Funding round-up

Read on for a digest of the latest funding opportunities for voluntary and community organisations.

Scaling Up

The Youth of Today Scaling Up Fund is inviting applications from small third sector organisations to scale-up innovative youth leadership programmes and reach out across communities. The Fund is expected to make investments of between £5,000 and £20,000. Deadline for round three: 23 April; round four (final round): 23 June. www.theyouthoftoday.org/scaling

Community-Owned Pubs Support Programme

A £3.3m support programme to help communities buy their local pubs has been launched by the Office of the Third Sector. The programme is expected to support 50 communities through the process of taking pubs into community ownership. It is administered by the Plunkett Foundation. http://bit.ly/plunkettpub

Life Changers Awards

The Life Changers Awards are for individuals and organisations that have made a significant contribution to their community. Deadline: 31 May. www.life-changers-awards.com

Woodward Charitable Trust

The Woodward Charitable Trust awards grant funding to organisations in the UK working with social and ethnic minority groups, prisoners and ex-offenders, homelessness, people experiencing abuse and addiction. Small grants of between £100 and £5,000 and large grants of over £5,000 are available to UK registered charities with an annual turnover of less than £250,000. Next deadline: 24 May.
www.woodwardcharitabletrust.org.uk

Faiths in Action

Grants of up to £6,000 are available for faith, inter faith, voluntary and community sector groups and organisations working at a local level.

The funding could be used to start an inter faith youth group, organise a street festival, or run an arts workshop to explore the different faiths in your community.

Faiths in Action is a £4 million grant programme, distributed over two years in two rounds of funding. Applications are considered on a continuous basis until the total value of the fund has been awarded to successful groups.

The maximum size of a grant in the final round is £6,000.

Further details are available on the Faiths in Action website.

The People’s Millions

The People’s Millions is your chance to win up to £50,000 to improve your area. Come up with a new and original idea that will make life better for people where you live, and you could be on ITV this November, competing for viewers’ votes.

The People's Millions are looking for new projects that aim to improve local facilities or help people get more out of their area.

You can apply for between £20,000 and £50,000 (including VAT). The amount you ask for must be at least half the total cost of your project.

Previous winners in the London area include:

• A project that converted a vehicle into a mobile recording studio / training facility to take to schools, community groups & youth clubs
• A project to convert a rundown play area and communal garden on a housing estate in a deprived area of Camden

Entries must be submitted at the People's Million's website with applications closing at noon on 14th May 2010.

The total prize fund is £3.8 million, with project ideas receiving up to £50,000 from the Big Lottery Fund, who expect to make five awards in each ITV region.

Funding for Summer Playschemes (UK)

The Hilden Charitable Fund has announced that application forms for its Summer Playscheme Grants Programme, to help community groups run Summer Playschemes for the benefit of children from refugee and ethnic minority families, will be available from February 2010.

Funding of up to £1,000 is available for Summer Playschemes for children aged 5 - 18 years lasting for 2 - 6 weeks with strong volunteer support. The funding is available to voluntary agencies with an income of less than £150,000. In addition to the Summer Playschemes the Hilden Charitable Fund provides grants to community and voluntary organisations for projects and activities which are unlikely to raise funds from public sources, known sometimes as ‘unpopular causes. For further details visit: http://www.hildencharitablefund.org.uk/play.htm

Improvements To Reaching Communities Programme Process (England)

The Big Lottery Fund has announced that they are going to make at least £100 million available across England through their revamped flagship “Reaching Communities” programme for the next five years. This will include making access to the programme easier. Applicants seeking smaller grants will enjoy a simpler application and assessment process, and for those applying for larger grants will learn sooner whether their project as a chance of receiving funding. Those invited to the second stage, will have a much higher chance of being successful for funding. Themain aim of Reaching Communities is to help bring real improvements to communities and to the lives of people most in need. The new funding will be available for Charity, Community Groups, and voluntary organisations from this spring. BIG are also looking at a dedicated capital stream
offering funding within Reaching Communities for community buildings. For further details click here.