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.sibgroup.org.uk/firststeps
The Liverpool ONE Foundation is a fund administered and managed by the Community Foundation for Merseyside. It aims to help the lives of local people in Merseyside, especially Liverpool, by providing support for good causes in and around the city. The fund is for community and voluntary sector organisations based in Merseyside. It has two programmes: Programme 1 offers grants up to £5,000 in any 12 month period for activity based projects; Programme 2 offers grants of £5,001 to £10,000 in any 12 month period to support organisational development costs. For more information, including full guidelines and how to apply, please visit the website. www.cfmerseyside.org.uk/index.php?p=145
The Pink Ribbon Foundation is a grant making trust. It funds projects and provides financial support to UK charities which relieve the needs of people who are suffering from, affected by, or who work to advance the understanding of breast cancer, its early detection and treatment. Many of the charities supported are the smaller ones which operate on a shoestring, but any charity working in the field of breast cancer can apply for a grant. The deadline for grant application is Friday 29th May. For more information, including how to apply, please visit the website. www.pinkribbonfoundation.org.uk/grants
The Architectural Heritage Fund can provide grants to help with assessing the viability of a project, or to fund development costs. There are two grants currently on offer: The Project Viability Grant (Max: £3,000) is to fund short studies to look at potential uses for a building and at its current condition; The Project Development Grant (Max: £25,000) is intended to assist an organisation cover some of the costs of developing and co-ordinating a project and taking it towards the start of work. The deadline for the next round of applications is 19th May. For more information, including guidance notes and how to apply, please visit the website. www.ahfund.org.uk/grants.php
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
Are you getting the most out of your weekly funding alerts? Check your profile and see if there’s any information you might be missing out on. Your weekly email can contain new and updated funding alerts of regional, national and European opportunities as well as reminders of approaching deadlines, notifications about potential partners, news and events. Can’t wait for the weekly newsletter? Don’t forget you can run a search on the website at any time and adjust and save your settings for next time.
Other interesting news…
Immediate deadline: On 29th April, SENTogether is partnering with A J Gallagher to offer an afternoon of expert advice, 2-5pm. This session will aim to answer all your insurance queries. Maybe your organisation is overdue an insurance health check, or maybe you’ve diversified recently and aren’t sure if your policy covers all your activities. Gareth from A J Gallagher will be on hand to offer FREE, friendly advice on everything from risk management to claims to working with vulnerable groups. The session will be held at the SENTogether office, 4th Floor, 151 Dale Street, L2 2AH. To book, please email: [email protected] , or call: 0151 237 2664. www.sentogether.net
The Institute of Fundraising North West is providing an Introduction to Trust and Foundation Fundraising on Wednesday 3rd June, 9:30-16:30, at the Lesbian & Gay Foundation, 5 Richmond Street, Manchester, M1 3HF. This practical one day course is aimed at people new to applying to Trusts and Foundations, or those who would like more confidence in the process. It will teach you how to identify a need, research donors, write a compelling application and maintain ongoing donor relationships. There will be group work, personal reflection and an opportunity to practise writing an application. For more information, including costs, please visit the website. www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/events-and-training/events/intro-trusts-and-grants-fundraising
Building Better Opportunities will see lottery and ESF money brought together into one single pot, administered by Big Lottery Fund, with only one application process and one body to report back to with monitoring information. Here are some of the things Big Lottery Fund expect to see:
- Big Lottery Fund will run a two-stage competitive grants process. At the first stage they will ask you to outline your approach. If you are successful at this stage you will be invited to the second stage, where they will ask you to give more detail.
- Award decisions will be made by Big Lottery Fund but feedback from LEP Sub Committees will be an essential part of their decision making.
- Big Lottery Fund will be offering grants not contracts. They will pay grant money in advance rather than a “payment by results” approach.
- Big Lottery Fund expect most grants to be relatively large (from £500,000) and likely to be delivered by partnerships, possibly where a lead partner works with smaller delivery partners. However, Big Lottery Fund will also accept applications from individual organisations.
- Big Lottery Fund will produce a standard set of tools and templates for grant holders to simplify reporting and monitoring requirements.
- Big Lottery Fund will provide support to grant holders throughout. They are looking at how to do this. It could be by offering development grants and a support service providing advice on the technical aspects of ESF.
There are also currently some very good resources to look at including ‘Summary of our Partnership requirements’. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/global-content/programmes/england/building-better-opportunities
Big Lottery Fund is also hosting Awards for All England Webinars to provide participants with live information on their funding programmes. They are presented by Funding Officers from the Big Lottery Fund and you can ask questions through an interactive chat panel. The 30 minute Webinar will talk you through: Eligibility criteria and what the Big Lottery Fund could help to pay for; Examples of successful projects; Hints and tips on how to put together your application including sources of evidence; How to conquer those project outcomes. For more information, including a full list of Webinars currently on offer and how to register for them, please visit the website. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/englandwebinars
For more information on funding or to be added to the circulation list please contact Zel Rodgers – Funding Development Officer. Email [email protected] or call 0151 353 9700 ext 205
