Lloyds Bank Foundation fund new partnership to help voluntary and charitable groups in the Wirral

The Foundation has today launched a new partnership with Wirral Council and Capacity: The Public Services Lab, to help voluntary and community groups in the Wirral access more funding and support.

The project will see the Council work alongside Capacity to support local community organisations in the borough, helping them strengthen their organisations and make them better placed to access funding and win contracts. The work will help make sure more contracts, help and support from public agencies are awarded to local community and voluntary agencies.

The project will kick off in January by working with local charities to help them plan their businesses and improve their ability to attract funding, deliver specialist services and become successful.

Paul Streets OBE, Chief Executive, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales said: “Small and local charities lie at the heart of their communities and have significant knowledge, experience and expertise they can bring to delivering local services. Despite this they are often disadvantaged in tendering and commissioning processes – losing out to bigger organisations. This new partnership between Capacity and Wirral Council, with our support, is committed to developing a framework to improve funding and commissioning processes to better recognise the value that small charities bring and give them a fairer chance. Our funding will help give the council the space and capacity to review and revise its approaches which will be of benefit to the Wirral community and the council itself but, we believe, will also in time demonstrate improved practices which other councils could learn from.”

Estimates suggest there are around 1400 voluntary and community organisations in Wirral that could benefit from the partnership, performing vital tasks as diverse as neighbourhood watch, tenant support, community clean ups and help with people who are socially isolated.