Published Monday 7 September 2020 at 17:57
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
National Emergencies Trust Announces First New Charity Partners to Enhance Support for At Risk Groups
The National Emergencies Trust (NET) has announced plans to distribute £12 million from its Coronavirus Appeal to a range of charity partnerships offering support to some of the UK’s most at risk groups.
Just over £2 million of funding will be distributed in a first wave to Disability Action NI and LGBT+ Consortium to support these disproportionately impacted groups which the NET believes may not have received adequate support through the pandemic.
Funding will support helpline services and organisations providing specialist advice and hands-on support to at risk individuals.
Decisions on how these onward grants will be awarded will be made by people with lived experience of the issues faced.
Further funds to be distributed to additional partners and consortia will be announced in the coming weeks.
£200 Million Fund to Transform Water and Wastewater Services
Ofwat has established a £200 million Innovation Fund to encourage innovations that will transform water and wastewater services in England and Wales.
The fund can be accessed directly by the seventeen larger water and wastewater companies, and small water ‘new entrant’ sewerage companies through two types of competition during 2020-25:
- a £2 million ‘Innovation in Water Challenge’ for small projects up to £250,000. The first rounds will open for entries in January 2021;
- and a £40 million main competition for larger, strategic projects involving cross-water company collaboration.
The first round will open for entries from April 2021.
Ofwat is now identifying an innovation fund partner to help it run the competitions and will release further details in the autumn.
Funding to Improve the Health Outcomes for Mothers and Babies from Deprived Areas or BAME Backgrounds
Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations in England can apply for funding of between £200,000 and £510,000 for projects which improve health outcomes for mothers and babies from preconception to two and a half years of age in deprived areas or from BAME backgrounds.
This new round of the £3.3 million VCSE Health and Wellbeing Fund has been launched with the theme of ‘Starting Well’ to support community projects which prevent obesity, reduce smoking, and improve perinatal mental health and learning and development amongst mothers and babies.
Projects must:
- have run for at least 3 years
- develop or expand services for children from preconception to 2-and-a-half years old, so they receive the best possible start in life
- be focused on improving health outcomes in black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities or areas of high deprivation (including urban, rural and coastal areas).
The fund is open to applications from charity-run projects aimed at:
- improving perinatal mental health
- reducing the percentage of babies born with low birthweight
- increasing babies being breastfed
- obesity prevention and support
- reducing smoking or encouraging smoke-free homes
- improving learning, speech and language development
- improving immunisation rates and reducing rates of preventable disease
Applicants are strongly encouraged to join one of the “Meet the Funders” webinars on either the 8th or 10th September 2020.
The deadline for applications is 12pm on the 30th October 2020.
Arts Impact Fund
Arts Council England has announced that loans of between £150,000 and £600,000 are available to entrepreneurial arts and cultural organisations. The aim of the loans is to increase the resilience of art and culture in England.
The loans can be used, among other things, to:
- Acquire new assets
- Improve built infrastructure
- Develop new ventures
- Scale up existing revenue streams.
The Arts Impact Fund is created and funded by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Nesta. It’s supported by the Arts Council with additional funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Unsecured loans are available with a repayment term of between three and five years with interest rates ranging between 3.5% and 8.5%.
Applications are accepted at any time.
Previous loans awarded include:
- South East Dance – £350,000: The Brighton based dance agency will use the loan to bridge fundraising and allow work to start on its new hub The Dance Space. The new building will provide a rental income from its studio and office space, reducing the need for public funding and supporting its work with local artists and community development programme.
- Autograph Media – £150,000: to set up a new commercial image licensing business specialising in race and cultural diversity. Autograph Media is the trading subsidiary of the visual arts charity, Autograph ABP, based in Shoreditch.
- Live Theatre – £600,000: to launch a new commercial hospitality venture, making use of its capital assets to subsidise the work of the theatre in Newcastle.
Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000
The British Film Institute Audience Fund
The British Film Institute Audience Fund awards money from the National Lottery to support audience-focused film activities across the UK. The Fund awards two types of awards:
- Project awards support culturally ambitious, national proposals that increase audience diversity
- Organisational awards support experienced organisations offer activities to find new audiences to engage with film
- Organisational awards are now closed to applications and no new call is planned.
The Project awards scheme, is currently open to legally constituted organisations with UK-based experience of film distribution, exhibition and audience development activities. This can include:
- film distributors
- cinemas, including chains or consortia
- film festivals
- film and video archives and collections
- arts organisations with experience of film curation
Project awards support clearly defined, time-limited national proposals which aim to increase audience choice and engagement, with a focus on 16 to 30-year olds. It is expected that most projects will be in the region of £20,000 to £50,000 with a limit of £200,000.
Funding can be used to cover all costs directly relating to the specific proposal. Applications can be submitted at any time.
For any questions relating to the fund or application, please contact audiencefund@bfi.org.uk
Lloyds Bank Foundation Launches New Infrastructure Fund for Charities
As part of their response to Covid-19, the Lloyds Bank Foundation has launched a new Infrastructure Fund. A total of £480,000 is available to support local and regional infrastructure organisations that provide organisational development support to and advocate for small and local charities.
The Foundation anticipate making 16 one-off grants of £30,000. Grants will be available for core costs and can be used over 1-2 years. 25% of the grants for this programme will be ring-fenced for infrastructure organisations that are specifically supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic-led charities and that are led by members of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.
The funding will also be focused on areas in England and Wales particularly hard hit by Covid-19. (Please click on link below for details).
The closing date for application submission is 5 pm on the 9th October 2020. The application form is available on the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales.
Funding opportunities under £25,000
Broadband for Rural Communities
Business and residents in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the UK are eligible for additional funding towards the cost of installing new gigabit-capable broadband to their premises when part of a group project. Two or more businesses applying together can use vouchers worth up to £3,500 for each small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), and up to £1,500 per residential premise to support the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. Vouchers are offered as part of the Government’s Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme and only apply to new broadband connections. The scheme will end on 31st March 2021.
The Gigabit Voucher Scheme is seen as a great opportunity for businesses to get access to full fibre connections, which can provide a huge leap forward in connection speeds.
Rural premises with broadband speeds of less than 30Mbps can use vouchers to support the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. Applicants will need to check the Voucher Scheme Terms & Conditions to ensure they are eligible to apply.
This offer applies to Group projects i.e. where two or more residents and/or SMEs get together to combine their vouchers towards the shared cost of installation. Single connections are not eligible for additional funding.
Eligibility for a rural gigabit voucher can be checked by looking up your postcode in the postcode search. The search lists suppliers active in your area and your chosen supplier will be able to advise and support your eligibility and guide you through the process.
The scheme will end on 31st March 2021.
Independent Age Grants Fund
Independent Age, which promotes independent living amongst older people has launched a £2 million Independent Age Grants Fund to help smaller charities across the UK working with older people hardest hit by the Coronavirus.
Initially, Independent Age will begin by supporting work with two groups of older people, who can too easily miss out:
Older people living in particularly complex and challenging situations. This can include older people that may have no network of family, friends or community to call on; have a disability or long-term health condition; be caring for a dependent adult with learning disabilities or dementia or be facing other circumstances that make it harder to manage at this challenging time.
Older people in danger of being out of sight and out of mind. Independent Age are looking to help organisations connecting with older people who are very isolated and most at risk of missing out on the help available from government or charities that serve a very wide client group. They may be part of an isolated, neglected or very poor community, be facing stigma or discrimination or have needs which make it hard for them to access services, perhaps because they are homeless, live with HIV or are hidden from view in an abusive relationship.
To be eligible to apply the applicant organisation must be registered as a charity with The Charity Commission for England and Wales, The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, or The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). The applicant organisations must have at least one paid member of staff (part-time is fine) and an annual income of £1 million or less (averaged across the last three financial years).
The applicant organisation must be already working with older people in one or both of the two priority areas above. Organisations that do not specialise in work with older people are welcome to apply – but you must already be providing services for older people as part of their work.
The funding will be made available over four separate funding rounds. In each round Independent Age will make £500,000 available.
Charities are able to apply for grants of between £5,000 and £15,000.
The closing date for the final round of applications is 9am on the 11th September 2020.
Funding to Support Disabled Children and Children with Life Limiting Conditions during the Coronavirus Pandemic
In response to the coronavirus, the True Colours Trust have adapted their small grants scheme for the next funding round.
Through the Small Grants UK- Covid-19 Support programme, funding of up to £5,000 will be available to help smaller charities to adapt their services to enable them to continue or resume supporting disabled children, children with life limiting conditions and their families safely during the pandemic.
This might include normal running costs of programmes which are resuming, or adaptations to existing services to allow them to take place safely.
Proposals for the following areas of work will be considered:
- Activities for disabled children, children with life limiting conditions and their families
- Adaptations to services including PPE, digital service provision and physical changes to spaces to be Covid-19 compliant.
- Siblings’ projects
- Bereavement Support
- Respite which supports the whole family
- Support for children/families who are shielding or unable to return to school
- Specialised play equipment / access to play and leisure
Trustees will prioritise applications from organisations:
- which support a high proportion of children and families from BAME communities
- which operate in areas of high deprivation or areas which are experiencing a second lockdown
- whose annual income in 2019/20 was under £350,000
The deadline for applications is 5.00pm on the 21st September 2020.
School Grants to Promote Physics
The Institute of Physics has announced that UK schools, colleges or home school groups can apply for grants of up to £600 for small-scale projects or events linked to the teaching or promotion of physics and engineering to pupils aged 5 – 19. Grants can support a wide range of projects such as school-based science weeks, extracurricular activities, science clubs, careers event or a visit from a working physicist or engineer.
Grants may be used for the following purposes: materials/resources; transport; marketing and publicity; other purposes deemed appropriate by the judges; and supply cover (in certain circumstances).
The Institute of Physics is interested in proposals that look at:
- particle physics
- astronomy
- space and nuclear physics
- energy
- transport
- information and communications
- design and promotion
- built environment.
Previous projects to receive funding include:
- Ampleforth College for a visit to Jodrell Bank Radio Observatory.
- St John’s High School for a Practical Rocketry workshop to design a water-propelled rocket.
The closing date for applications is the 1st November 2020 (for projects taking place in the following spring term).
Tesco Bags of Help COVID-19 Communities Fund Closing Date Announced
Tesco’s Bags of Help Covid-19 Communities Fund will be closing to applications on the 18th September 2020.
The short-term fund is open to registered charities, voluntary and community organisations, schools, health bodies, Parish, Town and community councils, social enterprises, local authorities and social housing organisations across the UK.
Grants of £500 are available to organisations that have experienced:
- Increased demand – a holiday hunger club needs more resources to support children through the summer months or a food bank whose stocks are running low and needs an immediate donation to enable the food bank to restock.
- Disrupted services – a local charity setting up a delivery service to replace its monthly lunch club, or a charity needing to set up a telephone service to support beneficiaries.
- New services – a health focused charity having to set up a new online patient service requires new IT equipment or a mental health charity developing a new service.
The Fund is set up to support organisation need rather than fund specific projects.
Music for All Extends Application Deadline to 1st November 2020
Grants are available to UK based community groups and schools who would benefit from a “helping hand” to bring music to their community and fulfil their potential in becoming truly sustainable music programmes.
The funding which is being made available by the charity Music for All, can be put towards musical instrument costs, workshops/training, using music to break down barriers, providing a variety of educational opportunities as well as helping to find ways to integrate many diverse and minority groups positively into society. Grants of up to £2,500 are available, but due to increased demand most awards will be for less than this amount.
UK based community music groups and educational organisations are eligible to apply. Applicants are encouraged to look for other sources of funding to add to the amount needed to deliver the project.
Examples of projects funded:
- Belham Primary School: Used a grant from Music for All to purchase instruments and resulted in 137 out of the 180 children learning violin, guitar, ukulele or recorder. This compares to 6 months earlier when only a handful were learning just the recorder.
Funding of up to £500 is also available to individuals who do not have the means to access musical instruments and lessons.
Due to the Coronavirus crisis, the deadline for applications has been extended for this bidding round from the 1st July 2020 to the 1st November 2020.
Free Trees for Community Groups and Schools
The Woodland Trust has thousands of free tree packs to give away to community groups and schools. The trees are available for planting on an area that is accessible to the public so that it can be used and enjoyed by others. If applying as a school, trees should be planted on either the school grounds, land the school has arranged regular access to or in an area that is publicly accessible.
Applications for a tree pack for a community group need to:
- State that the land is accessible to the public
- Make sure the local community is aware of the plans to plant and is happy for the project to go ahead.
- Be an application for up to 420 trees in each application cycle or season.
There are two delivery periods per year in November and March, when the trees are dormant and perfect for planting. Tree packs can consist of:
- Hedging to make a natural screen or connect existing woodland to help wildlife stay on the move
- Copse to create a mini forest school classroom or a peaceful spot that’s an oasis for birds
- Wild harvest an array of fruits and nuts
- Year-round colour for beautiful blossoms, bright berries and stunning autumn displays
- Working wood to fuel a log burner in 7-10 years, or to carve or weave willow
- Wildwood to establish food and shelter for wildlife
- Urban trees for residential areas with limited communal space
Applications are currently being accepted for trees to be delivered in March 2021.
Past recipients include:
- Community Garden and Allotment in Barry.
- South Glamorgan and Bellsquarry Primary School.
- Livingston where pupils have planted dozens of apple trees to create a community orchard in Bellsquarry Wood.
Magic Little Grants 2020
Online fundraising platform Localgiving, together with the Postcode Community Trust have announced that this year’s Magic Little Grants grants programme is open for applications. Small charities and community groups can apply for grants of up to £500 to support and inspire people to participate in sports or exercise.
To be eligible applicant organisations will need to have an annual income of below £250,000 or be in their first year of operation. A total of 900 grants will be available.
Localgiving members will be able to complete the 10-minute application process via their charity account on the Localgiving website.
Organisations who are not members of Localgiving will also benefit from an annual membership funded by Postcode Community Trust, which will provide them with access to Localgiving’s suite of online fundraising tools.
Applications can be submitted at any time until the 31st October 2020.
Previous projects funded include:
Flamingo Chicks, who received a grant to provide sensory kits for disabled children to attend dance classes.
Featherstone Rovers Foundation, who received a grant to deliver a range of activities to encourage more young people to try Rugby League.
Happy Wanderers Ambulance Organisation who received a grant to provide free transport for older people and wheelchair users to access local physical activities.
Maintenance Grants for Churches
Churches can apply for grants of up to £500 (excl. VAT) towards the cost of building’s maintenance services. The grant will cover up to 50% of the cost of works.
Churches are only eligible to apply for a Preventative Maintenance Micro-Grant if they book one of the following services through the Maintenance Booker website:
- Rainwater goods maintenance;
- Lightning protection system repairs;
- Asbestos removal;
- Masonry repairs and high-level maintenance.
The National Churches Trust accepts applications from listed and unlisted churches, chapels and meeting houses of any age, as long as they are open for regular public worship and are located within an area covered by Maintenance Booker services.
The funding is being made available through the National Churches Maintenance Micro-Grant Programme and applications can be submitted at any time. There are no application deadlines.
Funding for Sanctuary Housing Association Residents Affected by Covid-19
Sanctuary Housing’s Community Investment Fund provides grants for community initiatives which make a difference to the lives of Sanctuary residents in England, and is currently prioritising initiatives that are responding directly to the challenges of Covid-19.
Charities, community and voluntary groups, schools, and residents’ groups can apply for funding to help with challenges affecting the lives of Sanctuary residents in communities during the pandemic, including (but not limited to):
- Job losses
- Mental health
- Money management
- Health and wellbeing
- Social isolation
Funding can also directly support community groups who need to change the way they engage with and offer support to Sanctuary residents due to the pandemic; examples include:
- Moving services online and telephone based
- Distributing activity or food packs for vulnerable families not able to access usual sessions and groups
- Setting up a community hub to connect residents to local support services
- Purchasing household cleaning products to allow support services to remain operational and safe for the public to attend
- Support with setting up a household and medication delivery service
Interested groups can discuss their project proposal with Sanctuary by contacting Joe Leighton in our Community Investment team on 01905 335163 or by emailing community@sanctuary-housing.co.uk
Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Grants Programme Due to Re-open for Applications in September 2020
The Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Grants Programme is due to re-open for applications in September 2020. The programme offers grants of up to £1,000 to schools in the UK to set up Breakfast clubs for those children in most need.
To qualify for the programme:
- The breakfast club must be based in a school in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland;
- A limited number of grants are available so priority will be given to schools that have either:
35% and above of children eligible for pupil premium funding and / or eligible for free school meals.
or
Schools that are based in an area which is classified as falling in the 10% of most deprived areas according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Schools can find out if this applies to their school by following the instructions which you can find here.
- Additionally, if your school has received breakfast club funding from Gregg’s or Magic Breakfast within the current academic year, your club will not be considered a priority for support.
- Only one grant per school in each academic year is available.
For any queries please contact Forever Manchester on 0044 161 214 0940 or e-mail kelloggs@forevermanchester.com
Grants to Cover Running Costs for Small Charities
The Marsh Christian Trust was founded in 1981 with the sum of £75,000 by its current Chairman, Mr Brian Marsh OBE. His aim was to create a sustainable way to give something back to society by supporting organisations and people who are making a difference.
The Trust supports around 300 charities every year and focuses on providing funding which could help small organisations pay for various running costs, such as volunteer expenses, training days, equipment maintenance and other core outgoings. The Trust aims to build long-standing relationships with successful applicants and, subject to an annual review, continue its support over time.
Applicants must be a registered charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales or the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. This does not include Community Interest Companies (CICs). Charities will be working in the areas of:
- Arts and heritage
- Social welfare
- Environmental causes and animal welfare
- Education and training
- Healthcare
Charities must have been established for more than one financial year and able to provide a full set of their most recent Annual Report and Accounts, or the equivalent financial information if their annual income is under £25,000.
Grants are unrestricted and range from £300 to £2,000 with new applications at the lower end of this scale.
Applications are considered on the basis of the organisation’s financial position, performance against charitable aims and objectives and the ratio of voluntary income against fundraising expenses.
Applications can be submitted at any time.
Examples of the support given include:
- Core costs for Compaid, a digital skills centre in Kent that supports people with disabilities and sensory impairments
- Glassdoor, an organisation that offers shelter to the homeless in London.
Grants Available for SMEs Looking to Export
Applications are now open for UK businesses to apply for grants of up to £2,500 to attend international trade shows. The financial support is for UK SMEs to participate in overseas exhibitions and conferences that cover a range of sectors, from education to aerospace and creative to maritime. Successful businesses can use the grants to fund direct exhibiting costs, including stand costs and conference fees. 55 events comprise the list, ranging from the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, to Cannes Lions Festival, to Summer Fancy Food in New York, and Mobile World Congress Shanghai.
The funding is being made available through the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP). Applications for the Tradeshow Access Programme must be made 8 weeks before the start of the event.
To be eligible for a grant, businesses must be based in the UK (excluding Isle of Man or the Channel Islands) and be a small or medium-sized enterprise, UK university, UK government funded centre of higher or further learning or UK government funded research organisation.
From 1st October 2017, the maximum number of grants available to individual companies is limited to 6. The grants can be taken in any market.
Contact one of the local DIT International Trade Adviser for further information about the programme.
Comic Relief Community Fund Launched (England)
Comic Relief has launched its Community Fund. Grassroots community organisations with an income of less than £250,000 can apply for funding to help them develop their organisation through a Capacity Building Grant of up to £500 or to deliver projects through a Project Delivery Grant of up to £4,000.
The grants available to organisations whose work delivers on one of Comic Relief’s four strategic themes:
- Children Survive & Thrive: projects that support children under the age of 5 to reach their potential and have the best start in life.
- Fighting for Gender Justice: projects that improve equality for women and girls and initiatives that help people affected by domestic violence, abuse or exploitation due to their gender or sexuality.
- A Safe Place to Be: projects that support people who are rebuilding their lives because of homelessness or forced migration.
- Mental Health Matters: projects that support good mental health in communities, improve access to support and tackle stigma and discrimination.
This new funding programme aims deliver long lasting community driven change.
Both funding programmes accept applications on a rolling basis and there are no application deadlines.
Administration of the local funding is being managed by community charity, Groundwork
Funding Available to Support Schools Facing Unexpected or Imminent Failure
Teaching schools, national support schools and multi-academy trusts can apply for funding through the Emergency School Improvement fund to support schools facing unexpected or imminent failure.
This can include primary schools; secondary schools; middle schools; all-through schools; alternative provision and special academies; maintained schools; and pupil referral units.
Applications can be made for short-term support while a longer-term sustainable solution is developed, for example through the support of a new academy sponsor. Applications can also be made for longer-term whole school support where no other sustainable solution can be found to address the school failure.
Schools or academy trusts seeking support through the emergency school improvement fund, should contact the relevant local authority or regional schools commissioner. If they agree that support through the emergency school improvement fund is necessary, they will agree which teaching schools, national support school or multi-academy trust should lead that support and submit an emergency funding application on their behalf.