Funding Round Up

Government Launches the Common Good Programme (England)

The Government has announced that £250,000 of ‘small grants funding’ is now available to boost diverse communities across the country. The ‘Common Good’ programme will give funding to projects that bring together diverse communities and different faiths through a range of activities from cookery classes to teaching computer coding.  Managed by The Church Urban Fund, grants of between £250 and £5,000 will be offered to locally-led projects. This includes extending the small grants element of Near Neighbours to new areas that have seen increased diversity in recent years.Grants from the Common Good Fund are available across England, except for the areas where Near Neighbours Small Grants are available. The initial focus will be on areas where there has been significant migration from European countries and settlement of asylum seekers and refugees; and areas where our networks and/or news reports have indicated that there are tensions. This includes Barking and Dagenham, Batley, Boston, Cambridge, Corby, Harlow, Liverpool, Merton, Middlesbrough, Oxford, Peterborough, Slough, South Holland, and Wisbech.  In Caldmore, a village near Walsall, a community garden led by a Polish woman was funded by the programme last year. Activities such as gardening and cooking involved the whole village, bringing together Polish, Bengali, Pakistani, and white British communities. The garden received just £3,700 in funding but has since worked directly with over 1,300 people including with local schools. Applications can be submitted at any time.

Church Urban Fund Near Neighbours Grants
The Near Neighbours programme offers small grants of between 250 and 5,000, as seed funding for local groups and organisations working to bring together neighbours, and to develop relationships across diverse faiths and ethnicities to improve their communities. Deadline: 30 November 2016

Co-op Invites Applications for Local Community Fund

The Co-op Local Community Fund is open to applications from small, locally based voluntary and community groups to support projects which benefit local communities around Co-op food stores and funeral homes across the UK or the Isle of Man.

The Co-op Local Community Fund is provided by the Co-op Group as part of a new membership scheme which gives a 5% reward to shoppers on their purchases of Co-op own-brand products and services, together with an additional 1% given to local causes of their choice. A share of the money generated from the sale of 5p carrier bags in local stores, as well as the profits from the range of reusable bags, will also contribute to the fund.

Galaxy Hot Chocolate Fund Opens to Applications

The Galaxy Hot Chocolate Fund is inviting applications from small local charities and community groups from across the UK and Ireland.

Returning for a sixth year, the Galaxy Hot Chocolate Fund will be giving away 70 awards of £300 over a 14-week period to local community projects across the UK and Ireland.

BBC Children in Need – grants programme

Grants are open to UK charities and not for profit organisations working with disadvantaged children and young people who are 18 years old and under. There are four general grant deadlines each year: Small grants of £10,000 or less per year for up to three years and Main Grants over £10,000 per year for up to three years