Everyone in the VCSE community should[JC1] [SN2] be aware of the need for vigilance and protecting the vulnerable – and understand the requirements and implications of safeguarding. Every VCSE organisation delivering charitable activities has a duty to safeguard volunteers, staff, hirers, adults, children and young people, participants and donors.
It’s now been twelve months since the pandemic hit. As people needed more help and support the local voluntary community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector responded rapidly and in diverse ways. Overnight the creation of hundreds of community responses alongside huge efforts by established organisations to adapt what they do to meet the changing needs of their community. People innovated, people coordinated, but most of all people went above and beyond to help.
This covers a vast range of activity but as examples we estimate:
Village and community halls everywhere have felt keenly the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to provide social and recreational events. For many the ongoing lack of income has presented a tangible financial crisis. How much more so then, for a brand-new community hall, whose planned launch coincided with the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020?
ACRE has issued new information to help village and community halls get to grips with the latest announcements about the lifting of national lockdown restrictions.
The Feed is a not-for-profit social enterprise providing catering services, with a very clear mission to prevent poverty, hunger and homelessness in Norwich.
With income under threat from all sides, perhaps it is time to look at all the potential sources of income for charities. So as fundraising income is depressed - in some cases possibly for years - how can VCSE organisations make up for the loss in income?
It’s Village Halls Week from Monday 25th to Friday 29th January – and village halls across England are being encouraged to sign an online record to mark 100 years of rural community action.
We feature regular articles here about how VCSE organisations across Norfolk have been adapting to, and coping with, the demands and constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many mutual aid groups and Good Neighbour Schemes are even more active in the final run-up to Christmas. Just one example is Thorpe Helping Hands, operating across south-east Norwich.
Every VCSE organisation has a duty to safeguard volunteers, staff members, participants and donors, and to have appropriate and proportionate policies and procedures in place. Likewise, staff and volunteers themselves need to aware be aware of their individual responsibilities to themselves and to their clients, service users and hirers.