Do We Deserve a Community Award? Please Cast Your Vote!

"Communities are important to all of us. At the heart of each and every one you'll find great people doing great things to make them better places."

We couldn't have put it better ourselves, but this is a quote from NatWest CommunityForce, a new initiative which works with local communities to support local people, projects and charities trying to make a real difference where you live.

Wincanton Window has applied for a grant from NatWest CommunityForce but our success depends entirely on votes from the public. On behalf on everyone here at the Window, I'm appealing to you to take just a few minutes to click on this link to vote for us.

What will we do with the grant if we're successful?

Our most pressing need is to make as many people as possible aware of Wincanton Window, so a budget for marketing would enable us to reach a wider population.

We'd also like to be able to fund social and community events, competitions and workshops (such as the writer's workshop we recently announced) to encourage and help more writers to find their voice.

In common with most charities, Wincanton Window is not able to run entirely on the much appreciated contributions of its volunteers. We also have a professional Web Site Manager and Editor. Except for two very tiny payments to our Web Site Manager in the first year, these roles have been unpaid since Wincanton Window started. If we were successful in obtaining a grant, it would help to remunerate these roles and guarantee the continued professional development and editorial standards of the site.

In due course we expect to be able to generate advertisement revenue from the web site so that we become self-supporting.

We think we're special - do you?

I don't want to blow our own trumpet...but I'm going to anyway. Wincanton Window gives you:

• News, information and photographs from every sector of our community
• A Diary for you to advertise local events
• Somewhere for you to air your opinions and debate the things that matter to you
• A permanent online archive that will form part of Wincanton's recorded history

Will you blow our trumpet, too? Please click on this link to vote for us; please ask all your friends to vote for us too, and if you use Facebook or Twitter, please share this article with everyone you know and help us to spread the word.

Your votes can be cast any time from Monday 26th September for the next six weeks.

Thank you so, so much for your support!

Comments

Victor Meldrew
Posts: 1

Re: Do We Deserve a Community Award? Please Cast Your Vote!
Reply #1 on : Thu October 06, 2011, 15:03:06

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I would love to enter a vote for the Window, but I see no reason why I should have to register with anyone just to vote, least of all a bank. Any organiseation worth while uses an anonymus voting system.It is obvious that NatWest wants your details to sell on. So it is sory to the WW no vote from me.

davidsmith
Posts: 1

Registering to vote
Reply #2 on : Thu October 06, 2011, 15:10:50

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In fairness to NatWest, anonymouse voting is actually all the more easy to fake, and therefore exploit.

The only legitimate detail they're asking for is a real email address, for which you COULD use a secondary hotmail/gmail account for, and even that's only so they can confirm you're real (anti-bot) by asking you to click a confirmation link in an email they'll send you.

I very much doubt this action will result in spam mail, though it's not an invalid concern. I suspect NatWest have no legitimate use for a bland list of email addresses. Perhaps they have a privacy policy in which they say they won't be passing them on at all.

mandycochrane
Posts: 1

Registering To Vote for CommunityForce Awards
Reply #3 on : Thu October 06, 2011, 16:05:17

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I hope this will reassure anyone thinking of voting for any project on the NatWest CommunityForce Awards. When registering, you are given the option to opt IN to receive further updates about NatWest CommunityForce Awards. So you won't be contacted unless you ask to be.

As regards use of voters data, this is a quote from CommunityForce's Terms and Conditions:

"Data provided while voting will only be used for the purposes of validating votes and keeping voters up to date on NatWest CommunityForce, where requested. We may share your personal information with members of the Group and with Forth Communication Limited for the purposes of administering NatWest CommunityForce."

Last Edit: October 06, 2011, 16:06:02 by mandycochrane  

johnsmith
Posts: 1

Voting
Reply #4 on : Sat October 08, 2011, 16:02:03

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I hear what you say Victor, and I understand where you are coming from. However if you live life with a half empty glass you will miss out on a lot. Try looking through a half full glass and see things more positively.

The Window needs you to be onside and to encourage all. I hate banks as much as you, but they are offering good grants and we need to get in there and take advantage as much as possible.

Come on everyone. Spread the word and get The Window get the recognition that it deserves.

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