FUNDING AND AWARDS

Local Food Fund - opens 17 March
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) and 15 consortium partners are managing a project called Local Food that will distribute grants to a variety of food-related projects to help make locally grown food accessible and affordable to local communities. Grants from £2,000 up to £500,000 will be awarded to not-for-profit groups and organisations in England delivering such projects as growing, processing, marketing and distributing local food; composting and raising awareness of the benefits of such activities.

http://www.rswt.org/localfood/

End of Support Scheme for Recycling Services to Businesses

WRAP have advised and should have also notified all organisations that have applied for this funding, that they will not be awarding any funds through the scheme as is closing due to cuts in their Defra funding. 

Applications are no longer being received and funding will not be available to those organisations who have already applied for it through this scheme.

WRAP said that it has taken the decision to focus its support and funding on continuing to create the pull through for good quality recyclables. This will primarily be through their work to support the UK recycling and reprocessing industry

Contact Steve Creed at WRAP steve.creed @wrap.org.uk

New £10m Risk Capital Investment fund for social enterprises announced

Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, announced at the end of February that a radical proposal to set up a £10million Risk Capital fund for social enterprises will go ahead.

The fund will be the first of its kind and will particularly benefit social enterprises at the critical start up and early growth stages of developing their business. The fund will be run as a 'pathfinder investment scheme' where the Government's £10million investment will be matched by private and independent investors.

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/
news_stories/080227_riskcapital.aspx

Government announce £6million new investment in volunteers

The Government has announced £6m of funding for volunteering in response to Manifesto for Change, the report by the Commission on the Future of Volunteering. There would be no £5m annual fund to support partnerships between charities and councils because money was already being invested in this area through existing organisations and there would be no cabinet minister with responsibility for volunteering. The Government will instead invest £4m in new training programmes for volunteers and volunteer managers and £2m to create a fund that will help disabled people access volunteering.

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/
news/news_stories/080307_volunteering.aspx

Working Neighbourhoods Fund

This Working Neighbourhoods Fund is a dedicated fund for local councils and communities to develop more concentrated, concerted, community-led approaches to getting people in the most deprived areas of England back to work. It replaces the existing Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) and incorporates the Department of Work and Pensions Deprived Areas Fund (DAF).

65 local authority districts will receive full WNF funding from April 2008 and a further 22 authorities which currently receive NRF but will not receive WNF will receive transitional payments.

The new fund will replace Communities and Local Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and incorporates the Department for Work and Pension's Deprived Areas Fund to create a single fund.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/
neighbourhoodrenewal/workingneighbourhoodsfund/

Community recycling sector in Wales will receive £3 million over three years to help build capacity

The Welsh Assembly Government has awarded the community recycling sector in Wales £3 million over three years to help build capacity. This will be designed to help organisations achieve the investment necessary for them to be sustainable long-term social enterprises. Cylch has been working with the Assembly to secure this fund for the sector and are delighted with the outcome. The fund will be used to provide suitable investment that will help the sector in Wales deliver waste minimisation, reuse, recycling and composting activities. The Capacity Building Fund will be administered independently of Cylch, following selection of a contractor by the end of March.

WORKSTEP changes

More money will be available to help disabled workers move into sustained employment. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain has announced changes to WORKSTEP, a programme that helps disabled people find and retain paid employment. The changes will mean the sustained progression payment will be increased fourfold from £500 to £2000.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/Employmentsupport/
WorkSchemesAndProgrammes/DG_4001973

£130 million 'grassroots grants' scheme

Grassroots Grants' will launch this year with £130 million available from 2008-2011 to strengthen the community sector. It will be divided into two parts: an £80 million small grants fund for community organisations; and a £50 million endowments programme to enable local foundations to generate additional donations from the private sector on a matched basis and invest them in endowments, thereby building their capacity to provide long-term funding for frontline community organisations.

CDF is currently requesting applications from Third Sector organisations to manage the small grant and endowment match challenge elements of the Grassroots Grants programme in their area. Between now and July 2008, CDF will be allocatin g the money to Local Funders. Therefore, funding for grassroots community and voluntary groups will not open until after July 2008, and will be subject to the timelines set by the Local Funders. Details of the successful Local Funders will be available on CDF's website after July 2008.

http://www.cdf.org.uk/bfora/systems/xmlviewer/default.asp?
arg=DS_CDF_TECHART_23/_page.xsl/27&xsl_argx=2

B&Q 'One Planet Living' Awards 2008 (UK)

B&Q has announced that the all-new 'One Planet Living' (OPL) Awards for 2008 are now open for applications. The awards give the opportunity for community or charitable organisations such as environmental groups, community organisations, schools, charities or sports clubs across the country to each win between £1,000 and £10,000 worth of B&Q products to help regenerate local areas and will support environment/energy saving, natural habitats/wildlife and local culture/heritage projects.

In addition, B&Q is offering two awards of £5,000 combined cash/product to schools who submit innovative science-based proposals, showing a real understanding about the environment and the importance of tackling climate change.

Application closing date: 28 March 2008.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/templates/content_lookup.jsp?
content=/aboutbandq/2004/social_responsibility/YCDI_Awards

ESF Community Grants

These are small grants of up to £12,000 for voluntary and community organisations to help them reach disadvantaged people who are not working.

http://esf.gov.uk/introduction_to_esf/

CSV Action Earth

Action Earth provides grants of up to £50 (funded by Morrisons) to assist groups in England, Scotland and Wales in carrying out environmental projects. This year, there are also a limited number of £250 grants, only available in Scotland and funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, specifically intended for biodiversity projects.

www.csv.org.uk/actionearth.

Help Yourselves

The Help Yourselves Awards will fund projects that have a positive impact on the circumstances and experiences of children and young people. What would improve the lives of children and young people in your community? Awards of £1,000, £5,000 and £10,000 available during 2008. All projects must focus on improving children and young people's life chances in areas such as education, employment and self-confidence.

Awards of up to £1,000 available in latest round of funding,

A pplication closing date: 28 March 2008

http://www.helpyourselves.org.uk/helpyourselves/

BERR Low Carbon Buildings Programme: Phase 2

Grants towards the installation of microgeneration technologies are available to public sector buildings (including schools, hospitals, housing associations and local authorities) and charitable bodies. (The applicant will only be able to receive/apply for a grant if it is not an undertaking within the meaning of the rules on State Aid laid down under the EC treaty).

The grant must be used to fund the supply and installation of a renewable energy scheme at a permanent building located in the United Kingdom. In general only costs directly related to the installed equipment and work are eligible.

£0 - £1.0 million

http://www.lowcarbonbuildingsphase2.org.uk/

The European Social Fund (ESF)

This fund was set up to improve employment opportunities in the European Union and so help raise standards of living. It aims to help people fulfill their potential by giving them better skills and better job prospects.

As one of the EU 's Structural Funds, ESF seeks to reduce differences in prosperity across the EU and enhance economic and social cohesion. So although ESF funding is spread across the EU , most money goes to those countries and regions where economic development is less advanced. The other main Structural Fund is the European Regional Development Fund which invests in projects to improve innovation, the environment and infrastructure.

The 2007 to 2013 ESF programme has two primary objectives:

The Convergence Objective aims to develop areas where the economy is lagging behind the rest of the European Union. In England, only Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly benefits from ESF funding under the Convergence Objective.

The Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective covers all areas outside of the 'Convergence' objective. The whole of England is covered by this objective, except Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Within this objective, Merseyside and South Yorkshire benefit from transitional funding as former Objective One regions in 2000-2006

In Priority 1 resources are focused on helping people who are unemployed or have become inactive in the labour market. In particular, it focuses on people who are most likely to face disadvantage or discrimination.

In Priority 2 resources are focused on people in the workforce who lack basic skills or good qualifications. In particular, it focuses on those who are least likely to receive training. It also supports training for managers and employees in small firms

http://www.esf.gov.uk/events_and_awards/

Entries open for National Lottery Awards

Charity projects funded by National Lottery good causes money are being invited to compete for a feature spot on a BBC programme and a £2,000 prize. Deadline for entries 20 March.

Charities can apply to take part in the annual National Lottery Awards, now in their fifth year. There are seven categories: sport, arts, heritage, environment, health, education and charity/voluntary.

http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/

The Big Give

The Big Give helps donors find charity projects in their field of interest. All UK regulated charities can register and post projects on The Big Give

http://www.thebiggive.org.uk/

BT Community Connections

BT Community Connections offers organisations the opportunity to apply for a multi-media internet-ready PC and a contribution towards a year's broadband internet access through BT Total Broadband.

http://www.btcommunityconnections.com/

v cashpoint

This funding initiative offers young people the cash they need to turn their ideas for volunteering projects into a reality. vcashpoint offers grants of up to £2500 for young people aged 16 to 25 in England to set up their own volunteering projects in their local community.

Now open for applications from young people 16-25 years old (not youth workers or organisations).

http://www.vinspired.com/vbuzz/campaigns/171/

Capacity Builders
Three Year Funding Investment Programme Capacitybuilders has announced the roll-out of a new three year funding investment programme - to support strategic change and modernisation in the way support for third sector organisations are supported at local and regional level. The £30 million fund for 2008-11 has two principle strands, both of which will commence in April 2008:

• £12m in consortium development grants to local and regional consortia, tied to agreement of delivery of core roles and strategic outcomes, and a clearer relationship with Capacitybuilders. 
• £18m modernisation project fund, to help achieve a step change in the way third sector support services are delivered locally and regionally.

www.capacitybuilders.org.uk

 
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation - New Funding Approach
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has launched a new funding approach. The majority of their funding will now be channelled through the Main Fund which will be an open, less prescriptive way of working, through which they will listen to ideas.  They expect to fund a wider range of work than before, although their core interests remain in the fields of culture, education, environment and social development.

As part of their new funding approach they are also running a number of smaller, more focused funding strands.  These will be in areas where they think a more direct intervention may have a greater impact.  The first three will be: Biodiversity, Museum and Heritage Collections, and New Approaches to Learning.  They plan to launch further funding strands later in the year. 

www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk/funding/main-fund

WRAP
Has a range of support available which, at times includes the provision of funding. Further details about the funding and support that is currently available can be found on their website and include:

SME recycling - funding support for recycling service providers
Whether you need extra staff to expand your collection round, help with selling your service to more businesses, additional collection sacks and bins to provide services to more customers or a combination of measures, WRAP’s funding support scheme may be able to help your organisation.

Who is eligible?
If you are a new or existing provider of recycling services based in the UK, and you want to expand your recycling service to new areas, customers or materials then you are eligible to apply to the support fund. Applications are welcomed from organisations in the public, private and community sectors. 

Support for recycling businesses
WRAP can help businesses with their expansion plans through a range of business support services targeted at the recycling/reprocessing sector. Available support includes:
Paid consultancy support to help with attracting investment, developing a marketing strategy and guiding you on operational/ production issues;

Who is eligible?
If you are a Small or Medium Sized Enterprise operating in the UK recycling sector and recycling one or more of the following materials: aggregates; glass; plastics; organics; paper; wood; tyres; plasterboard and batteries then you may be eligible for support.

http://www.wrap.org.uk/wrap_corporate/funding/index.html

Johnson Wax Charitable Trust
The Johnson Wax Ltd Charitable Trust gives grants from £25 000 - £50 000 for projects in the field of children and youth, social welfare, the arts and particularly the environment.

Info: 01276 852000

The Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards
A project designed to encourage, acknowledge and publicise businesses and other organisations, which are striving to improve their environmental performance.

The winning companies will be profiled in a dedicated Sunday Times supplement, which will be distributed with 1.3m copies of the paper in the spring next year, and their achievement will also be marked at an awards event. Winners will also be given our special logo for branding on publicity, advertising and letterheads

Entries are now invited and the competition will remain open until 29 February 2008 with winners announced in May 2008.
http://www.bestgreencompanies.co.uk

Community Action Programme
The Community Action Programme provides local grants of up to £10,000 to support a diverse range of projects, from funding equipment at a special needs school to supporting a debt advice service in an economically deprived area. HBOS Foundation donations must fit within the two key themes of:

Money advice and financial literacy
Developing and improving local communities

http://www.hbosfoundation.org/index-community.html

Unity Trust Bank
Unity Trust Bank has launched a £50m social economy fund that will provide loans to third sector organisations.
Each organisation applying for funding will be able to borrow between £500,000 and £5m.

Contact: Mark Davies, Charities Manager 0121 616 4301 mark.davies@unitygroup.co.uk

EEDA's Carbon Reduction Funding (East of England only)
Communications campaign and competition being planned by the East of England Development Agency, the regional development agency responsible for driving economic development in the six counties of the East of England: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

It aims to inspire communities to change behaviour and reduce carbon emissions. The Campaign will launch in January 2008 and will support EEDA's objectives of helping the region to become carbon neutral by 2010.

A competition for £2.5 of EEDA funding - seeks visionary and innovative ideas for projects that go beyond day to day efficiency savings and demand a higher level of community engagement.  The funding is likely to be available across a series of rounds at roughly 6 month intervals over 3 years but all communities will be able to access support and advice to ensure that everyone gains from participating, irrespective of funding.  

http://www.eeda.org.uk/files/invitation_for_expressions_of_interest_
_all_sectors_except_energy_supply.doc

The Yapp Charitable Trust
Small grants, for running costs and salaries, to small charities in England and Wales (total annual expenditure less than £60,000) to help sustain their existing work in the following areas:

• elderly people
• children and young people aged 5 – 25
• people with disabilities or mental health problems
• people trying to overcome life-limiting problems of a social, rather than medical, origin such as addiction, relationship difficulties, abuse, a history of offending

Charity must be constituted and operating for at least 3 years. Single-year grants are usually for up to £3,000 Two or three-year grants are for up to £3,000 a year

Application deadline:
26 May 2008 (for July) 

http://www.yappcharitabletrust.org.uk/

KPMG Foundation
The focus of the KPMG Foundation is on education and social projects for the disadvantaged and under privileged, with particular emphasis on unlocking the potential of children and young people up to 30 years of age, who for primarily social reasons have not fulfilled their educational potential.

In particular, the trustees have chosen to support four very distinct groups within this broad umbrella of ‘disadvantage’. Those groups are:

Refugees
Young offenders
Children and young people who have been in care
Children and young people with dyslexia/literacy difficulties

Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF)
Defra and BERR are jointly responsible for the domestic Environmental Transformation Fund. The Fund has a budget of at least £370m over the comprehensive spending review (CSR) period to be spent on the demonstration and deployment of low carbon, non-nuclear, energy and energy efficiency technologies. Of this, Defra’s comprehensive spending review settlement provides the department with resources to invest at least £170m in England, This consists of £41m of existing commitments, together with an uplift of £129m over the three years of CSR period. This is in addition to the department’s funding of awareness raising, advice and consultancy support services on climate change and resource efficiency. These will continue to be funded by other means such as the Climate Change Levy, the Energy Efficiency Best Practice programme, and the Business Resource Efficiency and Waste programme.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) will invest at least £200m across the UK. This consists of £126m expected spend on existing commitments together with an uplift of £41m over the CSR period.
What the domestic ETF will fund
The domestic fund brings together Defra’s and BERR’s existing commitments and low carbon technology funding programmes, as follows:

• Hydrogen Fuel Cell and Carbon Abatement Demonstration Programme
• Marine Renewables Deployment Fund
• Low Carbon Buildings Programmes
• Bioenergy Capital Grants Programme
• Offshore Wind Capital Grants programme
• Near Zero Emissions from Coal project
• Carbon Trust’s innovation programme, including research accelerators, technology accelerators, and incubators
• Carbon Trust funding for new low carbon enterprises, including Partnership for Renewables
• Carbon Trust investments in low carbon technology businesses
• Carbon Trust energy efficiency loans scheme for small and medium sized enterprises
• Salix Finance public sector revolving loan schemes

Announcements will be made on any further activities under these programmes and any new schemes from April 2008 onwards.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sources/sustainable/etf/page41652.html

WRAP Funding for Senior Management Training Scheme
This fund is to enhance senior management skills in the recycling sector it offers recycling businesses financial support to train senior executives in all areas of business management and is designed to raise levels of knowledge and skills within the sector. Successful applicants can claim up to £5,000 towards training costs under the scheme. No match funding is required.
Any small or medium sized enterprise (SME) within the UK recycling sector, whether an existing or start-up venture, can apply to the scheme for support as long as it recycles one or more of the materials within WRAP’s remit - aggregates, glass, plastics, organics, paper, wood, tyres, plasterboard, batteries, WEEE and ELV - or operates in one of its target markets of construction, manufacturing or retail.

http://www.wrap.org.uk/businesses/support_for_recycling_businesses/
management/funding_for.html

Abbey Charitable Trust is committed to supporting local communities and disadvantaged people, particularly in those areas where Abbey has a significant presence. They would be particularly interested in funding environmental projects as well as activities which help bring different groups together. Most donations will be between £500 and £4,000. However, in those areas where we have a Community Partnership Group you can apply for up to £20,000:
Borough of Camden
Milton Keynes area (includes Bedford, Buckingham and Northampton)
Sheffield (covers South Yorkshire)
Bradford (covers West & North Yorkshire)
Teesside (Redcar to Darlington and Sunderland)
Greater Glasgow
Northern Ireland

http://www.abbeynational.com/csgs

Changing spaces
Changing Spaces is an environment led programme focusing on three priority areas – community spaces, local community enterprise and access to the natural environment. The programme will be delivered in partnership – through organisations delivering large strategic portfolios and through organisations delivering open grant schemes on our behalf (award partners).

RSWT will use the money to encourage communities to grow their own food by managing land, developing understanding of sustainable farming and encouraging community enterprises such as farmers’ markets.
Groundwork UK will concentrate on improving community spaces by supporting groups to create or regenerate areas such as parks, ponds, community gardens and village greens.

Award partner grant schemes are not yet open to applications.  Once schemes are launched there will be considerable opportunity for individual projects to apply for funding.
General info: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_changing_spaces?
fromsearch=-uk

For more info & to register for updates:
http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/
qa_groundwork_uk_rswt?fromsearch=-uk

Loans
The ethical bank Triodos has pioneered a new system of loans that will allow charities and social enterprises to repeatedly take out and pay back loans up to a fixed amount within a fixed time period.   The revolving credit facility has been used before in commercial markets but has not previously been applied in the third sector.

http://www.triodos.co.uk/uk/business_banking/?lang=

It's Your Community
Awards from £100 - £1000 available to local groups and individuals for anything that you can show will benefit your community

http://www.itsyourcommunity.co.uk/

Tesco Charity Trust Community Awards
Applications from organisations supporting elderly people and people with disabilities. The scheme also provides funding for organisations that support children's welfare and children's educational projects, including special needs schools. Between £1,500 and £5,000 are awarded as one-off contributions through the Community Awards Scheme.

The closing dates for writing to the Trust will depend on the round for which you are applying: Children's welfare and education (including special needs schools) 31 January each year; Elderly and disabilities 30 June each year.

http://www.tesco.com/everyLittleHelps/TescoCAGs.pdf

Big Invest finance
Big Issue Invest is a specialised provider of finance to scale up social enterprises. Founded by The Big Issue, it is led by social entrepreneurs and staffed by social financiers.

They provide loans as well as innovative financing products including royalty structures, guarantees and loan conversions. Average loan is around £200,000, minimum is £50,000. Their team can also provide support during the investment appraisal process that will reflect and respect the social enterprise's financial and social objectives.
Visit www.biginvest.co.uk

Future Builders
Loans & grants for schemes involved in the delivery of public services in England. Futurebuilders do not offer stand-alone grants, every investment they make will contain a substantial loan element and some will have no grant at all.

Grants they may offer alongside loans might include:

Time limited revenue funding (up to a maximum of two years) to cover start-up costs, staff costs or other transitional costs incurred before contract or fee income becomes available.

Capital funding to meet all or part of the costs of buildings, vehicles or equipment where loan finance would be premature because contract or fee income was not yet in place to support the loan.

Capacity building to provide practical support, for example to develop marketing and negotiation skills, IT systems or project management capabilities.

www.futurebuilders-england.org.uk/

Adventure Capital Fund
Aims to provide organisations with a combination of finance and support, as well as providing mentoring and support services to help with organisational change and development. Applications invited from organisations who feel that they are ready to use investment as part of a finance package that will enable them to grow and become truly sustainable.

www.adventurecapitalfund.org.uk/index.jsp

The Conservation Foundation - 'It's Your Community' Grants
Funding for projects designed to improve local environments throughout the UK. Awards of up to £1000 are available to local groups and individuals for the hire of tools or equipment and to purchase plants, paint, signs, materials etc. All types of environmental projects, from anywhere in the country, are welcome to apply.

http://www.conservationfoundation.co.uk/ActLocalAwards.php

Lloyds TSB
The Community Open Programme, The Community Priority Programme, The Collaborative Programme

Funding supports charities working in the fields of social and community needs and education and training, and the main grants programmes are designed to address essential community needs.

OTHER FUNDING LEADS AND INFO

SITA Trust funding programmes
Awards for All
Introductory Pack on Funding and Finance     
HOMEBASE forging links with Furniture Projects
It's your community - O2 launches new community fund
NCVO Sustainable Funding Project
CAF Grants
Re-use credits guidance
Trusthouse Charitable Foundation
WRAP funding opportunities
Connecting Community Plus
BIG Lottery Funding

Other links:

http://www.governmentfunding.org.uk/Default.aspx
http://www.companygiving.org.uk/Default.aspx
http://www.grantsforindividuals.org.uk/Default.aspx
http://www.trustfunding.org.uk/Default.aspx