May Funding News

Mayor's Community Weekend

£500 to £2,000

Deadline: 12 noon, 7 June 2023

This year’s Mayor’s Community Weekend will take place on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September 2023.

Communities or groups can apply for funding to run activities that celebrate and support building strong community relationships. We’ll prioritise grants that focus on one or more of the following:

• bringing communities together – connecting and strengthening the relationships between neighbours and neighbourhoods.
• celebrating the strength and diversity of communities across the West Midlands, particularly the role young people can play in the communities.
• bringing together volunteers and promoting volunteering.
• creating more chances for communities to enjoy green spaces.

Successful events and activities will receive National Lottery funding, thanks to a partnership between the Mayor of the West Midlands, West Midlands Combined Authority and The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

Start your application!(External link)

Or check out some more information.(External link)

Community Grants

£1,000, £2,500, or £5,000

First deadline: Tuesday 6th June

The funding is for projects which begin in the third quarter of 2023.

To help groups that support young people continue to build back from the pandemic, this year’s funding will support initiatives which fit into one or more of the following funding themes.

• Diversionary Activities. Initiatives that specifically focus on engaging with young people, providing them support and deterring anti-social behaviour.

• Environmental. Initiatives could include but are not limited to: encouraging young people to engage with the outdoors, initiatives that support the environment and involve youth groups

• Employability. Initiatives that directly or indirectly equip young people with skills, experience or qualifications that will support them gaining access to employment.

• Wellbeing. Initiatives that positively impact or provide support to young people through: physical activity, mental health and/ or social interaction.

They will be accepting applications from:

• Unincorporated Associations

• Charities

• Community Interest Companies (CIC)

• Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO)

• Voluntary Groups

• Sport and Community Clubs

To be eligible, you must:

• Have an annual turnover of less than £250,000

• Be able to provide a reference from a local person or group who can provide supporting evidence of the community activity they do.

• Be able to provide evidence of a constitution and an independent bank account.

• Have evidence of a commitment to safeguarding within their organisation.

Take a look at what sorts of projects are successful to get an idea if your project fits!(External link)

£5,000

Deadline: midnight 9 June 2023

A very small number of small grants are available each year to support grassroots, neighbourhood-based community projects in the UK which improve mental health and wellbeing, inclusion, and learning and skills development in local communities.

Funding is intended to build happy, strong, resilient communities by supporting grassroots, not-for-profit projects that enable sustainable outcomes in:

• Mental health wellbeing and happiness

• Inclusion

• Learning and skills development

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be based in their local community.

• Be not-for-profit.

• Be non-political.

• Be focused on longevity.

• Have a bank account in the name of the group.

• Be willing to provide regular updates which Laughology can use on its website and social media to promote the project.

• Not have received funding of more than £50,000, from other sources, in the last 12 months.

Applicants who have qualified for the interview round will hear by 7 July 2023. Interviews will be held on zoom on 21 July 2023. The winner will be announced in August 2023.

The guidance notes, FAQs and online application form can be found on the Laughology website.(External link)

Co-op Local

Community Fund

£1,000 - £3,000 Deadline: midnight 11 June 2023

Funding is available for projects which benefit local communities centred around Co-op food stores and funeral homes.

The funding is for projects that:

• Bring people together to access food.

• Help to improve people's mental wellbeing.

• Create opportunities for young people to be heard and make a difference.

• Help people to save and restore nature or tackle climate change.

The money can be used to pay staff salaries or the project’s running costs.

The more Co-op members that support the project and shop at Co-op, the more money groups will receive. In most areas, this is between £1,000 and £3,000 on average..

Groups can use the postcode checker (External link)on the Co-op website to receive an estimation of the average grant size in their area.

Up to three projects in each community will be chosen.

Projects must:

• Take place in the UK or Isle of Man

• Not have religious or political aims (although religious groups can apply)

• Meet the Co-op’s values

• Take place or still be running after November 2024.

• Benefit their local community.

Notifications are expected in October 2023.

Get all the information you'll need!(External link)

Up to £2,500

Deadline: 5pm 30 June 2023

The funding is intended to support the creation of websites or digital products that enable small charities (with an annual average income of less than £400,000) to carry out their work in a more efficient and effective way, resulting in positive social benefit.

Not funded:

• Organisations set up to promote religion.

• General software or hardware procurement projects.

• Core digital costs such as hosting and support.

• Staff digital training or digital staff salaries.

In 2023/24 priority will be given to projects in the following areas during the appropriate application period:

• Application Period 2: Human Rights - 30 June 2023 (5pm)

• Application Period 3: Equality and Diversity - deadline: 29 September 2023 (5pm).

• Application Period 4: Art and Culture - deadline: 5 January 2024 (5pm).

The focus of the funding is purely on 'hard-to-fund' digital expenditure that other funders will often not cover.

Applicants will need to provide at least one quote as part of the application process, which will be assessed by Fat Beehive Foundation, to ensure value for money and the realistic prospect of development.

Start your application by checking your eligibility(External link)

Small Grants Programme

£300 to £15,000

Deadline: 30 June 2023

The Sport England Small Grants Programme aims to support local community sport projects that seek to encourage people in England, regardless of age, background or level of ability, to feel able to get involved in sport and physical activity. And, in particular, projects which meet one or more of the following aims of Sport England's ‘Towards an Active Nation’ strategy:

• Getting inactive people to become more active.

• Developing lasting sporting habits.

• Developing more positive attitudes among young people.

During the year of the Coronation 2023, the fund is also supporting projects which focus on sustainable activity and those which focus on skills development for young people.

Applications are accepted from:

• Community amateur sports clubs (as registered with HMRC).

• Unregistered voluntary and community organisations with a not-for-profit constitution.

• Registered charities.

• Not-for-profit companies (limited by guarantee without share capital or charitable incorporated organisation).

• Community interest companies (CICs) or other social enterprises.

• Community benefit societies.

• Schools using their facilities for wider community benefit.

• Local authority bodies (including town, parish and community councils).

Applicants do not have to be a sports organisation to apply as Sport England is more interested in the applicants' knowledge of and track record in the community that will benefit from the project.

It is worth checking what they won't fund before you apply as the list is fairly long!(External link)

Community Business Trade Up Programme

£5,000

Deadline: 26/06/2023

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

• Grow a stronger, more sustainable community business or project.

• Recover and rebuild income from trading and sales.

• Benefit from time to reflect and map out next steps.

• Improve leadership and business skills.

• Build a local support network of other people running similar organisations.

• A free learning programme, to help community businesses build their income, confidence, resilience and impact.

• Match trading grant of up to £5,000. The first £1,000 will be awarded up front. The remaining four instalments of up to £1,000 will be given over the year matched against the participant's increased trading.

• Community business peer mentor.

• An opportunity to meet regularly with other people running similar organisations with an eye to helping each other out

Applicants may want to attend one of the free online Application Information Sessions which will provide full details of eligibility and how to apply:

• Monday 17 April at 2pm

• Wednesday 17 May at 10am

• Tuesday 6 June at 6pm

• Tuesday 20 June at 2pm

Find all the guidance and how to apply