Community & Voluntary Service is Your CVS

Welcome to Your Gateway to the Voluntary & Community Sector in Bedford Borough &  North Central Bedfordshire

Community & Voluntary Service (CVS) is an umbrella organisation that supports and represents the interests of voluntary organisations, community groups and charities in Bedford Borough (North Bedfordshire) and North Central Bedfordshire (formerly known as Mid Bedfordshire).

The Aim of CVS is therefore to support, promote, develop and enable the local voluntary sector to provide effective services to meet the needs of local people.

Please explore the pages of our website to find out how we can assist your group in achieving your aims

New

Office and Meeting Space for Voluntary and Community Organisation

• 43 Bromham Road - a centrally-located facility in Bedford, offering your charity, voluntary/community group or social enterprise Fully-Serviced Office Space and Meeting and Training Rooms

Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund Success for Bedfordshire & Luton

Bedfordshire & Luton’s VoluntaryWorks Partnership of Voluntary Infrastructure Bodies (including Community & Voluntary Service) is one of the seventy-two UK partnerships of local voluntary sector support groups that have received funds from the Office for Civil Society’s £30m Transforming Local Infrastructure fund, that has been set up to help infrastructure bodies work together more closely. The Bedfordshire & Luton partnership has received £799,798.

The fund, which was announced in the government’s Giving White Paper in May and is being administered by the Big Fund, the non-lottery funding operation of the Big Lottery Fund, was set up to support "transformational" activities, such as pooling resources, sharing services and forming better links with local businesses. It will not be funding existing work. More details will follow.

Latest Newsletter

• Beds-Spread - May 2012

Social Enterprise

• Social Enterprise - following our 'Social Enterprise - Is it for me?' Event we have launched a new Social Enterprise Resources Page

Sustainable Funding Guide

• Don't put all your eggs in one basket! Bedfordshire's Sustainable Funding Guide - helping your organisation diversify your funding streams

Forthcoming Events

• The Bedford Borough Ageing Well Exhibition - Wednesday 30th May 2012
• Volunteer Recruitment Sessions - dates throughout the year

Find Out More....

Vacancies

• VoluntaryWorks Consortium - Business Development Director - Wednesday 30th May 2012

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Training

CVS offers a comprehensive calendar of training for voluntary and community groups in Bedford Borough & North Central Bedfordshire, especially for groups seeking training on Fundraising, Quality/Best Practice and Procurement/Trading. To find out more about our programme of training opportunities for 2011 visit our Training Page.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

• Minute Taking - Tuesday 15th May 2012
• Making a Good Funding Application - Thursday 21st June 2012
• Costing, Pricing and Full Cost Recovery - Tuesday 26th June 2012
• Emergency First Aid at Work - Tuesday 10th July 2012
• Data Protection & Confidentiality - Wednesday 19th September 2012
• Trustees Event - Saturday 29th September 2012
• Being a Better Volunteer Manager - Wednesday 7th November 2012
• Behaving More Assertively - Tuesday 4th December 2012

Fit for Funding Workshops

• Wednesday 13th June - 10am to 12noon
• Saturday 14th July - 10am to 12noon
• Tuesday 11th September - 7pm to 9pm

Demonstrating Need and Understanding Outcomes

• Thursday 12th July - 10am to 12noon
• Tuesday 20th September - 10am to 12noon

Find Out More.... 

ICT

On our ICT webage we aim to keep you up-to-date with what’s going on in our county, regional and nationally. You can find details of the new Regional ICT Helpdesk, the Regional ICT Champion for the Eastern Region, Knowledgebase, How the use of Social Media could benefit your organisation and details of other useful ICT resources.

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Community Noticeboard

Mid & North Beds Community Notice Board

Any groups working to develop and promote local voluntary and community activity in Mid or North Bedfordshire can post notices on the Community Notice Board Page. This may include your organisations Job Vacancies, Items for Sale, details of your upcoming events. Please email details to info@yourcvs.org

It could not be easier to find out about Volunteering Opportunities in Mid and North Beds. Just enter the name of your town, village or postcode in the Do-It Search Box and press the find-it button and you will be shown details of the volunteering opportunities in your area. Also, visit The Volunteer Centre Bedford website.