Funder Update

Funding to Help People Self-Isolating Under Covid-19 Restrictions for Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton areas.

Community and voluntary organisations can apply for grants of up to £5,000 to help fund voluntary and community activity which helps and supports people self-isolating under COVID-19 restrictions in Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has made £200,000 available over the next six months from money which has been allocated from items seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Funding from this second round of their Community Initiatives Fund will help organisations responding and organising in new ways to connect with each other within their communities. This includes online, providing practical and spiritual support, and using local supply chains.

The deadline for applications is the 3rd August 2020.

For more information go to www.westmidlands-pcc.gov.uk/community-initiatives-fund/

Heritage Fund are now welcoming applications for larger grants to cover emergency costs during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

The new level of Heritage Emergency Fund grants are worth £50,000-£250,000. Using funding made possible by The National Lottery, these grants are available to all past and current National Lottery Heritage Fund grantees and can be used to cover essential costs for up to four months.

The new grants are in addition to the existing £3,000-£50,000 Heritage Emergency Fund grants which were launched in mid-April as the crisis began to unfold.

We intend these larger grants to help organisations in the heritage sector address immediate risks, become more stable and work towards longer-term recovery after the crisis.

“We are continuing to listen to heritage organisations and adapt our response to their needs, which is why we have brought in this higher level of funding.”

Ros Kerslake, CEO of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has particularly damaging effect on the heritage sector, just as many attractions would be welcoming paying visitors from home and overseas. We are continuing to listen to heritage organisations and adapt our response to their needs, which is why we have brought in this higher level of funding.

“Although we may not be able to fund everything, we do encourage organisations to get in touch and apply for funding.

“Heritage is incredibly valuable for people, communities and the economy. We want to support organisations to actively deal with immediate risks, become more stable and work towards longer term recovery.”

Heritage Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “Heritage plays a vitally important role in making our communities better places to live, supports our wellbeing, and provides an important boost to local economies. This funding is playing a critical role in helping people, projects and communities from across the sector face the challenges presented by the pandemic.”

Applications are now open. Organisations can apply any time before Tuesday 30 June 2020.

Find out more on how to apply on their funding page by clicking here.

Source: Heritage Fund

Sport England have committed another £1 million to combating the impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) on sports clubs and community activity groups, in the form of match funding through Crowdfunder.

This ‘Active Together’ partnership with Crowdfunder follows a successful collaboration from November 2018, which saw them committing to match fund 23 projects up to the value of £15,000 each.

This time they’re matching crowd funds of up to £10,000 raised by clubs and organisations hit by the coronavirus crisis – and is in addition to the up to £210m coronavirus support package already announced.

Many of the 120,000 sports clubs and voluntary groups across England are facing financial hardship at this time, with this scheme aimed at continuing their cash flow, diversifying their funding streams and ensuring they’re ready to reopen as soon as it’s safely possible.

“The partnership with Crowdfunder is one of several ways we’re helping organisations survive during the pandemic and start to plan for the future,” said our executive director of property, Charles Johnston.

“We’re supporting projects new to crowdfunding, so they can develop successful fundraising campaigns by engaging their local communities.

“It’s great to see the level of interest generated and we look forward to seeing how campaigns progress.”

Active Together will provide clubs and organisations with the infrastructure to pre-sell things such as tickets, membership fees and merchandise, as well as securing rewards-based donations.

This means incentivising members and the community to support their clubs by giving now and redeeming later, or receiving rewards offered by the organisation – for example a free session in return for a donation.

To read the full article and for more information click here.

Source: Sport England

The Armed Forces Covenant Trust is delighted to announce that we will be launching an emergency programme in April 2020; funded by HM Treasury from the new £10M Veterans Fund announced in the  March Budget working with ASDIC;  the Association of Veterans’ Drop in Centres, Cobseo, the Confederation of Service Charities  and Age UK to support veterans who are vulnerable. By working in this way; we will be able to make grants more quickly, and get funding swiftly to communities where it can provide assistance.

Through the Veterans Should Not Be Forgotten Programme we will to enable local drop in centres and breakfast clubs within the ASDIC network; local Age UK branches that already work with veterans and small charities within the Cobseo membership that were providing direct support to veterans in their communities to receive grants of up to £20,000 for projects focused on supporting veterans who are isolated and unable to access services or have limited social contact during the period of self isolation and restrictions relating to the pandemic.

New programmes

Targeting social isolation and supporting veterans and Armed Forces Families to reconnect with their communities

Over the next few months; we will be launching a range of programmes with a focus on reducing social isolation within the Armed Forces Community; and helping veterans and Armed Forces Families to reconnect with their communities.

This package of support includes:

From the Covenant Fund

£2.5M for local community projects through our Local Grants Programme.

£5.5M through the Reducing Isolation programme with a particular focus on enhancing the support available to those who may have suffered the most as a result of the pandemic; and supporting the wide reconnection needs where this would help Armed Forces Communities. We are keen to support a range of larger and smaller Armed Forces Charities through this programme; and encourage organisations to work together.

£1.5M to support Local Authorities and Local Covenant Partnerships to strengthen future delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant locally, so that veterans, families and the wider Armed Forces community don’t get overlooked.

For more information click here.

Source: Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust

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.