Asda Foundation and the Social Investment Business Foundation are inviting small community-led organisations to apply for up to £30,000 from The First Steps Enterprise Fund to help them grow their services and become more sustainable. This is a £300,000 pilot fund offering loan-grant packages to charities and social enterprises working in communities. It intends to create social impact in communities across the country, making them stronger and more sustainable. Deadline for applications is noon 26th June. For more information, including how to apply, please visit the website. www.sentogether.net/2015/04/first-steps-enterprise-fund
ChurchCare work in partnership with various grant-giving bodies to provide funding for church projects. Grants support PCCs in the conservation of listed Anglican church buildings and their historic contents, aiming to ensure that conservation projects are carried out to a high standard. Their grants programmes provide, in addition to financial support, expert conservation advice to ensure that repairs follow best practice. There are a range of items grants are available for – from bells to organs to stained glass and more. For more information, including deadlines for each specific grant available, please visit the website. www.churchcare.co.uk/churches/funding-and-grants/our-grants
The Woodward Charitable Trust is a grant-making trust primarily funding charitable organisations in the UK. They favour charities which make good use of volunteers and encourage past and current users to participate. The Trust’s grant-making focuses on the following areas: Children and young people who are isolated, at risk of exclusion or involved in antisocial behaviour; Projects that help the rehabilitation and resettlement of prisoners and/or ex-offenders as well as requests to help prisoners’ families; Disability projects, which can include rehabilitation and training for people who are either physically disabled or learning disabled; Homelessness, especially affecting young people and women; Arts outreach work by local groups involving disadvantaged people; Projects that promote integration and community cohesion amongst minority groups, including refugees and travellers; Environmental projects, especially with a strong educational element. As the Trust’s resources are modest, the trustees prefer to fund small to medium-sized charities with an income of less than £300,000 where small grants can have more impact. The majority of grants are for less than £5,000. The deadline for the next round of funding is Friday 15th May. For more information, please visit the website. www.woodwardcharitabletrust.org.uk/index.html
First Steps is part of the Community Rights programme, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). A package of support and Grants is now available to help small community groups based in the UK develop action plans to improve their neighbourhood. Applicants must be based in an area which is described as “deprived” in government terms and looking to work on a particular theme or issue based in a specific geographic location. Successful applicants will be allocated a Relationship Manager who will act as a mentor and an advisor to guide them through the programme; be able to attend 3 training events, which will give them useful help, advice and skills about how to work in their neighbourhood; be offered the chance for leadership training with either the Eden project or CoCo; be able to access grant funding of £2500 to give them the resources needed to write their community action plan. The deadline for applications is 8th May. For more information, including a starter pack and guidance notes, please visit the website. http://mycommunity.org.uk/programme/first-steps/?_a=funding
Ofcom is inviting community radio licensees to apply to the Community Radio Fund for grants to help fund the core costs of running community radio stations. Grants can only be made to community radio licensees which are broadcasting under a community radio licence. There is no limit to how much can be applied for but grants are intended to cover a one-year period only. The deadline for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 6th May. For more information, including how to apply, please visit the website. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/community-radio-fund
The Centre for Sustainable Energy and Pure Leapfrog are administering the government-funded £10m Urban Community Energy Fund (UCEF). The scheme will fund community energy projects through their development phase, getting them ‘investment ready’, with the aim of ensuring that every community in England can access support for renewable energy projects. To be eligible to apply for UCEF funding your project must be based in an urban area (as defined by the Office of National Statistics). The fund can provide both grants and loans. The maximum grant is £20k and the maximum loan is £130k. The loans are ‘contingent loans’, meaning they don’t have to be paid back if the project doesn’t proceed to construction phase. The application deadline (whether you are applying for a grant or a loan) is 29th May and the last Friday of every second month there on. www.cse.org.uk/projects/view/1249
The Hilden Charitable Fund awards grants to projects both in the UK and in developing countries, with the aim of addressing disadvantages by supporting work at community level. In the UK, Hilden’s grant making priorities are: Homelessness, Penal Affairs, Asylum Seekers and Refugees, and Community Based initiatives for Disadvantaged Young People aged 16 to 25. Overseas, they are for projects in developing countries working on Community Development, Education, and Health. Trustees will particularly welcome projects that address the needs and potential of girls and women. Average grants are £5,000 and Hilden will consider funding for more than one year. However, The Hilden Charitable Fund does not give grants to individuals. Applications are accepted at any time. For more information, including how to apply, please visit the website. www.hildencharitablefund.org.uk
The OneFamily Foundation helps fund community projects that really matter to their customers. It also lends a financial helping hand to customers or their loved ones in times of need. Nominations are now open for Community Awards of £5,000 and £25,000 for projects improving the community of customers. The next deadline for nominations for a Community Award is midday 29th June. Personal Grants of up to £500 are also available for customers and those close to them in times of hardship, or when support is needed to make things a little bit better. The next deadline for applications for a Personal Grant is Friday 1st May. For more information, please visit the website. https://foundation.onefamily.com/about-the-foundation
Merseyside Funding Information Portal, an online resource that will give you all you need to know about funding your charitable or community work, whether you are an individual, community group, voluntary organisation, registered charity or social enterprise. In addition, information and support in tendering and procurement related opportunities for voluntary bodies are now offered through this portal. www.mfip.org.uk/
Funding alerts from Funding Central www.fundingcentral.org.uk
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Other interesting news…
The Global Value Exchange have a new, FREE service which will provide organisations with ways to measure and value their impact. The new service is jargon free and wants to help organisations do 2 things: Help demonstrate impact to funders; Help organisations learn about their impact and enable them to make improvements to their delivery. After providing them with the information required, they will send bespoke advice from their database of 1000s of valuations, indicators and outcomes to help organisations improve their impact measurement. www.sentogether.net/2015/03/new-tool-to-to-demonstrate-impact
Age Friendly Streets is a UK wide campaign by Streets Alive which promotes neighbourliness and street parties between generations, so no one feels isolated. For more information, including how to get involved, please visit the website. http://agefriendlystreets.org
Croydon Voluntary Action has published a guide for things to consider when setting up a charity shop. The guide is written by the British Heart Foundation’s Retail Director, Mike Taylor. It covers all you need to know including: location selection, getting the right lease, manager selection, window displays, online opportunities, and much more. For the full guide, please visit the website. www.cvalive.org.uk/news/charity-shop
The Bupa UK Foundation aim to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives by funding practical projects and initiatives which aim to tackle critical challenges in health and social care, deliver public benefit and make a direct impact on people’s health and wellbeing. To achieve this, £1 million is being made available for grants. The theme of their first funding round will be announced in May and applications will be accepted thereafter, with awards being granted in the summer. Meanwhile, comments and ideas on themes or challenges that you would like to see them tackle through their funding programmes, and their approach to grant-making and the kind of projects and initiatives they plan to fund are now welcome. For more information, please visit the website. www.bupaukfoundation.org
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