Spotlight Talks: sharing sector expertise in 2024

At City Bridge Foundation, we are constantly seeking ways to empower and connect with the organisations we support. We launched our Spotlight Talks in 2024 in response to feedback from our funded organisations.

Each Spotlight Talks session aims to:

• Provide a platform for organisations to share their expertise
• Offer practical tips to tackle common challenges, e.g. volunteer management, capacity building
• Facilitate networking and strengthen sector-wide connections

These sessions are free to attend and hosted virtually via Zoom. The recorded sessions are shared in full with everyone who registers. Each Spotlight Talk is advertised in our monthly email bulletin to funded organisations and we have recently opened them up to the wider sector. Details are shared on our website and LinkedIn channel.

In 2024 we hosted three Spotlight Talks. You can watch these for free on our YouTube channel. Our public recordings feature the main panel sessions, but omit the wider discussions which follow to respect participants’ privacy.

Here is a short summary of what we discussed and have learned so far.

In March, we launched Spotlight Talks and celebrated International Women’s Day with a session led by Asma Shah, CEO and founder of You Make It. Asma shared her journey of building holistic empowerment programs for young Black and Brown women, drawing from her lived experience. Key takeaways included:

• The power of lived experiences in shaping impactful programmes
• Strategies for prioritising wellbeing for both staff and leadership
• Tips for fostering resilience in organisations led by women from Global Majority communities

As part of NCVO’s Small Charities week, this session spotlighted the unique contributions of small charities. Panellists Annie Smol (Jazanne Arts), Lara Bundock, (NCVO), Nikki Watson (CoDa Dance) and Myanah Saunders (Forest Gate Community Garden) came together to explore the strengths and challenges of small organisations. Key insights included:

• The importance of centring beneficiaries’ voices at the core of your mission
• How funders can support small organisations specifically, by:
  • Having accessible application processes, including pre-application calls
  • Supporting organisations with self-promotion and the confidence to ask for longer-term funding
  • Being proportionate with monitoring processes

In November, we discussed innovative strategies for recruiting and retaining volunteers with Carol Akiwumi MBE (The AVOCADO foundation), Ellie Alvarez (Hope for the Young), Janet Thorne (Reach Volunteering) and Maddy Mills (Family Volunteering Club).

Key lessons included:

• Be ambitious and seek to recruit volunteers with diverse skills through platforms like Reach Volunteering
• Break down tasks into smaller chunks to make volunteering more approachable for volunteers and impactful
• Create communication pack with all the key information which volunteers can share with others who are interested in volunteering
• Retain volunteers by integrating them into team culture and offering support and training
• Seek regular feedback from volunteers to ensure they feel supported and engaged

Through Spotlight Talks, we’ve gained valuable insights into some of the challenges organisations face and how funders can better support them. Here is what they have been saying:

The need for accessible funding processes: In order to reduce the burden on organisations, particularly smaller organisations, funders should simplify applications and allow opportunities for pre-application calls to allow people to talk to a funding manager and ask questions before they apply.

• Similar recommendations emerged from our year-long End-to-End Review of our processes and as a result we plan to introduce pre-application calls as part of our future funding programmes
• We will also be refining and simplifying our application form

The need for more collaboration and networking: Many people have shared that they would like to facilitate new connections among similar organisations to share learnings, promote the work of their organisations and expand their reach.

• We will be hosting more learning and networking opportunities in 2025 for our funded organisations

Thank you to everyone who has participated in and attended our Spotlight Talks.

We are looking forward to hosting more Spotlight Talks in 2025. The next session is scheduled for spring 2025.

If you have any suggestions for future topics, please contact Natalie Heath, Impact and Learning Officer on Natalie.Heath@citybridgefoundation.org.uk

Our contact us page gives additional ways of contacting us.