Funding

Latest news: March 2008

The effect of the economic downturn on charity finances

A survey of 362 charities by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Institute of Fundraising, and the Charity Finance Directors' Group has revealed a recent decline in charity incomes against a backdrop of rising demand for services and increasing costs.

The value of corporate donations has declined significantly. There has been some reduction in income from direct debits by individual donors. And the value of legacies and wills (which account for a third of the income of UK charities) has also plunged.

Demand for services, such as those which deal with homelessness and mental illness, has grown at the same time as income has been declining. However, contrary to some press reports, half of the charities surveyed had identified positive advantages of the downturn with 62 per cent of charities expecting to increase their fundraising activities in the coming months in order to fundraise out of the downturn.

Please use the links below for details of the kind of projects supported by these funds and schemes. Further information about applying for grants is available from Medway Council's Corporate Funding Unit.

General grants

• European Social Fund (ESF) community grants
• Beatrice Laing Trust
• Chelsea Building Society Charitable Trust
• Funding for Christian charities promoting social inclusion
• Foyle Foundation
• 2012 Olympic funding allocation
• Screen South's exhibition and community learning fund
• The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust
  

Grants for young people and education

• The UnLtd Big Challenge
• Start (Arts and Young People)
• Youth Sector Development Fund
• Tesco Charity Trust Community Awards Scheme
• V Cashpoint re-opens for applications from young volunteers
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation: Education and learning programme
• Equitable Charitable Trust
• Bridging the Gap
• Wolfson Foundation Schools programme

Environmental grants

• Parks for People Programme
• Natural England Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) grant scheme
  

This list is not exhaustive. If you have any ideas for a proposal but do not know any possible sources of funding, please contact the Corporate Funding Unit using the contact information at the foot of this page.

General grants

European Social Fund (ESF) community grants

ESF offers grants of up to £12,000 to third sector organizations that support the most disadvantaged individuals to access further learning opportunities or to progress to employment.

People benefiting from these grants will be experiencing barriers to access services and will not be in paid work or be economically inactive. Priority will be given to groups who work with lone parents; women; people with health / disability issues; older people (50 years plus); people from ethnic minorities and diverse communities.

Deadlines

• 18 April 2009;
• 12 September 2009;
• 15 February 2010;
• 12 June 2010.

Further information

Community Grants
Action with Communities in Rural Kent
15 Manor Road
Folkestone CT20 2AH
Phone: 01303 850816
Email: communitygrants@ruralkent.org.uk

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Beatrice Laing Trust

This charitable trust provides mainly small grants for the relief of poverty in its broadest sense and the advancement of the evangelical Christian faith. There are three types of grants:

• small grants towards the core costs of national charities;
• small capital grants to local organisations working to relieve poverty in their local community;
• larger one-off or recurring (up to three years) grants for capital work or towards specific projects.

Applicants must be registered charities, mostly those working with children, young people, the elderly, the homeless, and those with physical, mental or learning difficulties. Most grants are between £1,000 and £5,000. Grants of up to £30,000 are available but tend to be awarded to larger national organisations.

Further information

Beatrice Laing Trust
c/o Laing Family Trusts
33 Bunns Lane
Mill Hill
London NW7 2DX
Phone: 020 8238 8890

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Chelsea Building Society Charitable Trust

This scheme has now re-opened to applications.

Grants between £250 and £5,000 are available to community-based charities within a 10-mile radius of a Chelsea Building Society branch. There are two branches in the Kent area: Chatham and Maidstone.

Priority will be given to the following projects: homelessness; the disadvantaged, the vulnerable or socially excluded; all forms of disability; health (self help and voluntary groups); and the encouragement of prudent money management such as money advice services; security and community safety.

Further information

Chelsea Building Society Charitable Trust
Phone: 01242 283605
Email:charitablefoundation@thechelsea.co.uk
Website: www.thechelsea-charity-foundation.co.uk/

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Funding for Christian charities promoting social inclusion

The Anchor Foundation provides grants of between £500 and £10,000 per year to Christian charities that encourage social inclusion through ministries of healing and the arts. Funding can be awarded for up to three years. The foundation will consider applications for either capital or revenue funding. Only in exceptional circumstances will grants be given for building work. Previously-funded projects include:

• The Karis Neighbour Scheme which received a grant of £700 for revenue costs at a drop-in centre for women refugees in Birmingham;
• Discovery Camps which received a grant of £1,500 to subsidise children's holidays arranged by churches in and around Dundee.

Deadlines

Applications are considered at twice yearly trustees meetings in April and November and need to be received by 31 January and 31 July each year.

Further information

Website: www.theanchorfoundation.org.uk/

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Foyle Foundation

This national charitable trust provides funding to charities whose core remit covers either education, arts or health.

• Education: Main priorities for support are libraries, museums and archives; and special educational needs and learning difficulties. State schools and special schools can be supported.
• Arts: Supports both the performing and visual arts. Its main priorities are to make the arts more accessible to new audiences by supporting tours, festivals and arts educational projects; encouraging new work and supporting young and emerging artists.
• Health: The foundation supports projects that make an active contribution to improved health care and smaller health charities, including those for rare or distressing conditions.

Average grants awarded range from £10,000 to £50,000. Grants will not exceed £500,000 and grants below £10,000 will not generally be considered. The foundation can support capital and revenue grants.

There is no deadline for applications. However, allow up to four months for processing of applications.

Further information

The Foyle Foundation
Rugby Chambers
2 Rugby Street
London WC1N 3QU
Phone: 020 7430 9119
Email: information@foylefoundation.org.uk

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2012 Olympic funding allocation

£292million of confirmed investment has been allocated by UK Sport to British Olympic and Paralympics sports ahead of the London Games in 2012.

UK Sport has agreed a target of a "top four" medal table finish for the games, however it is still £50million short of its original funding ambitions for 2012.

£247million has been invested in Olympic sport for the London Games. The funded sports are archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, equestrian, gymnastics, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, swimming, synchronised swimming, taekwondo and Triathlon. The Olympic sports still to have their funding confirmed are fencing, handball, shooting, table tennis, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.

£45million has been confirmed for Paralympic sports, with funding allocated to archery, athletics, boccia, cycling, equestrian, judo, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair basketball (men), wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis. Paralympic sports still to have their funding confirmed are fencing, goalball, volleyball and wheelchair basketball (women).

Further information

Website: www.uksport.gov.uk

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Screen South's Exhibition and Community Learning Fund

Screen South has launched The Exhibition and Community Learning Fund, which comes from the Regional Investment Fund for England. It has £50,000 to award for exhibition projects and £20,000 to award for education projects. The fund aims to increase viewing and learning opportunities for all audiences across the south-east. Support is available through two strands:

• community learning (to increase media literacy and film education);
• exhibition (to increase access to and understanding of a wide range of cinema).

All legally constituted organisations operating in the south-east are eligible to apply for a maximum of £10,000. All projects must have an element of partnership funding, and require a minimum of 20 per cent matched funding.

Deadline

2 February 2009

Further information

To register, please submit 25 words or less about your project/ideas, along with contact details to: info@screensouth.org

Website: www.screensouth.org/newsarticle.aspx?newsid=1061

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The Peter De Haan Charitable Trust

The trust supports charitable organisations that aim to improve the quality of life for people and communities in the UK. The funding available is delivered through three programme areas: social welfare;·the environment; and·the arts. Grants, available for up to three years, can be for project-based applications or to subsidise core costs. Applications are considered on a continuing basis throughout the year.

Further information

Website: www.pdhct.org.uk/home.html

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Grants for young people and education

The UnLtd BigChallenge

This £60,000 fund offers grants to help young people make positive choices about their lives. Only individual young people (aged 16 to 25), or informal groups of young people are eligible. Formally constituted organisations cannot apply. Projects must involve young volunteers, and should focus on one or more of these areas: drugs, sex, alcohol, sustainable living, gang culture and healthy living.

Deadline

12 January 2009

Further information

Phone: 0207 5661129
Email: bigchallenge@unltd.org.uk

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Start (Arts and YoungPeople)

This scheme, managed by the Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, is aimed at supporting arts organisations form partnerships with primary and secondary schools in their local area.The focus should be on children who have little or no experience of culture; children who may have never been to a play, heard a live piece of classical music or visited their local art gallery. Ten new partners will be sought for the 2009/10 academic year who can deliver high quality projects; target children unlikely to have visited venues before; be accessible for the targeted audience; offer opportunities to create learning and skills development; be sustained over a period of time; and build upon an organisation's current education programme.

Deadline

23 January 2009

Further information

Website: www.childrenandarts.org.uk

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Youth Sector Development Fund

This funding round will focus on supporting projects submitted by smaller youth third sector organisations (TSOs) with a turnover of under £1million, and with a proven track record of delivering positive activities to the most disadvantaged young people, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights (13 to 19-year-olds, 25 years in the case for those with learning difficulties and disabilities). Grants of up to £600,000 over two years will be available to cover the revenue costs of 25 organisations.

Deadline

23 January 2009

Further information

Phone: 0845 630 8699
Email: ysdf@ecotec.com
Website: www.ysdf.ecotec.com

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Tesco Charity Trust Community Awards Scheme

This community awards scheme to support children’s welfare and children’s education (including special needs schools) is now open for applications. Through the current funding round, it provides one-off donations of between £1,000 and £4,000 towards projects that directly benefit children and children with disabilities living in the local communities around Tesco stores in the UK. Projects the trust has previously supported include playground equipment in schools and local communities, such as:

• sensory garden or room projects;
• outdoor classrooms;
• breakfast and after school clubs;
• holiday play-schemes;
• part funding to purchase minibuses, etc.

Deadlines

There are two funding rounds every year and the current funding round is open from 1 December 2008 to 31 January 2009.

The trust also runs a awards scheme for projects that help elderly people and/or people with disabilities. This scheme is due to open for applications on the 1 February 2009.

Further information

www.tescoplc.com/plc/corporate_responsibility/local_communities/

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vcashpoint re-opens for applications from young volunteers

v, the independent charity set up to encourage young people to volunteer, works in partnership with HSBC bank. vcashpoint is a £1million initiative that will provide grants of up to £2,500 to young people to set up their own volunteering projects within their community. The type of activities that could be supported could include:

• running activities for children;
• transforming a community space;
• supporting victims of bullying;
• running workshops for young people;
• setting up a local campaign;
• clearing up a beach;
• running music;
• art or sports events for disadvantaged people;
• organising a festival to bring different cultures or communities together, etc.

Deadline

26 January 2009

Further information

Website: www.vinspired.com/vcashpoint/

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Paul Hamlyn Foundation Education and Learning Programme

The foundation is looking to fund projects that promote innovation and change in the areas of:·

• supplementary education;
• tackling school exclusion and truancy;
• developing speaking and listening skills for 11 to 19-year-olds.

Eligible organisations that can apply for funding include charities, local authorities individual pre-schools, schools, out-of-school clubs, supplementary schools, colleges and youth clubs if they demonstrate benefits to the wider community and include partnership working that will result in increasing access to education and learning to all communities and age groups.

The costs that can be covered by the foundation’s grants include running costs such as staff salaries and overheads such as stationery, rent, rates and utilities. There is no minimum or maximum size of grant for which organisations can apply.

Further information

Website: www.phf.org.uk/landing.asp?id=3

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Equitable Charitable Trust

The trust provides small grants to charitable organisations working towards educating young people, especially those with disabilities and/or from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Previously supported projects include supplementary maths, English and science classes for disadvantaged five to 18-year-olds; education projects to reduce teenage pregnancies; capital grants for the renovation and refurbishment of facilities for children with complex needs and disabilities; and music education projects for children and young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

The size of grants range between £2,500 to £30,000, with most being for sums of between £10,000 to £30,000. for projects lasting one to three years. Bids are not accepted from state maintained or voluntary aided schools or colleges, either directly or via another charity, such as Friends and Parent Teacher Associations.

Further information

Phone:020 7264 4995

Website: www.equitablecharitabletrust.org.uk/

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Bridging the Gap

The Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT), an independent grant-making organisation established in 1999 to improve the quality of life in Britain’s coalfield communities, is seeking applications under its Bridging the Gap programme. Grants between £500 and £10,000 are available to community and voluntary groups within the coalfield communities to improve the quality of people lives. The CRT will support projects that fit into one or more of the following funding themes:

• access to employment;
• education and skills;
• health and wellbeing;
• access to opportunities.

CRT offers quick access to funds and and aims to make a decision within 12 weeks of receiving an application. The funding programme is due to run for three years from April 2008 to March 2011. Since being founded, the CRT has awarded £150million through its grant-making programmes. In addition to the Bridging the Gap programme, the CRT can award grants of up to £300,000 through its main grants programme to bigger voluntary, community and statutory organisations. Applications can be sumitted at any time.

Further information

Website: www.coalfields-regen.org.uk/

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Wolfson Foundation Schools programme

Schools looking for grants to fund building work, IT and other equipment (mainly for the teaching of science and technology), can apply for funding to this programme. Its main aim is to support schools with a proven record of excellence. In addition, schools with a clear record of continuing improvement may also be considered. The foundation is one of the UK’s largest grant making trusts and makes approximately £35million available for capital projects to registered charities in the UK (or organisations with charitable status) active in the areas of science and technology, education, arts and humanities, and health and welfare.

The level of funding ranges from £20,000 to £50,000 per school. Applications to the foundation can be made at any time and schools interested in applying should write to the foundation to enquire if their project is eligible.

Further information

Website: www.wolfson.org.uk/flash/grants_schools.htm

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Environmental grants

Natural England's Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) grant scheme

Natural England’s 2008/09 ALSF grant scheme has re-opened to applications. A limited amount of funding is still available for projects that can be completed by 20 March 2009. Projects will be assessed on a first-come, first-served basis until all the remaining funds have been allocated.

The scheme aims to support projects that reduce the effects of aggregate extraction on local communities and the natural environment. The fund will support projects that involve and deliver clearly defined benefits in terms of one or more of the following general themes:

• landscape and nature conservation (including biodiversity and geodiversity);
• access and informal recreation;
• communities;
• education and understanding;
• evidence gathering.

Individuals, companies or organisations can apply for grants of up to £350,000, for up to 75 per cent of total eligible costs. However, applicants should bear in mind that a total of £700,000 remains available.

Deadline

No applications will be accepted after 5pm on 16 January 2009.

Further information

Website: www.naturalengland.org.uk/conservation/grants-funding/alsf.htm

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Parks for People programme

This programme has been relaunched and is now solely managed and funded by Heritage Lottery Fund with of a budget of £20million per year.

£250,000 to £5million funding is available for projects involving urban or rural green spaces designed for informal recreation and enjoyment, such as parks, public gardens, squares, walks and promenades.

Priority will be given to projects that the community values as part of its heritage; meets local social, economic and environmental needs; and actively involves local people.

Local Authorities as well as other not for profit organisations that own public parks and gardens can apply for grants of between

Deadlines

There is a two-stage application process, with two closing dates for both first-round and second-round applications in 2009. These are the 28 February and 31 August 2009.

Further information

Website: www.hlf.org.uk/English/HowToApply/

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