The Derbyshire Volunteer Fund

The Derbyshire Volunteer Fund supports community groups and charities across Derby City and Derbyshire with three main priorities. The fund focuses on volunteer recruitment, training and retention; training for staff and committee members to enhance efficiency or quality of service; and projects that increase communication and networking opportunities. The fund provides grants for both capital costs (equipment, excluding building works) and revenue costs (ongoing running costs, one-off events and projects). The fund is particularly interested in encouraging people to volunteer by creating more opportunities and developing volunteer retention strategies, offering training especially in networking, income generation through fundraising or social enterprise, and organization management. It also prioritizes encouraging networking and partnership working within the voluntary sector and between voluntary groups and private/statutory sectors, including communication improvements like website development and newsletters.