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 1XP
• 2pm - Castlereagh Borough Council Offices- 1 Bradford Court, Upper Gallwally, Belfast, BT8 6RB

Please 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 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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.

Outlining its results for the first 6 months of 2010, Charity Bank revealed that loans agreed to charities and social enterprises totaled £20,932,750 – compared to £22,902,216 achieved during the whole of 2009.

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 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.  This exercise is carried out each year it.  The 2010/11 RBS SE100 Index is open until March 31 2011 but the sooner you sign up the better!

Each month the Social Enterprise team highlights the top performers from the businesses signed up so far in a particular part of the UK.

To sign up - click here - or to nominiate a business - click here

To view the RBS SE100 Index report - click here

You can now see which social enterprises are growing the fastest and which are doing the most to prove their social impact - for details click here

'The RBS SE100 is a hugely important tool for proving the success and potential of social enterprise. Already it shows phenomenal growth, which will boost confidence in the sector and open doors to private finance' - Civil Society Minister Nick Hurd

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 & sales
Financial planning & procedures
Business & strategic planning
Production and distribution
 Staff recruitment  & management
New product development
Environmental management
Export marketing

Eligibility:

Any social enterprise or small business with fewer than 50 employees and interested in responsible growth.

To apply, or for more information, contact Heather Major, Business in the Community - T: 028 9046 0606 or E:  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

This is a three year programme funded by ESB Independent Energy

Pictured Above - the completed 'New Life' mural

In 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 would go on a section of the wall close to some of the gates. The mural was completed on 22 June by Carole Morrison from New Zealand and by several volunteers including Pastor Jack.

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