Published Friday 28 August 2020 at 14:32
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
Comic Relief Extends Deadline for Change Makers Programme
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Comic Relief launched its new funding Change Makers funding programme to support changes in the way which community and voluntary sector organisations work.
Funding of between £150,000 and £600,000 is available for projects lasting from to 3 to 5 years. The focus is on work in areas that are of particular interest to Comic Relief.
This includes:
- Addressing homelessness
- Forced migration
- Gender justice
- Mental health
- Early childhood development.
Organisations can apply to one of two categories.
- Small and medium-sized organisations that focus on equalities and are user-led. The organisation must have an annual income of at least £75,000. User-led organisations are considered to be those where the majority of the leadership (i.e. at least half of senior team and trustees) are from the community(ies) the organisation serves.
- Other medium-sized organisations based in the UK. In this case the organisation needs to have a minimum annual income of £250,000.
- Comic Relief will not accept applications from larger organisations with annual income greater than £10 million.
Applications can be made by single applicants. Organisations can also apply in partnership, with a lead partner holding the funding.
20% of the available funding is ring-fenced for efforts led by and working with BAME communities.
The deadline for applications has been extended from the 28th August 2020 to 12pm on the 25th September 2020.
Funding for Local Road Safety Pilots and Trials
Local Authorities, Police Forces, Fire and Rescue Services, UK-based registered charities, universities, not-for-profit social enterprises and community interest companies will soon be able to apply for funding for local road safety pilots and trials.
The Road Safety Trust has announced a new £300,000 funding stream to encourage applications that respond to changing road use and emerging road safety issues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the Trust’s Small Grants Plus Programme 2020 funding of between £20,000 and £50,000 over a maximum of two years will be made available for projects which are either a pilot, trial or evaluation of a practical road safety intervention.
All projects should have other sources of funding, either cash or in-kind.
Applications will be accepted between the 15th September and the 21st October 2020.
Grants of up to £10 Million for the Repair of Nationally Important Visitor Attractions
English Heritage has announced that grants of between £1 million and £10 million are available for the repair of nationally important heritage properties that are managed primarily as visitor attractions; and where repair work was stalled by the restrictions caused by Covid-19, or by the uncertainty over available funding sources.
A total of £34 million is available.
The aim is to stimulate the economy, by upgrading important heritage tourist attractions, boosting the visitor economy and revitalising decaying historic buildings as well as help to protect jobs in the heritage construction sector and underpin specialist heritage professionals and crafts people.
The funding is being made available through Grants for Programmes of Major Works which is part of Heritage Stimulus Fund which forms part of the Culture Recovery Fund.
To be eligible for support the attractions must be listed Grade I or II* or are Scheduled Monuments and open for 28 days or more per year.
Applications should be submitted no later than midnight on the 28th August 2020. English Heritage will announce their funding decisions before 25th September 2020 for funding from October 2020. Grant offer documents will be sent to successful applicants in late September 2020.
Arts Council England’s Culture Recovery Fund
Arts Council England has announced that its new Culture Recovery Fund has opened for applications. The fund makes grants of between £50,000 to £3 million to cultural organisations that were financially stable before Covid-19, but are now at imminent risk of failure.
This funding is available to:
Cultural organisations (both profit and not for profit) based in England that are properly constituted and are registered at Companies House and/or Charity Commission and are able to produce at least one year’s full independently certified or audited financial statements.
Local Authorities, Universities and other Public Sector bodies who run or maintain cultural services can also apply.
For this programme, ‘cultural’ is defined as sitting within the remit of Arts Council England, however Library services are not eligible to apply.
The closing date for applications for round two is 12 midday on the 4th September 2020.
Funding Available for Renewable Energy Projects in Rural Communities
Schools, Parish Councils and other community based organisations in rural England that want to develop renewable energy projects which provide economic and social benefits to their communities, and also make money by selling it back to the grid, can apply for funding through the £10 million Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF). The funding is available to investigate and install green energy; including solar battery storage, wind, hydro and geothermal heat projects. The RCEF provides support in two stages:
- A feasibility grant of up to approximately £40,000 to pay for an initial investigation into the feasibility of a renewable energy project.
- Viable proposal will also be able to apply for further grants of up to £100,000.
The fund is open to applications from:
- Community interest companies
- Schools
- Industrial provident societies such as co-operatives
- Parish councils
- Registered social landlords
- Charities
- Churches
- Sports Clubs
The RCEF funding, which is to be managed by 5 Local Energy Hubs around England, is designed to catapult rural areas into the ‘clean growth’ revolution, helping people living outside urban areas benefit from the income-generating potential of renewable energy.
Each Energy Hub has their own application procedures and timescales. Contact details can be found below.
North East Yorkshire and Humber
- Tees Valley
- North East
- Leeds City Region
- Humber
- Sheffield City Region
- York, North Yorkshire and East Riding
Contact: rcef@teesvalley-ca.gov.uk
North West
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Liverpool City Region
- Cheshire and Warrington
- Lancashire
Contact: RuralCommunityEnergyFundNW@lancashire.gov.uk
Midlands
- Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
- Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
- The Marches
- Worcestershire
- Leicester and Leicestershire
- Black Country
- Coventry and Warwickshire
- Greater Birmingham and Solihull
- Greater Lincolnshire
Contact: michael.gallagher@nottinghamcity.gov.uk
South West
- Swindon and Wiltshire
- West of England
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
- Heart of the South West
- Dorset
- GFirst (Gloucestershire)
- Solent
Contact: swenergyhub@westofengland-ca.gov.uk
South East
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
- New Anglia
- Hertfordshire
- Buckinghamshire Thames Valley
- Oxfordshire
- SEMLEP (South East Midlands)
- Coast to Capital
- South East
- Enterprise M3
- Thames Valley Berkshire
- London
Contact: info@energyhub.org.uk
If you have any doubts over which LEP area you are in, see this map of the LEP Network.
Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000
Funding to Help Museums, Galleries and Cultural Organisations Affected by Coronavirus
UK public museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries and archives can apply for funding to help them respond to immediate challenges connected to the Covid-19 crisis, and to adapt and reimagine ways of working in the future.
Through the Art Fund’s Respond and Reimagine grants, funding of between £10,000 and £50,000 is available to support the priority areas of audiences, collections, adaptable digital skills and infrastructure, and supporting the workforce. Funding can be used to provide immediate practical support connected to reopening such as staffing, equipment, training, or planning for future activities, and to provide opportunities for organisations to help them adapt for the future.
The next deadline for applications in the 12th October 2020.
More than a Pub Funding Programme Re-opens for Applications
Rural and urban communities that wish to take over the ownership of their failing local pub can apply for loan and grant funding as well as business development support through the £2.2 million “More than a Pub” programme.
This is the latest phase of the programme which helped 58 pubs open their doors under community ownership from 2016 to 2020. The programme is run by the Plunkett Foundation and supported by Power to Change.
The programme offers a wide range of support for groups who wish to take ownership of their local pub and run it for the benefit of their local community:
- Expert support in areas such as Business Planning, Community Shares, Legal Structures, Social Impact and Finance
- Opportunities to attend events, workshops, peer-to-peer study visits
- Bursary Grants of up to £2500 for feasibility costs
- A combined Loan and Grant Package of up to £100,000 towards capital costs.
In order to qualify for support through the More than a Pub programme, applicants must be based in England and:
- Want to take ownership of a pub
- Want to open and run a community pub
- Be incorporated or intend to incorporate
- Have a charitable purpose
- Be for the benefit of the public
- Address local needs
- Trade for the benefit of the community
- Run democratically
- Have local support and investors
This new £2.2million round of More than a Pub, makes a range of support and funding available until December 2020
Organisations that meet the programme criteria, please complete the enquiry form. Alternatively, potential applicants can call the programme advice line on 01993 810730 for further information.
Business and Academic Partnerships: Apply for Funding
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 7th October 2020.
Funding opportunities under £25,000
Funding to Support Older People Hardest Hit by the Coronavirus
Grants of between £5,000 and £15,000 are available to registered charities across the UK working with older people hardest hit by the Coronavirus.
Independent Age’s £760,000 Grant Fund will give priority to organisations working with:
- Older people living in particularly complex and challenging situations, such as having 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 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.
Funding should be used to continue to keep these vital services running, providing advice, support, opportunities, and practical help.
Organisations must have an annual income of less than £1 million, with at least one paid member of staff, and should request enough funds to see them through the next six months of delivery.
The closing date for applications in this round is 9am on the 11th September 2020.
Funding to Support Commonwealth Civil Society Organisations Affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commonwealth Foundation is launching a special call for proposals to enable quicker and more efficient support to be delivered to Commonwealth civil society organisations.
Through the Special Grants Call: Covid-19, awards of between £10,000 and £30,000 will be made available to registered, not-for-profit civil society organisations from all Commonwealth Member States to support national initiatives that engage constructively with government to strengthen relevant institutions, policies and practices as communities and countries seek to recover and rebuild.
Applications should relate to one or more aspects of the COVID-19 situation and response.
Possible focus areas might include:
- Research into, and monitoring of, government and civil society responses to the pandemic that aim to identify gaps, weaknesses and good practices that could be used to inform current practice and future policy: including the impact of laws and policies in general, or in relation to specific groups such as women; workers in the informal economy; migrants and refugees or specific issues such as, for example, gender-based violence and access to treatment
- Support to civil society organisations, networks and coalitions to enable more effective engagement with government on development and implementation of policies and plans to address the pandemic in the longer term, or respond to new health emergencies
- Promotion of civil society engagement with national government, private sector, and academic institutions to innovate and develop quality products for vulnerable groups that reduce risks associated with pandemics
- Facilitating multi-stakeholder discussions or bodies (e.g. taskforce) to review and suggest reforms to policies and programs that can better protect vulnerable populations; informal workers; and frontline staff during and after the pandemic
- Awareness raising and other forms of community engagement aimed at improving social and other protections, especially for vulnerable groups in collaboration with national government
- Convening and/or participating in discussions with national government aimed at improving transparency and strengthening institutions, policies, and practices.
Applications can be made from 1pm on the 1st September 2020 until 1pm on the 18th September 2020.
Science and Chemistry Equipment Grants for Schools
Teachers at primary or secondary schools can apply for a grant of up to £1,000 towards the purchase of equipment to support the delivery of Primary Science or Chemistry lessons. Bids are invited for the purchase of items of equipment that cannot be purchased through a school’s mainstream teaching budget and which would enrich the learning experience of students.
The Royal Society of Chemistry aims to support schools in presenting Chemistry lessons that enrich the learning experience of students in either primary (science) or secondary (chemistry) studies. The Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector (BMCS) of the Society awards Enhanced Equipment grants towards the purchase of equipment that supports delivery of the practical aspect of chemistry education. Applications will be enhanced by a demonstration of the diversity of application of the equipment within and between student cohorts.
A teacher at a primary or secondary school should make the application.
The funding is being made available through the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Enhanced Equipment grant scheme and the next deadline for applications is 15th November 2020.
Public Engagement Spark Awards to Re-open in September 2020
The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Public Engagement Spark Awards will re-open for applications on the 9th September 2020.
Awards of up to £15,000 will be available to schools as well as scientists and engineers, museums, science communicators, and amateur astronomy groups, etc to deliver high-quality public engagement activities that focus on a topic within the Council’s remit. This can include:
- astronomy, solar and planetary science,
- particle physics,
- particle astrophysics,
- cosmology,
- nuclear physics
- accelerator science.
Applicants are encouraged to contact the Council’s Public Engagement Team to discuss their ideas in the first instance.
Funding to Encourage Young People to Study Science Subjects
In response to the much publicised skills gap in the British engineering industry, the Ironmongers’ Foundation wishes to support initiatives that encourage talented young people under the age of 25 to study science subjects at school and go on to pursue STEM-related further education or vocational training; particularly in the area of Materials Science.
The funding is available to registered or exempt charities within the UK, with a preference for urban areas outside London and particularly areas in the north and midlands with a manufacturing presence.
Activities must be additional to those funded by government or other sources e.g. covered by school budgets. Applications will not be accepted from schools.
The Foundation prefers to support smaller projects where its contribution can make a real difference.
The next closing date for applications is the 1st December 2020.
Funding for Schools to Purchase Musical Equipment
Schools, teachers and individuals in full time education in the UK, that wish to purchase musical instruments and equipment can apply for funding of up to £1,500 through the Universal Music UK Sound Foundation’s Instrument and/or Equipment Awards.
To date the Foundations (formerly known as the EMI Music Sound Foundation) has made awards to over 7,000 schools, individual students and teachers to improve their access to music resources through the purchase or upgrade of musical instruments and equipment. The funding has to be made for music education that is beyond statutory national curriculum music teaching. The Foundation cannot fund retrospectively, and schools are not eligible for financial assistance under this scheme if they have already purchased their instruments or if they do so before their application has been approved. The Foundation also fund courses and training opportunities for music teachers who work within schools.
The closing date for applications is the 9th September 2020.
Funding to Help Musicians Affected by the Coronavirus
Grants of £3,000 are available to help professional musicians aged 18 and over with no significant backing, who are finding their health, and performance and teaching commitments affected by the Coronavirus.
The Covid-19 round of Help Musicians’ Do It Differently Fund aims to do the following three things:
- Offers a package of support for professional, creative and wellbeing development
- Enable creative independence for music creators who wish to explore working innovatively through digital methods
- Encourage new habits and good practices of sustainable wellbeing
Groups of 6 members or less can also apply.
There will be multiple rounds of the Fund over the next three months, but applications can only be made once. The deadline for applications for this round is 5pm on the 14th September 2020.
Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
The Wingate Foundation has announced that the next deadline to apply is the 9th September 2020.
The Foundation supports projects, institutions and activities in the following areas:
- Jewish Life and Learning – applications are invited from academic institutions specialising in Jewish subjects and from bodies promoting Jewish culture, including museums, libraries and literary publications.
- Performing Arts (excluding music) – financial support for charities with a record of artistic excellence that require additional funding, not available from public sources or commercial sponsorship, to broaden their repertoire or develop work of potentially outstanding interest which cannot be funded from the usual sources.
- Music – support in those areas of music performance and education which do not readily attract backing from commercial sponsors or other funding bodies, or which are not eligible for public funding.
- Medical Research Travel grants – grants of up to £1,000 are available for visits to laboratories for the acquisition of new skills, and for setting up inter-institutional collaborative research
Applications are invited from smaller charitable organisations only; the Trustees will not consider approaches from large charities who are well represented on the High Street or their local branch offices.
Previous projects supported include:
- £5,000 per year for 3 years to Little Angel Theatre as support for Little Angel Studios, a new building dedicated to education, community and outreach work.
- £3,250 to The Voices Foundation for 1-Year Foundation Programme in a cluster of five schools in Essex to ensure that every child irrespective of ability, means or background has access to high quality music education through singing and the use of equipment
- £6,000 a year for three years to Anne Frank Trust UK to fund educational work in three schools.
Applicants need to detail how the funding they are seeking can be used under the constraints of the current HM Govt Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance for the sector.
Grants for the Conservation of Wildlife and the Environment
Monthly grants are made to support the conservation of wildlife and the environment by the HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust. The Trust makes grants of between £250 and £500 (sometimes up to £5,000) to general, environmental and wildlife charities, so long as they are registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales or they are exempt or excepted charities (within the meaning of the Charities Act 2011).
The Trust also make grants to charities which focus on the conservation of wildlife and the environment which are typically in the £1,000 to £2,000 range.
Supported charities will be small in size or be applying for support for a modest project, such that the grant will have a meaningful impact. There are no deadlines, grants may be made towards revenue, capital or project expenditure and email, postal or online applications are accepted.
Funding for the Restoration of Historic Buildings
Not-for-profit organisations, such as charitable incorporated organisations, community interest companies and parish and town councils can apply for grants of up to £350,000 towards the capital costs of restoring redundant or underused historic buildings in Town Centres for the benefit of the local community.
The funding is being made available through the Transformational Project Grants scheme which is administered by the Architectural Heritage Fund and is part of the wider £15 million Transforming Places Through Heritage Programme and support restoration projects that:
- will make a positive impact on the vitality and distinctiveness of the local area.
- include introducing new uses for the building and offering new
- opportunities for local people;
- bringing vacant floor space or whole buildings into use;
- having the potential to act as a catalyst for nearby owners to revitalise their property.
The deadline for applications is the 30th September 2020.
Funding for Music Making Projects for Young People in Challenging Circumstances
Schools as well as other not-for-profit organisations can apply for grants to fund developmental music-making projects for children and young people in challenging circumstances as well as for projects that support the development of the workforce, organisations and the wider music making sector. The funding is being made available through Youth Music, England’s largest children’s music charity, which provides funding for music-making projects.
Youth Making’s funding programme is made up of three separate funds. These are:
- Fund A which offers small grants (£2,000 to £30,000) for high quality music-making projects;
- Fund B offers medium-sized grants (30,001 – £150,000 per year for up to two years) for larger programmes of work.
- Music Education Hub Development Fund
In applying for funding schools will have to justify how the activities to be funded do not duplicate Department of Education funding.
The next closing date for applications to Fund A is the 4th December 2020.
The deadline for submitting an Expression of Interest to Fund B is the 2nd October 2020. For applications successful at this stage the deadline for submitting a full application will be the 4th December 2020.
The Education Hub Development Fund is currently closed and expected to re-open for applications in Autumn 2020.
Disabled applicants that need further support to make an application to Youth Music, can apply to the Access Fund. This provides funding to cover any additional access costs that might be required to make an application to one of Youth Music’s main grant funds. There are no deadlines for this fund as they would coincide with any open funding rounds.
Defra’s Darwin Initiative Announces New Funding Round
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) Darwin Initiative which aims to help developing countries to conserve biodiversity and reduce poverty is now open to applications for three of its programmes.
- Funding of between £50,000 and £500,000 is available for ‘Main Projects’ which tackle key threats to biodiversity in developing countries. Applicant organisations can be based in any country although applications should preferably have a UK connection, consistent with the UK Aid Strategy.
- Funding of around £20,000 to £25,000 is available for ‘Fellowship Awards’ which are aimed at building capacity in developing countries. The host organisation where the individual will carry out the training or research must be in the UK. Applications for Fellowship funding should come from the UK organisation.
- Small grants of up to a maximum of £10,000 are available for ‘Partnership Projects’ which are intended to help organisations who are new to the Darwin Initiative to develop a strong application by establishing new partnerships. Defra would normally expect applications from partnerships involving around 2-4 organisations.
Projects typically try to address threats to biodiversity such as:
- habitat loss or degradation
- climate change
- invasive species
- over-exploitation
- pollution and eutrophication
The deadline for applications for Main Projects is the 1st September 2020. The application deadline for Partnership Projects and Fellowship Awards is the 19th January 2021.
Volant Trust Announces Launch of Covid-19 Response Fund
The Volant Trust has announced that it will open its Covid-19 Response Fund on the 1st August 2020. The Trust will be accepting applications from registered charities, community interest companies, community organisations or social enterprises in the UK and internationally that demonstrate a strong focus on alleviating social deprivation and helping vulnerable groups who have been particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Funding will be available to support running and core costs as well as for medical equipment and the production or distribution of PPE will also be considered.
There are no funding levels indicated at the award of grants will be at the discretion of the Trustees.
The closing date for applications will be the 31st December 2020.
Funding to Help Small Charities and Social Enterprises Recover from the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Fore has launched the second round of their RAFT funding in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to support small charitable organisations and social enterprises as they recover and adapt to the post-lockdown world. The Transition Fund will offer grants of up to £15,000 in two rounds for organisations with an annual turnover of less than £500,000.
The funding can be used
- To adapt their services to meet changing beneficiary needs (for example, setting up a new programme for people experiencing increased stress or isolation)
- To build capacity for increased needs after the acute phase of the crisis has passed (for example, growing or upskilling the staff team in expectation of increased demand)
- To provide immediate services to vulnerable groups (for example, switching the organisation’s work to providing food to the hungry or urgent psychological support for those in distress)
- To switch existing programmes to remote delivery (for example, by purchasing equipment or software for working virtually).
Those charities working with marginalised groups and led by people in the community that have found it hard to access funding in the past are encouraged to apply.
A webinar will be held on the 23rd July 2020 to help with applications.
The closing deadline from successfully registered organisations is 5pm on the 7th September 2020.
Funding to Support Local Health Projects
Specialist healthcare real estate investment trust, Assura, has launched a new Community Fund to support local health projects. Charities, local community groups, social enterprises and CICs can apply for grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 for activities targeted at improving mental and emotional health and wellbeing.
This might include supporting for life challenges that people may experience and providing increased activities and opportunities to learn new skill to enable improved self-confidence, self-esteem and a strong sense of belonging.
Funding will be provided for organisations supporting communities within a 15-mile radius of Assura GP surgeries, primary care and treatment centre buildings around the UK. The fund is managed by the Cheshire Community Foundation.
There is also a specific tranche of funding earmarked for strategic grant giving in Warrington.
The deadline for applications is the 14th September 2020.