Funding Insight Newsletter 30.10.19

Published Wednesday 30 October 2019 at 15:24

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:

Arts Council Funding Finder

National Lottery Grant for Heritage

Big Lottery Fund

Community groups can now access potential grant funding opportunities through the free Blackburn with Darwen Open4Community online search tool.

Register and find out more

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

New fund announced to tackle loneliness

The Government has announced that a new £2 million fund is being launched to help organisations tackle loneliness. The funding aims to support frontline, grassroots organisations that bring people together and help them build social connections. These could include community cafés, street parties, coffee mornings or local walking groups.

The investment will help small organisations promote themselves more widely, help fund the use of suitable venues and accessible transport, and bring established groups together to best serve local people at risk of loneliness.

The funding marks one year since the publication of the Government’s landmark Loneliness Strategy which outlined almost 60 commitments to end loneliness.

This included funding 126 projects through its £11.5 million Building Connections Fund.

Further details on the funding application process, including eligibility and when it will open, will follow in due course.

Find out more

Funding available to celebrate the windrush generation

The UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is inviting applications from charities, schools and community organisations looking to run a community-led project or projects that will celebrate, commemorate and educate communities about the history of the MV Empire Windrush. Projects supported may feature or commemorate those who arrived on the ship, their contemporaries and descendants, and the contribution of the Windrush Generation to British economic, social and cultural life.

The overall aim of each project must be to have a positive impact in at least one of three areas: celebration, commemoration and education. Projects should also aim to improve community cohesion and relations between different groups and may, for example, include:

  • Music and performance arts projects
  • Dominoes tournaments and other relevant community events
  • Quilts, murals and other community arts projects
  • Storytelling projects, collation and sharing of recipes, songs, music, antiques
  • Community street parties, Carnivals & Tea parties
  • Educational events, seminars & lectures
  • Work with schools including assemblies, educational trips and creative project work
  • Scholarships and exchange programmes
  • Religious services
  • Collation & opening of archives and collections
  • Arts installations and exhibitions

A total of £500,000 is available to fund events across the country.

Organisations requiring less than £2,500 should, in the first instance, contact their local authority to request inclusion in a larger bid.

Projects costing more than £25,000 will need to provide match funding; evidence of this will be required on the application form.

The Government encourages schools, libraries and other local authority organisations to submit bids in conjunction with their local authority.

The closing date for applications is the 8th December 2019.

Find out more

Phase two of the community housing fund opens for applications

The fund is making £163m available for affordable homes across England. The Fund is open to a wide range of organisations; including community-led groups that want to deliver new affordable housing schemes. Local authorities and registered housing providers may apply on behalf of community groups to support them through this process.

Phase One of the fund was launched in July, supporting applications for capacity building, pre-development revenue funding and capital funding for local infrastructure projects.

Phase Two bidding is now open for capital grants to fund the costs of acquiring land and building community-led housing schemes.

The Fund will be managed and delivered by Homes England in England (outside London). The Government is working with the Greater London Authority (GLA) to develop a similar scheme in London.

For any questions regarding the Community Housing Fund please email: communityhousingfund@homesengland.gov.uk

Phase Two of the Community Housing Fund is open for applications until the 31st December 2019.  Find out more

£40 million available to develop ideas that could help older people enjoy active lives

Businesses and public sector organisations of any size can now apply for a share of £40 million to develop ideas that could help people to enjoy healthier and more active lives in older age. The number of people in the UK aged over 75 will rise from 1 in 12 today to 1 in 7 by 2040; this rising life expectancy poses significant challenges for health services. Innovate UK, part of UK

Innovate UK has up to £2 million to invest in stage 1 of the Healthy Ageing Trailblazers competition which aims to establish large, multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects that demonstrate new business models and products working at scale to provide new and sustainable services for older people. Up to £38 million could be available during stage 2 to support the development of the best ideas in a series of large projects.

Projects will be funded across the following 7 themes:

  • sustaining physical activity;
  • maintaining health at work;
  • designing for age-friendly homes;
  • managing common complaints of ageing;
  • living well with cognitive impairment;
  • supporting social connections;
  • creating healthy and active places.

Stage 1 projects could range in size up to £100,000 and stage 2 projects up to £6 million. An online briefing event will be held on the 4th October 2019 and the closing date for applications is the 27th November 2019.

Find out more

Grants available to tackle social challenges in developing countries

Organisations can apply for a share of up to £9.3 million to trial innovations that tackle global societal challenges in low-income and emerging economies. The fund aims to encourage UK businesses to work with overseas partners to develop innovations that could transform lives in countries that receive overseas development assistance.

The Global Challenges Research Fund is split into 2 phases:

1. Phase 1 is for feasibility studies.

2. Phase 2 is for demonstrators.

In phase 1, project teams will investigate the feasibility of a demonstration project in a country that receives development assistance and build partnerships in that country. Successful projects will be able to apply for phase 2 funding to work with at least one partner in the relevant country on research and development and trials.

The maximum grant for phase 1 feasibility studies will be £60,000.

The deadline for applications is 12 midday on the 13th November 2019.

Find out more

National lottery community fund announces new £7.5 million fund

The National Lottery Community Fund has announced that it will be making a special £7.5 million pot of funding available to mark The National Lottery’s 25th birthday.

The fund, CelebrateNationalLottery25, will help communities celebrate the extraordinary impact the National Lottery has had since its launch in November 1994. Thanks to National Lottery players, £40 billion has been raised for good causes so far, funding over half a million (565,000) projects across the UK.

The #CelebrateNationalLottery25 funding will support activity designed to bring people and communities together all over the UK. Up to £2 million will be made available this year in small grants of up to £1,000. The remainder will be released to the sector through the Fund’s National Lottery Awards for All programme.

#CelebrateNationalLottery25 will be open to applications in November, with further details to come on how to apply.

Find out more

Funding opportunities between £25,000 and £100,000

Funding for capital projects in secondary schools and sixth form colleges

From the 1st December 2019, secondary schools and colleges that have reached a level of excellence will be eligible to apply for a grant towards the cost of capital projects through the Wolfson Foundation’s Funding for secondary schools & sixth form colleges programme. Secondary schools and Sixth form colleges are eligible to apply for grants of between £15,000 and £100,000.

The Wolfson Foundation’s Secondary Education Programme is primarily dedicated to supporting the teaching of A-Levels and GCSEs at high-achieving state-funded schools and sixth form colleges. The Foundation funds capital projects and in the past allocated approximately £1.75 million each year to new build, refurbishment or equipment projects related to the teaching of science and technology

Schools and colleges that have reached a level of excellence determined by a combination of criteria, but mainly through the receipt of an outstanding Ofsted assessment (or regional equivalent) are eligible to apply.

Note: Special schools or special colleges should visit the Funding for special schools and colleges area of the Foundation’s website for grant opportunities.

Awards made in 2018 include:

  • Biddulph High School, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: £50,000 for New servers and network equipment
  • Silverdale School, Sheffield, South Yorkshire: £50,000 towards a New science laboratory
  • Shoreham Academy, West Sussex: £35,000 for IT equipment for music and art

There is a two-stage application process. Stage 1 applications are submitted online, via the online portal for applications. Please note applicants will need to register an account before starting an online application.

Stage 2 applications will be via invitation only.

Find out more

Funding for special schools and colleges

Special needs schools and colleges can apply for grants of between £15,000 and £75,000 through the Wolfson Foundation’s Funding for Special Schools and Colleges grants programme. The funding is available for projects that are focused towards helping pupils to develop skills which would help them to gain employment or live independently after leaving school or college.

The funding covers capital costs such a buildings and equipment.

The applicant organisation should meet all of the following criteria:

  • be a registered charity, local authority
  • be registered with the relevant regulatory authority, where applicable, and have at least a good rating

The project should be for a new building, refurbishment work or equipment and aim to produce one or more of the following outcomes:

  • Increased access to services for new and existing users
  • Improved quality and range of services
  • Improved financial stability of the organisation

Previous projects supported include:

  • a grant of £16,000 to the Lindsworth School in Birmingham for the refurbishment of an on-site house for Independent Living Skills programme;
  • a grant of £25,000 to BeyondAutism for the Redevelopment of Rainbow School’s Earlsfield Campus, South London; and
  • Victoria School and Specialist Arts College in Birmingham which received a grant of £35,000 towards a Food Technology Room.

Projects requesting £50,000 or more need to have matched funding in place.

There is a 2-stage application process and the next stage 1 closing date is the 5th January 2020.

Applications successful at this stage will have until the 1st March 2020 to complete the stage 2 application.

Find out more

Funding to help communities to give historic buildings a new lease of life

Grants of up to £30,000 are available for projects that support people, communities and organisations to take ownership, to repair and to adapt historic buildings and places for new sustainable uses.  The funding is available to cover the costs of developing and co-ordinating a project and take it towards the start of work on site. The grants are for project development costs only and not for on-site capital works.

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 funding is being made available through the Architectural Heritage Fund Project Development Grant and the next closing date for applications is the 10th February 2020.

Find out more

Nationwide Building Society community grants

Charities and other local organisations in the South West, South East, London, Central and East of England can apply for grants of up to £50,000 for projects to address local housing issues.

Support is available for housing projects that seek to help the most vulnerable; for example, helping people to keep their homes in difficult times; or working to ensure people thrive within their home environment.

Projects that have previously been supported include refurbishing derelict and empty homes in South East Cornwall and providing housing support to the homeless in Cambridge.  The funding is being made available by the Nationwide Building Society’s Community Grants programme.

So far the programme has awarded almost £4.2 million to more than 100 local housing projects across the UK. The projects have been driven by local housing needs and chosen by local members and range from refurbishing derelict and empty homes in South East Cornwall for local communities to providing housing support to the homeless in Cambridge.

For any questions, please email social.investment@nationwide.co.uk

The closing date for applications is the 22nd November 2019.

Find out more

Grants of up to £100,000 available to build the capacity of small international development charities

The Department for International Development (DFID) is making grants of up to £100,000 available to organisations with the ability to build the capacity of small British charities working in international development.

The grants are available to UK-registered not-for-profit organisations or groups of UK-registered not-for-profit organisations with an annual income of less than £10million. Up to six Small Charities Challenge Fund Capacity Development Grants will be awarded to innovative, evidence based and ambitious proposals from organisations with a track record of supporting small, grassroots organisations to achieve their ambitions.

Projects can last for up to two years.

To be eligible the charities need to be operating in countries that are listed in the lowest 50 countries in the UN Human Development Index (HDI) and countries the UK Department for International Development (DFID) considers to be of high or moderate fragility.

The closing date for applications is Thursday 28th November 2019.

Find out more

Funding opportunities under £25,000

OneFamily Foundation Community awards

The OneFamily Foundation has announced the next round of Community Grants will re-open for applications on the 29th October 2019. Through the Community Grants Programme OneFamily customers can nominate local groups, charities and good causes for a Community Award of £5,000.

The grants can be used towards:

  • A project aiming to teach members of the community vital skills such as First Aid or lifesaving, improve fitness levels, reduce isolation and loneliness etc.
  • To purchase items for community use, such as play equipment, sports equipment, safety equipment, furniture items for communal spaces, learning resources, defibrillators etc.
  • Funding towards the cost of running a charity/cause such as homeless charities, soup kitchens, befriending services, support groups, advice services and hospices.
  • To pay for equipment or building alterations for disabled users, specialist software to help the visually impaired or those with additional learning needs, essential community building repairs, to improve local facilities etc.
  • To set up a new club/group/class to provide a service or support to the community. This could include venue hire, paying for a specialist group leader and purchasing equipment/resources.
  • To revamp/restore public areas such as playgrounds, playing fields, woodland areas, community gardens etc.
  • To contribute towards the costs of running a community event.
  • To provide access to provisions that will improve wellbeing, such as a hydrotherapy pool, outdoor gym equipment or learning resources.

Nominations are checked to make sure they meet the Foundation’s terms and conditions, and all eligible nominations will be entered into a computerised draw.

In addition, the Foundation makes Personal Grants and Young Person’s Education grants of up to £500 to meet individual needs.

Nominations will close on the 5th November 2019.

Find out more

Grants of up to £5,000 available for local community projects

The Charities Aid Foundation has announced that the Tourle Foundation Fund is open for applications. 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 £75,000
  • have charitable aims and objectives
  • operate within the UK
  • complete the project a year from the date of the award.

An example would be a charitable organisation set up by the community in a village, providing services to older people in isolation; a small community group on an estate providing drop in sessions for teenagers etc.

The closing date for applications is midnight on the 11th November 2019.

Find out more

Grants available to small charities and community groups for projects that increase physical activities

Localgiving has once again partnered with the Postcode Community Trust to offer grants of £500 to small charities and community groups across the UK through its Magic Little Grants Fund.

Grants will be awarded to projects that meet either of the following themes:

  • Overcoming barriers to participation in physical activities in creative ways
  • Increasing social cohesion through developing access to sports and other recreational activities

Grants can be used to support the general running costs of new and existing sports and physical activities. For example, this could include:

  • Facilities hire
  • Kit & equipment
  • Coaching qualifications
  • Other volunteer expenses

The fund is open to Localgiving registered charitable organisations operating within Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland)  that are running or planning to run a project that will encourage people to engage in some form of physical activity to help to improve their physical and mental health and well-being.

Organisations that are not already a member of Localgiving are required to complete the Localgiving registration process before completing the application. Those awarded a grant will also receive an annual Local Giving membership worth £96.

The following criteria apply:

  • Organisations must either be in their first year of operation or have an annual income under £250,000.
  • Preference will be given to projects that encourage social cohesion and help vulnerable people to overcome barriers to participation in physical activities.
  • Funding can be used to launch new projects, support existing ones, or cover core costs associated with ongoing work

Previous grantees included:

  • The 2000 Club, a disability focused sports group in Heston
  • London Exercise Group for Stroke (LEGS)

The application process is open until the 30th November 2019.

Find out more

Equipment grants for youth clubs

Variety, the Childrens Charity, has grants of £250 to £600 available to youth organisations that are affiliated to either Ambition, UK Youth or the or National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs. The grants can be used to buy equipment to provide challenging activities that engage young people aged 8-18 and provide them with alternatives to becoming involved in the anti-social behaviour that often stems from boredom and peer pressure.

On occasion, applications for improvement of youth club premises, refurbishment of existing equipment or facilities will also be considered.

Applicants have to raise some of the funds and applications that have young people involved in the fund raising will be looked upon favourably.

There are no deadlines when applying and applications can be made at any time.

Find out more

TDS charitable foundation

The TDS Charitable Foundation aims to improve private rented housing standards. Through its grants programme, the Foundation is looking to support bids that promote knowledge of inexperienced landlord’s obligations or tenant’s rights and responsibilities. Charitable organisations including housing associations and community interest companies (CIC’s) can apply for projects that will help to educate inexperienced landlords about the obligations of being a private landlord and which will help educate tenants about their rights and responsibilities.

The maximum grant available is £10,000 per project.

Previous projects supported include:

  • 4 the community – a project to extend and improve the information, education, and support available to Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) tenants in Rhyl.
  • Cardiff Tenants and Residents Federation – a tenant education programme that specifically informs tenants about the key differences about renting in Wales, as well as wider rights and responsibilities.

The next application deadline for applications to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) Charitable Foundation is 5pm on the 20th January 2020.

Find out more

Funding for community based projects

The Hilden Charitable Fund awards grants of an average of £5,000 to causes working at community level in the UK and developing countries which are less likely to be able to raise funds from public subscriptions.

Current UK funding priorities are:

  • Homelessness
  • Penal Affairs
  • Asylum Seekers and Refugees
  • Community-Based initiatives for Disadvantaged Young People Aged 16 to 25.

Overseas, Hilden concentrates on projects in developing countries working on community development, education, and health and particularly welcomes those that address the needs and potential of girls and women.

Only applications submitted on the form supplied on the website will be considered.

Projects funded in 2018 included:

  • Community based initiatives for disadvantaged young people (aged 16-25) such as The Furniture Recycling Project, Gloucestershire and Watford Citizens Advice Bureau for their apprentice scheme
  • Projects helping destitute refuges such as Azadi Trust Birmingham and the Destitution Project Bolton

Hilden accepts applications at any time but the closing date for applications to be considered at the January / February meeting of Trustees is the 11th December 2019.

Find out more

Architectural heritage fund – project viability fund

Grants of up to £7,500 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 closing date for applications in this round is the 10th February 2020.

Find out more

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 £1,000 (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.

Find out more

Funding for community gardens

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to community groups in England and Wales to create a garden or similar project (such as an allotment) with a horticultural focus for the benefit of their local community.

These projects should aim to bring a community together by being a space people can share, by the acquisition and sharing of gardening knowledge and skills and by inspiring a love of gardening.

Funding could cover, for example site preparation (including hire of small mechanical tools such as rotavators), hand tools, plants, trees, shrubs, containers and seating.

Previous projects supported include:

  • Echo – Leominster – Horticulture for those with physical, sensory or mental health needs. (Grant awarded – £2,667)
  • Ashley Vale Action Group – Bristol – To create a community garden. (Grant awarded – £2,785)
  • Kyra Women’s Project – York – to create a sensory garden for Women experiencing loneliness or in crisis. (Grant awarded -£800)
  • St Ann’s Allotments – Nottingham -To renovate dilapidated allotments. (Grant awarded -£2,000)

The funding is being made available through the National Garden Scheme Community Gardens Award and the closing date for applications is the 31st December 2019.

Find out more

£1 million available to help rough sleepers this winter

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are providing up to £1 million of the Cold Weather Fund to Homeless link to administer funding to charitable organisations that are not commissioned by local authorities. The project’s overall aim is to financially support local providers in helping people sleeping rough off the streets this winter.

Grants of up to £25,000 are available to frontline organisations who are working to help end rough sleeping, who can demonstrate how grant funding will reduce rough sleeping and offer longer-term solutions from people sleeping rough accessing these shelters, by supporting moves into accommodation, and sustainable longer-term accommodation for those moving off the streets. Applicants much be registered charities/CIOs.

Proposals must demonstrate how they will help end rough sleeping.

Grants must be for one or both of two purposes:

  1. To provide additional accommodation to rough sleepers during the period 1st December 2019 to 31st March 2020. By additional we mean additional to what is already being commissioned by the local authority. This can be either shelter beds or other accommodation.
  2. To enhance the support provided in or complementary to existing commissioned shelter beds to reduce the level of returns to the street for people sleeping rough accommodated in shelters and to help secure long-term move-on from shelters.

As part of this latter strand Homeless Link will consider applications for training and workforce development or provision for Day Centres to extend provision to integrate services with local shelters, personalised budgets for people sleeping rough or similar activities that enhance the quality of support provided in shelters or the chances of achieving good move on outcomes from shelters.

Bids should seek to offer longer-term solutions for people sleeping rough accessing shelters, by supporting moves into accommodation, and sustainable longer-term accommodation for those moving off the streets.

Bids will be strongly prioritised if they seek to provide support for specific groups such as vulnerable women, LGBT, couples, or pet owners.

Larger grants up to £50,000 may be considered for projects working across multiple authorities.

The closing date for applications is the 6th December 2019.

Find out more

Community led homes start-up support programme

The Start-Up Support Programme is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and delivered by Community Led Homes. The aim is to help groups of local people to develop their own community led housing solutions. Grants are awarded to support the earliest stages of a community led housing group’s development i.e. to explore options and enable community led housing solutions to become a reality. Revenue grants typically fund pre-development costs so that projects can complete the Group, Site and Plan stages to make sure they are ready to start on site or acquire properties.

Up to £4,000 is available for i.e. to cover costs incurred during the early stages of a project’s development e.g. community engagement costs such as room hire, volunteer expenses, staff expenses, legal fees to incorporate the group, travel costs to see other community led housing projects, training course fees and the costs of hiring a professional to undertake site valuations and surveys.

Up to £6,000 is available to cover support costs are only available to groups where:

  • There is no Community Led Housing Enabling Hub operating in the area.
  • The group requires start-up support that falls outside the skillset of the Hub.
  • The Hub considers the group to be at too early a stage or needs additional support.
  • The group would like to work with a community led housing advisor of their own choice.

One to one support from Hubs is available.   Applicants can find out if an enabling hub exists in your area here. Some Hubs have been allocated funding from the Community Housing Fund, to pay for local community led housing advisors to provide 1:1 start up support, to help groups to shape and progress their projects through the early stage.

Eligible groups will be:

  • based in England;
  • exploring community-led options;
  • looking to create some permanently affordable housing to meet local housing needs;
  • at an early stage in the project’s development;
  • looking for revenue funding;
  • established for charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes;
  • have a membership of five or more members who are not related and who are all living at different dwellings, including three committee members who are not related and who are all living at different dwellings.

The available funding must be committed by March 2020 and applications will close mid-February 2020 (or when the fund is fully committed).

Find out more

Active communities programme now open

The Health Lottery has announced that it is seeking applications for funding through the Active Communities Programme in specific areas of the North West of England.

Health Lottery North West is part of the People’s Health Trust’s Active Communities programme which provides grant funding of between £5,000 and £25,000 per year (for up to two years) for projects designed and led by local people which target areas most affected by health inequalities.

Projects will be small and local and could cover a few streets, a housing estate or a small village. The programme also supports Communities of Interest. These are groups of people who have things in common and wish to come together to address something that is important to them. These ideas could be based in one neighbourhood or cover a wider area but they must live close enough to each other to meet up regularly.

Projects that are applying as a community of interest, please contact the Active Communities Programme before completing the online application form. This is because the application process is slightly different for communities of interest. Applicants can either call the Active Communities programme on 020 7749 9100, or request a call back or email.

Projects can last for between twelve months and two years and will make neighbourhoods better places to grow, live, work and age.

Projects previously funded include:

  • A group for local older and younger people to get together in a local area and do activities together (for example craft, technology, history)
  • A group for adults to learn English and enterprise skills connected to sewing
  • A local magazine written by and for the benefit of disabled people, giving information and calling for action on matters affecting disabled people locally
  • A community cafe created and run by single parents as a space to meet, seek support and socialise
  • A peer support group for families with disabled children
  • A tenant’s action group for people living on an estate

The deadline to apply is 1pm on the 20th November 2019.

Find out more

Grants to support canoeing and inland waterway conservation

The main purpose of the Canoe Foundation is to “support all to enjoy and benefit from the experience of paddling on our water in a sustainable manner”. The Foundation does this through grant making that facilitates improvements to suitable landing and launching points and by promoting the conservation of inland waterways for the benefit of all sectors of the community.

The Foundation awards grants to projects that:

  • Increase and protect public access points, steps or platforms
  • Improve the suitability of launching and landing sites, to and alongside water, for all sectors of the community

The Foundation invites applications for grants ranging from £2,000 to £10,000; although grants typically range between £2,500 and £5,000.

The next closing date for applications is the 28th February 2020.

Find out more

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.

For 2018/2019 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 the 31st January 2020.

Find out more

Overseas development grants for uk-based charities

The Philip Henman Trust awards grants to major UK-based charities (with annual incomes of over £100,000) for long-term overseas development projects that require funding for between three and five years. The Trust awards a total of £25,000 as grants of between £3,000 and £5,000 per project per annum and expects this figure to represent 20 – 80% of the overall project costs.

Successful applicants will have demonstrated that the project will provide lasting benefit for the people and communities supported.

Previous awards have been made to:

  • Cool Earth to provide safe sanitation for indigenous rainforest villages in Papua New Guinea;
  • Point Foundation to support community-based living for the disabled in Rwanda; and
  • Just a Drop, a school’s water and sanitation project in Kenya.

Applications are considered once a year.  The next closing date for applications is the 10th September 2020.

Find out more

Funding for projects that tackle the root causes of social inequity

The Charity supports a wide range of charitable projects with an emphasis on social reform and tackling the root causes of social inequity. The charity favours causes that are outside the mainstream, and unlikely to be funded by other charities. Typically, grants are between £1,000 and £5,000.

The charity runs three funding programmes:

  • Yorkshire. Trustees give priority to applicants working in the Yorkshire region. Your organisation needs not be based in the region but the project itself must directly benefit the Yorkshire community. We fund national charitable organisations ONLY if the project is specifically working in the Yorkshire region, with clear evidence of local control and access to the grant.
  • Southern Africa, particularly Zimbabwe.
  • Projects that have applied to the Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust because they meet the AWRT’s broad objectives to work for a just and democratic society and to redress political and social injustices, but have not been able to proceed with an application to that Trust because they are eligible for charitable funding.

Previous organisations supported include:

  • The Boaz Trust a Christian organisation serving destitute asylum seekers in Greater Manchester which received a grant of £2,000.
  • The Grandparents Association in Leeds which received a grant of £4,800.

Organisations applying do not have to be a charity, but its work must satisfy the Charity Commission’s definition of charitable purposes and public benefit.

The next closing date for grant application to the Scurrah Wainright Charity is the 14th January 2020.

Find out more

Grants of up to £1,000 available for projects that improve the wellbeing of children

Grants of up to £1,000 are available to registered charities and non-profit organisations who work to improve the education and physical and emotional wellbeing of children.

Applicants applying for funding may focus on one or more of these areas:

  • Living in Poverty
  • Physical & Mental Health Problems
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Living with Disability

Examples of grants awarded in the past include:

  • £500 Clydesdale Hockey Club – for coaching and equipment costs for primary school hockey competitions in Greater Glasgow
  • £1,000 Shadwell Community Project – to develop its outdoor play space which is used by children and young people from deprived areas in the local community

The next closing date for applications is 5pm on the 18th November 2019.

Find out more

Funding of up to £20,000 available to develop citizen science

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will be launching a new £400,000 fund to encourage researchers and innovators to experiment with citizen science. Citizen science is an important way in which diverse groups of people can participate and collaborate in research and innovation.

Potential successful projects (but not limited to) might include:

  • Exploring options for crowdsourced data collection
  • Small pilots to test whether working with volunteers to analyse existing datasets can add value to the project
  • Open/inclusive innovation –exploring options for companies and researchers to involve those who will benefit from the research in the development and testing of products
  • Collaboration with communities to test approaches to co-designing research questions
  • Digital innovation pilots in citizen science, with a focus on testing or extending the functionality of existing tools
  • Exploring innovative approaches that focus on removing the barriers to public participation in research such as overcoming the challenges of volunteer management

Up to 20 successful applicants will receive up to £20,000 of funding to explore opportunities for building citizen science methodologies into their research.  Lead partners must be active UKRI grant holders.

The fund will open for application on the 1st October 2019 and close for applications on the 12th November 2019.

Find out more

This site uses cookies. Find out more about this site’s cookies.