Published Wednesday 2 October 2019 at 14:00
This insight outlines a range of funding opportunities open to the public sector, businesses, community groups etc. Regular funding opportunities are also available via the websites below:
National Lottery Grant for Heritage
Community groups can now access potential grant funding opportunities through the free Blackburn with Darwen Open4Community online search tool.
For all Blackburn with Darwen Council funding bids
Please check whether match funding is required, if it is please contact and inform your Finance colleague.
Funding opportunities greater than £100,000
£40 Million Available to Develop Ideas that could help Older People Enjoy Active Lives (UK)
Businesses and public sector organisations of any size can now apply for a share of £40 million to develop ideas that could help people to enjoy healthier and more active lives in older age. The number of people in the UK aged over 75 will rise from 1 in 12 today to 1 in 7 by 2040; this rising life expectancy poses significant challenges for health services. Innovate UK, part of UK
Innovate UK has up to £2 million to invest in stage 1 of the Healthy Ageing Trailblazers competition which aims to establish large, multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects that demonstrate new business models and products working at scale to provide new and sustainable services for older people. Up to £38 million could be available during stage 2 to support the development of the best ideas in a series of large projects.
Projects will be funded across the following 7 themes:
- sustaining physical activity;
- maintaining health at work;
- designing for age-friendly homes;
- managing common complaints of ageing;
- living well with cognitive impairment;
- supporting social connections;
- creating healthy and active places.
Stage 1 projects could range in size up to £100,000 and stage 2 projects up to £6 million. An online briefing event will be held on the 4th October 2019 and the closing date for applications is the 27th November 2019.
National Lottery Community Fund Announces New £7.5 Million Fund (UK)
The National Lottery Community Fund has announced that it will be making a special £7.5 million pot of funding available to mark The National Lottery’s 25th birthday.
The fund, CelebrateNationalLottery25, will help communities celebrate the extraordinary impact the National Lottery has had since its launch in November 1994. Thanks to National Lottery players, £40 billion has been raised for good causes so far, funding over half a million (565,000) projects across the UK.
The #CelebrateNationalLottery25 funding will support activity designed to bring people and communities together all over the UK. Up to £2 million will be made available this year in small grants of up to £1,000. The remainder will be released to the sector through the Fund’s National Lottery Awards for All programme.
CelebrateNationalLottery25 will be open to applications in November, with further details to come on how to apply.
Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust – Power and Accountability (UK)
Funding is available from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) to support projects that challenge how power is concentrated, shared and used and how it is changing through globalisation, new technology, new channels of communication, extreme inequality and other factors. Specifically, the Trust wants to support people to create a world in which power is more equally shared, and in which powerful institutions are responsive and accountable to wider society and aligned with the long-term public interest.
Applications should address the following:
- Strengthening corporate accountability
- Strengthening democratic accountability
- Encouraging responsible media.
In addition to the specific focus areas above, JRCT is open to occasionally supporting other work that furthers the vision of this programme, is highly innovative, with the potential to bring about systemic change and is exceptionally difficult to fund from other sources.
Projects can be UK-based or can be pan-European. Applications aimed at increasing the accountability of the UK government and other UK bodies for the impact of the policies and practices that they pursue within global institutions are also considered.
A broad range of organisations and individuals are eligible to apply – check eligibility.
Recent grants awarded have ranged from £1,000 to £100,000+ including:
- £34,500 to the Bevan Foundation
- £11,000 to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies
- £1,000 to three 4 all theatre
The next closing date for applications to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust – Power and Accountability Fund is 2nd December 2019.
Homes in Community Hands: Funding Programme Opens for Applications (England)
Power to Change is awarding grants of between £15,000 and £100,000 (the average will be around £50,000) through the “Homes in Community Hands Fund” to community led housing projects that will create schemes that deliver affordable homes for rent or sale to locally connected people. These can be either as new build housing or by refurbishing empty properties.
Small amounts of capital funding averaging around £25,000 are also available to applicants to sit alongside the main revenue grant.
The funding is focused on community groups in the early stages of their community-led housing development and is intended to support feasibility and pre-development work, leading up to submitting a planning application.
Grants awarded through the programme can be used for the following:
- Feasibility work to assess the viability of a site or buildings for development
- Pre-development costs to develop plans, leading to submitting a planning application (if required)
- Post-planning costs for work to get your project ready to start on site
Funds will be mostly focused in Leeds City Region, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley City Region, West of England and West Midlands but will also be available to genuinely innovative community led housing projects anywhere in England.
Applications can be submitted at any time. All funding must be committed by December 2021.
Funding opportunities under £25,000
Grants to Support Canoeing and Inland Waterway Conservation (UK)
The main purpose of the Canoe Foundation is to “support all to enjoy and benefit from the experience of paddling on our water in a sustainable manner”. The Foundation does this through grant making that facilitates improvements to suitable landing and launching points and by promoting the conservation of inland waterways for the benefit of all sectors of the community.
The Foundation awards grants to projects that:
- Increase and protect public access points, steps or platforms
- Improve the suitability of launching and landing sites, to and alongside water, for all sectors of the community
The Foundation invites applications for grants ranging from £2,000 to £10,000; although grants typically range between £2,500 and £5,000. The Canoe Foundation has announced that the next closing date for applications is the 28th February 2020.
Funding of up to £20,000 Available to Develop Citizen Science (UK)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will be launching a new £400,000 fund to encourage researchers and innovators to experiment with citizen science. Citizen science is an important way in which diverse groups of people can participate and collaborate in research and innovation.
Potential successful projects (but not limited to) might include:
- Exploring options for crowdsourced data collection
- Small pilots to test whether working with volunteers to analyse existing datasets can add value to the project
- Open/inclusive innovation –exploring options for companies and researchers to involve those who will benefit from the research in the development and testing of products
- Collaboration with communities to test approaches to co-designing research questions
- Digital innovation pilots in citizen science, with a focus on testing or extending the functionality of existing tools
- Exploring innovative approaches that focus on removing the barriers to public participation in research such as overcoming the challenges of volunteer management
Up to 20 successful applicants will receive up to £20,000 of funding to explore opportunities for building citizen science methodologies into their research. Lead partners must be active UKRI grant holders.
The fund will open for application on the 1st October 2019 and close for applications on the 12th November 2019.
Support for Environmental Outreach Education for Disadvantaged Young People (UK)
Schools, colleges and youth groups can receive up to 75% towards the costs of providing environmental outreach education for groups of disadvantaged young people through the Field Studies Council’s Kids Fund. The Field Studies Council is an independent educational charity committed to raising awareness about the natural world and works through a network of residential and day Centres in the UK to provide outreach education and training.
There are two types of Kids Fund course Wildlife and Environment focusing on wildlife habitats and the environment with team building activities and Eco Adventure which combines environmental and personally challenging activities.
Groups who meet one of the following criteria will be eligible:
- Disadvantaged young people aged 4-18 years (or up to 25 years for those with special needs)
- Voluntary youth groups (either run by voluntary leaders, managed by a voluntary organisation, a registered charity)
- OR
- School groups may apply if they are aiming to provide benefits which are additional to the statutory school curriculum or clearly show added value, depth and breadth to the taught curriculum. FSC Kids Fund will not pay for young people to attend standard curriculum-focused FSC courses.
All applicants must be based in the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Isles and Republic of Ireland.
One free staff/adult place is provided for every 12 young people; additional adults pay 20% +VAT. This includes all equipment, tuition and waterproof hire costs. Food and accommodation are included for residential courses.
The next closing date for applications is the 1st November 2019.
Lord’s Taverners Accessible Minibuses Grant Programme (UK)
The Lord’s Taverners, the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity, is accepting applications through its Accessible Minibuses grants programme. SEN Schools in the UK can apply to the Lords Taverners for specially-adapted, wheelchair-accessible minibuses.
Last year the Lords Taverners delivered 40 specially-adapted, wheelchair-accessible minibuses. Examples of schools that received a specially-adapted minibus are:
- Lakeside School in Hertfordshire;
- The Garth School and the Priory School in Spalding (Lincolnshire); and
- Perseid School in Morden, Surrey.
These vehicles give young people with disabilities access to new places and experiences. Lord’s Taverners minibuses are based on the current Ford Transit model, with a diesel engine. Please note that the Lord’s Taverners are unable to support schools that cater for socially disadvantaged children, or mainstream schools for children with behavioural problems.
Applications to the programme can be submitted at any time and are reviewed at the end of each quarter.
Find out more
Grants of up to £1,000 Available for Projects that Improve the Wellbeing of Children (UK)
Grants of up to £1,000 are available to registered charities and non-profit organisations who work to improve the education and physical and emotional wellbeing of children.
Applicants applying for funding may focus on one or more of these areas:
- Living in Poverty
- Physical & Mental Health Problems
- Health & Wellbeing
- Living with Disability
Examples of grants awarded in the past include:
- £500 Clydesdale Hockey Club – for coaching and equipment costs for primary school hockey competitions in Greater Glasgow
- £1,000 Shadwell Community Project – to develop its outdoor play space which is used by children and young people from deprived areas in the local community
The next closing date for applications is 5pm on the 18th November 2019.
Schools Invited to Apply for £1,000 for their Breakfast Clubs (UK)
Schools in the UK can apply for grants of up to £1,000 to support their Breakfast clubs. The grants are being made available through the annual Kellogg’s Best Breakfast Club Awards. There will be 12 winning schools overall; one from each region of the UK.
The 2019 categories include Best Breakfast Club in the North West
All winning schools will be awarded £1,000 towards the running of their Breakfast Club.
Download an entry form and email your entry to BreakfastClubUK@kellogg.com
The closing date for applications is the 4th October 2019.
Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation (UK)
The Wingate Foundation has announced that the next deadline to apply is Friday the 12th April 2019.
The Foundation supports projects, institutions and activities in the following areas:
- Jewish Life and Learning – applications are invited from academic institutions specialising in Jewish subjects and from bodies promoting Jewish culture, including museums, libraries and literary publications.
- Performing Arts (excluding music) – financial support for charities with a record of artistic excellence that require additional funding, not available from public sources or commercial sponsorship, to broaden their repertoire or develop work of potentially outstanding interest which cannot be funded from the usual sources.
- Music – support in those areas of music performance and education which do not readily attract backing from commercial sponsors or other funding bodies, or which are not eligible for public funding.
- Medical Research Travel grants – grants of up to £1,000 are available for visits to laboratories for the acquisition of new skills, and for setting up inter-institutional collaborative research
Applications are invited from smaller charitable organisations only; the Trustees will not consider approaches from large charities who are well represented on the High Street or their local branch offices.
Previous projects supported include:
- £5,000 per year for 3 years to Little Angel Theatre as support for Little Angel Studios, a new building dedicated to education, community and outreach work.
- £3,250 to The Voices Foundation for 1-Year Foundation Programme in a cluster of five schools in Essex to ensure that every child irrespective of ability, means or background has access to high quality music education through singing and the use of equipment
- £6,000 a year for three years to Anne Frank Trust UK to fund educational work in three schools.
The deadline for submitting an application to the APRIL 2019 meeting is the 4th December 2019.
Find out more
Grant Programme for Arts Award Centres (UK)
The Arts Award Access Fund is offering grants of between £100-£1500 to Arts Award centres working on Arts Award projects with young people for whom access and inclusion is an issue. Applications are welcomed from all registered Arts Award centres based in the UK, but priority will be given to centres that are working with young people for whom access and inclusion is an issue.
This can include young people that:
- are disabled
- have special educational needs, learning difficulties, or other specific individual requirements
- live in areas of rural isolation and/or socio-economic deprivation
- are in the youth justice system
- are looked after by foster carers or in residential children’s homes
- are young carers or young parents
- are in a specific minority group (e.g. LGBTQ+, BME and/or PoC, homeless, traveler, asylum seeker, refugee, particular faith group)
- are not in full-time education, employment or training/excluded from school/are in alternative education
- are hospital outpatients/inpatients or suffering long term health problems (including mental health problems)
- other access/inclusion issue (you will be required to tell us more in your application)
Grants can be used for a range of activities including: Discover, Explore or Bronze logs: Bronze, Silver or Gold guidance booklets: Fees for workshops with a professional or specialist: General art materials, printing costs, etc: Tickets for events and travel to and from a venue: Contributions towards the costs ofGold leadership projects: Hire of specialist equipment or specialist venue: Adviser/project management/staff time: Discover certificates: Moderation costs for Explore, Bronze, Silver and Gold: Specific access requirements e.g. BSL/other translators; assistive technology specifically related to the Arts Award project (where renting is not cost-effective).
The programme is open for applications until 5pm on the 18th October 2019.
Funding for Front of House Theatre Lighting (UK)
Not-for-profit theatres, both amateur and professional, with less than a 500-seat capacity can now apply for the opportunity for a full upgrade to their Front-of-House lights.
The funding is provided by a partnership between the Theatres Trust and GDS, who manufacture LED lighting equipment and controls, and will allow one theatre to benefit from a full upgrade to its front-of-house lights. The GDS Front of House fund will deliver a complete solution package for one theatre including:
- Site visit and survey
- Lighting design
- 3D design rendering
- LED Product manufacture
- LED Product customisation
- Prodigy Series lighting control system
- Installation
- Commissioning and complete project management throughout.
The deadline for applications is the 29th November 2019.
Music Grants for Older People (England & Wales)
The registered charity, Concertina which makes grants of up to £250 to charitable bodies which provide musical entertainment and related activities for the elderly.
The charity is particular keen to support smaller organisations which might otherwise find it difficult to gain funding. Concertina has made grants to a wide range of charitable organisations nationwide in England and Wales. These include funds to many care homes for the elderly to provide musical entertainment for their residents. Some of the charities that have received grants from Concertina include:
- Theatre Chipping Norton to help fund high calibre music recitals in six Care Homes in the area.
- Sue Ryder Care, Lancashire to fund access to music therapy workshops at Birchley Hall near Wigan and St Helen’s.
The next deadline for applications is the 31st October 2019.
Religious Education Grants for Schools Scheme (England and Wales)
The Jerusalem Trust makes available to schools a number of grants to support the purchase of resources for teaching Christianity in Religious Education. The fund is open to all primary and secondary schools in the UK, although priority will be given to non-church state secondary schools.
The scheme is open to state secondary schools in England and Wales, including middle deemed secondary and upper. There are currently a limited number of primary school grants available.
The maximum size of any grant is £600 and applications can be submitted at any time.
Grants can cover teaching resources including textbooks, teacher resources, artifacts, videos, tapes and CD-roms for use in RE lessons.
Recently purchased items include:
- 20 x NIV Bibles
- Lent and Easter artefacts collection
- Commentary on Paul’s Epistles
- Illustrated Easter story books
Applications are currently being considered for the Autumn term.
Grants of up to £10,000 Available to Community Businesses to Improve their Trading (England)
The Power to Change Trust has announced that its Community Business Trade Up Programme has re-opened for applications.
Through the programme (which is run by the School for Social Entrepreneurs), Community Businesses in England can apply for grants to improve their income from trading and to improve their impact and sustainability. It aims to enhance the skills of those who run Community businesses and includes a grant of £10,000 to match the income generated from trading as well as a learning programme of 12 days spread over nine months.
The programme will help the leaders of up to 80 community businesses across England. The learning programme will take place in 8 locations across England: Cornwall, Dartington in Devon, Hampshire – Winchester, Liverpool, London (two cohorts), Midlands, York.
The programme is open for applications until the 27th November 2019.
British Science Week Community Grant Scheme Re-Opened in September (UK)
The British Science Week Community Grant Scheme re-opened for applications in September 2019. The scheme offers £500-£1,000 grants to community groups that run their own science activities during British Science Week (6-15 March 2020) aimed at audiences who are traditionally under-represented and currently not engaged in science activity during.
This can include:
- People who are Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME);
- People with low socioeconomic status, including people disadvantaged in terms of education and income;
- Young people facing adversity, including those not in education, employment or training;
- People with a disability, defined as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term effect on someone’s ability to do normal daily activities;
- People living in a remote and rural location, defined as settlements of less than 10,000 people;
- Girls and women.
Note: community grants cannot be used for events or activities with school groups unless they are a special needs school. For school activities, the schools themselves, if they meet the eligibility criteria, should apply for the Kick Start Grants.
For any questions, please contact the British Science Association: bsw@britishscienceassociation.org
The deadline for applications is the 5 pm on the 11th November 2019.
Funding to Support Disadvantaged Young People and Offenders (UK)
Small registered charities can apply for grants of up to £15,000 for projects working with:
- Young offenders;
- Prisoners and ex-prisoners;
- Young disadvantaged people at risk of criminal involvement.
To be eligible for funding, local organisations such as those working in a village, estate or small town should normally have an income of less than £100,000. Those working across the UK or in larger areas should normally have an income of not more than £250,000. Grants are usually given for one year.
Applicants must show that they have investigated other sources of funding and made plans for the future, which should include replacement funding if appropriate.
For further advice and information about the Company’s Charitable Grants or to receive an application form by e-mail, please contact Anne Howe, Charities Officer Tel: 020 7606 1155 / e-mail: charity@weavers.org.uk .
To apply for a grant, complete the application form online, then print the form and mail it to The Weavers’ Company together with your supporting documents.
The Weavers’ Company, a textile-related, charitable and sociable organisation, has announced that the next closing date for its grants programme is the 30th November 2019.
Applying for the 5G Rural Connected Communities Project (UK)
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has launched a new £30 million competition to test 5G applications in rural areas, along with plans to improve and extend mobile coverage. The Rural Connected Communities (RCC) competition will fund up to 10 5G research and development projects to run over the course of two years.
These projects will trial innovative use cases and technical solutions to build the business case for investment in rural connectivity and explore the capabilities of 5G to benefit rural communities. They will also help demonstrate demand from a variety of economic sectors and rural communities for 5G technologies.
Connectivity applications are expected to show a combination of societal and economic benefits that will together create a stronger case for investing in the deployment of 5G infrastructure for rural areas.
This competition is open to applications from consortia from across the UK. Consortia are likely to consist of a mixture of organisations including the public, private and third sectors, and academia.
Applicants that have any questions or would like more clarification can check out the Q&A.
The competition closes midday on the 25th October 2019.
Funding for Christian Charities Promoting Social Inclusion (UK)
The Anchor Foundation provides grants of between £500 and £10,000 per year to Christian Charities that encourage social inclusion through ministries of healing and the arts. Funding can be awarded for up to three years.
The Foundation will consider applications for either capital or revenue funding. Only in exceptional circumstances will grants be given for building work.
Previously funded projects include:
- The Karis Neighbour Scheme which received a grant of £700 for revenue costs at a drop-in centre for women refugees in Birmingham.
- Discovery Camps which received a grant of £1,500 to subsidise holidays for children arranged by churches in and around Dundee.
- Scargill House which received a grant of £5,000 to facilitate cross cultural engagement and understanding amongst children using arts based residential courses in Yorkshire.
The next deadline for applications is the 31st January 2020.
Find out more
Grants to Enrich the Quality of Life of Sick Children in Hospitals (UK)
Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Charity provides grants of between £100 and £10,000 to registered charitable hospitals and hospices across the UK to enhance and enrich the quality of life of sick children in hospitals. Since 2003, Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Charity has given over £2 million in grants to 312 projects in 100 different hospitals and hospices, providing life-saving medical equipment, free family accommodation, a range of arts, music and play therapy programmes, sensory equipment and facilities and respite care. Organisations working within hospitals and hospices are eligible to apply where they have a supporting reference from the hospital/hospice itself.
Preference is given to projects conceived by and developed in hospitals and hospices that provide geographically regional health care services to a wide range of children; that are not discriminatory; and that will promote the work of the Charity in their area.
Previous projects supported include:
- Funding to the Demelza Hospice Care for Children in Kent to provide pre and post bereavement music therapy.
- A grant to Lister Hospital to fund a Rhino Sensory Voyager, a piece of machinery that projects coloured images into ceilings and walls, plays sensory music and has fibre optic lights, water bubbles and hand held sensory toys, helping to distract and entertain children treated at the hospital.
The next deadline for applications to the Charity is Friday 18th October 2019.
University Liaison Grants Scheme (UK)
The Institute of Mathematics offers University Liaison Grants to university student mathematical societies as funding for activities to enhance their programmes for their members and to promote mathematics.
Grants of up to £360 can be used to support:
- Mathematical activities (such as putting on talks of mathematical interest, printing a mathematical newsletter or travelling as a group to IMA Early Career Mathematicians’ conferences or places of mathematical interest)
- Supporting students participate in and attend the Tomorrow’s Mathematicians Today Conference
- Careers activities
- Promotional activities (printing t-shirts, hoodies, pens, etc. including the IMA logo)
- Networking activities, quizzes etc.
Previous grants have been made to:
- IMA King’s College, London to reduce the barrier that students felt existed between them and the teaching staff through a number of social events and to educate students with some useful skills not taught in the main course.
- The Students’ Actuarial Society (SAS) at Heriot-Watt organised a number of events that included talks given by industry leaders like Scottish Widows and EY on the impact of Brexit and implementation of Solvency II.
- University student mathematical societies are eligible to apply at any time.
Funding for the Installation of Affordable Heating Systems in Disadvantaged Households (England, Scotland and Wales)
From the 5th August 2019, Local Authorities (LAs) and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) in England, Scotland and Wales will be able to apply through the £150 million Warm Homes Fund for the installation of affordable heating solutions in fuel poor households. Funding is available for the installation of affordable heating solutions in fuel poor households who do not use mains gas as their primary heating fuel and maybe reliant on expensive heating sources such as individual bottled LPG and electric storage heaters; etc as the main form of heating.
The Warm Homes Fund (WHF) provides capital funding and has been established by National Grid to help supplement traditional funding streams.
The Fund is split into three categories:
- Category 1 – Urban homes and communities – to supply new gas heating systems which provide space heating and domestic hot water. It could also include heat network solutions.
- Category 2 – Rural homes and communities – a focus on ‘non-gas’ solutions which may include air source heat pumps, oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
- Category 3 – Specific energy efficient/health related solutions – this may involve national or regional programmes which bring together relevant organisations and charities to promote energy efficiency and/or health related programmes in relation to fuel poverty.
Funding for Artists to Develop their Artistic Practice (England)
The next funding round of the Arts Council England’s Developing your Creative Practice programme is due to re-open for applications on the 10th October 2019.
Arts Council England is looking for exciting, ambitious proposals that allow applicants to take that important next step in the way they make their work. Applicants are encouraged to consider their long-term needs and proposals can cover creative research and development or building skills through international exchange. Examples might include:
- Creative media and the wider creative industries e.g. film or audio, design or gaming
- Technology, including digital technology e.g. virtual reality or live-streaming
- Other non-arts organisations or settings e.g. residential-care providers, or a science organisation
- Other non-arts cultural forms or sectors e.g. health and wellbeing, social inclusion, heritage or sport
This fund is only open to individuals over the age of 18 years who:
- Are living and working in England
- Have three years’ creative practice experience outside a formal education context
- Are working in Arts Council England’s supported disciplines i.e. they will be dancers, choreographers, writers, translators, producers, publishers, editors, musicians, conductors, composers, actors, directors, designers, artists, craft makers, and curators.
Awards of £2, 000 – £10,000 (from a total pot of £3.6 million per year) are made through quarterly rounds. Funded project activities can last up to one year.
For further information or to check eligibility contact Arts Council England by emailenquiries@artscouncil.org.uk or phone 0845 300 6200).
The closing date for applications will be 12 pm on the 14th November 2019.