Social Economy, Trading & Finance Feed

The Lisburn Castlereagh Partnership hopes to award almost £300,000 of Peace III funding to local community organisations and social enterprises across the cluster area. To assist those organisations wishing to apply for this funding, the Partnership will be holding two project surgeries on Friday 3rd September as follows:10am - Bridge Community Centre- 50 Railway Street Lisburn, BT28 1XP2pm - Castlereagh Borough Council Offices- 1 Bradford Court, Upper Gallwally, Belfast, BT8 6RBPlease click here to download a copy of the full press release. If you would like more information or to book your place on one of the clinics please contact:Alistair Charles, Peace III Officer on: 028 9250 9537, or alistair.charles@lisburn.gov.uk

European Empower Project Tackles Exclusion of Lone Parents Between 2008 and 2010, lone parent support organisation Gingerbread Northern Ireland has led a Grundtvig Lifelong Learning Programme project aimed at developing best practice among those working with lone parent beneficiaries across the EU.

The Social Economy Network will hold it Annual General Meeting on:Date: Wednesday 1st September Venue: Grosvenor House, 5 Glengall Street, Belfast BT12 5ADTime: 2.30pmA special resolution on a change to the Articles of Association is proposed for details click here (images/stories/Articles%20for%20Charitable%20Status%20draft1.doc)

The strength of Charity Bank’s support to charities and social enterprises has again been confirmed by record loan growth announced today. Outlining its results for the first 6 months of 2010, Charity Bank (http://www.charitybank.org/) revealed that loans agreed to charities and social enterprises totaled £20,932,750 – compared to £22,902,216 achieved during the whole of 2009.Charity Bank also announced that deposits have increased by £5.3 million in the first 6 months of 2010, and now stand at £49.6 million. Charity Bank in Northern Ireland Charity Bank’s latest loan approval in Northern Ireland is of £600,000 to Omagh Community House, a landmark building on the site of the Omagh bomb. Omagh Community House provides high quality office space for voluntary and community organisations in the area, enabling them to share resources and network more freely. To find our more about Charity Bank loans visit www.charitybank or...

A flagship trade exhibition for the social economy sector will take place on Wednesday, 1 September 2010 at Grosvenor House, 5 Glengall Street, Belfast BT12 5AD. Social enterprises will have the opportunity to have one-to-one meetings with Buyers to promote their organisation with the potential to acquire new business leads.Thirty social enterprises from across Northern Ireland will showcase their products and services to potential buyers from the public, private and voluntary sector. The range of goods and services will include print and graphic design, web design and bespoke database development, catering services, transport, recycling, education, training and many more. There will be a number of workshops at the event focusing on increasing and delivering the commercial capacity of social enterprises.To register - Contact Stephanie - T: 028 90 770 502 or E: stephanie@socialeconomynetwork.org (mailto:stephanie@socialeconomynetwork.org) by no later than Friday, 20 August 2010For further details - click here

The top 100 highest growth social businesses in the UK have been revealed at a major awards event that saw the high achievers sharing £25,000 in prizes.The 100 highest growers on the RBS SE100 Index (http://www.se100.co.uk/) have achieved average annual growth in revenue of almost 80 per cent.The combined turnover of all 350 social businesses that submitted information to the index was £812m and the average turnover of all organisations on the index was more than £2.4m.Some 86 per cent of index participants who submitted information had a public statement about their impact, and 66 per cent had impact targets set by their boards.As well as prizes for the annual index winners, when you sign up to the index you will also be entered in a monthly prize draw.Workspace is the only N Ireland company listed and N Ireland do not feature at all in the regional comparison chapter....

Employers For Childcare recently launched Sizing Up: a comparative study of childcare policies within the four regions of the UK. The report examines the progress each of the regions has made on improving childcare services for families. Within this context, it asks how Northern Ireland sizes up to England, Wales and Scotland. Sizing Up highlights a number of key recommendations for the betterment of families in Northern Ireland. Central to this is the need for clear leadership and financial investment in childcare services. Dawn Purvis, MLA, hosted the launch of the report on Wednesday 16 June. She states: “Any assessment of the state of childcare in Northern Ireland offers a bleak picture. In a time of rapidly shrinking public budgets, children are undoubtedly our best investment. This report highlights that principle and offers specific strategies and policy approaches to address childcare needs...

Employers across Northern Ireland are being urged to show their support for victims of domestic violence by signing up to a major new programme launched on Tuesday 8th June at the University of Ulster’s Jordanstown campus. Developed by ONUS, a social economy business that profit sheds to Women’s Aid ABCLN, the Workplace Charter on Domestic Violence provides businesses with essential advice and practical training to help and support staff suffering from domestic violence. It also enables employers to have their commitments to improving duty-of-care honoured with Gold, Silver or Bronze Charter Awards.

What is Connections? The large corporate business sector has a wealth of experience and expertise. Connections is a new initiative which aims to bring about the sharing of “big business” skills and knowledge with both small businesses and social enterprises to help foster responsible economic growth. The programme is delivered by Business in the Community, funded by ESB Independent Energy.How much does it cost?It won’t cost you a penny – just your time for 12-15 hours of one-to-one, confidential mentoring. How does it work?Connections aims to match up your enterprise with a specialist mentor from a larger business or industry with the expertise to help you overcome any identified barriers to future growth and development. The mentor will work with you to address specific issues for up to 12 -15 hours in any of the following areas:Marketing salesFinancial planning proceduresBusiness strategic...

Pictured Above - the completed 'New Life' muralIn 2005 Pastor Jack McKee had several volunteers from the USA paint a mural on the main section of the dividing wall between the Shankill and the Falls. However, in 2009 an organisation within the Shankill community received funding to paint over the entire Shankill side of the wall. The wall now looks like something out of the Bronx in New York! Besides all of the written comments, made by international visitors, being painted over, so too was the New Life Mural, and without any consultation with Pastor Jack and his team. Recently, Jack felt impressed to reclaim the wall but to do so without causing upset or aggrevation. His Project Manager, Tommy Latimer, approached members of an organisation within the Shankill to at least let them know what was being planned. It had been agreed that New Life mural...

Social enterprises are businesses that have a social, community or ethical purpose. They operate on a commercial basis but they are not profit distributing all profits that are re-invested for social purposes. It is estimated that there are over 1000 social enterprises in Northern Ireland and that social economy activity accounts for 5% of regional economic activity. SEN commissioned KPMG to carry out a comprehensive audit to build a picture of the scale, nature, motivations and prospects of social enterprises. The audit found that despite the recession 58% have increased their turnover whilst less than 17% have seen it go down. Additionally it found that social enterprises are profitable: During the last financial year 57% made a profit, a further 9% broke even with 17% in deficit. To view the full report - click here (images/stories/SEN%20Audit%20of%20SEE%20Members%20Final%20Report%20May%202010%20pdf%5B1%5D.pdf)

Plugging into Social Enterprise magazine (link: http://www.socialenterpriselive.com (http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/)) connects you to a vibrant community of social entrepreneurs and a range of brilliant publications to help you to do social business better.Sign up by Friday 16 July - members of the Social Economy Network are entitled to a free three month trial subscription and full access to the website. Just follow the link and fill in your details to get access: http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/free-subscription-social-economy-network-members (http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/free-subscription-social-economy-network-members)

At its meeting on Wednesday 30 June 2010 the Committee for Finance and Personnel received a briefing from Members of the Procurement Board on its action plan arising from the recommendations contained in the Committee’s Inquiry Report on Public Procurement in NI. At the meeting the Committee agreed to publish the Procurement Board Action Plan on its website - to view - click here (http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/finance/2007mandate/inquiries/Public_Procurement/Procurement_board_reponses_jun10.pdf)The draft Hansard transcript is now also available - to view - click here (http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/record/committees2009/FinancePersonnel/100630PublicProcurementinNI.pdf)

The Co-operative Forum (N.I.) is organising a conference entitled ‘From Plunkett to the Credit Crunch: Unlocking the potential for the growth and development of co-operative enterprises through access to ethical finance in Ireland North and South'. The Conference will take place at Trinity College Dublin on 30 and 31 July 2010.To view the programme – click here (images/stories/Trinity%20Conference%20Programme0406%5B1%5D.pdf)To book a place - click here (images/stories/Trinity%20Conference%20booking%202605%5B1%5D.pdf)

Creating Enterprise is an innovative collaboration between Work West Trans Urban Arts providing class based learning, 1:1 support, best practice exchange and a bursary competition for new and existing creative businesses.Delivered by enterprise specialists and experienced creative entrepreneurs the programme offers you the chance to develop the business skills to complement your technical and creative talents benefiting from the expertise and knowledge of creative entrepreneurs and sharing the journey with like minded people. Creating Enterprise is supported by the Creative Industries Innovation Fund. For further information - click here (images/stories/Creating%20Enterprise%20Flyer%5B1%5D.jpg) or Contact Lynne Dorman - E: L.dorman@workwest.co.uk (mailto:L.dorman@workwest.co.uk) - T: 028 90610 826. To download an Entry Form please visit www.workwest.co.uk (http://www.workest.co.uk/) or www.transbelfast.com (http://www.transbelfast.com/).

Lagan Rural Partnership is a delivery agent for Axis 3 of the NI Rural Development Programme (NIRDP) 2007-2013 - Rural Life, delivering funding for projects in eligible rural areas within Lisburn City Council, Castlereagh Borough Council and Belfast City Council. Call for Applications:The Partnership is open for applications under the following measures:3.1 Diversification into Non-Agricultural Activities (Farm Diversification)3.2 Business Creation and Development3.3 Encouragement of Tourism Activities (Including Strategic Projects £50,000 +)3.5 Villagle Renewal Development3.6 Conservation and Upgrading of Rural Heritage (Strategic Projects Only)The closing date for applications is Friday, 25 June 2010 at 5.00 pm

Triangle Housing Association and NHSCT welcome President McAleese to their Social Enterprise; Alternative Angles President of Ireland, Mrs McAleese paid a visit to Alternative Angles on Thursday 13th May 2010 to see at first hand the work of the Progression to Employment Service.

The launch of COPE ( Community Outreach Project to Ethnic minorities) took place on a sunny Saturday - 5 June at City Life Centre, Northumberland Street, Belfast. Fun, friendship, and food were in plentiful supply including authentic ethnic dishes.

Have you had a business or technology Idea that you need help with?If so, then the Business Gateway at the University of Ulster can help you access the expertise you need to make your idea succeed.This new service is open to local businesses, entrepreneurs, students and the general public and will provide free one-to-one consultations with some of the University's top experts.The Business Gateway will be open for consultations on 15thJune from 10.00 to 16.00 in the Boardroom (room 26B04) of the TEIC Building, University of Ulster, Jordanstown Campus.To make an appointment T: 028 9036 8019 or E: click here (http://www.business.ulster.ac.uk/gateway/gateway_uuj_15june.pdf)

The HSCB Commissioning Plan is now available to view and download from the HSCB website - click here (http://www.hscboard.hscni.net/)If you have any questions please feel free to contact:Tracey McCreanorFinance AdminCO3 Chief Officers 3rd Sector 34 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast BT2 7DB T: (00 44) 02890245356E: tracey@co3.bz (mailto:tracey@co3.bz)W: http://www.co3.bz/ (http://www.co3.bz/)