East Riding Voluntary Action Services (ERVAS) Ltd

ERVAS is an infrastructure organisation providing support to the voluntary, community and not for profit sectors (VCS) which includes a large variety of different types of organisations, primarily in the East Riding of Yorkshire. We have a formal membership of 442 organisations who each have a vote on the way the organisation runs, in addition, we have an e-bulletin distribution list of approx. 1,167 organisations and over 1,900 VCS organisations registered on our Local Links Directory. ERVAS provides services to all voluntary sector organisations that request support and does not restrict support to members only.

ERVAS have a long history of providing various types of support across the East Riding to the VCS, this includes but is not limited to –

• East Riding Volunteer Centre – Volunteering England accredited Volunteer Centre, which administers the Do-it.org.uk website for East Riding of Yorkshire, regularly updating local volunteer opportunities and promoting volunteering across the area, as well as offering a brokerage service between potential volunteers and available opportunities to meet their needs.
• Volunteen, an inclusive youth volunteering project supporting 10 – 25 year olds in Hull and East Riding and incorporating a local recognition award scheme, Volunteering for Young People in East Riding (VYPER) which encourages and celebrates young people’s volunteering and social action achievements within their local community.
• Governance and Community Development – supporting in the set-up of VCS organisations, policy development, safeguarding, recruitment and HR, GDPR, evaluations working with VCS organisations to ensure compliance with legislation and support in the development of best practice.
• Funding – funding searches and bid writing to support the sector to access funding opportunities. We also offer funding administration services for Roos Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund and the Youth Action Board, as well as being on the panel for several funders including Routh Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund, East Coast Community Fund, Bridlington Community Led Local Development and the Humber European Social Investment Funds.
• Community Accountancy and Payroll Services, providing support and services around all aspects of accounts and payroll including annual accounts and Charitable Independent Examinations. In addition, we also provide payroll services to individuals in receipt of Direct Payments and Personal Budgets.
• Communication of relevant information via email, website and social networks
• Business Services such as photocopying
• Managing a number of locality and topical networks (Youth Coalitions, Local- Links, safeguarding, VYPER Schools Networks)
• Manage the Local-Links Directory of VCS Activity across the East Riding
• Developing and coordinating partnerships across the VCS, public and independent sector (Local-Links, Youth Coalitions)
• Representation of the VCS and its interests at strategic level, both locally and nationally, we provide strategic representation across a range of partnership boards locally including Community Safety Partnership, Bridlington Community Led Local Development, Bridlington Partnership Board, European Social Investment Funds Board, Rural Partnership Board, Voluntary Sector Network, anti-bullying network and have been board members on the Safeguarding Adults Board and Safeguarding Children’s Board, and are members on several funding panels across the area. Nationally, we work with NAVCA, NCVO, Charities Finance Group and have been involved in consultations around the Civil Society Strategy, Charity Commission consultations and Safeguarding.

ERVAS has strong partnerships across the East Riding which includes secondary schools, colleges, Youth and Family Support Services, Youth Offending Services, Looked after Children’s Services, leaving care services, Humberside Police, Humberside Fire and Rescue, East Riding of Yorkshire Council and various voluntary and community groups.
In addition, ERVAS currently have a project supporting a number of Youth Coalitions across the East Riding, which are multi-agency forums that meet regularly to share information, co-ordinate youth work, identify gaps in local youth services and meet the needs of young people within an area.

If you would like to make use of the many services we offer, please feel free to contact us via our website or by emailing office@ervas.org.uk, we will be more than happy to provide you with information about how you can gain further support from us or provide a quote for work to be carried out.