Funding news
February 2024

 

Community shares offer an excellent way for groups to raise larger sums of funding for projects that benefit their communities.

They’re a popular choice for securing much-loved community assets because you can raise significantly higher average contributions when your supporters are asked to invest for the long-term, rather than simply donating.

The long-term support is one of the key reasons why 92% of community businesses that have used community shares are still trading successfully, compared to 55% for ‘normal’ businesses.

The Booster Fund supports new and existing community businesses that are at all stages of a community share issue.

This includes the very early stages of exploring whether it’s the right choice, through planning a community share issue to being ready to launch, or in exceptional cases, recently launched. 

 

Boots Charitable Trust is an independent registered charity wholly funded by Boots UK Limited. The Trust recently expanded its grants programme from its home base of Nottinghamshire to across the UK.

Registered charities working in the areas of health, lifelong learning, community development and social care can apply for grants of between £100 and £10,000. Grants of up to £5,000 are available for smaller voluntary organisations whose income and expenditure is less than £5,000 per year and who are not yet required to register with the Charity Commission.

BBC Children in Need’s Core Costs funding can be spent on your organisation’s central day-to-day operations.

This funding stream is for charities and not-for-profit organisations. Applicants to this programme can apply for grants for up to three years.  

They will fund not-for-profit organisations working with children and young people aged 18 or under.  They seek to prioritise smaller, local organisations.

Funding is available for registered charities that are working to support disadvantaged children and young people, as well as vulnerable older people.

The Masonic Charitable Foundation Charity Grants programme awards small grants of between £1,000 and £5,000, and large grants of between £10,000 and £60,000 to support projects that focus on:

• children affected by domestic abuse
• early years (0-5)
• children with special educational needs and disabilities
• people with dementia and their carers

The Mansfield Building Society operates a Community Support Scheme through their charitable trust.  The scheme supports community groups, charities, and other deserving causes with financial awards typically between £250 and £1,000. They make total Community Support Scheme awards of about £20,000 each year.

 The scheme covers projects delivered in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Grants of £1,000 are now available to community groups to start offering football or expand their existing provision to under-represented young people.  The deadline is 12 April.

The Barclays Community Football Fund will primarily support girls and young people in deprived or underrepresented areas through local organisations to reduce inequalities in the participation in sport and physical activity.  This includes culturally diverse communities, young people with disabilities, and young people from the LGBTQ+ community.

Grants of up to £500 are available to schools and educational organisations across the UK seeking funding to kickstart projects that will benefit their students.

The Twinkl Prize Draw Community Collection will help fund any type of project, such as setting up a breakfast club, resourcing after-school activities, purchasing new playground equipment, upgrading an ICT suite, or kickstarting big projects.

The VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme will help voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSEs) to deliver more efficient services for people and communities by saving money on their energy bills.

The VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme is offering independent energy assessments to help identify energy-saving opportunities in your building.

Central Social and Recreational Trust grants focus on young people under 21 years of age and who belong to a club/organisation.

Funding can be used to assist in the maintenance of properties as long as the property is owned by the club or there is a significant lease period.

They will only fund clubs/organisations affiliated to their governing body i.e. Amateur Boxing Association of England; National Association of Clubs for Young People; Football Association etc.

Tesco Community Grants fund thousands of local community projects across the UK, helping to fight holiday hunger, tackle mental health, support young people, host community events and much more.

Please visit the Tesco Stronger Starts website to find out more about what kinds of projects can be supported, to apply for a grant and to nominate local projects.

Grants plus business support are available to social entrepreneurs that are looking to start or grow an existing social venture. 

The grants are being made available through two funding streams:

• Grants of up to £18,000 to grow an existing social enterprise that has been operating between 1 and 4 years.
• Grants of up to £8,000 for social businesses not yet established or been running under a year.

 

National Forest Company Launches Forest Society Grants

UKSPF Community Resilience Grant Scheme – Online Talk for Groups in the Derbyshire Dales