Published Wednesday 6 May 2020 at 14:49
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
Funding to UK Seafood Innovation Fund
The second round of the UK Government’s Seafood Innovation Fund is now open for applications. Organisations from all sectors in the UK or EU can apply for funding from the £10 million research and development fund to develop innovative ideas, products and technology which will benefit the sustainability, productivity and profitability of the UK’s fishing, aquaculture and seafood industries.
Applicants will be able to bid for up to £50,000 for feasibility studies, or up to £250,000 for full R&D projects. Applications for collaborative projects that include both seafood sector organisations and technology businesses are encouraged.
The deadline for applications is 12pm on the 26th June 2020.
Funding for Projects That Contribute to the Ongoing Transformation of the Northern Ireland Conflict
Registered, excepted or exempt charities based within any of the four jurisdictions of the UK can apply for programme or project funding or for unrestricted or core support for work which will contribute to the ongoing transformation of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) aims to fund work delivered by organisations, individuals and charities and grants range from a few hundred pounds to £100,000+ and may be single payments or spread over up to three years.
JRCT is interested in funding work which:
- Addresses the root causes of violence and injustice, rather than alleviating symptoms
- Cannot be funded from other sources
- Is likely to make a long-term, strategic difference.
Funded projects will address the following priority areas:
- Strengthening human rights and equality
- Supporting inclusive, non-sectarian and participatory politics
- Supporting processes of demilitarisation
- Dealing with the past i.e. work that promotes a shared understanding of the root causes of past violence, or which encourages government to implement initiatives to address the legacy of violence at a societal level.
The Trust is particularly interested in receiving applications related to women’s participation in all of these areas.
In addition to applications from Northern Ireland, it is open to receiving applications from Britain and the Republic of Ireland for work related to the above areas, and for work with an all-Ireland focus. Registered, excepted or exempt charities based within any of the four jurisdictions of the UK can apply for programme or project funding or for unrestricted or core support. Further details on eligibility can be found here.
Local work will be supported only where it is likely to have a wider impact, for example if it is testing a model which can then be replicated, or is addressing a local issue that has wider social or political implications.
The next deadline for applications is 12 noon on the 24th August 2020.
New Grant Scheme Launches to Support Victims of Terrorism
A new fund has been announced by the Home Secretary to offer improved support for UK residents affected by terrorism at home or abroad. Private and voluntary organisations can apply for grants of up to £500,000.
Applicants must be able to provide specialist practical and emotional advice and support to individuals and their families based on professional judgement, and an understanding of the unique needs of victims of terrorism. This could include counselling, advice and support on dealing with emotional distress, media intrusion, and compensation and legal processes.
The new fund follows the Government’s announcement in January of increased funding for the Victims of Terrorism Unit. Bidding will begin in April and the grant will be advertised through Contract Finder.
Nuffield Foundation – £15 Million Strategic Fund
The Nuffield Foundation is calling for applications to its new £15m Strategic Fund. The Fund supports ambitious, interdisciplinary research projects that will address some of the most important challenges facing UK society and the public policy agenda in the next decade. This is an opportunity for researchers to develop original and challenging ideas, to work collaboratively across disciplines, and to influence social policy in a period of rapid change and uncertainty for society.
Through the Strategic Fund, the Foundation will make awards in the range of £1-3 million. Applications are encouraged from universities, research institutes, think tanks and voluntary organisations.
The Foundation encourage applications relating to a number of broad themes, set out in the call for applications. These themes include:
- The impact of digital technologies and the fourth industrial revolution,
- The future of education in a digitally-driven society,
- Interventions that might promote opportunity and reduce adversity at different life stages and between generations.
The listed themes are not exhaustive, and the Foundation welcomes applications on other themes that align with their mission to advance social well-being.
In light of the current public health emergency, the next closing date for applications has been extended from the 20th April to the 29th June 2020.
Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000
£50 Million Emergency Funding to Support the Heritage Sector During the Coronavirus Crisis
In response to the coronavirus, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has created a £50 million Heritage Emergency Fund as part of a support package to help safeguard heritage sites and organisations. Grants of between £3,000 and £50,000 are available to not-for-profit organisations to ensure stability and longer-term recovery by covering unavoidable, essential costs that cannot be met for up to four months.
To be eligible, organisations must be a current or previous recipient of a grant from the Heritage Fund, and be an owner, manager or representative of heritage, or have delivered participatory heritage activity.
Funding will be prioritised to organisations which have limited or no alternative access to other sources of support.
The deadline for applications is the 30th June 2020.
Ministry of Defence Open Call for Innovation to Improve Defence and Security
The Ministry of Defence, under the Defence and Security Accelerator programme and in partnership with Innovate UK is looking for innovative ideas to improve the defense and security of the UK.
Proposals for the Defence and Security Accelerator programme will be accepted from the private sector, academia and individuals in the UK or overseas and is looking for concepts, products or services from a wide range of technology areas at varying stages of maturity. Applicants may submit proposals for defense or security although it is expected that some proposals will be relevant to both.
The call also has ‘Covid-19 – rapid sanitising technology’ among its innovation focus areas.
The majority of successful projects will cost between £50,000 and £100,000 and last between three and ten months.
The deadline for applications is the 28th May 2020.
£1 Million Competition for Projects in Health, Sport, and Education & the Arts
The Persimmon Charitable Foundation is joining forces with Team GB to give away £1 million to help support under 18’s through its Building Futures competition. Registered charities, clubs, schools and other organisations across England, Wales and Scotland can enter the competition with project ideas in the following sectors.
- Health
- Sport
- Education and the Arts
Funding can be used to cover costs such as equipment, facilities, training, or medical research and support groups.
In each sector there will be a first prize of £100,000, a £50,000 second prize and a £20,000 third prize. Alongside the top prizes, smaller individual prizes of £1,000 each will be given away during April and May 2020, and 87 shortlisted finalists will each receive £5,000.
Any applicant should complete an online entry form available at http://www.persimmonhomes.com/charity, saying in no more than 500 words why they are eligible for entry into the 2020 Competition and why they should (a) be eligible for a grant and (b) win the 2020 Competition.
The deadline for applications is the 31st May 2020.
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust – Rights and Justice
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) is interested in funding work which is about removing problems through radical solutions, and not simply about making problems easier to live with; that has a clear sense of objectives, and of how to achieve them; and is innovative and imaginative and where the grant has a good chance of making a difference.
JCRT makes grants to a range of organisations including registered, excepted or exempt charities based in the UK for work that seeks to make positive change across the UK as a whole, or across one or more of its member countries – England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
The Funding priorities for the Rights and Justice theme are:
- Protection and promotion of human rights and their enforcement in the UK
- Promoting rights and justice for minorities who face the most severe forms of racism
- Promotion of rights and justice for refugees and other migrants by identifying and tackling structures and systems that may deny them their rights.
JRCT focuses on work at both a national and European level, although work at a European level is limited and must have direct relevance to communities living in the UK.
Whilst the focus is to support national advocacy and campaigning, JRCT is open to applications which aim to effect structural change at local and regional levels of policy-making, provided the applicant can demonstrate the wider significance of the work.
Across the policy, JRCT places an emphasis on supporting those who have direct experience of racism and oppression.
Applicants are encouraged to apply for a grant for unrestricted or core support, although support for specific programme or project funding is also available.
Recent grants awarded have ranged from £5,000 to £100,000+ including:
- £20,000 to the Barrow Cadbury Trust
- £59,365 to Citizens UK (Safe Passage)
- £16,400 to the Equality and Diversity Forum
Grants to Support Children’s Health and Education
The Foundation distributes a total of around £200,000 per quarter.
Grants of up to £30,000 are available per year for up to two years to registered charities for projects that improve education and health for young people in three key areas:
- Children and young people with disabilities
- Children and young people who are sick in hospital
- Children and young people who are life limited (requiring palliative care)
The Foundation is a small charity and generally will not make awards of over £30,000 (per year). Funding can be requested for one-off projects or for up to 2 years work.
Applications from schools and hospitals are welcomed as long as they are made through an appropriate registered charity.
If favoured, grant applications for up to £5,000 can be approved by the Director, up to £10,000 can be approved by the Grants Committee, and applications for more than £10,000 are recommended to the Trustees for final approval.
The next deadline to apply to the DM Thomas Foundation Central Grants Programme has been extended to the 22nd July 2020.
Funding opportunities under £25,000
Funding to Support Public Engagement with Environmental Science in Response to Covid-19
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is inviting proposals for public engagement with environmental science which understand, address or mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.
A total budget of £50,000 is available from the Covid-19 Public Engagement Grant, with individual grants of up to £10,000 being made available to research organisations. The aim of the fund is to help researchers find different and better ways of engagement, including data collection methods which can no longer be carried out via fieldwork. This may include the use of digital technology.
Funding can be used to cover costs incurred in delivering the project such as staff resources, travel and subsistence, materials, equipment and evaluation costs. Proposals will need to be sensitive to social distancing and follow current government guidelines.
For more information please contact Hannah Lacey, Public Engagement Programme Manager
The deadline for proposals is 4pm on the 13th May 2020.
Funding to Support Charities and Not-for-Profit Organisations responding to the Covid-19 Outbreak
UK registered charities and not-for-profit organisations responding to the Covid-19 outbreak can apply for capital grants of up to £5,000. The Clothworkers’ Foundation’s Emergency Capital Programme will provide small capital grants to allow charities with an annual income of less than £2 million to purchase essential items in order to adapt or increase their services for beneficiaries outside the London area.
Priority will be given to organisations supporting vulnerable and at-risk groups within the Foundation’s nine programme areas:
- Alcohol and substance abuse
- Disadvantaged minority communities
- Disadvantaged young people
- Domestic and sexual abuse
- Homelessness
- Older people
- People with disabilities
- Prisoners and ex-offenders
- Visual impairment
Applications can be made at any time and the Foundation aims to respond within two weeks.
Emergency Funding to Help Young Refugees and Asylum Seekers Affected by the Coronavirus
In response to the coronavirus, Hope for the Young have launched a Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund to support vulnerable young refugees or asylum seekers up to 30 years of age who are in need of immediate financial support.
Grants of up to £250 will be available for up to twelve weeks and will be allocated on a case by case basis to help relieve social isolation and financial hardship. Funding is available to help with costs such as purchasing food, medication and toiletries, and essential utilities.
The fund is open to external applications, however, in the first instance, priority will be given to young people receiving support from the Hope for the Young who meet the fund criteria. Hope for the Young aims to respond to all applications within one week of receipt to discuss the application further.
Applications can be submitted at any time.
For further details about the Emergency Relief Fund please contact the Grants and Advocacy Coordinator Pamela: Email: Pamela@hopefortheyoung.org.uk Telephone: 07448 155126.
Funding to Support Grassroots Organisations during the Coronavirus
In response to the coronavirus, The Alpkit Foundation are prioritising funding to support projects that demonstrate an immediate impact on those affected by the crisis.
Grants are available to grassroots organisations serving those affected by the outbreak. Funding can provide support for activities which might include
- helping vulnerable and elderly people who are self-isolating,
- supporting the homeless,
- providing access to food, medicines or social care,
- supporting foodbanks,
- increasing the number of meals on wheels deliveries,
- bringing exercise indoors.
Applications can be made at any time and will be checked on a daily basis.
New Funding Available to Implement Court Judgement with the Potential to Achieve Social Change
A new round of funding has been announced for civil society organisations to implement a court judgment or the outcome of a litigation process that has the potential to achieve social change for people facing discrimination and disadvantage.
The funding is being made available by the Baring Foundation and grants of up to £30,000 for a period of up to one year are available to charities and other not for profit organisations to help civil society organisation during the implementation phase after successful litigation.
The following range of activities may be involved in the implementation:
- advocacy and policy influencing;
- campaigning;
- awareness raising;
- research’ monitoring of implementation;
- further legal action.
Grants awarded under this fund are designed to support ongoing work by organisations who have played a part in the successful litigation they are applying for funding for; and usually for organisations for whom litigation is not their core business.
The closing date for applications in this round is the 20th May 2020.
Funding to Support Pet Rescue Organisations Affected by the Coronavirus
Pet rescue organisations can apply for funding to help support rescues throughout the short- and medium-term impact of the coronavirus. Through the Support Adoption for Pets Grant Programme, charities and not-for-profit organisations which rescue and rehome pets or provide temporary support to ensure pets can remain with their owners can apply for funding of up to £10,000 or up to 30% of total annual expenditure, whichever is the lower amount.
Funding must have a direct impact on animal welfare and can be used to cover vet bills, boarding costs, food, salaries of animal care staff, utilities and consumables. Priority will be given to organisations whose medium-term survival is at risk.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Funding for Ideas that Address the Impacts of Covid-19
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are inviting proposals from UK businesses for research projects and related data collection of up to eighteen months to address the health, social, economic and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak.
UKRI will support excellent proposals up to 18 months duration which meet at least one of the following:
- new research or innovation with a clear impact pathway that has the potential (within the period of the grant) to deliver a significant contribution to the understanding of, and response to, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts.
- supports the manufacture and/or wide scale adoption of an intervention with significant potential
- gathers critical data and resources quickly for future research use
Funding is for new research projects. In addition, researchers holding existing UKRI standard grants can apply to re-purpose their existing funding to address the objectives of this call.
If a grant is awarded, funding at 80% of the full economic cost will be provided.
Proposals can be submitted at any time and will be assessed on a rolling basis.
Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation Grant
UK registered charities working to help those at disadvantage in society can apply to the Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation for support. Grants of between £250 – £1,000 are available to cover the costs involved directly supporting those in need including those with disabilities, affected by homelessness, or with serious health issues.
Previous grants have gone to organisations supporting young people in applying for jobs and towards the purchase of a portable multi-sensory environment that will turn any room into a sensory room.
Donations usually fund items of “capital expenditure” i.e. items must directly help those in need, rather than contributing to the charity’s running costs.
The Foundation accepts applications from UK registered charities with a turnover of less than £1 million per year.
Applications are reviewed every quarter. The next deadline for applications is the 3rd August 2020.
Projects previously funded include:
- SASH, an organisation that provides guidance on creating CVs and applying for jobs to aid homeless 16 to 25-year olds, received £985.
- Byker Community Association received £500 to buy new books and build an interactive story hub designed by the children of Byker themselves.
Competition for Green Business Entrepreneurs
Individuals such as researchers, students, consultants or new start-ups with a green business idea have the opportunity to win an award of up to €10,000 through Climate Launchpad’s Green Business Ideas Competition.
If successful, applicants will join a bootcamp which will help put ideas into a solid business plan. Applicants will then have the opportunity to pitch their idea during national and regional finals. Winners of each regional final will go onto the global grand final.
The runner up will receive an award of €5,000, with third place receiving €2,500.
To enter the competition applicants must have not yet started a business or started it less than a year ago, have no substantial revenue, no more than €200,000 in investment, and have not yet sold on commercial terms.
The application deadline for England is the 11th June 2020. For Scotland the deadline is yet to be determined but the bootcamp will run from the 26th June 2020.
In 2020 the competition is open to participants based in the countries listed on this page.
Technology Support for Children and Schools during Coronavirus
The Department for Education has issued guidance for schools and colleges on how to get internet access, digital devices and support to provide remote education for disadvantaged children and schools during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
This will include digital devices such as laptops and tablets as well as internet access.
Laptops and tablets will be provided for disadvantaged families, children and young people who do not currently have access to them.
Internet access will be provided through 4G hotspot devices for disadvantaged year 10 pupils, care leavers and young people aged 11 to 19 with a social worker.
People aged 16 to 19 without a suitable device for education will be eligible for support through the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund.
Local authorities, trusts and other relevant organisations overseeing schools and social care can apply. These organisations have been sent information on how to order a device. Local authorities should work with schools to identify care leavers, and children and young people with a social worker, who need devices and internet access.
Schools, parents and pupils will not be able to apply for internet access or digital devices themselves.
Schools can apply for government-funded support through The Key for School Leaders to get set up on one of two free-to-use digital education platforms: G Suite for Education or Office 365 Education. The Key also provides feature comparison and case studies on how schools are making the most of these platforms.
Royal College of Pathologists Public Engagement Innovation Grant Scheme
The Royal College of Pathologists has announced that applications are now being accepted for the Public Engagement Innovation Grant Scheme.
Under this scheme grants of up to £1,000 are available for individuals or organisations who wish to run a project that engages audiences such as secondary school students, undergraduates, health professionals or local communities with pathology. All proposals must include the involvement of pathologists and/or laboratory scientists as a key part of the activity and applicants are advised to contact the public engagement team prior to submitting an application. All projects funded through the scheme must be completed by the 30th June 2020. Information on the type of projects funded in the past can be found here.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the public engagement team prior to submitting an application. The team will be able to offer practical support in terms of help, advice and resources and will be happy to discuss potential project ideas. They will also be able to put applicants in touch with pathologists who may be willing to be involved in a project. The team can be contacted via email on publicengagement@rcpath.org or by phone on 020 7451 6717.
The closing date for applications has been extended to the 1st July 2020.
Grants to Enable Disabled People to Play Tennis
The Dan Maskell Tennis Trust has announced that the next closing date for applications the 3rd July 2020.
Individuals can apply for grants of up to £500 for support for sports wheelchairs, tennis rackets, coaching lessons with a Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) licensed coach or course fees for official LTA development/coaching courses. Groups can apply for a maximum of £1,500.
Groups can apply for: Wheelchairs; Court hire; Coaching fees; and equipment packages which will include:
- Rackets
- Balls
- Mini net
- Coaching aids such as cones and throw down marker lines.
In the case of wheelchairs, a deposit will be required; for individuals, the amount of deposit required will depend on the wheelchair type requested, clubs will need to raise a deposit of £200.
Charities Aid Foundation Launches Coronavirus Emergency Fund
The Charity Aids Foundation (CAF) has launched a new Coronavirus Emergency Fund. Through this fund smaller charities, not for profit organisations, social enterprises and unregistered community groups can apply for grants of up to £10,000 to help them to continue to deliver much needed support to within their communities.
The funding is available to help with core costs, staffing, volunteer costs, supplies and equipment, communications or other critical charitable areas.
Priority will be given to:
- Charities, and other organisations, whose established charitable activities are at risk of being severely reduced to the detriment of vulnerable groups
- Organisations that are having to deliver core services in fundamentally different or unusual ways in order to respond to the crisis and still reach their beneficiaries
- Organisations that are deeply embedded with communities and have established networks to deliver their charitable activities
- Organisations experiencing current cashflow problems, rather than concerns that future income will be reduced.
CAF will aim for grants to be paid to selected organisations within 14 days of application.
Applicants will be asked to register, or log in, using their email address and a password. Applicants can save their application at any time, there is no need to complete it all at one time.