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The Melting Pot E-Bulletin March 2010 
Key Concept: Movement that builds Movement

Movements are a combination of forces that create social change.   Examples of popular, world-changing movements over the past  century include Co-operatives, CND, and now Transition Towns. The Melting Pot is part of the Social Enterprise movement; a growing force, as I witnessed at the national conference VOICE 10 in Cardiff last month.  We are also part of, and seek to support, a wider movement - Social Innovation- which refers to new ideas that resolve existing social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges for the benefit of people and planet.  There's a growing network of centres for Social Innovation around the world, giving context to our own efforts to support and connect great people with good ideas for a better world here in Scotland.

Using your Social Capital to get work
Recently I was approached by a former volunteer at The Melting Pot, to help him find work after a career shift. He told me that experts in work transitions say that less than 20% of jobs in the country are ever formally advertised. So how do people get work? This is a question which is especially pertinent in times of recession. The answer might be to ask your networks. If they know you, trust you, and know what you are capable of, they can recommend you. This gives you a foot in the door and the rest is up to you!

We welcome all our friends to share with their networks the work we do here at The Melting Pot. You can help us grow and do more by:
- sharing this ebulletin with others who are interested in Social Innovation
- recommending our services: our flexible time-based memberships and friendly accessible meeting spaces

Together we'll connect and support ideas that can and are changing the world.

Claire Carpenter, Founding Director

TMP's Newsflash!

Improved Access 
The Melting Pot has just installed a brand-new infra-red hearing assistance system, which can be set up in either of our low-carbon, affordable spaces.  With full wheelchair access, a central Edinburgh location and helpful friendly staff, we're the obvious choice if you need an accessible venue for your meeting, workshop or conference.

Up-coming Open Days at The Melting Pot: Tuesday 9th and Thursday 25th March 

Interested in a trial run working in our shared space?  Come and meet us and try it out for FREE at one of our open days which are held on the second Tuesday and last Thursday of each month.

Enquiries and show-arounds are welcome any day, so to arrange an appointment or for further information please e-mail or call 0131 243 2626

Social Enterprise Fair 2010: Wednesday 21st April Edinburgh Corn Exchange

Effective websites and social media: Thursday 22nd April 2010, 9.30am to 1.00pm
   
Effective websites and social media: workshop 3 is all about social media tools (Facebook, blogs, YouTube etc.) and how to plan and execute an effective strategy for using them.

Numbers limited. To book a place, please visit White Cherry Consulting. Special price for TMP members.

For more details on all of our Members please visit our website

Welcome To Our Assisted Places

After a great response and much deliberation, we are proud to present the first four winners of our Assisted Places scheme, supported by the Scottish Government’s Third Sector Enterprise Fund.

Transition Edinburgh South, Flock Local, Take One Action Film Festival and Jo Timmins.

Transition Edinburgh South uses the Transition model to inspire and facilitate the work of the South Edinburgh community to lower its carbon footprint and increase their resilience and sustainability to the effects of peak oil and climate change in a creative way.  Jamie Auld Smith, the organisation’s sole paid worker, will use The Melting Pot to progress “Switched On to Switching Off”, a project working with the local community to improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty.

Flocklocal encourages casual volunteering by promoting local opportunities that require no prior training, interviews or ongoing commitment.  They have recently launched a free web-based tool for organisations and volunteers to use at www.flocklocal.net.  James Baster, the project’s lead developer, will use The Melting Pot as a base from which to expand the free service and to pilot a ‘Pro’ service for larger organisations. 

Take One Action is Scotland’s global action cinema project.  They link audiences, movies, campaigners and communities to inspire shared solutions to global and environmental injustice.  Their annual film festival in Edinburgh and Glasgow shows the most inspiring new and classic international films shining a light on critical global issues. http://www.takeoneaction.org.uk  Director Simon Bateson will use the six months at The Melting Pot to develop this successful and popular project into a robust high quality organisation working for social change.

The Melting Pot is delighted to be welcoming four new members whose work in social and environmental innovation fits so well into our diverse community of people working for a better world.

Fairtrade Recognition

In keeping with the buzz of Fairtrade Fortnight, TMP Member, GreenGift Company is proud to have become only the 3rd shop in Edinburgh to be a BAFTS recognised shop (British Association of Fairtrade Shops).  As a retailer of fabulous, ethically produced products that make perfect gifts, Greengift follow five basic principles: fairtrade, recycled, organic, sustainable and local.  Thus providing you with unique, quality, desirable products, ethically produced, that don't cost the earth.  
'The Melting Pot is an ideal workspace solution for me - the flexibility is great, there's always a friendly face, a new and useful contact and a fabulous network of like minded individuals and organisations. For the price it's a gift!' Jane Brennan, Founder of Greengift Company

The BAFTS is an association of retailers who, although independent, unite in a core purpose which is to bring about fundamental changes in the status of working producers through Fair Trade retailing and campaigning.  For more information check out their website http://www.bafts.org.uk/about-fair-trade.

For more about Fairtrade Fortnight in Scotland, see the Scottish Fairtrade Forum. 


Time for a Spring Clean

TMP supports Better World Books, an innovative social business that sells books online, sharing revenue with libraries and literacy charities. Books that can’t be sold are donated to a charity that can use them or recycled. With a drop-off point here in the main TMP office, bring in any books you have lying around and put them to good use. http://www.betterworldbooks.co.uk/


Children of Songea Fundraiser Event

Come support TMP's in-house charity, Children of Songea, by joining us for a Buffet Night at the Counting House, Thursday 18th March 5.30pm – 8.30pm.  Pop along and enjoy a selection of delicious food provided by the Mosque Kitchen. Tickets £7, children under 12 go free. Meat dishes, mixed vegetables, saag, rice, chapatti, falafel, and vegetable samosa.  Last year Children of Songea raised around £700 for orphaned children in Tanzania, and we very much hope that you can help make this event just as successful and ensure that children in Tanzania can look forward to a better future. 
For more information visit www.childrenofsongea.org.uk

Oxfam - Humanitarian Department Intern, Location: Oxford.

Internship Purpose: To support the OI Humanitarian department staff in planning and coordination a number of humanitarian workshops for Oxfam staff. The intern may be asked to carry out other additional tasks inline with the humanitarian department’s work.  This is a five-month, voluntary, unpaid internship.
The post-holder must be eligible to do unpaid work in the UK.  To Apply
Please send your CV (MS Word format) and covering email to recruitment@oxfaminternational.org

Interviews: Week of the 8th March 2010.  Closing Date: 5 March 2010, 17:00 GMT (GMT +00:00) (GM +00:00)

Pilotlight Scotland
Are you ambitious? Do you want to build a sustainable future for your organisation?

Pilotlight Scotland brings together skilled professionals from the business community and harnesses their talents to create growth and sustainability in small to medium charities and social enterprises across the Central Belt, Fife, Tayside and Aberdeen.  We offer a uniquely managed capacity-building process, exploring your vision and giving you the skills to develop a strategic Business Plan…and it won’t cost you a penny because we are funded by donations from our business partners.

Two years after working with Pilotlight, the charities and social enterprises we support:
(The Pilotlight Effect ‘08)
• Increase the number of people reached by 57%
• Increase turnover by 54% (6 times voluntary sector average)
• Improved services provided to individual and communities by 60%

To find out more, call the Project Manager Team on 0131 243 2768, email dsweet@pilotlight.org.uk or visit www.pilotlight.org.uk

 People's Postcode Funding News

The People's Postcode Trust (link below) offer grants to organisations which have a 'local focus'.  The maximum grant is £10k for registered charities, £2k for other community organisations.  New guidelines and opening and closing dates will be available soon on their website.  http://www.postcodetrust.org.uk/

Oxfam Live 2010,  Glasgow
Saturday 6 March 11am – 3pm. Venue: Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons, 232-242 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5RJ.
Already passionate about fighting poverty with Oxfam?  Then here’s your chance to get to know some other inspiring people who do some amazing work.  Oxfam Live gets you ‘up close and personal’ with Oxfam supporters, directors, trustees and experts from the field.  To register for the event please go to http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/oxfamlive/index.html
If you'd like more information or to ask any questions about Oxfam email oxfamlive@oxfam.org.uk, or phone 0300 200 1300.

Volunteer Edinburgh Training & Events - 27th March Edinburgh
Good to Great is for you if you are a trustee who is a member of a committee or board of a small voluntary or community organisation. It considers governance issues, effective decision making, effective meetings and much more. It's based on the National Occupational Standards for Trustees.
It's supported by City of Edinburgh Council and is free to Edinburgh trustees. For more information please see
http://www.volunteeredinburgh.org.uk/events/default.asp

Book now for FREE Financial Management and Tender Writing Training - 3rd & 23rd June
Finance for Senior Managers, Trustees and Boards - Formal training workshop (1 day) - 3rd June Edinburgh (Various dates and locations across Scotland available)
Finance for non-finance managers - Classroom based workshop (3 days) - 23rd June The Melting Pot
(Various dates and locations across Scotland available)
All organised and to be booked through Ceis http://www.ceis.org.uk/supporting-enterprise.html#Enterprise-Programmes

Creative Business: the next step
A free one day course on keeping your creative business on track, run by the Cultural Enterprise Office.

New Start Scotland - SECC in Glasgow - 19th and 20th March
New Start Scotland Exhibition is a free (to attend) exhibition for start-up businesses with 50 free seminars, run by industry leaders who promise to point new businesses in the right direction. For further details on seminars and to download your free tickets visit the New Start Scotland website www.newstartscotland.com

Awards for All Grants
Awards for All gives grants of between £500 and £10,000 for people to take part in art, sport and community activities, and projects that promote education, the environment and health in the local community. They fund a wide range of activities through the programme.  For more about their aims and to see if your group might be eligible, see Find out more.

Switch the Lights Out!
At 8.30pm on Saturday, March 27 some of the world’s most recognised symbols of hope, peace, human endeavour and natural wonder will plunge into darkness for Earth Hour as a powerful sign of the unrelenting resolve of the global community to respond to the threat of climate change.

CN Tower in Toronto, Table Mountain in Cape Town, Grand Palace in Bangkok and the world’s second tallest building Taipei 101 will go dark for Earth Hour. Across the US, landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Mount Rushmore and even the lights of Las Vegas, will switch off in a decisive display of climate action from one of the most significant nations on the climate landscape.

Through Earth Hour’s ever-expanding social media network, which is now well into the millions, citizens of the world are also being encouraged to play a key role in switching off the lights of their favourite icons by creating public demand with their suggestions via www.facebook.com/earthhour and www.twitter.com/earthhour.