Funding Opportunities

Deadline for submissions is 12 noon 23 October 2018

Vodafone Techstarter offers UK-based social tech ventures and charities the chance to secure funding and gain access to expertise to help take transformational ideas from start-up to scale-up.

Vodafone Techstarters is looking to back eight transformative social tech start-ups, with a combination of funding and a bespoke programme of support.

There will be ten grants awarded across three categories:

Category 1 – Not-for-profit awards, only open to charities, NGOs and community interest companies (CICs).

• Four winners will receive a £35,000 prize in cash each and a full 12-month programme of support and value-in-kind.

Category 2 – For-profit awards, only open to social businesses, enterprises and for-profit start-ups.

• Four winners will receive a £35,000 prize in cash each and a full 12-month programme of support and value-in-kind.

Category 3 – Vodafone Champions Award will be chosen by popular vote amongst Vodafone employees across the UK.

• Two winners, one from each of the two categories above, will receive an award of £10,000 in cash.

For full details and FAQs, visit the Vodafone Techstarter Social Innovation Award website here.

Deadline 5th November 2018

The Cornerstone Grant Programme offers grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 towards the cost of urgent structural repair projects costed at more than £100,000 including VAT. The Trust will also consider projects that introduce kitchens and accessible toilets to enable increased community use, costed at more than £30,000 including VAT. Grants will never exceed 50% of the project cost.

The funding is for projects which can demonstrate how they meet the outcome in line with the new strategy:

• Preserving heritage.
• Promoting sustainability.
• Inspiring support.

To be eligible, applicants must demonstrate that:

• The building is a Christian place of worship (but not a cathedral) within the UK, and open for at least six services of public worship each year.
• They own the building or have the right to carry out the work. If the church is not part of a major denomination, then the denomination must be registered with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland or have charitable status.
• The place of worship was built as a place of worship originally and is more than 30 years old.
• The works must be to the main church building either directly part of the building or attached to it.
• The building is open to the public for a minimum of 100 days a year beyond worship use or it will be following project completion.
• They have already raised at least 50% of the total project cost.
• The project is being led by a qualified professional, with conservation accreditation from a recognised institution if it is a listed building.
• Have all the necessary permissions approved and in place before applying, including permissions from their governing body and local planning authority if planning permission and/or listed building consent is also required.

For more information please the the National Church Trust website here.

Press Release

Subject: £50,000 cash for groups that support women and girls

The Lincolnshire Community Foundation has been appointed to manage the Tampon Tax Community Fund and will make grants available to groups operating in Greater Lincolnshire that benefit women and girls on the key themes of health, wellbeing, building confidence and increasing social/economic activity.  The aim is to support women who are most marginalised to overcome barriers that prevent them from fulfilling their potential.

Grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 will be offered for project delivery costs, which can last up to 12 months. Applicants will need to demonstrate how they met one or more of the following objectives:

Building skills and confidence: supporting women and girls to learn new skills, giving them the ability to apply for new jobs and/or return to the workplace;

Improving health and wellbeing: teaching women how to look after and improve their own mental or physical health and live in good health for longer;

Building social networks: connecting women to others they can share similar experience with, supporting them to feel less lonely, more valued, more able to pass on that support.

The programme will open for applications on 17 September 2018 and close on 5 November 2018 with decisions notified by the end of the year.  The fund is open to registered charities, constituted groups, companies limited by guarantee, community interest companies, social enterprises.  Applicants will need to provide supporting documentation (governing document, policies, accounts etc).

If you have an idea, but would like to discuss this with Foundation staff, please call Sue Fortune on 01529 305825 for a chat or to obtain the guidance and an application form.

BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme supports children and young people who are facing exceptionally difficult circumstances, and is delivered by Family Fund Business Services. The programme provides items that meet a child’s most basic needs such as a bed to sleep in, a cooker to provide a hot meal and other items or services critical to child’s wellbeing.

The programme is now being delivered by Family Fund Business services on Children in Needs behalf. It is a referrer only programme and applications can only be made by registered referrers, able to reach families who need the programme most. You can find out more, and how to register as a referral agency on their website here.

Who can we help?

• Vulnerable children and young people up to the age of 18 who are experiencing a crisis or emergency.
• UK or EU citizens who are normally resident in the UK.

They can deliver or fund critical items such as:

• Electric cookers
• Furniture
• Kitchen equipment and small appliances
• Children’s beds and bedding (including cots)
• Washing machines and tumble dryers
• Fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers
• Baby equipment
• Clothing

If you are looking for a grant for any amount up to £10,000 for one year please see our Small Grants programme here.

If you are looking for a grant for more than £10,000 please see the Main Grants programme here.

Deadline 15^th October

Around 30 grants of up to £25,000, and around 50 grants of up to £10,000 to facilitate peer support with women experiencing, or at risk of developing, mental health problems and experiencing disadvantage, particularly multiple disadvantage.

During the lifetime of the Fund, those receiving these grants will have the opportunity to take part in a series of learning events. These will be co-convened by the ‘Hubs’ and Mind and will support organisations to build and share knowledge about delivering peer support that works for women.

Grantees will also be part of an evaluation aimed at learning about what works for women, and will be supported by our evaluation partners and peer researchers to build evaluation skills to do this.

For more information go to Mind

Deadline 16^th October

The Community Partnering Fund, formerly known as the Northern Gas Networks Community Promises Fund, is a scheme run by Northern Gas Networks, Northern Powergrid and Leeds Community Foundation.

Grants are available for innovative projects in parts of Yorkshire, the North East and Northern Cumbria that are working with vulnerable people to address fuel poverty; carbon monoxide poisoning; energy efficiency; energy related environmental initiatives; or engagement and employability in STEM fields. This includes Hull and East Yorkshire

Priority will be given to projects that:

• Are run by local people, for local people. The group needs to demonstrate good local links.
• Can show a strong understanding of the needs of the community that will benefit.
• Will have a direct impact on the community and local needs.
• Are not one-off events and could become sustainable in the longer term.
• Focus on supporting those who are vulnerable and/or face barriers to other services.
• Have not previously applied, unless the application is for a significantly different activity.

For more information go to the Leeds Community Foundation website

This is a registered charity, that supports employees past or present who work in the caravan and leisure vehicle industry. Whether working in manufacturing or a caravan park, the fund is here to help people facing financial hardship. The fund can help with a range of financial support from paying urgent utility bills to supporting essential maintenance work to cater for a change in lifestyle.

Visit the website for more information or call 07741 878535 to speak to Melanie Day, Benevolent Fund Manager.

The Digital Inclusion Fund aims to support initiatives designing, researching or delivering digital inclusion programmes with a focus on older and/or disabled people, in a new, creative and innovative way. It aims to improve essential digital skills and demonstrate how digital inclusion can improve the lives and well being, of older and/or disabled people. The initiatives supported may also have scope to scale up and deliver a wider impact. Funding could be used to test and learn from the new approaches to tackling digital exclusion.

Who can apply?

Charities and not for profit organisations, including social enterprises, supporting or aiming to support older and/or disabled people with essential digital skills, although this does not need to be the main focus of your organisation. The funded projects ideally will have the potential for transformative social impact at scale and the ambition for growth and sustainability.

The funding must be used to benefit residents living in England.

Those eligible can apply for grants between £50K-£200K

The funding is to cover twelve months from January 2019 – December 2019. As this is a short funding period, they would welcome applications from projects already in operation, however you must demonstrate how the funding will add a step change and real new value to your existing project and not be part of core funding.

Applications are open from midday on Monday 10 September until midday Monday 1 October. Successful applications will be notified no later than 12 November 2018.

For more information go to the Citizens online website

tt-exchange (formerly CTXchange) is a tech donation programme brought to you by Technology Trust in partnership with the not-for-profit technology capacity building organisation TechSoup.

Through the programme, eligible UK-based charities are able to request donated technology products from partners such as Adobe, Cisco and Microsoft. To access donations, charities must pay an administrative fee per product to cover the costs of delivering the programme. Whilst the administrative fees vary, charities will still make savings of up to 96% on typical retail prices.

Charities have access to a wide array of educational resources through the tt-exchange programme, which helps them best choose, implement and use the available technology.

TechSoup works in partnership with an international network of NGOs to administer a Global Technology Donation Programme.

For more information, and to sign up, go to the Exchange website