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We’ve decided to make the communications module available for free to any customer that needs to add it to their system, for at least the next 3 months. We hope this will be helpful if you are changing the way you work and need to stay in touch with your service users and supporters in different ways. We’ve done a short introductory video to help you get it set up.

Other changes we’ve made:

  • Improved the setup for email. Lamplight can work out the SMTP server settings needed for the most popular email providers, so in many cases all you need to do is enter your email password. Lamplight will also send a test email so you can see straight away whether everything’s working.
  • Individual operators can set their own email account details, so admins don’t need to do it for them.
  • Communications can now have a date from and to, so you can store and report on duration of communication records.
  • The ‘reply to’ email address will be the email of the sending account (you often get errors if these are different).

You can add modules to your system via the system admin menu > Customise Lamplight > Add or remove modules.

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Civil Society has a longer list of funders, including these and other sources (added 27/03)

We’ve seen a few sources of funding for charities affected by Coronavirus and/or working with people directly affected (updated 23/3):

Martin Lewis / Money Saving Expert – £5k – £20k for poverty relief. Deadline 25th March, funding to be released quickly.

Watch the National Emergencies Trust – currently raising funds, to be distributed through Community Foundations.  Again this is to support work supporting people directly affected (guidelines on their site).

The Mayor of London and City Bridge Trust have launched an emergency fund to support charities directly affected – sign up on their site for updates next week.  The Steve Morgan Foundation is offering funding for charities in Liverpool, Cheshire and North Wales.  Local Waitrose stores have access to £1m emergency funding for local groups.  The Oxfordshire Community Foundation has some local funding available from the Indigo Trust.

NCVO are lobbying for additional support for the sector and they have also made their KnowledgeBase resources available for free. Also worth watching for volunteering support.

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Updated 17/3/2020

In the light of yesterday’s advice from Government we will (from 17/3) not be carrying out on-site visits except in exceptional circumstances.

Working remotely.

We have been using video conferencing effectively with customers – we’re liking zoom.us and Amazon Chime, and we still use Google Hangouts. You don’t need to install any software at your end – it works in the Chrome web browser pretty well. There is extra functionality if you do install the software, though, and Zoom offer a free usage plan.

We are closing our offices this week and are working from home, so you’ll still be able to get in touch as normal if you need to.

Open Training

We have cancelled the planned open training day in London and are providing alternative training for participants that had booked on it. We will review future dates nearer the date in light of the situation at the time.

Official guidance

The Government guidance for businesses and employers is at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/guidance-for-employers-and-businesses-on-covid-19 Guidance for charities from NCVO is available at https://www.ncvo.org.uk/practical-support/information/coronavirus

Review

We will review this policy at least every few days as the situation develops and update it as necessary.