Published Wednesday 28 August 2019 at 18:05
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
Grants of up to £5 Million Available for Heritage Projects (UK)
The Heritage Fund provides grants to fund a broad range of projects that connect people and communities to the national, regional and local heritage of the UK. This can include a broad range projects relating to:
- Nature – anything that connects people to nature and the natural world
- Natural and designed landscapes – landscapes are areas of ground which could be urban or rural in nature, and might include parks, or industrial sites that have been left
- Oral histories – such as voice recordings of people’s stories of times gone by
- Cultural traditions – Exploring the history of different cultures through storytelling, or things that you do as part of your community. This could be anything from dance and theatre, to food or clothing.
- Community archaeology – digs that lots of people can take part in
- Historic buildings, monuments and environments – from houses and mills, to caves and gardens. Areas that are connected to history.
- Collections – collections of objects, books or documents in museums, libraries or archives
- Historic events – histories of people and communities or places and events
- Languages – the heritage of languages and dialects
- Industrial, maritime and transport – this might be places and objects linked to our industrial, maritime and transport history
Projects can be in development for up to two years and delivered in up to five years. The funding is available to both not-for-profit organisation (such as charities, community groups and local authorities, and faith based or church organisations, etc.) and partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations. To be eligible applicants must contribute at least 5% of their project costs for grants up to £1million and at least 10% for grants of £1million or more.
The Heritage Fund can cover a wide range of direct project costs. A s an example, a project could include:
- The purchase price of collection items or property
- Repair and conservation
- Digital outputs
- New staff
- Paid training placements
- Professional fees
All applicants for a grant above £250,000 nee to complete a short Expression of Interest (EOI) form. The Heritage Fund will use the information to decide whether or not to invite the applicant to submit a development phase application.
To apply, applicants will need to use the Heritage Fund online portal. The Heritage Fund has announced that the next closing date for its Funding Programme £250,000 – £5 Million is the 19th November 2019.
Funding for Housing Projects that Cater for People with Special Needs (UK)
The Quaker Housing Trust provides grants and interest free loans to housing projects that cater for people with a wide range of needs, including:
- Mental & physical health problems
- Learning difficulties
- Would otherwise be homeless
- Escaping domestic violence
- Single parents
- Young families
- Moving out of institutional care
- Addiction problems
- Refugees, asylum seekers, migrants
- Survivors of trafficking.
To be eligible for funding, applicants need to have legal charitable status and be a small organisation (with an annual turnover of not more than £1 million and without access to sufficient income, reserves, nor other fundraising, to pay for the work).
The Quaker Housing Trust give grants and interest-free loans as one-off funding for capital cost items of expenditure across a wide range of practical elements such as:
- Buying property or land
- Building new housing
- Converting, renovating or refurbishing property.
- Expanding an existing housing project.
- Making a housing project ‘greener’.
- Smaller practical things which turn a house into a home.
Previous projects supported include:
- Hope into Action, Bilston which received support for turning a property into a home for three people who are, or are at risk of being, homeless, and are in need of some support.
- The Bridgnorth Housing Trust, Bridgnorth, which received support towards building 22 new almshouses, to increase the number of homes they have to offer.
The Quaker Housing Trust has announced that the next deadline for applications is the 18th October 2019.
Nuffield Foundation Announces New £15 Million Strategic Fund (UK)
The Nuffield Foundation is calling for applications to its new £15m Strategic Fund for 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 our 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 encourages 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 welcome applications on other themes that align with their mission to advance social well-being.
Applications will open on the 1st October 2019 and the funding will be phased over two years. The first closing date for applications will be the 9th December 2019.
Funding of £2.4 Million Available to Farmers to Improve the Environment (England)
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Groups has announced that groups of farmers and landowners can apply for a share of £2.4 million through the Facilitations Fund to deliver large-scale environment improvement in their area over the next three years. Improvements could include natural flood prevention, enhancing wildlife habitats or planting more trees. To apply, groups must submit plans showing how they will work together and share knowledge to protect and enhance their local environment, in line with their local Countryside Stewardship priorities.
The funding is for a person or organisation (facilitator) to help a group of farmers and other land managers work together to:
- Improve the natural environment at a landscape rather than single-farm scale
- Achieve greater improvements than individual holdings could on their own
The closing date for applications is the 4th October 2019.
Funding to Help Community Businesses Become Sustainable (England)
The Power to Change Trust has announced that from the 11th September 2019, Community Businesses in England will be able to apply for grants of between £50,000 and £300,000 to make their business more sustainable.
Grants will be available towards:
- Capital costs including building, vehicles, equipment of significant value, refurbishment costs as well as
- Project-specific revenue costs like staff costs, professional fees, volunteer costs.
The funding is being made available through the Power to Change Trust’s Community Business Fund. Previous grants have been awarded to a wide range of businesses including: community libraries, bakeries, pubs, farms, hubs, transport, energy schemes, art centres and construction organisations.
£100 Million National Lottery Climate Action Fund Launched (UK)
The National Lottery Community Fund has launched a new £100 million Climate Action Fund that will enable people and communities to take the lead in tackling the climate emergency.
The new fund will build a network of people and communities, well-placed to drive change within, between and beyond their community.
Whilst the types of activities will differ from place to place it is expected that all funded projects will have one thing in common: the ability to deliver high impact community-led climate action. This includes in areas such as sustainable energy, sustainable transport, consumption, food and protecting and regenerating spaces and habitats.
The National Lottery Community Fund is also exploring ways to support the wider sector and its grantees to help them mitigate their impact on the climate, for example via its Climate Action Top-up scheme – which will soon be piloted in Wales.
Funding Available to Support Arts Based Teaching in Primary Schools (UK)
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has announced that it will re-open its Teacher Development Fund (TDF) in September 2019. Through the TDF, primary schools working in partnership with other primary schools as well as arts / cultural organisations can apply for grants of up to £150,000 to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to support the delivery of effective arts-based teaching and learning opportunities in the classroom, and to embed learning through the arts in the curriculum.
Applications should focus on:
- Primary schools
- Supporting children and young people experiencing disadvantage
- Approaches which involve learning through the arts
- Long-term, inquiry-based projects which support teachers’ professional development and learning
- Promoting effective and equitable partnerships between schools and arts/cultural organisations and artist practitioners
- The contributions of school leaders and artist practitioners as both professional learners and as supporters of embedding learning through the arts in the curriculum
- Approaches which involve any of the following art forms: crafts; creative writing, including poetry; dance; design; film; music; opera; photography; digital arts and media; theatre and drama; the visual arts; and cross-arts practices.
The Foundation expect to make around five grants to partnerships of arts/cultural organisations and up to ten schools, who will work together for two academic years.
Previous projects supported include:
Charles Dickens Primary School, London, which received a grant of £149,430 for its “All the School’s a Stage” project. This involved Southwark Teaching School Alliance and Shakespeare’s Globe collaborating to train teachers and leaders in eight Southwark primary schools to incorporate drama techniques into their classroom practice. The project will see Year 1 and Year 3 teachers from each school take part in professional development led by Globe practitioners. Actors will work alongside teachers in their classrooms, using dramatic storytelling techniques to support the children’s development in speaking, reading and writing. The second year of the project will see the same teachers embed their learning into their school’s curriculum, leading their own professional development sessions for staff and creating a unit of work to incorporate the new approaches.
Funding Call: Knowledge Frontiers – International Interdisciplinary Research (UK)
The British Academy is inviting proposals from UK-based researchers in the humanities and social sciences wishing to develop international interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with colleagues from the natural, engineering and / or medical sciences, with a focus on hazard and risk, cultures of forecasting, and the meaning of resilience.
The purpose of each project will be to develop new international research ideas. Projects will need to also demonstrate an innovative and interdisciplinary partnership. The Academy is looking to fund applications that break new ground in the collaborations – international and interdisciplinary – they support and the research they aim to undertake. The Academy particularly encourages applications led by scholars in the humanities.
The lead applicant must be a researcher from the humanities and social sciences, and be based at an eligible UK university or research institute. They must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research experience). Projects must involve at least one co-applicant from the natural, engineering and / or medical sciences. Collaboration between researchers in different institutions is encouraged, where appropriate, given the nature and aims of the programme, and applications may include co-applicants and other participants from overseas.
The Academy offers awards of up to £200,000 for 24 months in duration with Full Economic Costing at 100%. Projects must begin on 1 April 2020 and finish on 31 March 2022.
Applications must be submitted online using the British Academy’s Grant Management System (GMS), Flexi-Grant®. The deadline for submissions and UK institutional approval is 23 October 2019 at 17.00 (UK time).
£3 Million Available for Developing Components for Smart Energy Systems (UK)
UK businesses and researchers can apply for a share of up to £3 million to support projects to develop important technology components that improve the efficiency of local energy systems. The funding is available through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge. The competition aims to fund projects that investigate innovative components that would improve the efficiency of local energy systems.
Areas supported could include:
- Applications for monitoring gas and electricity hardware and software
- Improving integration between local and national electricity networks and markets
- Optimisation of generation in real time across many sites, operators and aggregators
- Improving efficiency of heat networks
- Heating and cold storage, especially inter-seasonal
- Optimising the coupling of electricity, heat and transport
Funding is available for feasibility studies and for larger research and development projects.
The deadline for applications is at midday on 9 October 2019.
Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000
Grants of Up to £100,000 Available for Cyber Skills Training (England)
The UK Government has launched the third round of funding through the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund (CSIIF). Through the CSIIF Training providers and charities in England can apply for grants of up to £100,000 to work with employers to increase the diversity and numbers of those working in the UK’s cyber security sector.
The CSIIF already provides funding to a number of training programmes targeting groups underrepresented in the cyber security sector. A number of previously funded initiatives have developed new and inventive ways of reaching a wider range of candidates and offer flexible learning opportunities to fit different lifestyles.
This is one of a range of initiatives designed in support of the National Cyber Security Strategy aim of developing a sustainable supply of home-grown cyber security talent in the UK.
The deadline for applications is the 27th September 2019.
Grants of up to £35,000 Available to Support Youth – Led Projects to Improve Community Spaces (England)
Grants of up to £35,000 are available to community organisations in England for projects that empower young people (aged 10-20 years) to have a say in how community spaces that matter to them are managed. This scheme is the first of three themed funding strands being provided through a £3 million extension to the Co-op Foundation #iwill Fund. The fund will run until 2022 and focus on supporting social action that draws on young people’s own lived experience with the aims of:
- Connecting young people to social action opportunities that lead to genuine community impact.
- Empowering young people through the difference this makes for themselves and their peers.
Under this first strand, eight grants are available to facilitate youth-led advocacy to improve the design and use of local community spaces. Projects should benefit young people (aged 10-20 years) in areas of deprivation and should have had input from young people themselves.
Grants can be used to cover any costs related to carrying out the project, including (but not limited to):
- Salaries of staff involved in delivering or supporting the project.
- Costs of advocacy activities, including appropriate incentives and rewards for young people to take part.
- Proportionate contributions to organisational running costs required to support the delivery of the project.
Applications are accepted from community organisations in England with experience of equipping young people with the skills they need to deliver meaningful advocacy-based social action.
Submit the application by midday on Friday 20 September 2019.
Business and Academic Partnerships: Apply for Funding (UK)
Up to £40 million of funding has been allocated to support businesses in collaborating with an academic or research organisation and a graduate on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP). The KTP scheme enables businesses in the UK to innovate and grow by linking them with an academic or research organisation and a graduate.
A KTP enables an academic or research organisation as a partner to a business to recruit a suitable graduate (an Associate) to work at the company for the duration of the KTP. The business is thus able to access new skills and the latest academic thinking to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project. KTPs can last between 12 and 36 months, depending on the project and the needs of the business.
The KTP 3-way partnership will consist of:
- A UK-based business of any size or a not-for-profit organisation
- An academic or research organisation i.e. university, college or research and technology organisation in the UK
- A suitably qualified graduate with the capability to lead a strategic business project
The KTP can be part-funded by a grant from Innovate UK with the business partner contributing to the salary of the Associate plus the cost of a supervisor who will oversee the scheme. Contributions will depend on the scale and length of the project and the size of the company i.e.:
- Small and medium-sized enterprises contribute around £35,000 per year, about one-third of the project costs
- Large businesses contribute around £55,000 per year, or half of the project costs
Applications may be submitted either via a KTP Adviser who will check the feasibility of the idea and find the right partner or, where there is already a partnership with an academic or research organisation, via that organisation’s KTP office.
The deadline for applications to this round is the 2nd October 2019.
Funding opportunities under £25,000
Funding of up to £3,000 Available to Groups Fighting Discrimination and Injustice (UK)
Small community groups tackling discrimination and injustice have until the 16th September 2019 to apply for grants of up to £3,000.
The Edge Fund is a very small fund which was initiated by a small group of philanthropists and activists in early 2012. The Fund supports those taking action for a just, equitable and sustainable world. Grants are awarded to fund work that challenges abuses of power and aims to bring an end to the systems that cause injustice. This could be any system that discriminates against people based on their identity or background (e.g. class, ability, gender, race, nationality, religion, sexuality, age or other factors).
The Edge Fund supports:
- Work that creates long-term change in society by addressing the causes of injustice and inequality.
- Work addressing issues facing a particular community that is led by that community (e.g. a group working on issues around sex work should be led by people with direct lived experience of sex work).
Groups eligible to apply will be non-profit organisations (including groups that are not formally registered) based in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. In particular, the Fund supports small groups that struggle to get funding elsewhere, particularly if other funders might consider them to be too radical. The average income of groups supported is around £2500. Groups with religious purpose are welcome to apply but funding will not be provided for any activity, initiative or project where the primary aim is to promote religion.
Previous projects supported include:
- The Black Triangle Campaign which is run by and for disabled people and campaigns against government welfare reform, work capability assessments, compulsory workfare, privatisation of the welfare state and all disability cuts.
- DPAC Norfolk which received a grant of £750 to establish a UK wide network of individuals and organisations dedicated to scrapping Universal Credit.
Grants of up to £5,000 Available for Local Community Projects (UK)
The Charities Aid Foundation has announced that the Tourle Foundation Fund will re-open for applications on the 1st October 2019. The CAF Tourle Foundation Fund seeks to award grants of up to £5,000 to local charitable organisations delivering services for local people within the UK. This 10-year programme is funded through the generosity of a £4.5m legacy left for CAF to distribute for this purpose. To be eligible to apply, organisations must be able to evidence that the project will be delivered to local people.
Organisations applying must:
- Be applying for up to £5,000
- Be providing a service to the heart of your community
- Be a community charitable organisation whose reach is within a localised catchment area
- Be able to demonstrate the need of the project
- Have an annual income below £100,000
- Have charitable aims and objectives
- Operate within the UK
- Complete the project a year from the date of award.
Grants of up to £1,000 Available to Sports Clubs (UK)
Sports clubs are able to apply for grants of between £500 and £1,000 to improve facilities, purchase new equipment, gain coaching qualifications, and invest in the sustainability of their club. To be eligible the club needs to be registered with their National Governing body or their local authority
The funding is being made available through the Cash4Clubs scheme which is funded by Betfair in partnership with SportsAid and the closing date for applications is the 23rd September 2019. Applications can be made in writing or via video.
Professional Development Grants for Teachers (UK)
The Goldsmiths Company offers Teachers and Head Teachers with a minimum of 3 years’ practical school teaching experience the opportunity to apply for grants of up to £3,000 to enhance their personal and professional development. The offer includes and additional maximum payment of £2,000 to fund supply cover to the school. Grants offer teachers the opportunity to take time out from the classroom to undertake an original project in the UK or abroad.
Grants can cover the costs such as travel, accommodation and materials. Examples of projects that may be supported include:
- An original project that will enhance the applicant’s teaching career and benefit his / her students on completion
- A project that has a long-term aim of disseminating results / research back to the school and / or a wider audience
- A project that is planned and well thought out
- A project that presents an individual challenge to the applicant.
Applications are assessed on their potential to enhance a teacher’s professional life and benefit his/her students on completion.
Applications must be submitted by 3rd October 2019.
ChurchCare – Grants for Fabric Repairs (UK)
ChurchCare supports all those in parishes, dioceses and cathedrals caring for their buildings. The Fabric Repairs programme helps PCCs with the eligible costs of essential fabric repairs in architecturally or historically significant Anglican churches in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Applications are considered on the grounds of the historic and architectural significance of the building and also on a parish’s engagement with the history and interpretation of the site/building.
- The criteria for consideration include the following:
- The church must only be listed either Grade I or Grade II*
- The church should not have benefited from a Wolfson Foundation grant in the previous five years
50% of the required funding needs to have been secured as ‘cash in the bank’ or pledges at point of application
Works eligible for funding tend to be Category A or B recommendations in a quinquennial inspection report and include things such as:
- Roof repairs
- Masonry repairs
- Rainwater disposal and drainage.
Grants are up to £10,000. The Church of England has announced that the next deadline for applications to its ChurchCare – Grants for Fabric Repairs is the 27th January 2020.
Grants of up to £5,000 Available to Support the Performing Arts and the Conservation of Historic Objects (UK)
The Leche Trust has announced that the next closing date for applications is the 6th December 2019.
The Leche Trust is a grant making charity that provides funding of up to £5,000 to UK registered charities, public authorities or institutions in the areas of the Performing Arts and Conservation.
Through the Performing Arts funding strand, the Trust supports projects that promote excellence in professional performance in music, dance and theatre, with particular emphasis on new work and on the development of young professionals aged 18 or over. Trustees are sympathetic to projects that widen geographical access to the performing arts, for example through festivals and touring.
Through the Conservation funding stream, the Trust will support projects to conserve historic objects, collections and features of buildings and landscapes which date from the Georgian period or earlier, i.e. pre-1830s. Projects may include acquisition costs (for objects) and conservation surveys as well as remedial work.
Trustees are inclined to give grants to smaller projects, or specific elements of projects, where their contribution can make a greater impact. In the case of churches, Trustees will consider supporting the conservation of such features as monuments, wall paintings, stained glass, and historic furniture and fittings.
Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation Grant (UK)
UK registered charities, or those affiliated with a registered charity working to help those at disadvantage in society can apply to the Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation for support. Grants of between £250 and £1,000 are available to cover the costs involved in 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, or those affiliated with a registered charity.
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.
Applications are reviewed every quarter. The deadline is the 7th October 2019.
Funding to Integrate the Armed Forces into their Local Community (UK)
Grants of up to £20,000 are available for projects that help integrate Armed Forces and civilian communities across the UK, and/or deliver valuable local services to the Armed Forces Community such as financial advice, housing, mental and physical health, employability or social support for serving armed forces personnel, veterans, and their families.
The funding is being made available through the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s Local Grants Programme and applicants are expected to have experience and a track record of working with the Armed Forces Community, as well as a good understanding of the issues facing them.
The application must be from either:
- A registered charity
- A local authority
- School;
- Community Interest Company
- Armed forces unit with a UIN.
Applicants will need to work with Local Covenant Partnerships (LCPs). These are formed of the public, charitable, voluntary and business sectors and representatives from the armed forces for each area of England, Scotland and Wales. Local authorities often have an ‘Armed Forces Champion’ or someone in a similar role who should be the applicant’s first point of contact.
The next closing date for applications is 9am on the 9th September 2019.
Greenhall Community Fund to Re-open for Applications (UK)
The next round of funding from the Greenhall Community Fund will re-open for applications on 1st September 2019.
The objectives of the fund are to improve lives: among the sick, the elderly, the disabled and the disadvantaged particularly in the UK. Overseas project are also supported provided that the applicant charity is registered in the UK. Only the first 100 applications received will be forwarded to the trustee board for consideration and they will meet in November 2019 to allocate the funds.
The grants of £1,000 to £10,000 are only available to UK registered charities. Preference will be given to applications for specific projects rather than to supplement funds used for general purposes. In this funding round grants will be awarded to charities with a turnover of £250,000 or less.
Funding to Enhance the Quality of Life for People in Need (UK)
Registered charities, Hospices and state schools catering wholly for students with additional needs, can apply for grants to support their work that enhances the quality of life for people in need, specifically the mentally and physically disabled. Priority is given to small and medium size charities making a significant impact in their community and who may lack the time and resources to be able to focus on their fundraising.
The Edward Gostling Foundation’s grants are awarded to projects that have a significant impact across one or more of four life “themes” and priority is given to organisations that clearly demonstrate this within their application for grant funding, these are: Health and Wellbeing; Independent Living at Home; Respite; and Transition.
Grants can support:
- Modifications to homes, state schools (wholly for students with additional needs), hospices etc.
- The provision of specialist equipment such as the provision of specialised wheelchairs, other mobility aids and equipment including medical equipment to assist independent living
- Financial assistance towards the cost of short-term respite breaks at a registered respite centre.
Grants are awarded through two programmes:
- A fast-track Small Grants Programme for applications under £5,000
- A Large Grants Programme for applications of £5,000 or over.
There are no application deadlines; applications can be submitted at any time.