Impact of Funding Decisions
Information for service users, members, partners and stakeholders
Like many other third sector organisations in the city, Volunteer Glasgow had applied to Glasgow City Council’s Communities Fund. We received a positive decision in early September but for a much reduced grant award from 1st October.
We wanted to provide an update to you on the measures we’ve put in place to avoid any immediate reductions in services and to give you some news about our:
- Games for Good: Glasgow Build Off.
- Imminent move to new offices.
- Annual General Meeting.
- Securing a shared vision for Glasgow’s future.
- Winter: getting through it together.
Volunteering Services
Although we have put some mitigations in place until March, the reduced Council grant support means we need to continue to work hard to secure cost savings and additional income from April to avoid reductions in some services.
In particular, we are looking for your support to ensure we can work with partners on programmes that make volunteering more accessible and inclusive, enabling and empowering people to get involved and overcome barriers. Thank you to everyone that has supported our work so far.
Befriending and Mentoring Services
Although the Council formerly provided grant support for some of these services, we have successfully secured alternative grants and put in place additional funding and savings measures to make sure we can carry on providing these community-based support services unaffected. However, we still need additional support from next April.
We would like to thank everyone involved in helping to put funds in place: it has been a tremendous effort, enabling our volunteer and staff teams to help “get it right for every child” across the city and to sustain our services for older adults in Drumchapel.
Games for Good
From tomorrow we’re co-hosting a Glasgow build-a-thon with R-CADE on MINECRAFT. Please share this with all the gamers you know: get into or watch a Games for Good session to help raise funds
New office
We’re moving next week partly to reduce our costs and to be able to offer our services in a covid19-free future from accessible, city centre premises at Brunswick House, 51 Wilson Street, G1 1UZ. Our other contact details won’t change but there may be some disruption to our 0141 226 3431 phones for a few days between 2nd – 5th December.
Save the Date
Our Annual General Meeting will be held on 27th January at 6pm. More details to follow soon but if you’re not already a member (which is free for eligible individuals and organisations), you can sign up here to have your say: become a member of Volunteer Glasgow
A shared vision for Community Empowerment and Volunteering
If you want Glasgow to recover from the pandemic in ways that avoid returning to a world full of poverty and injustice, please have a look at the TSI Scotland Network’s Manifesto for Change to see if you share our vision.
And thank you to everyone that has already engaged in the process of reviewing Glasgow’s Volunteering Strategy over the past few weeks. Please look out for the next steps in that review to ensure you can shape how the city uses available resources in ways which maximise our chances of making Glasgow a place, “where everyone can volunteer, more often and throughout their lives”.
Winter: getting through it together
Look out for a range of ideas, opportunities and support information from Wednesday next week. Subscribe to our email feeds, follow us on social media or register for the latest volunteering opportunities.
Get in touch or Lend a Hand:
- If you, or anyone you are supporting, wish to find out more about volunteering and/or identifying appropriate opportunities please get in touch with our Engagement & Inclusion team on engagement@volunteerglasgow.org
- If you represent a group or organisation looking for help to recruit and manage volunteers then our Organisation Support team will be happy to help so please get in touch on findvolunteers@volunteerglasgow.org
- To find out more about Volunteer Glasgow’s Befriending and Mentoring Services get in touch with the team on befriending@volunteerglasgow.org
- If you use and care about the services Volunteer Glasgow provides, a donation can make a big difference. You can help us continue our work by visiting volunteerglasgow.org/donate
Best wishes from everyone at Volunteer Glasgow
