The Hearts & Minds Partnership launched Smart Space, an online digital training platform, in December 2022, to further support Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) services in perinatal mental health.
Excited to have been invited to participate in this project, Parents 1st UK’s founder, Celia Suppiah, is the guest trainer on ‘Module 5: An introduction to funding and finance’.
Our contribution
The module for Funding and Finance comprises of 4 sections. Celia talks through writing a ‘Case for Support’ to help you to articulate the content of funding applications, and continues with the basics of Financial Planning, funding opportunities and funding applications.
Knowing much more on this topic than she realised, Celia breaks down some of the over-complicated jargon to help you to prioritise what is important for your organisation and looks at the benefits of diverse funding streams and how to find out about different funding opportunities.
The final section of the module explores writing funding applications and the importance of careful planning and support with these where needed.
As the founder of Parents 1st, Celia has written many funding applications herself. Hoping to help new VCS services to get established, Celia has openly shared her knowledge and expertise with the Hearts & Minds community.
Smart Space Training
Smart Space currently has 5 modules available for ‘Emerging’ (new) organisations, and 2 for ‘Established’ organisations wanting to develop further. Each topic takes you through important considerations and helps to break down some of the more overwhelming issues facing new and existing organisations.
You can access online training videos from members of the Hearts & Minds community plus a ‘living library’ of resources.
Training topics include:
- Overview of perinatal mental health
- Growing a service from scratch
- Developing a safe service
- Promoting your service
- Navigating funding and finance
- Governance
“Smart Space is designed and delivered by experienced founders, leaders and professionals from the sector. They share ‘how to’ guidance, tips and strategies in bite-size videos to ensure it’s as accessible as possible. Modules are complemented by a ‘living library’ of resources as well as some Honest Conversations from people talking openly about their first-hand experiences of growing services.”