Funder Update

As a response to the current pandemic, the trust has changed its application guidelines and processes. Changes will apply for the spring application period march 16th – April 28th, in the first instance, by providing up to £5,000 unrestricted funding to small and medium charities under their Early years’ preventative work grants programme. 

These changes are intended to assist small and medium sized charities with small sums of unrestricted funding during this difficult period. We will be able to make more grants than usual but we do not expect to be able to fund all applicants.

Please read the new guidelines carefully before deciding whether or not you are eligible to apply.

The Trust will make grant to organisations working to  improve the life chances for some of the most disadvantaged children in England and Wales by investing in early intervention and preventative work. We support organisations whose work is with targeted groups of 0-3 year olds in England and Wales which will specifically improve the reach to these targeted groups and bring about improved defined outcomes for them.

Who can apply

• Charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales whose last audited accounts show an income of less than £750,000 and
• Charities that can demonstrate the likelihood of increased demand for their services and/or can demonstrate a loss of anticipated income attributable to the current pandemic

Duration and size of grants – Grants will be a one off payment of up to £5,000 and will be unrestricted.

Application date – Spring applications: applications can be submitted between  March 16th and April 28th 2020, with grants for successful applicants being as soon as possible after the closing date.

For more information click here.

The Clothworkers’ Emergency Capital Programme (CECP) will award small capital grants of up to £5,000 for essential capital items to adapt or increase services in response to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Priority will be given to organisations supporting vulnerable and ‘at risk’ groups within our programme areas during this period.

Please note that this programme is not open to charities whose beneficiaries are based in London. We will be announcing separate initiatives for London charities over the coming days.

We recognise the immediate need for capital items and aim to make quick decisions on applications. However, if we receive a large volume of applications it may take up to two weeks for a decision to reach you.

We expect the criteria for this programme to evolve as our understanding of the needs of organisations supporting beneficiaries in our programme areas develops.

Key features of the fund:

• Applications are only open to charities whose beneficiaries are not based in London
• They will award capital grants of up to £5,000 (but we will not award grants equal to more than 50% of your annual income)
• They aim to communicate a decision within one week (but it may take up to two weeks)
• Capital projects that are planned as part of your organisation’s ordinary course of business are not eligible; for these you may wish to review the What We Fund page for our Open Grants Programmes

Key organisational eligibility:

• Income of less than £2 million per annum
• Work of the applicant organisation must fall within our nine programme areas
• They do not support organisations that promote a particular religion or that only provide services to people of a particular religion

You must demonstrate your not-for-profit status in the application form and your accounts. We fund the following types of charitable and not-for-profit organisations:

• Charities registered with the Charity Commission including Community Interest Organisations (CIO)
• Community Interest Companies (limited by guarantee without share capital)
• ‘Exempt Charities’ (in which case we require details of your principal regulator and/or evidence of HMRC exemption)
• Special Schools

Please note that a ‘Constitution’ document alone is not a sufficient demonstration of eligibility.

Click here to apply or here for more information.

Source: Get Grants

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has put together a £50million fund to support the heritage sector as an immediate response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.  

The UK-wide fund – money raised from The National Lottery – will address immediate pressures over the next three-six months for those organisations most in need. It will be open for applications within the next few days.

We will continue to support more than 2,500 projects that we have already committed to – an investment of more than £1billion.

Eilish McGuinness, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Executive Director, Business Delivery, said:  “We know that circumstances are incredibly challenging for our heritage community right now and we want to do everything we can to support them. We hope this new fund will be a lifeline and a beacon of hope for organisations affected.

“Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, creating economic prosperity and supporting personal wellbeing. All of these are going to be vitally important as we emerge from this current crisis.”

Heritage Emergency Fund

The £50m fund will be available for grants of between £3,000 and £50,000.

It is available to organisations across the full breadth of heritage, including historic sites, industrial and maritime heritage, museums, libraries and archives, parks and gardens, landscapes and nature.

Organisations which have received funding in the past or are either a current grantee, or still under contract following a previous grant, can apply.

Priority will be given where:
•there is limited or no access to other sources of support
•where heritage is most at risk
•where an organisation is at risk of severe financial crisis due to COVID-19

A raft of extra support

We know that the majority of heritage organisations are facing temporary closure, severe impact on their revenue and staff shortages. Many face threats to their long-term futures. A small percentage fear they will not be able to last into the summer.

This is why we are taking a short, medium and long-term approach to our support for your immediate challenges and longer-term resilience and recovery.

For more information click here.