A selection of funding opportunities:
One Family Foundation Community Awards
The One Family Foundation runs two rounds of Community Awards each year, which have helped communities fund projects such as supporting the members of a Alzheimer’s choir, therapy rooms at hospices and playgroups for children with physical disabilities. This year there is £360,000 available and they have introduced a new category – Developing Skills – which enables individuals to acquire the skills that can benefit the wider community. The award provide funding up to £5,000 to each individual – which could be good for anyone who wants to volunteer, but lacks the funding and relevant training.
Deadline: Wednesday 19th October 2016
Government delivers £80 million boost to help give young people the best start in life
In September, The Prime Minister announced an £80 million boost for England’s youth sector – helping give young people the best start in life so they can go as far as their talents will take them.
The money will open up opportunities for young people to get involved in their communities and gain new experiences, to support their personal development, build character and help them succeed in the future. Local voluntary youth groups will be able to bid for a share of the funding, which builds on the Prime Minister’s commitment to building a country that works for all through creating opportunity and developing individual potential.
The initiatives will be jointly delivered by the government and the Big Lottery Fund.
£40 million will go towards the new Youth Investment Fund (YIF), targeting disadvantaged communities across England, the YIF is available in 6 local authority cluster areas, local engage by local BLF and DCMS teams and potential applicants in these areas is underway.
An additional £40 million will provide continued support for Step Up to Serve’s successful #iwill youth social action campaign. The #iwill fund will launch during #iwillWeek 2016 (21-25 November)
£4 million grants to boost volunteering among over 50s
Office for Civil Society and Nesta announce 3 new grant funds to explore how more charities and public services can better tap into the skills and experience of volunteers over 50.
With life expectancy in the UK increasing, the funds will provide a valuable opportunity for opening up greater numbers of volunteers to share their skills and talents with others in later life.
The three funds now open to application are:
The Second Half Fund – Sharing Time and Talents for Life: Will provide grants of up to £250,000 to support the growth of new ways of mobilising the time and talents of people aged over 50 specifically in support of: children and young people, parents and families, ageing well, creating resourceful and resilient local places.
Nesta are also holding a webinar on 13 October for The Second Half Fund if your would like to discuss the fund before applying. Please register in advance by clicking on the link – 13 October 2016 14.00-15.00
Join In Stay In : Will award grants of up to £50,000 and significant non-financial support from behavioural science experts for organisations to undertake Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) to understand what works best to encourage volunteers to continue to give their time regularly.
Give More Get More – Exploring Intensive Volunteering : Grants of up to £100,000 to support organisations to trial intensive volunteering placements for people over 50 – approaching or in retirement – that work alongside public services. These might include ‘gap years’, such as those VSO offers for experienced volunteers to give their time abroad.
Expressions of Interest and full details of the application process can be found at: http://www.nesta.org.uk
Nesta has also published the evaluation and impact data of the 39 projects supported through the Centre for Social Action Innovation Fund and will publish further key findings and recommendations later in the autumn.
Celebrate England – Big Lottery Fund grants to celebrate your local community
The Big Lottery Fund has launched Celebrate!
Six out of ten people surveyed* say they cannot remember ever coming together to celebrate with their community. The Big Lottery Fund (BLF) wants to help change this with our Celebrate! Programme.
BLF are offering grants of between £300 and £10,000 for groups to hold one off events or activities which celebrate their local community.
You could celebrate something from your community’s history or a local hero. Or maybe it’s a chance to bring people together to get to know their neighbours better.
Due to the huge success of Celebrate BLF have allocated an extra £4.1 million of funding to give even more local communities the chance to come together and celebrate. There is now a total of £7.695 million for projects in England.
Closing date is Friday 21st October 2016.
Full applications details on the BLF Celebrate! webpages.
Bright Ideas Fund launches to help community business start-ups in England
Do you have a local community asset that you’ve saved but don’t know what it could be turned into? Or a community business idea that you don’t know how to get off the ground? If you are a community group or organisation who would like to set up a community business but need a bit of help, the new Community Business Bright Ideas programme is for you.
The £1.85m Community Business Bright Ideas Fund, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government and Power to Change, will offer tailored support and grants of up to £20,000 to 80 groups to develop their projects.
The Community Business Bright Ideas Fund is now open until Wednesday 30th November at 12pm.
There will be additional funding rounds in February and September 2017 and February 2018.