NEWSNEWShttp://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2012-01-25T16:54:33ZSquarespaceBeatbullying project granted £1.3m from Social Action Fundhttp://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2012/1/25/beatbullying-project-granted-13m-from-social-action-fund.html[Your Name Here]2012-01-25T16:49:35Z2012-01-25T16:49:35ZNick Hurd announced recently that VPF Backed Beatbullying will be awarded a £1.3 million grant from the new Social Action Fund.  Read more at :  http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/bulletin/third_sector_daily_bulletin/article/1113673/beatbullying-project-granted-13m-social-action-fund/?DCMP=EMC-CONThirdSectorDaily.

]]>VPF Annual Gala Ball 2011http://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/12/5/vpf-annual-gala-ball-2011.html[Your Name Here]2011-12-05T19:00:00Z2011-12-05T19:00:00Z VPF hosted its annual Gala Ball at the Savoy Hotel on Monday, 5th December 2011! This year’s theme was 'Bond' Rally 007.  Thanks to our generous sponsors Barclay's Captial and SVG Capital, VPF shared an exciting evening of fun, entertainment and a tribute to the inspiring social entrepreneurs and ventures backed by VPF and all of their achievements. With the help of our guests we raised a record £260k for the VPF Portfolio!

 

 

]]>ShelterBox 2011http://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/9/28/shelterbox-2011.html[Your Name Here]2011-09-28T12:20:00Z2011-09-28T12:20:00Z2011 has been a busy year for ShelterBox, the charity having operated all over the world, delivering its signature green box packed with survival essentials to places hit by disaster. Shelterboxes have helped at disasters including, but not limited to, earthquake stricken Japan, flooding all over South America, the East African Drought and armed conflict in Libya.

Earlier in the year ShelterBox received a series of international awards, with founder Tom Henderson and 42 ShelterBox volunteers receiving the Presidents Volunteer Service Award from Barack Obama and was named the Just Giving Charity of the Year. ShelterBox was also shortlisted for the award of Peoples Choice Charity of the Year.

More recently, in August, Tom Henderson attended and spoke at a global disaster conference in Korea where he was the only representative from a non-governmental organisation.

ShelterBox continues to respond to disasters around the world.  Learn more from their website at: www.shelterbox.org !

]]>Bringing Home Lessons Learned: Basic Needs Innovative Pilot In Gloucestershirehttp://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/9/12/bringing-home-lessons-learned-basic-needs-innovative-pilot-i.html[Your Name Here]2011-09-12T23:53:14Z2011-09-12T23:53:14ZDrawing from its pioneering programmes recognised by the World Health Organisation to ensure access to quality mental health care to poor people in developing worlds - Basic Needs is undertaking a groundbreaking pilot in Gloucestershire, UK.  

]]>CEO to CEO Exchange: MyBnk and Ben's Cookieshttp://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/9/12/ceo-to-ceo-exchange-mybnk-and-bens-cookies.html[Your Name Here]2011-09-12T23:25:23Z2011-09-12T23:25:23ZIn September, MyBnk team CEO Lily LaPenna, Head of Expansion, Melanie Robinson and COO Manfred Mayer spent the morning touring Ben's Cookies with VPF Contact Point Chris Moffat, Managing Director of Ben's Cookies.  Chris shared valuable lessons from his franchising experiences and quality control.  Melanie Robinson shared her thoughts on the day.

"Our conversation moved quickly from breakfast habits around the world to the matter at hand - learning how Chris had taken Ben's Cookies from a handful of cookie shops in southern England to a much loved brand with operations in four countries on three continents.

Chris opened up his world to us and we had a fantastic day. We met numerous members of his staff who were also very generous with their time. Insights from the team who have set up their overseas businesses were particularly helpful - from how to sift through the hundreds of franchisee requests they get and how to incentivise your franchisees once they are up and running, to the cultural misunderstanding that occur. Also seeing that Ben's Cookies operating manual runs to no more than 30 pages was a real demonstration on focussing on the essentials.

The afternoon saw us returning from the Oxfordshire cookie factory (no rivers of chocolate I am sad to report) to central London where we'd brought together a panel of supporters, many from the VPF community, to help thrash our our international strategy. This proved to be very insightful and provided much food for thought as we start our work to take MyBnk across the world.

Overall the day helped us to focus on what the key success factors will be in MyBnk's expansion. It has reinforced our commitment to keeping things simple and gave us the reassurance that whilst working across countries won't always be easy, we can get there in the end."

 

]]>Charity Times Awards 2011http://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/9/9/charity-times-awards-2011.html[Your Name Here]2011-09-09T14:45:00Z2011-09-09T14:45:00ZAlexander McLean, Director General, African Prisons Project has been shortlisted in the category of Rising Manager Star as part of the upcoming Charity Times Awards.

AfriKids have been shortlisted within the category of Corporate National Partnership of the Year for their corporate partnership with Deutsche Bank.

Beatbullying have also been shortlisted with the category of Best Use of the Web for their Big March campaign. The awards will be announced on 12th October 2011.

]]>VPF Due Diligence 2011http://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/7/29/vpf-due-diligence-2011.html[Your Name Here]2011-07-29T14:45:00Z2011-07-29T14:45:00ZVPF completes their 2011 Due Diligence Process. VPF will name their 2 new Social Ventures to be part of the VPF Portfolio. The announcement will take place during our Gala Ball on 5th December 2011 at the Savoy. VPF received invaluable support from volunteers from Barclays Capital, Oliver Wyman, SVG Capital and exceptional individuals within the VPF Network.   

]]>Riders for Health on TVhttp://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/7/21/riders-for-health-on-tv.html[Your Name Here]2011-07-21T12:20:00Z2011-07-21T12:20:00ZRiders for Health’s groundbreaking work in Lesotho is to feature in the first in a new weekly documentary series called ‘The Health Show’ for BBC World this Saturday [23rd July] at 11:10 (GMT+1), repeated at 21:10.

The 26-part series is presented by Dr. Ayan Panja and Dr. Shini Somara and will report on issues around global health and the latest scientific and technological advances from around the world.

 

 

]]>ShelterBox wins at the Unlocking Cornish Potential awardshttp://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/7/20/shelterbox-wins-at-the-unlocking-cornish-potential-awards.html[Your Name Here]2011-07-20T14:43:00Z2011-07-20T14:43:00ZSarah Wooding, Human Resource Manager at ShelterBox, has won an ‘Excellence in Project Management’ award for her outstanding contribution to the charity at this year’s Unlocking Cornish Potential (UCP) awards ceremony. 

]]>Mini Conference: "Scaling Inside and Out"http://www.vpf.org.uk/news/2011/7/13/mini-conference-scaling-inside-and-out.html[Your Name Here]2011-07-13T16:36:00Z2011-07-13T16:36:00ZCEO's and management teams from across the VPF portfolio gathered in London today for a conference looking at issues facing social enterprises as they grow. Andrea Soccorso, VPF Executive Director, says: "It's been a tremendous opportunity for the senior management of the charities we support to come together and share their experiences, successes and knowledge about growth." Many of VPF's Board and Members also took part. For more information, contact Andrea Soccorso.

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