Community Money

Community Money believes in Welfare Reform...

2012-01-26T13:17:00.000Z

as does the British public, as long as it is not at the expense of equality or fairness. This according to the British Social Attitudes Survey as discussed in the Guardian.

There is low support for the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor (35%) yet the vast majority (78%) think the gap between rich and poor is too wide. These figures appear contradictory but in them lies the implied need for equality and fairness.

Read the article here.

Spent the morning in Eastbourne...

2012-01-25T19:28:00.000Z

speaking to Jo Ellis, Chief Executive at Eastbourne Homes and her leadership team about our work training residents and staff. We discussed our first impact survey which is due, and which will be published on our website as well. Probably next week.

Training staff and residents to tackle financial inclusion and rent arrears

2011-12-20T15:51:00.000Z

We recently trained a mixed group of residents and staff from Somer Community Housing Trust in Bath. Community Money believes that training both residents and staff is one step towards offering a holistic solution to the problems of financial inclusion and rent arrears.

How front-line staff can become Trusted Money Advisers

2011-12-16T11:56:00.000Z

Poor families face triple whammy of benefit, support and service cuts.

2011-12-14T12:17:00.000Z

When times are tough, poorer families suffer most from public sector cuts. A recent Guardian article spoke of a triple whammy. But in every obstacle there is opportunity. We give power back to local people as our Community Money Advocates training empowers local people with skills and knowledge to help themselves and their communities deal with money and debt and counteract the impact of the cuts.

More than a quarter million people risk their homes to pay for Christmas...

2011-12-13T09:08:00.000Z

According to a recent survey in Scotland. Up to one in twelve tenants and one in fourteen homeowners miss or delay their rent or mortgage payments. To read more click here.

Financial education e-petition reaches 100k milestone...

2011-12-13T08:53:00.001Z

To read the e-petition and the Government's initial response, click here.

We have proof...

2011-11-22T11:40:00.000Z

that we are among the UK's 100 fastest growing social enterprises.

The winter edition of Quids In is out

2011-11-16T17:45:00.000Z

Quids In

How to remove money & debt worries as barriers to employment

2011-11-09T12:38:00.000Z

Money and debt worries can be a real barrier for residents to move into work as the uncertainty of transitioning into paid employment can act as a major deterrent.

Our Community Money Advocates training provides practical money and debt management skills and enables tenants to help themselves and their communities and as such provides a grassroots, peer to peer community based solution to debt, unemployment and welfare dependency issues.

We have delivered our training as part of Back to Work programmes at AffinitySutton and Southern Housing. Get in touch to find out how we may help your residents.

Do you know what causes debt?

2011-11-07T11:11:00.000Z

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service have released an infographic:

Training Evaluation at Southern Housing

2011-11-04T09:16:00.002Z

Today meeting Southern Housing to review the recent training of 20+ Community Money Advocates and discuss placing graduates as trainee volunteer debt advisers with Southern, local credit unions and other agencies. Southern asked us to deliver the training as part of their Back to Work programme. Gaining control of money and debt is especially important as people seek to transition back into work.

What is an ISA?

2011-11-01T09:12:00.002Z

An energy drink or iPhone accessory - those were some of the answers to a recent study into people's understanding of financial products. There is still work to do.

Community Money supports E-Petition to End Legal Loan Sharking

2011-10-27T12:19:00.004+01:00

The Daily Mirror has posted a new e-petition on the Government's site in support of the campaign to tackle the problems caused to consumers across the country by legal loan sharking. If 100,000 people sign it, the UK Government will be forced to take action at last on the growing problem of high-cost credit.

With Christmas around the corner, Britain's high-cost credit industry is gearing up for another bumper festive season. New research shows that since 2009 there has been a fourfold increase in the numbers of people getting into debt problems as a result of taking out loans with payday lenders, home credit providers and hire purchase agreements.

Please sign here and share.

Community Money in Wandsworth today...

2011-10-26T09:37:00.004+01:00

delivering money management workshops to local residents at Wandworth's Council Community Advice Day.

Community Money also trains front line staff...

2011-10-19T13:43:00.007+01:00

We draw on our expertise in delivering money and debt advice training to financially excluded people to deliver training that helps front-line staff improve income management. We are currently delivering this training to AmicusHorizon staff across the South East.

Recent research shows that tenant arrears have risen by 9% whilst front-line services, including CAB's, are being cut due to government funding budgets, reducing the availability of free independent debt advice service. There is a strong case to be made for social landlords to increase staff knowledge on money and debt management, to help their tenants, and to increase their bottom line.

Community Money offers cost-effective resident and staff training to tackle the issues of financial capability and reduce the number and costs of rent arrears and eviction cases.

Street Papers lift 200k people out of homelessness

2011-10-17T15:05:00.002+01:00

...and globally have a combined readership of 6+ million. Confirms Community Money's belief that enterprise can offer sustainable solutions to pressing social issues, including poverty and homelessness. More info here.

Which UK utility company does NOT charge the poverty premium?

2011-10-17T09:18:00.002+01:00

It is Ebico, the UK's only not-for-profit energy supplier.

Community Money trains 31 more Community Advocates

2011-10-14T11:56:00.002+01:00

...across London and the Southwest. We help people gain knowledge, insight and control of money and debt.

What did Heather do after our course?

2011-09-20T16:16:00.002+01:00

She cut up her credit card and vowed to pay it off to become debt free. Not incurring further debt whilst getting your finances under control is one big step in regaining control of our finances. It is a lesson that our Community Money Advocates, like Heather, learn during our course, and then share with others.

SoLoCo

2011-09-19T16:29:00.002+01:00

SoLoCo, a social crowdfunding website for the Third Sector, has just launched. Great idea. Best of luck! Click here to visit their website.

Welcome Bernie Morgan

2011-09-14T16:02:00.003+01:00

Bernie Morgan joins Community Money as our new chair. Bernie is the founder of a stealth start-up business designed to significantly improve the lives of the under banked population in the UK.

Prior to this Bernie was, for eight years, the CEO of the CDFA, the Community Development Finance Association, the industry body representing 70 CDFIs, which deliver loan finance to those unable to access finance from mainstream sources.

As the CDFA’s first CEO, Bernie led the development of the industry in the UK, now estimated to be worth £1 bn, and was at the forefront of all policy and practice developments.

Bernie has also worked internationally, advising the US, Indian, Australian, Romanian and Hungarian governments on developing CDFIs in their countries.

Only 20% of people have a money mate...

2011-09-13T08:39:00.005+01:00

someone they can confide in about money matters. Yet, according to a recent survey by the Money Advice Service, 76% of people in the South East admit they are happy when they feel good about their money.

The survey confirms the strong link between people's financial health and their emotional well-being. And that is one reason why our Community Money Advocates training program, which trains people to help themselves and others with money and debt issues, can be so powerful.

For more information on the Money Advice Service and its Money Chat campaign to get more people talking about money, click here.

Quids In

2011-09-12T14:05:00.003+01:00

Community Money likes Quids In, a money management magazine for people on low incomes, and not only because we provide money saving tips.

We like this quarterly magazine published by Clean Slate, a social enterprise providing training and employment brokerage, because it is snappy and fun to read, not worthy and wordy. We hand the magazine to all of our Community Money Advocates.

Quids in Autumn Edition

Community Money excited about AmicusHorizon partnership...

2011-09-09T16:10:00.001+01:00

To deliver staff training across London and the South East of England, aimed at improving rent arrears by teaching front-line staff how to help their clients budget and negotiate sustainable payments. AmicusHorizon is one of the regions largest landlords managing over 28.000 homes.

Go Stella!

2011-09-08T12:23:00.002+01:00

Community Money likes MP Stella Creasy's continued campaign to stop loan sharking by proposing a bill that caps the cost of credit. Isn't it about time this became law? For more details click here.

How to survive & thrive in our consumer economy?

2011-09-08T09:12:00.005+01:00

Make financial education a compulsory part of the UK school curriculum. Sign the e-petition tiny.cc/2ejhc and help ensure that every child has a basic understanding of personal finance and consumer rights when they leave school.

Improving well-being and saving money

2011-09-05T17:19:00.005+01:00

Hyde Housing has recently published its Money Guidance Programme Evaluation Report - following a 3 year Money Guidance Programme (MGP), delivered in partnership with a number of other housing associations.

Community Money has worked with 3 of the partners involved - Hyde, L & Q and Metropolitan Housing Partnership.

The progammes aim was to increase financial capability by developing money management skills, preventing debt problems, and improving financial well-being.

The report finds that early intervention has a positive social and financial impact on social housing residents, and financial benefits to participating housing associations.

The progamme resulted in an overall reduction in rent arrears by social housing tenants and improvements to rent payment behaviour. The report also showed that the cost in running this service for 12 months was offset by the rent arrears reduction calculated over the same period.

Community Money believes that engaging residents to help themselves and others with money and debt issues can directly supports all social landlords who are planning for a further decline in their resident's financial circumstances.

We're off to Bath

2011-06-15T16:42:00.000+01:00

We are delighted to announce our first foray outside of London, We are partnering with Somer Community Housing Trust, the leading social housing provider in Bath, to deliver our Community Money Advocates programme.

This programme gives local people the skills and confidence to help themselves and others in their communities to deal with money and debt issues and as such provide a grassroots solution to financial exclusion and poverty.

Money Magic

2011-06-06T18:49:00.001+01:00

A few days ago we mentioned the great response we'd had to a course we delivered to Hexagon residents. We promised to include the link to the newsletter article - well, here it is.

Since then we have delivered another course to Hexagon together with residents from L&Q.

Payplan supports the printing of our training guides

2011-05-25T12:47:00.000+01:00

We would like to acknowledge the support we have received from Payplan, the free debt management organisation, which has sponsored the printing of the training guides we use for our Community Money Advocates programme.

PayPlan offers free debt management plans, IVAs and telephone advice and works together with grassroots organisations like Community Money.

Hexagon residents think Community Money is fantastic

2011-05-20T08:29:00.001+01:00

Community Money was delighted by the fantastic response to our recent Community Money Advocates training for Hexagon Housing. Course participant Janice Gushway was featured on the cover of Hexagon's recent newsletter together with Community Money founder and trainer Puck Markham. We will upload details of the newsletter shortly which has a write up on the course and a testimonial from Janice.

The results are in: only 28% of respondents are hopeful about the Big Society

2011-03-31T17:05:00.000+01:00

In our highly unscientific mini poll close to 3/4 of respondents feel cynical about the Big Society. At Community Money we are working with committed volunteers sharing their skills and knowledge in their local communities everyday. We cannot be cynical about this.

Please leave us some comments and let us know what you think. We will draw one lucky person who wins an ultra-stylish and practical senz° mini umbrella.la.la....

We want your opinion on the Big Society...

2011-03-01T12:33:00.001Z

Beyond the headlines what do you think about the Big Society? Does the Big Society leave you feeling hopeful or cynical?

Please vote in our poll; invite your friends to vote; leave a comment, and sign up to our mailing list if you would like to enter our draw to win a senz° original mini umbrella, which due to its smart design will not invert, and is windproof up to wind force 10! (Must be resident in the UK).

It will help you weather whatever comes our way.

RBS Social Enterprise 100

2011-02-25T09:01:00.001Z

We're featured in the RBS Social Enterprise 100 Index which charts the Top 100 Social Businesses. The figures mentioned are from last year and we're proud that we continue to grow - working with more partners across London and the UK, training more community based advisers who provide grassroots money and debt advice in their communities. See the article here.

Hexagon Community Advisers

2011-02-17T09:42:00.000Z

Earlier this month we trained 20 residents and staff from Hexagon Housing. This was a lively training session, with some real characters, and very focused. From these 20 participants we will recruit a number of volunteers who will be trained further to become community based volunteers providing grassroots peer-to-peer advice. During the course we had a visit from a German social enterprise delegation - visiting innovative UK projects and organisations. Many thanks to Susan Schultz for taking these pictures.

More Community Advisers Being Trained

2011-01-12T16:56:00.000Z

We are excited to start a new Community Based Advisers programme with residents from our new partner Hexagon Housing.

Why I Volunteer

2010-12-15T11:02:00.001Z

Community Based Advisers Taster Sessions

2010-11-22T15:59:00.005Z

Find out about our innovative Community Based Advisers programme by joining a taster sessions in London or Manchester on 13/12 and 14/12 respectively. For more details and to book your complimentary place please book now:

London:
http://communitymoneylondontaster.eventbrite.com/
Manchester: http://communitymoneymanchestertaster.eventbrite.com/

These events are primarily aimed at organisations. However, if you are interested in volunteering as an individual please get in touch.

New community based advisers in Lewisham

2010-11-16T19:31:00.002Z

We're getting ready to train a brand new cohort of dedicated community based advisers in Lewisham (South London), working together with AffinitySutton, a large national housing association.

Dashing across this fair land

2010-10-29T18:57:00.000+01:00

Over the last week I have been travelling to Wales, Manchester, South London and Bristol to talk about our community adviser programme and get organisations interested in partnering with us. Struck by the beauty of the landscape and how I love coming home after a long day dashing across this fair land.

A dollar's worth of food.

2010-10-22T18:29:00.000+01:00

Jonathan Blaustein is a photographer who's 'The Value of A Dollar' photographic project captures the value of a dollar's worth of food as purchased from various markets in the US. See more of the photographs here.

Jesse Jackson & Butterflies

2010-10-19T09:22:00.000+01:00

Both Jesse Jackson and I will be speaking at the Responsible Credit Convention today. Rev. Jackson as the keynote speaker whilst I will be presenting at a breakout session to talk about how we train people to become community based advisers. I have butterflies in my stomach. I wonder if Rev. Jackson does?

Volunteer Graduation II

2010-10-18T17:48:00.005+01:00

Today's graduation at a community centre in Stockwell, South London, was a small and lively event hosted by our partners Hyde Housing and featuring a wonderful buffet.

Four of our graduates, Barry, Denise, Mustapha and Gina, are pictured here. With the accredited debt advice training under their belt they have improved their own financial skills but can now also provide money and debt advice locally to their community.

Volunteer Graduation

2010-10-18T09:55:00.003+01:00

Today there is another graduation event for 10 volunteers we trained as community advisers in partnership with Hyde Housing, one of the country's largest housing associations. Community Money is excited and proud of these committed micro philanthropists. Hope to have picture up today.

Why I Volunteer

2010-10-16T18:31:00.001+01:00

Volunteer appreciation

2010-10-16T07:36:00.001+01:00

Early morning start as today hosting an appreciation and learning event for our London volunteers with discussions, seminars and a lunch buffet!

Money champions

2010-10-15T18:51:00.001+01:00

Great name for out community advisers?

More community advisers being trained

2010-10-15T10:07:00.006+01:00

Today meeting up with 2 major London housing providers to plan more training for new community advisers to deliver grassroots money and debt advice in some of the most deprived communities. We like to think this is Big Society in action.

Joining up the dots

2010-10-14T17:13:00.002+01:00

The government believes in joined up government - we are trying to join up our online presence. So whether you want to keep updated online, on Facebook or on Twitter - we're there and look forward to keeping you posted on what we do...and how you can get involved as a volunteer or micro philanthropist.

Volunteer secures a Lexmark donation

2010-08-04T12:18:00.004+01:00

Christine Buck recently graduated from one of our training courses and has been coming to our Islington debt advice project as a trainee adviser ever since.

We have a small portable printer at our project which is not ideal, so Christine decided to write to Lexmark telling them how happy she was with her Lexmark printer at home and whether they would consider donating one to the project, which they promptly did.

The printer, scanner and fax machine will make our work on behalf of our debt clients so much easier to do. Thank you Lexmark for your generous donation.

In the picture you see Christine Buck on the left and Susan McLaren, our centre coordinator, on the right.

As an organisation we rely on the time, effort and dedication of our volunteers and Christine is a fantastic example of the kind of volunteer that make things happen!

Be The Change

2010-08-04T12:11:00.008+01:00

Gandhi quote on scaffolding around a City of London building site.

Mandy Wiles

2010-06-28T15:33:00.006+01:00

Mandy has been a volunteer with Community Money for about 1 year. She works in a North London restaurant. After a training period shadowing experienced volunteer advisers, she took on her first client in December of last year. The client was entitled to council tax exemption as a student. The council did not update its records and demanded more than £1000 in overdue council tax - threatening court action to collect the sum, creating a lot of anxiety for the client.

After months of correspondence and telephone calls the council agreed it made a mistake, updated its record, and it turned out the client was even entitled to a £50 credit. The client was ecstatic and Mandy celebrated her first client success. "It comes down to being persistent", she says. "And doing your research."

Our volunteer advisers help clients with money and debt issues, big and small, every week across our 3 London locations. For our locations please see the map on our Advice page.

2010-06-15T17:33:00.003+01:00

Residents from across London have celebrated their graduation as trained Money Advisers - in a new initiative designed to help communities tackle indebtedness. For some background click here.

New map shows locations of money and debt advice centres

2010-05-19T09:09:00.015+01:00

We now run community based money and debt centres across 3 locations in London: Brixton, Islington and Wood Green. To find the exact location of each please go to our advice page here: advice page.

Man Should Be Brave

2010-03-11T07:26:00.007Z

Agree with the sentiment. But hopefully it extends to more just growing a beard and wearing rabbit ears! Social entrepreneurs I believe are brave because they seek to find business solutions to social problems.

David Bishop

2010-03-10T13:06:00.009Z

One of our volunteers explains why he signed up to become one of our debt advisers.

Community Advisers in South London

2010-02-19T16:13:00.006Z

We completed another community based advisers course - this time with 10 volunteers from Affinity Sutton housing in Bromley. Over the coming weeks this group of volunteers will be delivering money and debt advice sessions to local community groups in the Bromley area. And they didn't even mind me trading places with one of them in picture 2.

Community Advisers in North London

2010-02-16T13:15:00.011Z

We train volunteers to become community based money & debt advisers - sometimes in partnership with larger organisations, in this case we worked with volunteers from Hyde Housing, a national housing provider, in Islington (North London). We now run a number of community based debt advice projects in London. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please get in touch.

We Apologise For Any Inconvenience

2010-02-01T20:42:00.002Z

Making some changes to our website - this is a gradual and not entirely seamless process. If you have come looking for Community Money then you have come to the right place.

This website, www.pebbls.com, is the new online home of Community Money.

Relaunching our new Micro Grant programme

2010-01-19T18:42:00.002Z

We are about to relaunch our Micro Grant programme for small community groups, which will be voted on directly by you when you visit our website. We will regularly upload details of new community groups and will ask people to vote and donate at least £1 towards their chosen project.

The winning project will be awarded the grant. The non-winning project will automatically be featured the following week.

If you are interested in being featured or know of a small London based community project that would, then please contact us by email us explaining in no more than 250words about the project and what the grant will be used for. The maximum grant that curently can be applied for is £250.

Projects must be initially London based; grants are to be used for small projects and activities, which are otherwise difficult to fund, rather than as a small contribution to a larger project; we will ideally visit a project before featuring them on our website; there must be photographic or video evidence of the project and recipients will be required to write a small report once the grant funded project has taken place.

The Heinz Pop Up Cafe Raises Funds for London Charity

2010-01-16T15:21:00.004Z

Heinz opened a pop up cafe for just five days last week. The It Has To Be Heinz Cafe, in the heart of London's financial centre, served the ultimate British comfort food, baked beans on toast, for one week only. People were asked to donate 50 pence to raise money for Help a London Child.

As a non-native beans on toast does not get me excited, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and is almost worse than french fries or chips on toast.

However, as a fundraising initiative I think it is a great idea.

Visit to Westminster

2010-01-14T16:39:00.005Z

Oliver Cromwell Once

Oliver Cromwell Twice

Hyde Housing, one of the country's largest social housing providers, launched a report on a cold and snowy Wednedsay making a strong case for continued support of social housing at the House of Commons.

On the way in I was struck by this statue of Oliver Cromwell, framed by the impressive neo-gothic might of Westminster and the Big Ben behind. Oliver was controversial - a regicidal dictator to some and hero of liberty to others - he was one of Top 10 Britons of all time in a 2002 BBC poll.

Take My Equity

2010-01-13T18:31:00.006Z

Take a look at www.thrustfund.com which has been set up by 3 US based social entrepreneurs offering investors a percentage of their earnings for the rest of their life in return for investment in their social enterprises today.

Cause Celebre

2010-01-07T16:59:00.011Z

Kevin Bacon is recognised as someone who understands that the true value of celebrity is an enhanced platform to do good works for others. Any others that spring to mind?

His website www.sixdegrees.org has apparently raised more than 3 million dollars since its launch 3 years ago.

Our First Video Explaining What We Do

2009-12-22T17:55:00.003Z

George of Puzzleface Films filmed our first video to document the journey of one pound. Although we currently do not make micro loans, the truth still holds - £1 can really make a difference if lots of us contribute.

Couldn't Help Myself - Merry Christmas

2009-12-16T18:03:00.002Z

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Micro Grants in 2010

2009-12-16T15:48:00.004Z

We will be continuing our Micro Grants in the New Year but with a slightly new and hopefully improved format. Please subscribe to be kept up-to-date and invited to vote.

Social Entrepreneur - Ruth Rogers

2009-12-09T12:58:00.016Z

There is much cynicism and doubt in the world. This blog highlights the good things, big and small, we do: whether it's people, communities or businesses. Over the summer I met up with Ruth Rogers, who runs Body Gossip, http://www.bodygossip.org/, to ask her what social enterprise means and what Body Gossip is all about.

Can A Pound Make A Difference?

2009-12-08T13:18:00.004Z

Ed Babble asked asked people in New Cross whether 1 pound can make a difference.

Follow Our New Blog

2009-12-03T18:39:00.000Z

Follow Our New Blog

Nothing Is Worth More Than This Day

2009-12-03T12:53:00.005Z

Speaks for itself. One of a series of posters currently found in London underground stations.

The Good and The Bad

2009-12-02T08:07:00.005Z

Starting and developing a business is both exciting and boring. Exciting because you are turning your vision into a reality and boring because there is so much other stuff, such as admin, red tape, banking etc. that you need to do in order to run your business.

You also learn a lot about yourself, the type of person you are and the type of business you want to run. I want this organisation to be both as simple as possible yet have the biggest possible impact.

Visit to Liverpool

2009-12-01T19:04:00.005Z

Travelled to Liverpool today for a great meeting. It was my first time in Liverpool but unfortunately did not have time to visit the city. It was very cold - a lot colder than in London - nice to know that there are places with actual winter weather.

Day One

2009-11-30T17:44:00.009Z

This is the new blog home of Community Money. I started this social enterprise because I want to have a positive impact on financially excluded individuals, communities and businesses, initially focused on London. We have thus far focused on two areas: providing micro grants from the proceeds of the non-profit Community Lottery and by running money and debt advice training and ongoing projects across London. We have thus far made 5 micro grants:

photo project in Spitalfields (East London)
towards a professional football coach for an after school football project in Islington (North London)
Christmas lunch for a Croydon hostel (South London)
for a seaside trip for a group from Elephant & Castle (South London)
trip to the zoo for young people from White City (West London). See picture above.

We run volunteer driven money and debt advice projects in Brixton and Islington and have just started two more, in Bromley and Wood Green. We train local people to become generalist debt advisers and support them to help themselves and others in the community. So far we have trained 25 people. We work in partnership with social housing providers such as AffinitySutton, Hyde, ISHA and MHT. We have also received grant funding through the Deutsche Bank Employee Fund and the Community Grants programme run by OneLondon.

This week's winning entry is number 150

2009-09-11T18:38:00.000+01:00

This week's winning entry is number 150

Thanks to you, kids from White City are going to the Zoo

2009-08-21T18:38:00.000+01:00

Thanks to you, kids from White City are going to the Zoo

We're looking for a Marketing Intern

2009-08-20T18:37:00.000+01:00

We are looking for a marketing intern with experience, understanding and / or a genuine interest in (online) marketing, events organisation and low-cost video production to increase traffic to our website and sign up to our lottery. This is an active hands-on role with real responsbility from the start.

Do you want to make your mark? Have a fire in your belly? And want to work for an organisation where your passion and drive will make you indispensable to our company with the possibility of turning 3 months internship into an ongoing paid position?

More detail on the role:
Position is full-time and a minimum of 3 months;

You thrive on minimal supervision and taking the initiative; are entrepreneurial and fun to work with; interested in working for a business with both commercial and social objectives; with the ability to work in an unstructured but goal-oriented environment;

You can work flexible hours, including partially from home and partially from our centrally located EC1 office as a key member of a small team;

You will have the opportunity to represent the company at a number of events we will be attending to promote the company and to do plenty of networking as a representative of the company at various (social enterprise) networking events across London;

We will pay for expenses including travel and lunch and with the occasional bonus shopping voucher thrown in.

Apply via email to info@communitymoney.co.uk with your CV by Tuesday 25th of August. Tell us why you are interested and why you think you are right for the job.

We will conduct interviews on Thursday the 27th of August and welcome an immediate start.

Clothes Swap & Donation Event in partnership with Dress for Success

2009-08-02T18:37:00.000+01:00

The item that you donate will help unemployed women to make a good impression on their job interview. The fee per participant is £5. The funds raised will be entirely allocated to give micro grants to local communities groups across London.

Juno 134-135 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JE. Happy Hour follows immediately after the event.

Facebook winner and new prize draw announced

2009-07-17T18:36:00.000+01:00

Watch who won our Yo Sushi voucher. If you and 3 friends join us on Facebook here you could win a £100 TopShop/Top Man voucher.

Micro Grant Fund Opens & Yo Sushi Voucher Up For Grabs

2009-07-09T18:35:00.003+01:00

For an application form, click here.

Click to join our Facebook group. And you might win £50 worth of Yo Sushi vouchers.

Community Money Survey

2009-06-19T18:34:00.000+01:00

Please take 2 minutes to help us to grow and improve the Community Lottery by clicking here

ATD Fourth World Receives Community Lottery Grant

2009-06-17T18:34:00.003+01:00

In our last online vote more than 800 people voted, and close to 40% voted for the grant to go to ATD Fourth World. The grant will be used to organise a seaside trip. We hope to get more details of the day soon.

Community Money Seeking an Online Marketing Intern

2009-05-20T18:33:00.000+01:00

Community Money CIC is a social enterprise and micro finance organisation. We provide money and debt advice, micro grants and loans to financially excluded individuals, community groups and businesses. Grants and loans are made available from the proceeds of the weekly non-profit Community Lottery and community raffles we organize.

We need a dedicated person to develop and implement our online marketing strategy. We are looking for graduates or undergraduates with a fire in their belly, who want to work for an organisation where your passion and drive will make you indispensable to our company, and turn this 3 month internship / placement turn into an ongoing paid position.

This will be an active hands-on role with real responsibility from the start working closely with the founding director. You will understand the web and social media and its tools and how you can leverage it to achieve our goal of significantly increasing traffic to our website and sign up to our lottery.

More detail on the role:
• Position is full-time but we will consider part-time;
• We ask for a 3 month commitment;
• You thrive on minimal supervision and taking the initiative; are entrepreneurial and fun to work with; interested in working for a business with both commercial and social objectives; with the ability to work in an unstructured but goal-oriented environment;
• You can work flexible hours, including partially from home and partially from our centrally located EC1 office as a key member of a small team;
• You will have the opportunity to represent the company at a number of events we will be attending to promote the company and to do plenty of networking as a representative of the company at various (social enterprise) networking events across London;
• We will pay for expenses including travel and lunch and with the occasional bonus shopping voucher thrown in.

Take a look at our website and apply via email to info@communitymoney.co.uk with your CV no later than (but including) Wednesday the 27th of May and instead of a covering letter write us a short statement of no more than a few paragraphs about who you are and a simple proposal for an online marketing strategy including clear outputs.

We will conduct interviews in the week of June 1st and would welcome an immediate start.

UK Microfinance - Changing Lives In The UK Too

2009-05-06T18:32:00.000+01:00

More than 50 people, including donors, journalists and industry experts, heard presentations by micro finance institutions from across the country, including Bradford Enterprise Fund, HBV - Hackney Business Ventures, Foundation East, Fredericks Foundation, StreetCred and Weetu.

Community Money organises official UK Aware 09 Eco Prize Draw

2009-04-28T18:32:00.000+01:00

We fundraised £1399 - the proceeds will be split between the RSPB, the official partner charity of UK Aware, and the Community Money Micro Grant Fund.

The winners were:

White 83 - Conrad Vermeulen from West London -
Won a lemon tree from Tree To My Door and a DAB radio from Passion for the Planet.

Green 43 - Shelly McPhee from London -
Won a bespoke reclaimed chair from Junkyard Chic and a beautiful throw from Mossberry.

Pink 8 - Richard and Sue Pinsent from Soudley in Shropshire -
Won a big eco hamper donated by EcoSwitch, an outdoor light from Firewinder and a compost bin from Garden Viz.

Pink 162 and Pink 201, belonging to Paul Temple from Basingstoke and Dr. David Stevens from Calne in Wiltshire respectively,

Each won a goody bag selection with prizes donated by EVStores, Natural Empathy, People’s Trust for Endangered Species, Little Cherry, Book of Rubbish, Cycle 2 Job, Footprints, Green Clean, Incognito, Mule Bar energy bars, Onya Bags, Npower, Ecosoapia, Healthy Planet, Irashai Services , Nether Wallop Trading, Green Oil, One Green Earth, Energy Savings Trust, Susu organic, Zipee bikes, Eco hip, Eco-eye and Inside Out publications.

Micro Grant Winner Announced

2009-04-09T18:31:00.000+01:00

ATD Fourth World won the vote with 332 votes cast, narrowly taking the lead from Johanna Primary School. Congratulations to ATD Fourth World, and commiserations to the other finalists. ATD Fourth World work with some of the poorest Londoners. They will be organising a trip to the Southend seaside for a group of their clients.

Mr. Shoesting Update

2009-04-02T18:30:00.000+01:00

Our shortlisted candidates are now live. Please click here to vote. Voting now closed.

We interviewed the coaches and young players of the St. Mary's Path Estate Tenants' Association After School Football Project, a recent recipient of a Community Lottery Micro Grant. They were set up in 2002 to tackle ongoing anti social behaviour. Find out how this project makes a difference.

Mr. Shoestring Update

2009-03-19T18:30:00.000Z

The next micro grant round is now open for small community based organisations. The grants are made possible through the proceeds of the Community Lottery. Sign up to the weekly £1 lottery here. You will be entered into our weekly prize draw and will make a difference in the lives of local people, such as the grant to pay for Christmas lunch for a hostel in Croydon.

If you would like to apply or refer someone than you download the application form here.

Mr. Shoestring

2009-03-13T18:29:00.000Z

My name is Puck Markham and I am the founding director of Community Money, a social enterprise start up based in London dedicated to tackling poverty around the corner. We do this through the non-profit Community Lottery, the proceeds of which fund our micro grants programme; and through money and debt advice projects across London.

Community Money is a small organisation and as with any small start up, especially one with social objectives, a lot is done on a shoestring. This can be a challenge but also very rewarding especially if one considers the high levels of poverty in London and around the country.

We have made three grants to groups across the city and offer volunteering opportunities and money and debt advice to people across the city. For fun, I have decided to give these updates the Mr.Shoestring moniker – because we try to make a big impact from small investments in the community.

I will be posting regular updates about the efforts to grow the organisation and expand its work. Our immediate focus is 500 new sign ups to the weekly £1 Community Lottery. People who sign up are entered to win a weekly cash prize – soon we will add special prizes such as cinema tickets and restaurant vouchers. You give, and you (can) get!

Help us make a difference and become part of our community – either by signing up to the Community Lottery or our mailing list.

On a personal note – after an unpleasant car crash I am having a signed off tooth extracted tomorrow – can think of better ways to spend a Saturday morning, but I plan to indulge myself after with chicken soup and a Krispy Kreme donut, followed by an afternoon nap!

What is a loan shark?

2009-03-11T18:28:00.000Z

Please click here to find out more about loan sharks and how to stop them.

Helping people beat the Credit Crunch

2009-03-11T18:27:00.000Z

Community Money joins Islington Council and other agencies to help local residents with money and debt issues. Click here for further details.

Follow Us On Twitter

2009-02-18T18:26:00.000Z

Newington Green Now & Then event raffle

2008-12-16T18:23:00.000Z

We sold a number of raffle tickets to raise funds for our Community Fund. Sharon Sullivan purchased the winning entry which was 108. Thanks for all who supported us by purchasing a ticket!

The Croydon Hostel awarded micro grant

2008-12-01T18:22:00.000Z

We shortlisted 5 organisations from 28 applications from a wide variety of community groups across London and asked you to vote for your favorite cause. Voting closed on Monday December 1st. The Croydon Hostel received 366 votes or 52% of the votes so they are awarded the micro grant - congratulations!

Become a collective grant maker

2008-11-27T18:21:00.000Z

Vote for 1 of 5 fantastic community groups to become our micro grant recipient. Voting closes on Monday December 1st. After you vote, help us tackle poverty in London, where 40% of families live in poverty, by making a £1 weekly contribution to the Community Fund. We multiply your generosity for bigger impact - and reward it by entering you in a weekly prize draw.

Micro Grant Round Now Closed

2008-11-21T18:21:00.000Z

We received 26 applications this round. We will now go through the applications and make a short list of finalists. The short list should be available on the website on Thursday. We invite current contributors and others to vote for their preferred grant award recipient. In future this will only be available to our contributors.

LSO Lunchtime Concert

2008-11-21T18:19:00.000Z

We enjoyed a concert at London Symphony Orchestra's lunchtime Discovery series and sold Community Fund raffle tickets from 1:15 to 2PM. Click here for directions to LSO St.Luke's.

Cracking the Credit Crunch

2008-01-11T18:07:00.000Z

We spoke to a lot of local residents about Community Money, its volunteer training programme, money and debt advice and the Community Fund.

We sold 53 raffle tickets to our Community Fund raffle - and number 35, belonging to Martin Baillie, was the winning entry number. The proceeds will be split between our winner and the Community Fund.

For more information on St. Luke's, click here