Funding Opportunities

Deadline 24th August 2018

The £11.5 million Building Connections Fund is a partnership between Government, Big Lottery Fund and the Co-op Foundation which was set up in response to the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness to support projects that prevent or reduce loneliness.

The fund aims to:

• increase social connections, helping people form strong and meaningful relationships and creating a sense of community and belonging, and helping people feel more connected
• support organisations to build on their existing work, eg by reaching more people, or working in a new area or with a different method or group of people
• encourage organisations to join up with others locally
• improve the evidence base and use learning to inform longer term policy and funding decisions.

The main fund is made up of close to £9 million, which will be distributed by the Big Lottery Fund, making grants of between £30,000 and £100,000.

These could include (but are not limited to):

• staff salaries
• training and organisational development
• equipment to facilitate activities
• venue hire
• communications campaigns
• marketing
• project activities and other resources to help run the project or intervention
• resources to implement or develop the project
• costs for learning and evaluation (recognising that you will be working with an evaluator as part of your funding).

For more information please visit the Big Lottery website here.

The PSMDB project funds new ideas the impact on people’s health and well-being. The programme seeks to establish innovative and financially sustainable services that will enable people in need to avoid hospital admissions, stay in their own homes longer and ensure that people can lead as normal a life as possible during an illness or as a result of incapacity.

By achieving this they want to;

• Ensure that the people we care for have the best care possible, in settings that they choose and delivered by providers they know and trust
• Reduce the costs to the NHS
• Help organisations to work in partnership to deliver bigger and better services
• Increase the sustainable income available to local organisations
• Delay the need for residential care and hospital admissions
• Reduce visits to casualty departments
• Reduce the pressure on G.P practices
• Keep people fitter and healthier

They can provide:

• Start-up funding
• Help to put a proposal together
• Access to business start-up advice and guidance
• On-going support
• Sign-posting to access other sources of funding
• Help to find partner organisations
• Links to mainstream NHS services
• Publicity and signposting to your project

For more information please visit the CERT Foundation website here.

Stage 1 applications will be accepted from 16 July to 31 August 2018 (5:30pm)

Charities in England, Scotland and Wales can apply for Dream Fund to deliver the project they have always dreamed of, but never had the opportunity to bring to life.

All applications must come from at least two charitable organisations that have joined forces to deliver an innovative project. The lead partner organisation must be a registered charity. The other partners can be registered charities, voluntary groups, community interest companies, universities or other not-for-profit organisations.

The funding pot for 2019 has been set at £3 million.

Grants of between £500,000 and £1 million are available to deliver a project that is 24 months in length between 2019 and 2021.

Projects must address at least one of this year’s priorities, which are:

• Changing lives through early intervention.
• Ending loneliness and social isolation.
• Protecting Britain’s biodiversity.
• Sustainable systems change.
• Transforming society through sport.

Applications must be innovative, creative and original, and present projects that are a genuine ‘dream’.

For more information please visit the Postcode Dream Fund website here. 

The Trust’s main area of interest is in supporting live and performance arts, in general and in education. Applications with a Yorkshire or regional focus are favoured. Split Infinitive is a small trust with limited funds to distribute annually.

Average grants fall between £250 and £750 and are at the trustees’ discretion. They may be awarded to individuals or to organisations for specific projects. Grants for general running costs, for projects outside the UK, and charities seeking funds for their own grant disbursement, will not be eligible for support.

At the current time, the Trust’s efforts are focused on supporting students; the trustees feel it only fair to acknowledge that, given the increasing number of applications being received, worthwhile projects which meet the main remit may have to be declined in favour of the Trust’s priority area.

In terms of student applications, the Trust favours supporting performance arts courses (e.g. music, drama, dance) although it may consider other arts areas. If your arts course is not strictly within these categories please check with us first to see if your course might be eligible.

For more information go to the Split Infinitive website

The Trust is one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts

The trustees will consider proposals in the field of autistic spectrum disorder. Wherever possible, projects are preferred which include people with ASD in decision-making. The trustees do not usually fund capital projects in this area of grant-making. The trustees do not make grants directly to individuals, or fund pure research.

The Trust also considers proposals in the field of disability, violence and access to justice. This is a developing field of interest. At present grants in this area mainly arise from trustees’ own research and that of their expert advisers.

The trustees have an annual small grants programme for play schemes run in the summer school holiday which support children with ASD.

For information on how to apply click here

deadline  28th September

This  is the largest and most exciting capital investment programme the LTA has ever undertaken.

This is the chance for local partners like you to work alongside the LTA to transform tennis facilities in your local community and get more people playing this great game.

Whether you’re a club, a local authority, an educational institution, or some other body, we want to help you to come together with other local partners to create the right mix of facilities to get more people playing tennis in your community.

They’re working towards two ambitious goals:

• To double the number children playing tennis
• To double the number of times infrequent adults play tennis

For more information go to the British Tennis website

 The Trust provides small grants that support children under 16 who are disabled, sick or convalescent.

Grants are up to £2,500 for education, social welfare and recreation projects.

There is no website.

Applications in writing with project and financial details to Chair of Trustees, Sophie Smallwood, 3 High Path, Eastbourne, West Sussex, GU29 9BD.

Deadline 31st August

The Morris Fund was formed in 1939 following a bequest to the Society from May Morris, the younger daughter of William and Jane Morris. May Morris required that grants should be made only to support work that is carried out according to the principles of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), which was founded by her father.

Grants are awarded to churches, chapels and other places of worship in the United Kingdom for the conservation of decorative features and monuments, but not for structural repairs.

Awards are generally between £500 and £5,000

There are two grant rounds each year and deadlines for the receipt of applications are:

• 31 March (applicants notified by 31 May)
• 31 August (applicants notified by 30 November)

For more information go to the website

The Trust like to help projects that are small scale and would find it hard to get funding from big trusts.

It is privately funded and doesn’t appeal for funds, so can take risks and support unpopular causes in ways that big charities find hard to do.   The Trust is entirely run by volunteers, so running costs are low.

These are the questions the Trust asks:

Is it something new for this particular area?
It doesn’t matter if the idea is tried and tested in other parts of the country.
If it is new for this community then the Trust is interested

Is it small? 
The Trust normally give grants to projects where an initial £125 to £2,500 can make a real difference. It almost never makes contributions to large appeals, such as for buildings or minibuses. In general, it looks at what it is costing per-head to reach the people the project is helping.

For more information and to apply go to the Trust website

The Foundation  is a registered charity which supports the education and development of children and young people by providing grants for educational, cultural, sporting and other projects.

They value academic, vocational, artistic and sporting endeavour in equal measure but  are particularly keen to support projects which will help enhance the self-confidence, team working skills and future employability of children and young people.

Projects which they support include:

• Drama
• Music
• Sport
• Art and design
• Debating
• Public speaking
• Academic education,
• Vocational training
• Community projects
• Enterprise projects
• Educational excursions

This list is illustrative and not exclusive

For more information and to apply go to the Blue Spark Foundation