodies) to build capacity of the Third Sector. See the
Capacitybuilders website below for more information.
Futurebuilders: Futurebuilders is a unique £150m
Government-backed fund offering support and investment to third sector
organisations to build their capacity to deliver public services, with
a combination of loans, grants and professional advice. The
Futurebuilders website below has more information.
The Big Lottery Fund
The Big Lottery Fund is delivering the Community Assets programme on behalf
of the Office of the Third Sector. This is not Lottery funding.
Community Assets aims to empower communities by offering grants for
refurbishment of local authority buildings in England, to enable their
transfer to the third sector.
Community Assets will bring about the following outcomes:
-
Local third sector organisations have greater security and
independence, and are better able to meet the needs of the
communities they serve
-
Communities have more access to better facilities that respond to
their needs
-
There is more effective partnership working between local
authorities and the third sector
A list of the successful awards can be found at on the
Big Lottery Fund
website.
These are 'in principal' awards - and the funds will only be awarded upon
submission and subsequent assessment of a successful capital delivery plan.
Enterprising Solutions Awards
On 20 October 2008, the 10th Enterprising Solutions Awards ceremony
were held. These annual awards recognise the best social
enterprises in the UK.
Sunlight CIC were winners of the Best New Social
Enterprise. It's a community driven social enterprise based in
Gillingham, Kent that tackles health and social inequality in the
surrounding community. It was founded in 2006 in order to manage six
different social enterprise businesses that offer a variety of employment
and learning opportunities to local people.
