Futureproof Cumbria

Month: May 2022

  • What you said about smart meters

    What you said about smart meters

    Last month, we asked our kind followers to lend us their thoughts on smart meters. The technology is slowly spreading through homes as energy providers determinedly pursue us over the phone to commit to an installation date.

    Basically, a smart meter measures your energy use in real time and shows it to you on a display unit. The idea is that this will allow you to get more accurate bills and see for yourself where you are spending money on energy. It also, in theory, cuts out the inconvenience of needing to read your meter manually yourself.

    We wanted to find out how people view smart meters whether they have them or not. In our last newsletter, we distributed this survey. Over 50 generous people took time to record their thoughts and this is what the results were.

    • Firstly, we found that people are confident in their understanding of the technology. 81% of respondents rated their knowledge of smart meters as either good or very good.
    • Of those who answered the questionnaire, two thirds of them have already had a smart meter installed in their home and just under a third of respondents were over the age of 65.
    • Focussing first on the 33% of respondents who do not have a smart meter, 60% of these were not interested in getting one. In fact, absolutely none of them rated themselves as ‘very interested’ and only 20% rated themselves any more positively than ambivalent.
    • Similarly, this group of people also had absolutely no one with any positive opinions on smart meters. 68% of them had either negative or very negative opinions of the technology.
    • If, however, we look at the 66% of respondents who do have a smart meter installed, around 50% of them have a positive or very positive opinion of them. 29% of these people held negative opinions.

    Alongside these statistics, most of the respondents also provided their own insights with both positive and negative thoughts coming from people who had and don’t have smart meters.

    These results are certainly interesting and we will be using these to inform how we approach the subject of smart meters in future. A huge thanks to every person who filled out the survey and shared their thoughts.

  • Climate change training rolling out to educators in Cumbria

    Climate change training rolling out to educators in Cumbria

    CAfS will be helping to create a national climate training toolkit for educators as part of a new government plan.

    We will be one of the partners developing the toolkits, as part of the Department for Education’s Climate & Sustainability Strategy, announced in April. Every maintained nursery, school, college and university in the country is to have a sustainability lead among their staff, all of whom will have ‘carbon literacy’ training on the climate crisis and how we can respond.

    We’ve been delivering accredited Climate and Carbon Literacy training in Cumbria since 2019 and we’re now running a pilot with local colleges to tailor the course for the education sector, supported by the National Lottery through the Zero Carbon Cumbria programme.

    Speaking at the launch of the strategy, Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP, said:

    “We are going to speed up carbon literacy training throughout our education communities so that by 2025 every nursery, school, college and university can put in place a Climate Action Plan. Innovation and green growth will not flourish unless we deliver a workforce with the right skills to make this a reality.”

    Hazel Graham, carbon literacy training manager at CAfS, said:

    “This announcement by the Department for Education is fantastic news. We have some fantastic examples already of schools leading on emission reduction in Cumbria. This announcement means all schools and colleges will gain the extra knowledge and support they need to reduce their own carbon footprint and also to inspire and involve their students. We’ve trained hundreds of people in organisations and communities around the county, and we’ve seen first-hand the impact that carbon literacy training can have.

    Our course is designed to do more than just build knowledge. Delegates tell us that they feel more able to then go on share that knowledge with others, more confident to communicate about the climate crisis, and more motivated to act. We get regular feedback about the significant, meaningful, lasting changes that individuals, communities or organisations have made, after attending our courses.

    “We’re excited to be asked to help develop the national carbon literacy kit for educators, which we’re well placed to do as we’re already rolling out climate and carbon literacy training for schools and colleges in the county, written by educators, for educators.”

    Among them is Lakes College in West Cumbria. The college principal, Chris Nattress, said:

    “We recently engaged with CAfS to plan and deliver climate training to our whole college staff during our annual Staff Conference Day. Staff found the session informative and thought provoking. It was an ideal way for us to give our staff an evidence-based, well-informed overview of the challenges we all face in reducing carbon emissions.

    “As a college, climate education is a priority for us, and there is a huge amount of interest from staff and students in full-day, accredited carbon literacy training. We have therefore commissioned CAfS to deliver several sessions for us in June to help us achieve our climate ambitions as an organisation. It is great to see DfE’s announcement that other colleges may soon be doing the same.”

    Cumbria County Council, the local education authority for the county, has already offered carbon literacy training by CAfS to a large number of its staff and elected members and is a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation under the national accreditation scheme.

    Councillor Celia Tibble, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:

    “This is a fantastic initiative and fits perfectly with our drive to see a golden thread of climate education right from primary up to adult education. This is a key priority for us and, having been trained by CAfS ourselves, we can fully appreciate the impact this training could have if rolled out for educators in the county.”

    Louise Atkinson, who is National Vice President of the National Education Union as well as a primary school teacher in Cumbria and governor at a secondary school, said:

    “We are pleased to see this announcement from DfE, and here in Cumbria we are ready to respond. We are lucky to have an expert organisation like CAfS in the county to partner with on a roll-out. We at NEU believe that this training is a positive step. Climate change is real and is threatening our future. It is our young generations that will lose the most if it is not addressed now. We all have a role to play and a contribution to make about the necessary changes. We look forward to working with CAfS to roll out this important training for sustainability leads in schools.”

    CAfS is inviting schools and colleges in Cumbria to get ahead of the curve.

    “We haven’t seen the detail yet of when the DfE roll-out will be but there’s no need to wait,” Hazel said. “Any school or college that wants to be at the forefront of this exciting initiative can get in touch with CAfS now, as we can arrange carbon literacy training for you.”

    CAfS also runs carbon literacy courses that are open to the public, for anyone who’d like to learn more about the causes of climate change and what they can do about it, or who would like to get a feel for how the course works.

    Our next carbon literacy training session for the public begins on 22 June, you can book on to it here.

    You can also email [email protected] for more information about the courses,

  • Job: Fundraising officer

    Job: Fundraising officer

    Closing date: 10am on Tuesday 14 June 2022.

    We’re looking for a knowledgeable and articulate person to help us raise money through donations, grants and contracts. You’ll be a clear and confident communicator with the ability to create persuasive digital material with a strong attention to detail. You’ll have knowledge of fundraising and will be able to research potential new income streams working alongside our development manager.

    Application & Interview Process

    Please apply by completing the application form below. Please do not send a CV. Guidance for submitting your application is included in the form.

    CAfS Application Form

    Closing date for return of applications is 10am on 14 June 2022.

    Interviews will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 21 June 2022.

    Job description

    If you prefer to download the job description and person specification, please use the link below:

    Fundraising Officer – Job Description

    BENEFITS: CAfS offers an excellent working environment, with benefits ranging from flexible working to a pension contribution. Find out more about the benefits of working at CAfS >

    EMPLOYER: Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS)

    LOCATION: Contractually based at our office, Eden Rural Foyer, Old London Road, Penrith, CA11 8ET, however we are open to flexible working patterns and blended (home, site and office-based) or home working is possible for this role.

    REPORTS TO: Development Manager

    HOURS: 22.5 hrs a week. There may be some flexibility with the contracted hours, which can be discussed at interview if of interest to the applicant.

    SALARY RANGE: £21,000-£25,000 per annum full-time equivalent (£12,600 – £15,000 for the 22.5 hour week), depending on skills and experience.

    DURATION: Fixed-term 12-month contract. With potential for extension subject to funding.

    APPLICATIONS BY: 10am Tuesday 14th June, 2022. Interviews 21st June, 2022

    Please apply using the application form. CVs will not be considered.

    ABOUT CAFS:

    Our vision is a zero carbon Cumbria which is socially, environmentally, and economically beneficial for all.

    Our mission is to promote and facilitate low carbon living and its benefits – inspiring and supporting individuals, communities, and organisations across Cumbria and beyond to take action to decarbonise lives, communities, and businesses by 2037 or sooner. We do this through events, advice, training, and practical projects across the county as well as providing specialist consultancy services. We share our knowledge, skills, and practical experience as widely as possible.

    CAfS is an award-winning charity with a team of 28 highly skilled staff, working with a pool of specialist contractors and volunteers to deliver around 20 major, transformational low-carbon projects each year. Now in our 24th year, CAfS is the first point of reference in the county for information on sustainability and low-carbon living.

    CAfS continues to see a rapid rise in the demand for its services and has grown to a turnover of almost £1.5 million. However, if we are to meet our vision of zero carbon in Cumbria, within the timescales that the climate emergency requires, then we need to do more. At present most of our funds are restricted to projects, and less than 1% of our income is from donations or corporate partnerships. Working alongside our Development Manager and our marketing team, this is an exciting opportunity to help us increase our core and unrestricted funding streams.

     

    MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE: 

    • To help implement our donor and corporate fundraising strategies including campaign and stewardship support.
    • To increase core funding through development of Trust and Foundation fundraising.
    • To research grants, contracts and other funding opportunities and feed these into our funding pipeline.

    KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:

    • Undertake research about potential donor, corporate and funding prospects, providing briefings for meetings and updating our databases.
    • Provide stewardship support to, our donors, funders and corporate partners – building and maintaining relationships including thank you letters, updates and invitations to events.
    • Provide support to donation campaigns and funding applications including drafting cases for support, developing beneficiary case studies & videos and working with our marketing team on digital fundraising content.
    • Provide support to community fundraising activities.
    • Develop a pipeline of, and coordinate applications to, Trusts and Foundations including writing creative and compelling funding proposals which meet grantors requirements.
    • Researching opportunities on funding platforms and websites, passing these onto project managers, and tracking them in our pipeline and funder database.
    • Working with project managers to compile information and supporting documentation for bids and funding applications.
    • Supporting the development and implementation of a fundraising CRM, including ensuring the information we hold is data protection complaint.
    • Support the development and delivery of fundraising events including developing appropriate materials, dealing with bookings, event preparation, event set-up and event follow-up.
    • Support the monitoring of our impact and reporting on our effectiveness to our funders.
    • Assist with the preparation of trustee and funder reports
    • Undertake work as directed by line manager, including collecting and inputting data, data analysis, emails, meeting minutes, etc.

    RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

    • Manage suppliers as required to support the delivery of the projects.
    • Manage volunteers as required to support the delivery of the projects.

    OTHER RESPONSBILITIES:

    • Represent CAfS and help to raise the profile of CAfS’ work as opportunities arise.
    • Contribute to news articles, web content and other information for publicity and CAfS’ profile raising
    • Ensure documents are completed and filed appropriately.
    • Ensure CAfS’ ethical funding policies and protocols are followed.
    • Take part in staff meetings, team meetings and training.
    • Perform other duties that may be required from time to time.

    Person Specification

    Essential skills and attributes:

    • An understanding of the different types of fundraising and ways to develop these to support the charity.
    • Knowledge of fundraising information sources, and familiarity with research techniques for fundraising prospect research.
    • Proven ability to write clear and articulate prose, strong attention to detail and editing skills, with the ability to transform project information into compelling and persuasive proposals.
    • Ability to create compelling online and digital fundraising materials using the experiences of our beneficiaries to inspire supporters.
    • Proven ability to develop and manage ongoing relationships with people and organisations e.g. donor journeys
    • Ability to work with and interrogate databases and spreadsheets
    • Strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills
    • Confident, with the ability to work independently, and as part of a team
    • Proven ability to use initiative and make effective decisions.
    • Ability to prioritise work, manage time effectively and meet deadlines
    • Organised, dedicated, highly motivated and reliable
    • Proficiency in Microsoft computer packages (Word, Excel, Outlook), and working knowledge of SharePoint and Teams.
    • A passion for local climate change action and a commitment to CAfS’ aims, values and objectives

    Desirable skills and attributes

    The following attributes are desirable but not essential:

    • Experience of developing proposals and securing funding from trusts, foundations, and statutory sources
    • Experience of developing and managing supporter/donor journeys
    • Experience of using a fundraising CRM to profile donors and target communications and fundraising activities while focused on long term growth
    • Comfortable with networking and collaborating with project partners, stakeholders and other NGOs to develop joint funding proposals
    • A good level of numeracy and an understanding of budget development and management
    • Experience of event organisation
    • Experience of database/customer relationship management systems.
    • Experience of data gathering and collating e.g. event participant feedback data.
    • Experience of setting up and helping to run online meetings eg MS Teams, Zoom.
    • An understanding of the work of CAfS and the impact of climate change on the environment and economy.

    If you would like more information about the role, please contact CAfS Development Manager.

    Email. [email protected]

    Tel. 01768 593272