July 2024 Funding News

Trading for Good:

Community Business Funded Programme

Objectives of Fund

The programme aims to support early stage community businesses across England by helping them to develop skills to:

• Generate income to be invested in their community through trading.
• Create a resilient, growing community business.
• Adapt to changes in external environments.
• Develop emotional resourcefulness.
• Build and benefit from new networks.
• Positively impact their community.

Match Funding Restrictions

Grants are calculated according to the organisation's increase in trading income over a year, compared to the previous year. The amount awarded will be matched pound-for-pound based on the increased trading income, up to the maximum of £4,000.

Who Can Apply

Eligible organisations must be committed to and working towards being a community business. A community business is run by and for a local community for a social or environmental purpose. Its profits are reinvested for the benefit of that community.

Applicants must be aiming to be:

• Locally rooted. It should be based within a defined geographical area (e.g. a village or town, or a ward, or borough).
• Accountable to the local community. It must demonstrate that the local community is involved in planning and supporting the community business, as well as simply using its services.
• Trading for the benefit of the local community. It must be trading or planning to trade with profits reinvested in the community or to support activity in the community.
• Making a broad community impact. It must either be working with a broad section of the community or have a specific focus on a particular group, e.g. people from minoritized ethnicities or disabled people, in the local community.

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be based in England.
• Plan on starting or growing the income it makes from trading.
• Be established within the last 1-5 years.
• Have an income of less than £100,000 per year.

  
  

Eligible Expenditure

This free learning programme will be a mix of online and in-person sessions with delivery in Birmingham, London or Manchester.

The programme will run from 17 December 2024 to 1 August 2025. It is 12 days spread over nine months: six days are in person and six are online. Multiple options can be selected.

Topics covered:

• Engaging with the local community.
• Developing the link between trading and impact goals.
• Growing business and enterprise skills.
• Testing and refining marketing skills and growing a customer base.
• Financial resilience and sustainability.
• Planning and management.
• Confidence-building, adaptability and emotional resourcefulness.
• Improving leadership skills.
• Developing networks.

How To Apply

The online application form and guidance notes can be accessed by registering an interest on the SSE website.

An online information session will be held on 17 July (3pm - 4pm). Registration is required(External link).

Useful links

School for Social Entrepreneurs - Community Business Trade Up Programme(External link)

Maximum value: £ 5,000

Application deadline: 10/08/2024

Grants are available to UK registered charities and not-for-profit organisations for projects that improve, fix, and repair buildings, homes and facilities specifically used by people in need across the UK.

Objectives of Fund

The funding is intended for both national and local charities across the UK so that they can fix, repair, maintain and improve properties and community facilities specifically for those in need (by reason of financial hardship, sickness, disability or other disadvantage or distress) in the UK.

Who Can Apply

Registered charities and not-for-profit organisations based in the UK (including specialist not-for-profit schools) can apply.

Applications will be accepted from:

• Registered Charities with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
• Registered Charities with OSCR
• Registered Charities with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
• Registered Community Benefit Society with the FCA
• Registered Cooperative Society with the FCA
• Registered Community Interest Company (CIC) with Companies House.

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be supporting people in need in the UK by reason of financial hardship, sickness, disability or other disadvantage or distress. The main beneficiaries could be:
  1. People suffering from sickness or disabilities.
  2. People from diverse groups.
  3. Disadvantaged or vulnerable people.
  4. People suffering from financial hardship.
  5. People suffering from mental health issues.
  6. Other.
• Be looking for funding to support projects that relate to the repair, maintenance, improvement or construction of homes, community buildings and other buildings.
• Have suitable governance to manage funds, eg, financial reporting, committee meetings, etc.

The following are not eligible for funding:

• Items that are easily removable from a property such as soft furnishings, curtains, tables, chairs etc.
• White goods or electronic items.
• Grants for research.
• Purchase of vehicles.
• Purchase of garden machinery or removeable furniture such as lawnmowers, chairs or plants.
• Repayment of loans.
• Annual Rent or service charges.
• Sponsorships.
• Salaries.
• Projects which will be used by general members of the public, eg, sports clubs and association, uniformed groups such as scouts and girl guide groups or organisations that support wildlife or animals as their main beneficiary.
• Groups that have received funding from the Screwfix Foundation within the last two years.

The trustees meet to review applications in March, June, September and December. The cutoff date for applications is 12pm on the 10th of the month prior to the Trustee meeting.

Useful links

The Screwfix Foundation
https://www.screwfix.com/help/screwfixfoundation(External link)

GSK Community Health Programme

Maximum value: £10,000

Application deadline: 12/08/2024

Awards programme that offers unrestricted funding and leadership support to small charities tackling health inequalities in the UK.

Objectives of Fund

The funding is aimed at very small charities working in their communities to address health inequalities and who find it hard to access unrestricted funding and support for their leaders. This is particularly true for organisations led by and supporting the most disadvantaged communities – such as those supporting ethnic minority communities, people with disabilities, people from the LGBTQ+ community and others.

The Programme will support aspirational leaders who want to develop their organisations to tackle health inequalities. It is designed to run alongside the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) IMPACT Awards and support the next generation of award winners.

Up to 15 places are available on an online leadership programme. The programme will be delivered by The King’s Fund, and provide participants with the opportunity to develop their capability and confidence to lead both operationally and strategically.

Who Can Apply

Small charities that are working, located and registered in the UK are eligible to apply.

Charities must:

• Be a registered charity by the application deadline of 12 August 2024.
• Have existed for a minimum of one year by 12 August 2024.
• Have a total annual income of between £20,000 and £150,000 as shown in their most recent accounts.
• Be independently constituted from any national umbrella organisation.
• Be able to demonstrate how they are tackling health inequalities in their community, which can be defined as a geographical community or a community of interest.

Restrictions

Community Interest Companies (CICs) and other organisations that are not registered charities are not eligible to apply.

Useful links

The King's Fund - GSK Community Health Programme 2024
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/projects/gsk/community-health-programme(External link)

National Churches Trust - Medium Grants Programme

Maximum value: £10,000

Application deadline: 13/08/24

Grants are available for listed and unlisted Christian places of worship of any denomination in the UK to support project development and medium size repairs.

The National Churches Trust is the national charity dedicated to supporting and promoting places of worship of historic, architectural and community value used by Christian denominations throughout the UK through advice, support and funding.

The Trust supports church and chapel buildings open for worship throughout the UK. It funds urgent repairs and modernisation, provides expert advice on church maintenance and on how churches can continue to serve local communities and promote church heritage and tourism.

Objectives of Fund

The Medium Grants programme (formerly Gateway Grants) will support churches preparing for a major project, and in developing their project to the point at which they can approach a major grant funder. Some funding will be awarded to local church trusts for strategic or capacity building projects.

Match Funding Restrictions

Match funding of at least 50% is required. Applicants should have already raised 50% of the total project cost.

Restrictions

Funding is not available for the following:

• Buildings that have been converted into places of worship, such as shops, offices or houses.
• Chapels within hospitals, hospices, schools or prisons or other such institutions.
• Projects that have started before the application was submitted.
• Construction of new places of worship or separate structures.
• Works to cathedral buildings.
• Works to buildings that were not originally constructed as a place of worship.
• Works to an existing building that is separate from the existing place of worship (even if it is on the same site, a church hall, or owned by the church).
• Works required due to negligence.
• Repairs to, or scheduled maintenance of boilers, clocks, organs, wall paintings, bells, monuments, fittings and fixtures and solar panels.
• Reordering, lighting, electricity, and AV.
• Works to boundary walls, paths, churchyards, churchyard monuments or car parks.
• Stained glass restoration (unless urgent repairs to window structure, or the building is no longer watertight).
• Construction of new places of worship or church halls.

Eligible Expenditure

Grants can be used either for:

• Project development - developing a church building project such as feasibility studies, options appraisals, investigative work and development work up to RIBA Planning Stage 1.
• Urgent and essential maintenance and repair projects costing between £20,000 and £80,000 including VAT.

Grants of up to £10,000 will also be awarded to local church trusts to fund projects that support organisational development, increase their capacity to churches in their area, or that deliver new ways of supporting churches in their area.

Useful links

National Churches Trust - Grants
https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/our-grants(External link)

National Churches Trust - Medium Grants
https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/get-support/grants/medium-grants(External link)

Grants are available to non-profit making organisations in qualifying areas of England for improvements to local community facilities, historic buildings and structures, sport and recreation facilities.

Objectives of Primary Fund

The LCF Primary Fund Programme supports capital improvement works to public amenity projects for community use

Objectives of Smaller Projects Fund

The Smaller Projects Fund supports community improvement projects that make physical improvements to community facilities such as village halls, public parks and sports facilities, and to projects that restore or repair buildings of religious worship or buildings of architectural or historic interest.

Value Notes of Primary Fund

Grants of between £3,000 and £50,000 are available. Projects must have an overall cost of no more than £250,000. Projects must start within six months and complete within 12 months of funds being awarded.

Value Notes of Smaller Projects Fund

Grants of between £1 and £20,000 are available.

Projects must have an overall cost of no more than £40,000.

Projects must start within three months and complete within 12 months of funds being awarded.

Applicable to both funds

Contributing Third Party Payment (CTP)

Before the Trust can release funding for a project, they need to receive a payment called the Contributing Third Party Payment. This payment is necessary because, under the rules of the Landfill Communities Fund, SUEZ UK (the donor) can reclaim, as a tax credit, most (but not all) of the landfill tax contribution it makes to the Trust. The scheme regulator also requires a fee and each successful application incurs other minor costs. To make up the shortfall, SUEZ UK requires that 11.5% of the money provided is recovered from third parties.

SUEZ Communities Trust provides an online calculator to work out the CTP that will need to be paid.

Eligible third party contributors include the following:

• Applicant's organisation (providing it is not a registered Environmental Body).
• Donations from the community.
• Donation from an individual.
• Award from County Councils, Borough Councils, Parish Councils, 'Friends of' or other supporters of a project.
• Local businesses.
• Grants and other awards (not sourced from the LCF).

The CTP cannot be received from a person or organisation that has exclusive benefit from the project being funded (such as a contractor working on a project who receives payment through the project).

Applicants that can demonstrate successful efforts to raise contributory funds in support of the project (over and above the CTP) will be considered favourably, although those that don't will still be considered.

Who Can Apply

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be run on a not-for-profit basis. This could include community groups, parish councils, charities, community interest companies, sports clubs, community associations, local authorities and voluntary organisations.
• Own or hold a lease for the project site with at least five years remaining.
• Be based at a project site which must be owned or leased by the applying organisation.

Restrictions

Grants are not available for:

• Core cost funding.
• Retrospective funding.
• Bus services, minibus services, or vehicles.
• Projects at hospitals, or hospices, or day care centres.
• Staff posts and costs where they are not based, or specifically undertaking works, at the actual project site
• Allotments, or fruit growing projects.
• Charity buildings, offices of charities, and advice centres.

Eligible Expenditure

To be eligible, projects must meet the following criteria:

• The project site must be in England and within a SUEZ Communities Trust funding zone.
• All projects must have unrestricted public access for a minimum of 104 days per year; that is no less than four evenings, two days each week. Applicants will be asked to provide details of public access in their application.
• Applicants can only apply for funds for the same site or project through one of the main SUEZ Communities Trust funding programmes in any three-year period.
• All applications need to clearly demonstrate that all costs applied for are directly attributable to the physical delivery of a project. Funding is typically awarded for the purchase of materials/equipment and the appointment of a contractor to undertake the improvement work.

Useful links

Grantscape - SUEZ Communities Fund England
https://grantscape.org.uk/fund/suez-communities-fund-england/(External link)

McCarthy Stone Foundation -

Community Grants

Maximum value: £ 7,500

Application deadline: 23/08/2024

Grants are available to community organisations for projects to improve the health and wellbeing of older people. For the current round, projects should focus on one-to-one initiatives to alleviate loneliness for people over 65 years old in Great Britain.

Objectives of Fund

The programme aims to support organisations to address loneliness and the wellbeing of people over 65 years old by supporting one-to-one projects, particularly for residents in areas of deprivation.

Who Can Apply

Community organisations, registered charities and other groups (including CICs limited by guarantee) may apply.

Organisations must be working with adults over 65 years of age and providing direct person-centred interventions in deprived areas. However, applications from all areas that can demonstrate a local level of need are considered.

The project must be legally charitable and unrestricted funds will only be awarded to registered charities.

Organisations must have:

• An annual income less than £250,000.
• A governing document.
• A registered bank account in the name of the organisation.

Eligible Expenditure

Funding is available for a range of project/core costs and activities e.g. befriending initiatives, etc.

Projects must provide either direct one-to-one service provision to alleviate loneliness or group-based activity to address social isolation.

Useful links

McCarthy Stone Foundation
https://mccarthystonefoundation.org/(External link)

McCarthy Stone Foundation - Grants Programme
https://mccarthystonefoundation.org/our-grant-programmes/(External link)

Cash for Kids - Sports Challenge

Maximum value: Discretionary

Application deadline: 02/09/2024

A fundraising competition for grassroots junior community sports groups to engage children and young people who are disadvantaged or disabled to be more involved in physical activities.

Objectives of Fund

The aim of the Cash for Kids Sports Challenge is to encourage participation of disabled or disadvantaged children and young people to engage in sport. Applicants must compete in a fundraising challenge to potentially receive more funding for their project.

Match Funding Restrictions

Fundraising is required.

Who Can Apply

The following organisations who work for the benefit of disadvantaged young people (up to and including the age of 18 residing in the UK) are eligible to apply:

• Local sports groups with a formal governance document (e.g. constitution, articles of association, club rules and regulations).
• Charities, community, and voluntary groups that deliver sport or physical activity in their community with a formal governance document (e.g. constitution, articles of association, club rules and regulations).
• Community amateur sports clubs.
• After-school sports clubs (but only to use the funding to support disadvantaged children).

Eligible organisations must have:

• Appropriate financial planning relative to the size and structure of the group.
• Any financial decisions and processing (e.g. payments) are managed by more than one or two unrelated persons (or persons living at the same address).
• Financial records ad accounts signed should be off by a person unrelated to management.
• A safeguarding policy reviewed within the last 12 months.
• A bank account in the name of the group.

Only one application per group is permitted.

Eligible Expenditure

Costs such new equipment, new kit, updating facilities and recruiting new members are supported by the Sports Challenge.

Useful links

Cash for Kids - Sports Challenge
https://cashforkids.org.uk/sports(External link)

Maximum value: £25,000

Application deadline: 02/09/2024

Objectives of Fund

The funding aims to support smaller charities and good causes in the west of England to make a difference to their community for the benefit of people and planet.

Value Notes

Grants of between £500 and £25,000 are available in 2024.

The amount of grant depends on the type of not-for-profit legal structure:

• Applicants that are not formally registered as a charity with the Charity Commission can apply for between £500 and £2,500 in funding. These grants are intended for constituted organisations with no charity number, excepted and exempted charities and companies limited by guarantee with an asset lock
• Applicants that are registered with the Charity Commission and can provide a charity number can apply for between £500 and £25,000 in funding. These grants are intended for community interest companies with an asset lock (schedule 1 and 2 only), community benefit societies, and charities registered with the Charity Commission.

Who Can Apply

Local charities and other not-for-profit organisations based and working in the west of England can apply.

To be eligible, applicants must have:

• An income of less than £1 million in the last year.
• A governing document in the name of their organisation
• A bank account in the name of their organisation with two unrelated signatories.
• Signed accounts for the most recent financial year or a financial forecast for new organisations.
• A registered Charity Commission number (not for a parent organisation) if applying for over £2,000.

If the round is oversubscribed, priority may be given to charities and good causes which meet some or all of the following criteria:

• Organisations with an annual income of £250,000 and below.
• Communities that rank as being within the top 15% on the English Indices of Deprivation
• Groups that are led by and provide services for people from the following minority/marginalised groups:
  1. Communities experiencing racial inequity
  2. Disabled people.
  3. LGBT+ people.

The following organisations can apply for grants of between £500 and £2,500:

• Constituted voluntary organisations with no charity number
• Excepted and exempted charities
• Companies limited by guarantee with an asset lock
• Parochial Church Councils.

The following types of organisations can apply for grants of between £500 and £25,000:

• Community Interest Companies with an asset lock
• Community Benefit Societies
• Charities registered with the Charity Commission.

Eligible Expenditure

The funding is for projects that have a clear alignment with one of the Trust's 2024 themes:

• Enabling participation in physical activity
• Enabling participation in the arts
• Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
• Supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality
• Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
• Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors
• Providing support to improve mental health with a focus on organisations that are actively supporting specific mental health issues rather than general mental wellbeing activities.

The funding offered is unrestricted and therefore flexible. It can be used however it is most needed.

The funding should be spent within 18 months.

Useful links

Postcode Local Trust
http://www.postcodelocaltrust.org.uk/(External link)