Been a funny old week....
Updated: Apr 20, 2022
Well, what with one thing and another ,it has hasn't it?
Our Friends in the EU implied that the UK was hogging the C19 vaccines and then said they were not going to use them even if we sent them! All very strange. Closer to home, on Monday, I upset a bunch of really good & well meaning people - even though I said that wasn't my intention - Sorry Folks - just goes to show you have to be very careful on t 'internet! A big thanks though to all those who contacted in support but, as I say, I am suitably chastened by the amount of upset I caused and must try harder in future!!
Lets hope I can redeem myself a little by sharing a sizeable chunk of funding information that just landed on my virtual desk this morning:
Green Recovery Challenge Fund: Round Two (Grant – England) £50,000 to £2million*. Registered charities / partnership. * applicants must contribute at least five per cent of the project costs in cash (partnership funding) for all grants over £250k. This is a short-term competitive fund to kickstart environmental renewal while creating and retaining a range of jobs in England. Applications are welcomed from environmental charities, or partnerships involving at least one environmental charity. There are two grant levels:
£50k to £250k: deadline April 14th, 2021
£250k to £2m: deadline (Expressions of Interest) March 22nd, 2021
Projects must deliver against at least one of three themes:
Nature conservation and restoration
Nature-based solutions
Connecting people with nature.
Ensuring youth clubs at risk of permanent closure due to lack of income remain viable and are able to remain open or, where temporarily closed, to re-open when possible
Maintaining continuity of youth work and restoring temporarily paused activities (when restrictions allow), where lack of funding would otherwise reduce services.
Charities can request the amount needed to cover eligible costs for the aforementioned period, where this is not met by other confirmed funding, although successful applicants may not receive the full amount requested. Please note, uniformed youth groups are not eligible and charities must have at least two sets of published annual accounts.
Covid business grant allowances increased following removal of EU cap Charities could be able to access up to £9m in additional grant funding after the government lifted allowance limits that were capped by outdated EU state aid rules. The new guidance means charities with substantial retail, hospitality and leisure property portfolios, including charity shops, can now access up to £1.9m in business grants each, up from about £860k. An extra £9m, up from about £2.6m, will be available to charities that meet additional criteria including a 30 per cent reduction in turnover. The bodies are calling on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to ensure local authorities apply the changes immediately, so charities don’t miss out on the increased funding. The first application deadline is March 31st.
New levelling up and community investments The government has announced three new community investment funds as part of its commitment to ‘levelling up across the whole of the United Kingdom to ensure that no community is left behind’. These new investment programmes are: Community Renewal Fund: An additional £220m funding to help local areas prepare for the launch of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in 2022. This fund aims to support the people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches, and will invest in skills, community and place, local business and supporting people into employment. One hundred priority places have been identified and each has a lead authority that will invite project proposals from a range of local applicants, including VCSE organisations, and then submit a shortlist up to a maximum of £3m per location to the government. In the North East, nine local authority areas have made the priority places list: County Durham, Darlington, Hartlepool, Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, and South Tyneside. Timelines are tight – between March and May, local partners need to be working up bids and submitting them to their lead authority, which must appraise the bids and send their shortlist to government by June 18th. Projects will need to be delivered between August 2021 and March 31st, 2022. Levelling Up Fund: This £4.8bn investment into infrastructure will improve everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets. The fund is especially intended to support investment in areas in which it can make the biggest difference to everyday life, including ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and coastal communities. The fund is competitive; the first round will prioritise bids that can demonstrate investment or begin delivery on the ground in the coming financial year. Bids need to be submitted by June 18th. There will be future opportunities to bid in subsequent rounds. The fund will focus investment on projects that require up to £20m of funding. However, there is also scope for investing in larger high value transport projects, by exception. Themes for the first round are: transport investments, regeneration and town centre investment and cultural investment. Community Ownership Fund: £150m to help ensure communities can support and continue to benefit from the local facilities, community assets and amenities most important to them. From summer 2021, community groups will be able to bid for up to £250k matched-funding to help them buy or take over local community assets at risk of being lost, to run as community-owned businesses. In exceptional cases, up to £1m will be available to help establish a community-owned sports club or help buy a sports grounds at risk of being lost without community intervention.
Armed Forces Covenant Fund’s Force for Change (Grant – UK) Up to £10,000. Registered charities / CICs / other. Deadline April 12th, 2021. This programme will award grants to community projects that reduce isolation and promote integration, supporting post-Covid recovery in local Armed Forces communities affected by isolation. Applicants must be either a registered charity or CIC (with substantial recent experience of supporting Armed Forces communities and registered for at least one year), an Armed Forces unit or base, a local authority or a school. Support will be given to ideas that need small amounts of funding to deliver nimble and focused local projects to Armed Forces communities. Small grants will also be made to support services, projects and activities that are used by Armed Forces communities, but that are struggling as a result of the impact of the pandemic. A wide range of projects will be funded, but applicants must be able to show that the project fits under one of these two main themes:
Empowering Armed Forces communities to become more engaged in their local area
Providing opportunities for isolated members of the Armed Forces community to take part in activities that improve general wellbeing.
Roseline Foundation Fund / Sir Tom Cowie Fund (Grants – Sunderland) £5,000 - £15,000. VCSE. Deadline April 12th, 2021. These two funds are seeking applications from organisations based in Sunderland with an income of £50k to £500k. Roseline Foundation Fund: Grants of £5k to £10k to help organisations recover from the impact of the pandemic on their work so they can continue to meet community needs in the city. The focus is organisations that have a strong track record of working with people that have been most severely impacted – those already experiencing poverty and health inequality, communities of colour, those with mental health problems and isolated older people. Funding can support core running costs and any one-off costs associated with having to make changes to operations so work can continue once the pandemic eases. Sir Tom Cowie Fund: Grants of £10k to £15k to support work with children, young people and their families in the city during the year ahead, with a particular focus on addressing the impact of the pandemic. That could be related to, for example, mental ill-health, reduced learning/training opportunities, bereavement, or loss of employment. The preference is to support an activity in full, or to make a major contribution towards the full costs, and priority will be given to organisations with plans in place to address the impact of the pandemic on their own finances and operations.
Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme (Grant / Other – UK) £1,000 - £7,000 plus support. Individuals. Deadline April 16th, 2021. The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme, run in partnership with th