Funding Insight update 27.02.19

Published Wednesday 27 February 2019 at 13:56

Blackburn with Darwen Open4Community

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

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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 to improve teaching in schools

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has launched a new funding round. EEF targets funding at high-potential projects that are cost effective, have a measurable impact on attainment and can be scaled up to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children and young people aged 3 – 18 in schools and education settings across England.

This Round is open to ideas on a range of topics, however, of particular interest are projects that maintain or improve pupil outcomes while reducing teacher workload. For example, this could include:

  • Approaches to marking and assessment that improve the efficiency of the process without decreasing its impact
  • Testing models of professional development that effectively influence teacher practice without requiring substantial teacher time

EEF has funded a large number of trials on primary literacy teaching and will only consider new proposals in this area by exception if they would generate significant contributions to the existing evidence base.

Any organisation working in schools and other educational settings i.e. further education colleges, mainstream primary and secondary schools, special schools, early years settings, charities, local authorities, academy chains, universities, social enterprises and businesses; etc. can apply.

No minimum or maximum size of grant is set, however, past EEF grants have ranged from £90,000 to £1.5m. Grant requests should be commensurate with the nature and scale of the project and with the applicant’s organisations capacity to ensure its successful delivery. Round 15 (Summer 2019) closes on Friday, 28th June 2019.

Further information can be found on the Education Endowment Foundation website

Funding for the expansion of Selective State Schools

The Department for Education has announced that it has launched a second funding round under its Selective Schools Expansion Fund (SSEF).  Up to £50 million is available in 2019/20.  Local Authorities and Academy Trusts can use the funding to support the expansion of selective state funded schools where:

  • there is a need for additional places, both in terms of a shortfall of secondary places in the local area and a demand from parents for more selective places; and
  • they have ambitious but deliverable plans for increasing access for disadvantaged pupils (by which we mean pupils eligible for the pupil premium), and
  • they have plans to work with other local schools to increase access for disadvantaged pupils and to raise attainment.

Proposals must be for an enlargement of the physical capacity of a school’s buildings, and must also increase the school’s published admission numbers.

The SSEF is open to applications from LAs and academy trusts that want to apply for capital funding to support the expansion of fully selective or partially selective LA maintained schools or academies that:

  • select all or part of their intake on the basis of general academic ability;
  • have a good or outstanding Ofsted rating; and
  • have a Progress 8 score of at least the national average

The Department for Education expects all projects to show that they are appropriately costed and respond to the project need.  Applicants should make use of all funding sources available, such as loans and local contributions when putting together their funding package proposal.  The closing date for applications is 12 noon on the 23rd April 2019.

Further information can be found on the GOV.UK website

Heritage Impact Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced the launch of its new £ 7 million Heritage Impact Fund.  The Heritage Impact Fund is a partnership between the Architectural Heritage Fund, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland and Rathbone Greenbank Investments.

The fund offers tailored loan finance of between £25,000 and £500,000 for up to three years to charities, social enterprises and community businesses across the UK seeking to acquire, reuse or redevelop buildings of historical or architectural importance.

To apply, applicants must be a formally constituted and incorporated charity, community business or social enterprise whose members have limited liability.

Applicants should in the first instance speak to a member of the AHF’s Investment Team for advice and guidance. If the project is one which the AHF would like to support, applicants will be encouraged to apply and then supported throughout the application process throughout. Applications can be made at any time.

Further information can be found on the Architectural Heritage Fund website

Funding for the development and refurbishment of football facilities

The Football Foundation’s Premier League & the FA Facilities Fund is open for applications.

The Premier League & the FA Facilities Fund, which is available to football clubs, schools, councils and local sports associations, is focused on supporting the development of new or refurbished local football facilities, and replaces the previous Facilities Scheme, Build the Game and the Premier League Community Facility Fund.

The Premier League & the FA Facilities Fund gives grants of between £10,000 and £500,000 for projects that:

  • Improve facilities for football and other sport in local communities
  • Sustain or increase participation amongst children and adults, regardless of background age, or ability
  • Help children and adults to develop their physical, mental, social and moral capacities through regular participation in sport.

The types of facilities the Football Foundation give money for include:

  • Grass pitches drainage/improvements
  • Pavilions, clubhouses and changing rooms
  • 3G Football Turf Pitches (FTPs) and multi-use games areas
  • Fixed floodlights for artificial pitches.

Priority for applications involving professional club community programmes will be given to projects that are located within areas of high deprivation (as defined by the Governments Indices of Deprivation). For projects outside of these areas, priority will be given to those that can demonstrate that it draws a significant proportion of its participants from neighbouring deprived areas.

Schemes that are a joint application between professional club community schemes and grassroots football will be prioritised, as will those supporting 3G FTPs. Applicants must be able to demonstrate that all available options for match funding have been exhausted and to be able to provide evidence for this. As a guide, projects would normally be expected to secure 50% match funding although each project will be assessed based on individual circumstances.

The Football Foundation strongly recommends that applicants use the pre-application advice offered on their behalf by The FA and the network of County FAs around England.

Further information can be found on the Football Foundation website

Building Resilient Local Economies

The next deadline for applications to the Friends Provident Foundation – Building Resilient Economies programme is 12 noon on the 23rd April 2019.

The programme aims to build a more resilient, fairer and sustainable economic system. Organisations working within the UK who want to help transform financial systems into ‘engines for social benefit’ can apply for grants through the Foundation.  Grants in the past have been up to £200,000 to cover capital or revenue funding, core costs or project costs. Activities funded will fit closely with the aims of the Foundation and deliver one of two key outcomes.

These are ‘Systems Change’ and ‘Local economic resilience’.

Under ‘Systems Change’ the Foundation will be looking to support projects that develop and demonstrate methods that will effectively change policy and corporate behaviours in pursuit of wider social objectives.

Under ‘Local economic resilience’ the Foundation is looking to support projects that share learning about effective ways for communities to create more sustainable economic systems and retain more of the value generated. This might include creating community assets or new approaches to local finance.

Previous organisations supported include:

  • SUSTAIN, which received a grant of £75,000 for a concerted three-year campaign, drawing on the support of many people and organisations to achieve changes in government policy and industry practice to create a million good jobs though better farming and land-use.
  • ECHO, a trading network of over 500 organisations in East London that uses time as the currency, rather than money. This project received a grant of £140,000 and aims to develop and refine the infrastructure for local, sustainable Echo systems at national scale.

Further information can be found on the Friends Provident Foundation website

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

Grants available for charities working with older people

The Dunhill Medical Trust offers two funding schemes for community-based organisations which work directly with older people who need some form of extra support to make everyday living that bit easier:

Project Grants cover applications of between £5,000 – £40,000 for time-limited projects which focus on the development of care and support services for older people which are innovative and/or based on evidence of best practice and which can become self-sustaining within a planned period. Priority will be given to services which are focused on older people, enhance existing mainstream services and which are not currently funded by statutory organisations elsewhere in the UK.  The Trust will expect the beneficiary organisation to have a robust plan to create the ongoing revenue to maintain the service as the charitable funding diminishes and to have processes in place to ensure minimum disruption to the beneficiaries in implementing these plans. Grants can support up to 36 months work.

Building and Infrastructure Grants of between £5,000 and £100,000 are awarded for the provision of accommodation /developments in the built environment for older people to enhance and maintain their health, well-being and independence and/or specific pieces of equipment or furnishings which can be used for the care and support of individuals. Priority will be given to care facilities which are focused specifically on older people and where it has not been possible to obtain the necessary funding from statutory organisations. The beneficiary organisation is required to give a written commitment to bear the revenue costs of the environment and/or equipment, including its maintenance and staffing.

Applications can only be considered from organisations or groups which are charitable as defined by UK charity law. This includes UK registered charities and relevant exempt charities. The next deadline to apply for both grant streams is 29th March 2019 at 17.00.

Further information can be found on the Dunhill Medical Trust website

Funding for Business and Academic Partnerships

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 3rd April 2019.

Further information can be found on the Gov.UK website

Funding for Rural Community and Education Projects

The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust, which supports charities in the UK working in agriculture, rural development and insurance, has announced that the next closing date for applications is the 31st May 2019.

Trustees are particularly interested in funding larger initiatives, which would have a significant impact on the rural community. The Trustees are particularly interested in initiatives in the areas of education of young people in rural areas and relief of poverty within rural areas.

Grants of between £1,000 and £50,000 are available. In 2016, the Trust made donations totalling £256,500 to a total of 15 organisations.

Projects supported in the past include:

Farms for City Children, which aims to expand the horizons of children from towns and cities by offering them a week in the countryside living together in one of their farms and the Royal Highland Education Trust which aims to create an opportunity for each child in Scotland to experience the countryside and to facilitate a wider understanding of the environmental, economic and social realities of rural Scotland. Its key activities include farm visits, classroom speaker visits and a number of high-profile national competition.

The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust also provides small grants of up to £250 through the NFU Mutual’s Community Giving Fund which supports worthwhile community events, charities, schools and community group activities that are local to their operations.

Further information can be found on the NFU Mutual website

Funding to help regenerate Historic Buildings

The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) which supports the conservation and regeneration of historic buildings has announced that the next closing date for applications to its Project Development Grant scheme (up to £30,000) is 9am the 23rd April 2019.

Charities, not for profit companies, CICs, Parish and Town councils can apply for funding to assist with the costs of developing and coordinating a project which helps to find a sustainable use for a historic building and takes it towards the start of work on site.

The grants are intended to support project development costs only and not for on-site capital works. The AHF also makes Project Viability Grants (PVG) of up to £7,500 to fund studies to look at potential uses for a building and at its current condition.

  • Cywaith Legacy Fund of up to £30,000 which is open to community-led organisations operating Gwynedd, Anglesey and Conwy to find sustainable new uses for historic buildings.
  • Scottish Community Development Grant (SCDG) which provides grants of up to £50,000 for community led projects.

Further information can be found on the Architectural Heritage Fund website

Grants to support Children’s Health and Education

The next deadline to apply to the DM Thomas Foundation Central Grants Programme is the 7th May 2019. The Foundation distributes a total of around £200,000 per quarter.

Grants of up to £30,000 are available per year for up to two years to registered charities for projects that improve education and health for young people in three key areas:

  • Children and young people with disabilities
  • Children and young people who are sick in hospital
  • Children and young people who are life limited (requiring palliative care)

The Foundation is a small charity and generally will not make awards of over £30,000 (per year). Funding can be requested for one-off projects or for up to 2 years work.

Applications from schools and hospitals are welcomed as long as they are made through an appropriate registered charity.

Further information can be found on the DM Thomas Foundation website

Funding to support education in disadvantaged areas

Grants are available to support schools and registered charities that wish to undertake educational work with children and young people in disadvantaged areas.

The British & Foreign Schools Society (BFSS) normally makes grants for educational projects totalling about £600,000 in any one year. The majority (85% of grants) are made to charities and educational bodies (with charitable status). Schools wishing to apply need to have either charitable status or “exempt charity” status.

Previous projects supported include:

  • Teens and Toddlers, a charity based in Southwark London received a grant of £19,500 towards the cost of two 18-week youth development programmes to help raise the aspirations of at risk young people.
  • The Afghan Association Paiwand received a grant of £33,240 for a new Saturday school in the deprived area of Colindale, North London which focus on maths and English in partnership with local authorities and mainstream schools.
  • The Sensory Trust received a grant of £3,000 for a project aimed at developing sensory nature tools for schools aimed at students with learning disabilities

The next closing date for applications is the 8th April 2019.  For further information on the types of grants awarded by BFSS both in the UK and internationally, please click here

The Society also offers a small number of grants for organisations and individuals through its Subsidiary Trusts.  Eligibility criteria depend on area of residence and/or particular field of educational activity.

Further information can be found on the British & Foreign School Society website

Funding opportunities under £25,000

Veterans’ Community Centres

A £3 million funding programme to fund renovations and improvements to veterans’ community centres has been launched by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.

Grants of up to £30,000 are available to fund renovations, refurbishments and improvements to existing community centres being used by veterans. A small number of grants of up to £150,000 will be made to more complex projects.

Eligible organisations will be Charities or Community Interest Companies supporting the armed forces community that own or have a long lease on an existing community centre used by veterans that is in need of renovation, refurbishment or improvement.

There will be three rounds of funding; and applications for the first round need to be received by 11th March 2019.

Case study from a previous scheme:

The Royal British Legion Grangemouth Branch received a grant of £20,000 through the Armed Forces Covenant Local Grants programme, to refurbish the building, improve the electrics and make the building more accessible for people with disabilities.

Further information can be found on the Armed Forces Covenant Fund website

Al Madad Foundation

The Al Madad Foundation which works to empower some of the world’s most vulnerable children by providing safe spaces to heal, learn and grow has launched its first call for proposals which will focus on the topic of Education.

Grants of up to £20,000 for up to three years are available to registered charities for projects that support the development and improvement of educational experiences of refugee and displaced children in Lebanon.

The overall objective of this call for proposals (call) is to identify initiatives in support of the development and improvement of educational experiences of refugee and displaced children in Lebanon. A broad range of initiatives will be considered, but preference will be given to:

  • Capacity building within local civil society organisations in order to tailor creative and innovative alternative education opportunities for refugee children.
  • Identification and introduction of wellbeing schemes for introduction into existing educational bodies and structures supporting refugee and displaced children.
  • Research around current education schemes implemented with Syrian refugee children and the extent of their impact after 8 years of conflict.

Successful applications will be selected based on their creativity, innovation and ability to add value to the efforts of Al Madad Foundation in providing the best possible foundation from which refugee and displaced children can begin to rebuild their futures.

Applicants need to have an income of between £5,000-£500,000 and at least three years’ continuous accounts to be eligible to apply.

The deadline for submitting concept notes is midnight GMT on Monday, 18th March 2019.  Applicants successful at this stage will have until midnight on the 20th May 2019 to submit full applications.

Further information can be found on the Al Madad Foundation website

Grants for musicians and bands

PRS for Music Foundation has announced that the next application deadline for the Momentum Music Fund is 6pm on the 28th May 2019.

Artists or bands at a crucial tipping point in their careers who are showing current progression and growth can apply for a grant of £5,000-£15,000 to significantly develop their careers over the next two years. Activities eligible for support include recording, touring and marketing. Applications can be submitted by the artists themselves or those who are working on their behalf, for example, a manager, an independent label or publisher.

Priority will be given to those that haven’t been funded by PRS for Music Foundation in the previous 12 months.

Further information can be found on the PRS Foundation website

Funding boost for Community Home Building

Communities across the country are set to benefit from a £6 million funding boost to help them build more of the homes that their area needs. Local people will be able to access funding to kickstart community-led housing developments that will benefit their neighbourhood. The aim is to make community-led housing a mainstream housing option by making it easier for communities to access support for building community-led homes. The funding will provide training, funding and practical support to housing groups, councils and developers.

The Community Led Homes Programme will be managed by 4 leading housing charities:

  • Confederation of Co-operative Housing
  • Locality
  • National Community Land Trust Network
  • UK Cohousing

Funding of up to £10,000 will be provided to groups to cover start-up costs such as legal fees.

A further £3.5 million will be made available to provide technical advice and support to guide communities through the process of building the housing they urgently need. Potential applicants will need to register as Providers prior to application. There are no application deadlines and the programme will run for two years (up to 2020).

Further information can be found on the GOV.UK website

Funding for high quality new music projects

PRS Foundation’s Open Fund for Organisations supports high quality new music projects led by promoters, talent development organisations, venues, festivals, curators and large performance groups (for example orchestras, choirs, jazz bands or folk groups with 12 or more performers).

Supported projects will involve the creation, performance and promotion of new music and enable Music Creators i.e. songwriters, composers, or solo artists, bands, producers and performers of all backgrounds, to develop creatively and professionally.

Grants of up to £10,000 are awarded to composers cover activities such as:

  • Touring
  • Recording
  • Promotion and marketing
  • Commissions of new music by UK-based creators*
  • Exciting community projects involving high-quality music creators
  • Music creator residencies
  • Live programmes featuring new UK music

Successful proposals will fit all three of the following funding priorities:

  • To support the creation, performance and promotion of outstanding new music in any genre
  • To enable the UK’s most talented music creators to realise their potential
  • To inspire audiences

Further information can be found on the PRS Foundation website

Grants for improvements to small theatres

Round 14 of the Theatres Trust’s UK Theatres Grants Scheme is now open to applications for capital grants of up to £5,000. Organisations eligible to apply will be running small theatres, have UK charitable or not-for-profit legal structures and be:

  • Owned or manage theatres with titles or signed leases of more than 5 years on buildings in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • Running a regular theatre programme of professional, community and/or amateur work presenting no less than 30 performances a year
  • Able to provide certified or audited accounts for at least two years

Priority is given to projects that address urgent building repairs, improve operational viability, introduce environmental improvements and enhance physical accessibility. The scheme can also be used to help lever in other sources of investment, particularly philanthropic support. Applications for technical equipment and refurbishment of soft furnishings are a low priority for the scheme.

Previous examples of funded projects include:

  • Robin Hood Theatre, Newark, £5,000 towards a project to replace the theatre’s electrical supply which was no longer fit for purpose
  • The Players Theatre, Thame, £5,000 to install a flexible, moveable wall system on the stage to achieve a larger and more flexible space.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their project with The Theatres Trust before applying. Contact advice@theatrestrust.org.uk for more information. Round 14 of the UK Small Grants Scheme will close on Monday 2nd September at noon.

Further information can be found on the Theatres Trust website

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 2019.

Further information can be found on the Philip Henman Trust website

Grants for new, innovative visual arts projects

The Elephant Trust has announced the next deadline for applications is the 25th March 2019.  The Trust offers grants to artists and for new, innovative visual arts projects. It aims to make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when confronted by lack of funds.

The Trust supports projects that develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the fine arts. Priority is given to artists and small organisations and galleries making or producing new work or exhibitions.

The Trust normally awards grants of up to £2,000, but larger grants of up to £5,000 may be considered.

Further information can be found on the Elephant Trust website

Grants for chemistry-based public and schools engagement activities

Grants of up to £2,000 are available from the Chemistry Society through the Small Grants Outreach Fund.

The Fund provides financial support to members, individuals and organisations to enable them to run chemistry-based public and school engagement activities.

Grants can support anything from one off events to large programmes of activity and should aim to offer teachers a range of effective curriculum-enriching activities and opportunities to further engage their students with outreach; provide hard-to-reach student audiences with inspiring chemistry engagement opportunities and assist members in maximising their outreach and engagement contribution.

The scheme is open to individuals and organisations, including, but not limited to, members of the Royal Society of Chemistry, member-led groups, researchers in academia or industry, museums, community groups, not-for-profit organisations, arts groups and libraries. It is a rolling application process and the next deadline is 12 noon on Monday 13th May 2019.

Further information can be found on the Royal Society of Chemistry website

D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

The Trust gives grants to registered charities in the United Kingdom in support of causes connected with the arts, medical welfare and the environment. Grants generally range from £500 to £5,000 for a one-year period, however longer-term grants are sometimes awarded.

The Trustees will consider applications for core costs or projects, and they also consider applications for matched funding. Projects falling into the following themes will be considered:

  • Bursaries for arts education establishments
  • Promotion of access, education and excellence in the arts
  • Hospice care
  • Autism, the deafblind, respite care and care for carers
  • Preservation of the countryside and heritage conservation.

The Trustees usually consider applications three times a year in March, July and November. The next deadline to apply is the 18th June 2019.

Examples of projects funded include:

  • Deal Festival’s BOLD AS education programme takes place in various primary schools in the Deal area and provides an exciting opportunity for young people in East Kent to learn a brass instrument and play creatively in a brass ensemble alongside professional musicians. The programme has been supported by the Trust for the past two years.

Further information can be found on the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust website

Funding to promote swimming within the Community

The Swimathon Foundation has announced that its Community Grants Scheme has opened for applications.  The Swimathon Foundation Community Grants Scheme offers funding of between £500 and £2,500 to groups who provide and promote swimming in their local community; in particular to groups that would otherwise not take part.

Grants are available towards:

  • Providing swimming lessons targeted at a specific group or section of society that would not be able to take part, or would have extreme difficulty in participating in mainstream swimming lessons
  • The costs of staging an activity at a pool which aims to introduce non-swimmers or lapsed swimmers or very occasional swimmers to an enjoyable pool experience that is designed to stimulate and support their continued participation
  • A grant towards equipment or improvements at a pool which will encourage either increased participation, for example through improving access above and beyond that required in the Equality Act 2010, or that will help swimming development in novice or non-swimmers. For example:
  • Encouraging swimming participation from groups that may have a health need and can gain particular benefit.
  • Encouraging under 5’s, children and young people, adults and older people to understand the benefits of taking part in healthy physical aquatic activity as part of the Start Active – Stay Active guidelines from the Chief Medical Officers in the UK
  • Raising awareness, particularly in children, of water safety good practice and survival skills and techniques
  • A grant to aid swimming clubs to develop programmes that are outside the normal delivery, providing a unique opportunity in swimming development

To be eligible for a Swimathon grant organisations need to be supported by pools that are participating in Swimathon. Some of examples of groups that Swimathon Foundation Community grants will support, but are not limited to:

  • Community groups
  • Swimming clubs
  • Senior groups
  • Youth groups
  • Sports clubs
  • Disability charities
  • Scout groups
  • Healthy living groups; etc.

Examples of projects supported in the past include:

  • Banishing Aqua Fears Yes You Can! who were awarded £1,734 to make swimming more accessible to residents on the Isles of Islay
  • Jura and Braintree Mencap Swimmers based in Essex were awarded £2,500 to ensure people with learning disabilities have the opportunity to participate in activities in the local area.

Applicants must be a representative of, or have the support of, a pool participating in Swimathon. The closing date for applications is the 3rd April 2019.

Further information can be found on the Swimathon Foundation website

Grants for Churches for the conservation of decorative features and monuments

The next closing date for applications to the William and Jane Morris Fund is the 31st March 2019. The Fund accepts applications from churches, chapels and other places of worship built before 1896 for grants of between £500 and £3,000 to carry out small programmes of conservation work to decorative features and monuments. All work funded must be directed by a professional architect or established conservator and completed according to the principles of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).

Eligible work could include (but is not limited to):

  • Stained glass windows
  • Sculpture
  • Furniture
  • Internal monuments
  • Tombs
  • Wall paintings.

Previous awards have been made to:

  • St Mary’s Church, Cerne Abbas for the conservation of wall paintings (£1,000).
  • Holy Trinity Church, St Austell to restore a monument to Joseph Sawle (£750).
  • The Lye and Wollescote Chapels, Dudley for the repair of a weathervane (£1,600).

Further information can be found on the Society of Antiquaries of London website

British Ecological Society – Outreach Grants

The British Ecological Society has announced that its Outreach Grants programme is now open for applications. Through the programme, individuals and organisations such as schools, museums, libraries and community groups will be able to apply for grants to promote ecological science to a wide audience.

The funding is available for projects that increase public understanding of, and engagement with ecology by:

  • Increasing public understanding of, and engagement with, ecology
  • Stimulating discussion about ecology and its implications for society
  • Inspiring and enthusing people of all ages about the science of ecology, especially those not previously interested
  • Developing skills in communicating the science of ecology

Applications from museums and schools are welcome but projects must involve significant outreach beyond schools as those aimed solely at delivering curriculum to school children will not be considered. Grants are not be awarded for purely nature conservation purposes or any activity that does not promote the science of ecology. Projects supported will:

  • Be aimed at a non-academic audience
  • Provide a clear demonstration of direct interaction with the audience
  • Show evidence of links to the research community at UK, regional and international levels, where appropriate

The maximum award is £2,000 which may form all or part of the total costs of the project. Larger projects involving other sponsors are also funded. In 2017, 14 grants were awarded from a total of 112 entries, therefore potential applicants are advised to take note of the Scoring Criteria to make sure that their project is in line with the expectations of the BES assessors.

The closing date for applications is the 20th March 2019.

Further information can be found on the British Ecological Society website

Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation Grant

Leeds Building Society Foundation primarily provides funding towards practical items that directly support those in need including those with disabilities, affected by homelessness, or with serious health issues.

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.

Applications are reviewed every quarter. The deadline for the next (June) meeting is Monday 13th May 2019.

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.

Further information can be found on the Leeds Building Society website

This document is produced by Corporate Policy, Research and Partnerships, Blackburn with Darwen Council.  Tel: 01254 585825

This document is produced by Blackburn with Darwen Council

Tel: 01254 585825

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