Funding round up
A round up of the funding information that has come into our inbox recently:
Tesco’s Local Community Grants Scheme
This new scheme is funded by the proceeds of carrier bag charges and is being administered for Tesco by Groundwork. Grants of £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 are available for capital projects that provide community benefit and have free and open access to all members of the community for a minimum of six days a week, during daylight hours. Closing date is 27 November.
ESF/Big Lotteries Better Opportunities
The next round of funding is open to applications, with themes: Common Mental Health; Support for Refugees; Employment Support for People with Complex Needs. Closing date is 30 November.
First Steps Enterprise Fund
A new loan-grant fund from the Asda Foundation and Social Investment Business Foundation has been launched. Packages up of £30,000 are available to grow services and become more sustainable. Closing date is 11 December.
Help the Homeless
Apply for a grant for projects that help homeless people rebuild their lives and re-enter society. Funding is targeted at projects focused on helping disadvantaged individuals return to the community through training or residential facility provision, rather than merely providing short term shelter. Closing date is 15 December.
FUNDING: renovating empty properties for homeless people
Grants of between £50,000 and £150,000 are available from LandAid for work across the UK which turns empty properties into supported accommodation for young people who are either homeless, or at severe risk of becoming homeless. Applications are welcome from organisations with experience of turning empty properties into safe, decent homes for people in housing need, and making them available at a rate they can afford; those that can ensure that the completed property is exclusively for young people who are at risk of homelessness; and that support is provided to enable them to move forward positively with their lives. The deadline for applications is 16th November. Find out more and apply here
FUNDING: supporting under-represented groups in science activity
British Science Week 2016’s Community Grant Scheme is offering grants of £500 for community groups that work directly with audiences who are traditionally under-represented and currently not engaged in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) activity. The scheme defines under-represented groups as Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities; people with low socio-economic status; those not in education employment or training; and people with a disability. The grant must be used to create a STEM event or activity that will target one or more of the above groups, enabling them to engage with science and join a national celebration of science in March 2016. The deadline for applications is 23rd November. Find out more and apply here
FUNDING: to address disadvantaged communities
The Hilden Charitable Fund will provide grants with an average value of £5,000 to small organisations working at community level (maximum turnover £200,000) to address disadvantages, notably by supporting causes which are less likely to raise funds from public subscriptions. The fund’s grant making priorities are homelessness, penal affairs, asylum seekers and refugees, and community based initiatives for disadvantaged young people aged 16 to 25. The next application deadline is 16th December 2015. Find out more and apply here
Community radio stations broadcasting under a community radio licence may apply for grants to help fund the basic core running costs. Deadline is 11 November.
British Science Week: Community Grants Scheme
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is providing the Community Grants for Science Activity scheme to support community based groups and organisations in the UK that work directly with hard-to-reach people who are currently not engaged in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activity. Grants of up to £500 are available to create a STEM event or activity that will take place during British Science Week (11-20 March 2016). Deadline is 23 November 2015.
The Peter de Haan Charitable Trust
The Trust is accepting applications for environmental projects. It expects to make a few substantial grants to three-year projects of around £50,000 per year. Deadline is 30 November.
Application deadlines for 2016, along with the latest version of the Programme Guide, have been published by the European Commission. The European Commission publishes a Call for Proposals each year – this provides high-level details on programme eligibility, award criteria, budgets and application deadlines so that you can apply for funding for your projects. The deadline is 2 February 2016.
FUNDING: to set up a community shop
Grants of between £20,000 and £30,000 are available for organisations in urban areas of the UK to develop and run a community-owned shop that will stock food and other basic provisions. The grants can cover planning and set-up costs. The deadline for applications is 18th December. Find out more and apply here
FUNDING: to improve people’s life chances
Grants of up to £10,000 are available for projects that: give people better chances in life – with better access to training and development to improve their life skills; create stronger communities – with more active citizens working together to tackle issues within the community; improve rural and urban environments – which communities are better able to access and enjoy; or result in healthier and more active people and communities. Find out more and apply here
The Pocket Parks Programme has been established with £1.5 million in funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government with the objective of delivering up to 100 pocket parks across deprived urban areas (excluding London) in England. Pocket parks are defined for this programme as a piece of land of up to 0.4 hectares (although many are around 0.02 hectares, the size of a tennis court) which may already be under grass but which is unused, undeveloped or derelict.
Grants of between £10,000 and £15,000 per project (up to £10,000 capital and up to £5,000 revenue) are available to create a pocket park in an urban area of deprivation in England. It can be a new site or an existing site, and all or part of a site, and it needs to be accessible and available for the community who wish to use it and ideally openly accessible to all. Proposals could include, for example, creating wildlife habitats, transforming run-down gardens or creating green oases in bustling neighbourhoods.