Current Offers

Sector Connector aims to bring the business community of North Tyneside and local voluntary and community organisations closer together.

This page details some of the current offers made by local businesses for the support of voluntary and community sector organisations, which currently include:

• Avant Homes Day to Make a Difference 10 June
• Free online Mental Health training from Bell Group
• A range of courses from Carney Consultancy including Emergency First Aid at Work and Manual Handling
• Accenture free technology workshops
• Painting and decoration discounts from Tynemouth Decorators
• Online rebranding support
• Help with bid writing
• A free IT MOT from SolidBlueLiquid
• Trustee training sessions
• Graphic design support from Tyne Met College
• A limited number of free photography sessions

Contact us if you would like more information about these offers and how to access them.

Avant Home’s Day to Make a Difference 10 June 2020

Following the success of their Day to Make a Difference in 2019, Avant Homes is again planning to close their regional office and building sites, to redeploy staff to deliver a range of charitable or community-led activities and projects on 10 June.

If you have a building project which could be undertaken in one full day by Avant’s team of construction and office workers, or if there are any local initiatives or fundraising events that you think may benefit from the time, skills and experience of Avant staff on 10 June, please let us know by 13 March. 

Read more here.

Free online Mental Health training from Bell Group

Bell Group is offering free online mental health training (available in 28 languages) to voluntary groups that support hard to reach and minority groups. Bell Group currently uses this online training for its employees and wants to extend it to the voluntary sector. This Mental Health Awareness Training, which is the only course of its kind to achieve an IOSH Approval, discusses mental health the way you would a headache or the flu and encourages you to take care of yourself as you would a loved one. The course raises awareness, it explains how to approach mental health and remove stigma; and it also provides simple tools, tips and ideas for day-to-day wellbeing-management (for yourself and others).  Participants would take the course at Bell’s Newcastle Branch.

If you would like to take up the offer on behalf of your organisation, please contact Ian Dodds.

Courses from Carney Consultancy

As part of their commitment to the Sector Connector project, Carney Consultancy has again agreed to provide free places for voluntary organisations on a number of its courses over 2020. The courses are as follows:

Mental Health First Aid: 2 day course which normally carries a charge of £250 per person. Dates available are: 3 March and 20 March 2020 or, 14 and 21 July 2020. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis and you should indicate if you wish to be added to a waiting list in case additional places become available closer to the dates that the courses run.

Emergency First Aid at Work:  A full day course running on 21 January 2020, 27 February, 26 March and 20 April. If you would like to be put on a waiting list for a free place on any of these courses, please let us know. We will let you know as soon as possible if a place can be allocated, but a number of additional free places could be released 48 hours before the course runs.

Manual Handling:  A half day course running on 16 January, 6 February, 24 February, 10 March, 24 March, 9 April and 28 April. If you would like to be put on a waiting list for a free place on any of these courses, please let us know. We will let you know as soon as possible if a place can be allocated, but a number of additional free places could be released 48 hours before the course runs.

Safe Working At Height: A half day course running on 23 January, 18 February, 23 March and 24 April. If you would like to be put on a waiting list for a free place on any of these courses, please let us know. We will let you know as soon as possible if a place can be allocated, but a number of additional free places could be released 48 hours before the course runs.

Asbestos Awareness: A half day course running on 16 January, 6 February, 24 March; 9 April and 28 April. If you would like to be put on a waiting list for a free place on any of these courses, please let us know. We will let you know as soon as possible if a place can be allocated, but a number of additional free places could be released 48 hours before the course runs.

Please contact Ian Dodds.

Tynemouth Decorators

Tynemouth Decorators is offering local voluntary and community organisations a 10% discount for painting and decorating work and is also willing to supply materials at cost price. In addition, Tynemouth Decorators may be able to provide paint free of charge to some voluntary organisations. If you’re interested contact Ian Dodds..

Accenture tech workshops

Accenture is proposing to run free workshops in 2020 to assist the voluntary sector in various aspects of technology:

Social Media Session: Friday 20 March 9:30am to 11:30am – Social Media is the marketing of today.  Are you aware of all the incredible business features offered by social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn? There will also be a chance to ask any questions or advice from Accenture’s experts.

If you’re interested in a session for your organisation, please contact Ian Dodds.

Rebranding online support from Whiteacres Design

Thinking about rebranding? Whiteacres Design is offering up to five free spaces in the BrandSuccessClub.co.uk for a voluntary or community organisation who want to DIY their brand but need some expert support in an online, group environment. Membership will help voluntary or community organisations to improve their brand image through online tutorials and will also enable them to ask for feedback on whatever they are doing within the Brand Success Facebook group. Whiteacres is also offering free telephone consultations for voluntary organisations who are considering branding/re-branding.  If you’re interested, please contact Ian Dodds.

UberElla enterprise and bid writing support

UberElla, which hosts one of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Enterprise Advisers, is offering some pro bono enterprise support, coaching and bid writing expertise for small and micro voluntary organisations.  As part of this, they are able to offer some time-limited 1 to 1 support for chief officers of small VCS organisations.  If you’re interested, please contact Ian Dodds.

Free IT MOT from SolidBlueLiquid

SolidBlueLiquid is offering vcs organisations a free IT MOT. There is no obligation to buy services or software, and organisations are free to make suggested amendments themselves.

The MOT will cover:

• Email security
• Software versions
• Operating System versions
• Anti Virus
• Physical security
• Network setup
• Compliance of IT with GDPR
• Backups

Please contact us for more information.

Tait Walker trustee sessions

Calling all trustee boards that feel they want to know more about what to look for when discussing accounts or the finances of the organisation. Simon Brown from Tait Walker is offering to meet with trustee boards from October to answer any questions in an informal atmosphere about balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and trustees duties. If you and your trustees are interested in these free sessions, contact us to book a date.

For You Photography

Sector Connector Workshops

As part of Sector Connector, a number of businesses volunteer to deliver free workshops on a range of topics that may be beneficial to the voluntary and community sector. As such, if there are any particular topics or business skills that you think your organisation might benefit from and that could be the subject of a future Sector Connector workshop, please get in touch with Ian Dodds.