Covid-19 Bulletin 2

Dear Members,

“Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return.”- Surat Baqarah 

CSO wishes heartiest condolences to the members of the Somali Community who have suffered tragically under Corona virus.

CSO is continuing to support our members through this difficult time. If there is anything we can do to help or support you at this time please contact us by using the kahiye@councilofsomaliorgs.com email and will come back to you asap. All of our staff are set up for home working, using video conferencing etc.

We will continue to post regular updates, funds available to help your organisation through this time and guidance both on our social media and website.

As well as sharing what we are doing and seeing, we want you to tell us how we can help and support you and we will do our utmost to assist. 

1) CSO Zoom FREE FundRaising and Budgeting Workshops on Every Thursday 11 am to 1pm

CSO is enhancing its support to its members in relation to FundRaising. In addition to updates on what funding is available we are now from 23rd April 2020 every week offering 2 hours of generic workshops with Tebussum Rashid, our Fundraising Consultant and Iqbal Hossain, our Accountant. 

The aim of these workshops is to help you with the questions in the funding, and knowing your finances in applications and also help you understand key approaches of what funders are looking for in an application. We have timed it to make it easier during Ramadan.

We will look at current funding opportunities and also ask that you prepare for each session by emailing sukoonltd@gmail.com summary of your proposals and the grants you wish to apply for.

2) Furlough Scheme

JOB RETENTION SCHEME
Extension until the end of June

Following on from yesterday’s announcement to keep the social distancing measures in place, Rishi Sunak said the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will now be open until the end of June.

The scheme, which allows firms to furlough employees with the government paying cash grants of 80% of their wages up to a maximum of £2,500, was originally open for three months and backdated from the 1 March to the end of May.

This coordinates with the extension of the lock down period announced earlier this week, for at least three weeks to May 7.

3) HOW NCVO CAN HELP? ~ PRACTICAL SUPPORT & SIGNPOSTING

https://www.ncvo.org.uk/practical-support/information/coronavirus

>>> GENERAL INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE

• NCVO: Your Organisation and Coronavirus
• NCVO legal advice page : support with accessing legal advice
• NCVO Knowhow: we’ve made our member-only resources free to everyone because of the current situation.

>>> SPECIFIC AREAS OF SUPPORT

• HR Employment Law: Croner: Business helpline, Covid-19 tool kit
• Volunteering: I want to Volunteer, Volunteers responding to Coronavirus
• Governance: NCVOblog:whatcharity trustees need to think about
• Funding: NCVO blog: Coronavirus and charity funding  

4) Charity Commission

Updated coronavirus guidance

Last week the commission made a few changes to its coronavirus guidance.  In particular it has:

• Added more details about the government support streams for businesses that are available to charities.  In particular: “In a letter to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee (PDF), Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, confirmed that: charities can access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – the Chancellor explicitly said this is available to charities; charities with fewer than 250 employees can also get support for paying sick pay to employees; charities and social enterprises earning more than 50% of their income from trading are eligible for loans supported by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme; charities with retail arms, such as charity shops, may also be eligible for the Retail and Hospitality Grant Scheme, if their premises has a rateable value of up to £51,000 – local authorities will write to eligible charities”

• Added the number for its contact centre (0300 066 9197) which is open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, as well as a dedicated email address for charities who need to contact them about delays to their annual returns and accounts: filingextension@charitycommission.gov.uk.
• Clarified the section on charities changing their objects in order to help out with coronavirus.
• Added the Association of Chairs to its list of links to external resources.

Helen Stephenson, CEO of the Charity Commission, has written for Civil Society Media “Covid-19 highlights the lifeline that charities are to so many – and we are playing our part as regulator”.  She refers to the topics the Commission has issued specific COVID guidance about and says “If you have further ideas on what we should be doing, please let us know.”

The coming weeks and months will be challenging but we are committed to helping you through this where we can.

COVID-19 Funding options

We have compiled a list of funders who are funding Covid-19 issues. 

CSO is not at the moment able to provide funding application support but we have made arrangements with Tebussum Rashid of Sukhoon Ltd, who is our Fundraising Consultant to provide support with applications at reasonable cost.

Tebussum is available to assist CSO members at a discounted rate of £150 for half a day and £250 for full day with applications. You can contact her on sukoonltd@googlemail.com. 

Iqbal Hossain, our Accountant, is also available to assist CSO members with budgeting of applications at a discounted rate of £200 for upto £20K & £300 for upto £50K applications. You can contact him on mihbd19@yahoo.com.