Published Tuesday 9 June 2020 at 17:19
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
Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund for Charities & Social Enterprises
In response to the coronavirus, Social Investment Business have launched a Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund for social enterprises and charities which have been adversely impacted by the pandemic. The new £25 million fund will provide emergency loans of between £100,000 to £500,000 without requiring personal guarantees and charging no interest fees or interest for twelve months.
The £25m is part of a wider package of support announced by Big Society Capital.
The Fund is intended to provide working capital until normal business can resume for organisations that are facing financial difficulty. Loans could be used to cover delays in trade payments, or for business modification to meet increase in service demand.
The initial £25 million has been provided by Big Society Capital, with loans backed by the Government’s existing Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Applications can be made at any time. Find out more here
Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000
Funding to Support Legal Action Related to Covid-19
The Baring Foundation has announced three new streams of funding as part of its £1 million Strengthening Civil Society Programme to support their grant holders and broader civil society when taking legal action related to Covid-19.
- Grants of up to £40,000 are available to all registered charities, including current grant holders, with legal expertise in their area of focus to help protect vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals from the impact of covid-19. The deadline for this round is midday on the 11th August 2020.
Two further streams of funding will support both current grant holders and other previous funding recipients.
- Grants of up to £5,000 to help organisations severely affected by the coronavirus.
- Grants of up to £30,000 to help with the increase in demand for advice from frontline organisations.
Eligible organisations will be contacted directly for these two funds.
Funding for Rural Community and Education Projects
The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust, which supports charities in the UK working in agriculture, rural development and insurance has announced that the next closing date for applications is the 30th October 2020. The Trustees are particularly interested in initiatives in the areas of education of young people in rural areas and the relief of poverty within rural areas.
Trustees are particularly interested in funding larger initiatives, which would have a significant impact on the rural community.
Grants of between £1,000 and £50,000 are available. In 2017, the Trust made donations totaling £271,795 to a total of 21 organisations.
Projects supported in the past include:
Farms for City Children, which aims to expand the horizons of children from towns and cities by offering them a week in the countryside living together in one of their farms and the Royal Highland Education Trust which aims to create an opportunity for each child in Scotland to experience the countryside and to facilitate a wider understanding of the environmental, economic and social realities of rural Scotland. Its key activities include farm visits, classroom speaker visits and a number of high-profile national competition.
The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust also provides small grants of up to £250 through the NFU Mutual’ s Community Giving Fund which supports worthwhile community events, charities, schools and community group activities that are local to their operations.
Funding opportunities under £25,000
Covid Funding for Specialist Women’s Organisations
Rosa, which is a grant making charity that funds grassroots women’s organisations to help to make the UK a fairer, safer place for women, has announced that is making small grants of up to £10,000 available to specialist women’s organisations across the UK through its Covid-19 Response Fund.
The purpose of this first stage response fund is to provide quick and straightforward grants with very basic eligibility criteria. Rosa particularly welcomes proposals from women’s organisations that:
- Address the critical needs of women and girls that miss out the most, including: marginalised populations, BME women, LGBTQ+ women and girls, women and girls with disabilities, older women, homeless women, survivors of gender violence, women in prison and ex-offenders, and other underserved and disadvantaged groups of women.
- Operate in less economically resilient towns, cities and rural areas within the UK.
There is no deadline for applications. Rosa will consider them on a rolling basis from 5pm on Friday 5 June 2020 and aim to notify applicants of the decision within approximately two weeks of submitting an application.
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 1 November 2020 (for projects taking place in the following spring term).
Childs Charitable Trust
The Childs Charitable Trust is a grant-making trust, supporting Christian UK registered and excepted charities and organisations both in the UK and overseas. During 2017 the Trust awarded grants to 81 different organisations all based in the UK but operating in more than 100 different countries worldwide.
Projects will be considered that fall into the following categories:
- Youth – the trust looks to support projects working in schools and with vulnerable and disengaged young people in the UK. Supported activities may include RE Lessons; School Assemblies; Lunchtime/After school clubs; Evangelism; Personal Development Programmes; Homelessness Prevention.
- Outreach – the trust works to share the gospel of Christ by supporting all aspects of Christian outreach both in the UK and overseas and can fund, for example, Church Plants; Overseas Mission; Training in Evangelism; Chaplaincy.
- Society – the trust believes people of faith bring a valuable contribution to social action and justice and support initiatives that have a positive impact in their society. Grants could support, for example: Counselling; night shelters; alcohol/drug rehabilitation; homelessness; or prison/ex-offenders work.
- Education – the trust supports initiatives involved in all areas of Christian education including Bible Translation; Media Initiatives; Bible Colleges; Literature; Apologetics.
Applicants must be registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator or the Charity Commission of Northern Ireland or be ‘excepted’ charities. Organisations with a turnover in excess of £5,000,000 should contact the office prior to submitting an application, to check eligibility.
No minimum or maximum funding amounts are specified, however in 2017, 16 grants of between £5,000 and £9,999, 18 grants of between £3,000 and £4,999 and 34 grants not exceeding £2,999 were made. Nine other grants ranging from £12,000 to £34,000 were also awarded.
Please note that in view of the present Coronavirus pandemic and international financial instability, the trustees are having to critically review all applications with regard to the financial viability of both the organisation and project. Applications for funding should not be made if the project in question has been postponed or is likely to be cancelled.
The next closing date for applications is 31 August 2020.
Pink Ribbon Foundation Grants
The Pink Ribbon Foundation has announced that it is currently accepting applications to its grant-making programme.
Grants of up to £5,000 are available to UK charities:
- To relieve the needs of people who are suffering from, or have been affected by, breast cancer by providing, or assisting in the provision of, information, care or emotional, practical and financial support.
- To advance public education in the understanding of breast cancer, its early detection and treatment, in particular but not exclusively by commissioning, or conducting, research into the causes, detection and treatment of breast cancer and by disseminating the results of such research.
Higher grants may be awarded if the trustees feel there is a special reason to do so.
Any charity working in the field of breast cancer can apply for a grant.
Applications from general cancer charities must demonstrate that the grants requested will be applied to benefit those affected by breast cancer. Where applications relate to general services, details must be given of how many (and what proportion) of the total number benefiting from the charity’s work are affected by breast cancer.
The closing date for applications is 26 June 2020.
Funding to Support Young People Using Technology to Make the World a Better Place
BT have launched their Young Pioneer Award to find young people who have ideas for new technology which tackles the big societal and environmental issues they care about. Each year the award – which is part of BT’s Skills for Tomorrow programme – offers kids, parents and teachers a chance to showcase the tech projects they’re proud of – whether they have been working on them at school or at home.
The winner of this years’ award will receive up to £10,000 in funding which could be used on items such as relevant tech equipment, or to fund market research. They will also receive volunteering support from BT experts.
The competition is open to anyone between the ages of eight to eighteen, and ideas for projects could include tech solutions to combat loneliness caused by the coronavirus lockdown, or to reduce the damaging effects of climate change.
Individuals or groups of up to five people can apply, and entries must be made by 5.00 pm on 30 June 2020.
Agricultural Bursaries for Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate students starting university in September 2020 can now apply for a £5,000 bursary from the Jordan’s and The Prince’s Countryside Fund to promote sustainable farming. The Sustainable Agriculture Bursary is available to prospective undergraduate students who have a genuine interest in a career in farming, agriculture or a related field and have confirmed the Royal Agricultural University or the University of Reading as their first-choice university.
Through the bursary Jordan’s and The Prince’s Countryside Fund want to encourage the next generation of farmers to explore their full potential and, in addition to financial support, aims to encourage students to pursue their interests by offering expert mentoring, Alumni activity, and training on social media use for marketing.
Applications close at noon on 30 August 2020.
Project Development Funding for Churches
Grants of between £3,000 and £10,000 are available to listed and unlisted Christian places towards developing a church building project. This can include Churches, Chapels and Meeting Houses. The funding is being made available through the National Churches Trust’s Gateway Programme.
Applications are accepted from listed and unlisted Christian places of worship, of any denomination, across the UK. The Trust particularly encourages applications from priority areas i.e. North East England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The Gateway Grant Programme also offers grants of between £3,000 and £10,000 to local church trusts to fund projects that support organisational development, increase their capacity to churches in their area or that deliver new ways of supporting churches in their area.
The first deadline to apply for a Gateway Grant is 10 September 2020.
Development Grants for Emerging Artists
Professional and emerging professional musicians of all genres and disciplines can apply for a grant of £2,000 to £5,000 to undertake a project that will enable them to develop and test new work, ideas or potential career directions through inspiring periods of collaborative research and development.
Help Musicians want to highlight that in this round they welcome applications that will explore the use of remote, digital or online collaboration tools or performance spaces. For example, the use of Skype rehearsals or live streamed performance.
Eligible musicians will be over 18 based primarily in the UK and be in financial need and without significant backing. Solo instrumentalists, conductors, composers, vocalists, singer songwriters or multidisciplinary artists are amongst those eligible to apply. Bands or ensembles with six members or less can also be supported.
The funding is being made available through the Help Musicians Fusion Fund and the deadline to apply is 14 September 2020.
The Classical Association Grants
The Association will consider applications for summer schools and to institutions offering courses in Greek, Latin, classical civilisation; and bursaries for teachers attending courses abroad to support their professional development. The Association will also support school teaching and outreach work such as Greek and Latin reading competitions, regional Greek/Roman days and school conferences; etc. The Grants Committee meets four times a year.
Schools and other organisations that are applying for more than £2,000 must submit their application in time for either the March or September deadlines.
The Classical Association (CA), which awards grants to support classical projects and conferences, has announced that the next closing date for applications is 1 September 2020.
Lloyds Bank Foundation Announces Changes to it Grant Making in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Lloyds Bank Foundation has announced changes to their grant making programmes in response to the Covid-19 crisis. These changes include:
Fast tracking those organisations that have already made significant progress with their application. These charities have also been able to access organisational development support as they made their applications. This has helped many with financial resilience, business and contingency planning, IT equipment etc. However, the Foundation will only commit to funding projects for 12 months.
The foundation has also set aside £2 million to support its current grantees that are facing difficulties. Current grantees can apply for grants of up to £15,000 to fund unanticipated costs incurred as a result COVID-19. There will be a very simple application for this, just three questions and the Foundation will endeavour to process these as fast as they can to get the funds out to charities.
The Foundation will also launch a new grants programme in the summer including organisational development support. The reduction of longer term grants this year means that the Foundation will be able to fund a greater number of charities than they previously would have done, all of which will be able to access organisational development support following an in depth conversation with one of their Regional Managers about what would be most helpful to them.
Power to Changes Launches C-19 Support Fund
Power to Change, which is an independent Trust to support community businesses in England, has announced the launch of its new Bright Ideas C-19 Support Fund is open for applications.
The fund provides small grants with business development advice to current Bright Ideas grantees. Community businesses accepted on to the scheme will receive up to five days of business development support from a community business advisor and a grant of up to £5,000 unrestricted funds to support any changes that will help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on their business or community.
Potential applicants can join a free webinar about the fund at 2pm on 4 June 2020.
The closing date for applications will be midnight on 19 June 2020.
COVID-19 Emergency Surplus Food Grant – Phase 2 Deadline Extended
The UK Government in collaboration with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has launched phase 2 of its Emergency Surplus Food Grant.
The aim of the £1 million grant scheme is to provide support to small and micro-sized not-for-profit food redistributors who can redistribute surplus food from retailers, wholesalers and food manufacturers to vulnerable people and those in need who are affected by the coronavirus.
Grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 are available to help with capital and revenue costs such as costs for transporting the surplus food or any increased demand and capacity issues.
The deadline for applications has been extended to 1pm on 3 July 2020 but may close early if the budget is fully allocated.
Grants to Support Infrastructure Organisations
The Youth Futures Foundation aims to transform the lives of young people (aged 14 -24) by unlocking potential and addressing the root causes of youth unemployment. Key community-sector infrastructure organisations (with at least 20 organisations in their network, membership or movement) that demonstrate their ability to play a pivotal role in responding to rising youth unemployment can apply for funding to help build resilience in response to the significant income shortfalls due to the Covid-19 pandemic and to support future planning and delivery.
Funding is available for:
- National infrastructure bodies that strengthen the youth and/or employment sector across England for all young people.
- National or regional infrastructure bodies that strengthen the youth and/or employment sector specifically for young people from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, including those of Gypsy, Roma & Traveller Heritage.
Organisations can request up to 30% of their annual income.
The closing date for applications is midnight on 18 June 2020.
Funding to Support Community Pubs Affected by the Covid-19 Crisis
In response to the coronavirus, Power to Change has suspended all current funding programmes to focus on supporting community businesses affected by the crisis. The Trust has now made small grants of up to £2,000 available to support community pubs in England who have experienced a reduction in income due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
The aim of the Fund is to help them to adjust their activities, and provide redesigned services and community support. Services provided by community pubs which might have been affected include venue-based activities such as cafes, shops, and hiring out informal meeting spaces for a range of community activities such as sports teams, choirs, live music and walking groups.
Groups will be contacted directly regarding the grants. Community Pubs that have not heard from Plunkett Foundation and would like to know more please email: info@plunkett.co.uk
Architectural Heritage Fund – Project Viability Fund
Grants of up to £15,000 (England) and £7,500 (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) are now available for formally constituted charities or social enterprises that have the necessary powers to undertake a project involving the acquisition and conversion of an historic building.
The Architectural Heritage Fund Project Viability Grant aims to enable organisations to work out whether a proposed use for a building will be economically viable. The grant will contribute towards the cost of exploring different options for reuse or testing a single option. At the end of the process, applicants should be able to make an informed decision on whether the organisation should commit to further cost, risk and effort in developing the project.
Priority will be given to:
- Projects involving historic buildings that have statutory protection (i.e. listed or in a Conservation Area and of acknowledged historic significance) and at risk.
- Projects that have the potential to make a significant positive social impact, particularly (but not exclusively) in disadvantaged areas such as urban communities experiencing structural economic decline or isolated rural areas with poor access to services
To apply for a grant applicant must be a formally constituted charity or social enterprise whose members have limited liability. This includes:
- Unincorporated charities (for Project Viability Grants only)
- Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs)
- Charitable Companies Limited by Guarantee
- Charitable Community Benefit Societies
- Community Benefit Societies
- Not-for-private-profit Companies Limited by Guarantee
- Community Interest Companies (CICs) Limited by Guarantee
- Parish and Town Councils; Community Councils (in Scotland and Wales)
The next closing date for applications in this round is 31 July 2020.
Music Grants for Older People
The registered charity, Concertina which makes grants of up to £250 to charitable bodies that provide musical entertainment and related activities for the elderly has announced that the next deadline for applications is the 31st October 2020.
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.
London Mathematical Society – Small Grants for Education
Grants of up to £800 are available to stimulate interest and enable involvement in mathematics from Key Stage 1 (age 5+) to undergraduate level and beyond. The funding is being made available through the London Mathematical Society’s Small Grants for Education scheme and aims to enhance and enrich mathematical study beyond the curriculum; engage the public with mathematics; and encourage unusual ways of communicating mathematics.
The scheme is primarily intended for activities for which there is limited scope for alternative sources of funding. Applicants linked to universities should ideally be supported by a member of the Society and ordinarily the Scheme will not fund University outreach activity. However, anyone based in the UK is eligible to apply for a grant.
There are four application rounds each year and the next closing date for applications is 31 August 2020.
Grants of up to £15,000 available for Projects that Support Women
The Feminist Review Trust has announced that grants of up to £15,000 are available for projects both in the UK and internationally that support women and girls.
Applications will be particularly welcome from non-OECD countries that focus on campaigning and activism in the following areas:
- Lesbian and transgender rights
- Violence against women and girls
- Disabled women and girls
- Refugee women and girls
The closing date for applications for the current funding round is 10 September 2020.
Emergency Funding for Mental Health Services Affected by Coronavirus
Emergency grants of up to £1,000 are available to user-led organisations and smaller unconstituted community groups in England, which continue to provide mental health services and additional support during the coronavirus pandemic.
Through the National Survivor User Network’s (NSUN) Covid-19 Fund, grants will be available to support community action, peer support, mutual aid, and other activities. This might include helping with costs such as moving support groups online, IT equipment, mobile data, fuel costs, and volunteer and training costs.
Applicants must be members of NSUN. Membership is free for ULOs and community groups, and you can sign up here. Priority will be given to applications that support people facing other disadvantages and exclusions, with particular focus on people from racialised communities.
Grants of up to £2,000 may be considered and applications can be made at any time.
Email covidfund@nsun.org.uk for any questions about eligibility.