External funding news

Grassroots grants available now from the Suffolk Foundation

If you are a community or voluntary group existing in Suffolk for the benefit of local people, then you could get a grant of up to £5000.

To qualify you must be a group that was set up prior to the 31st December 2006 and have an annual income of under £20,000 per year or the equivalent of under £60,000 taken as an average over the last three years.

You do not need to be a registered charity, but you do need to be working towards alleviating disadvantage.

The programme is aimed at addressing the diverse needs of community organisations and therefore funding is available for a wide range of activities:-

Examples are:      

  • Purchase of equipment;
  • Costs of putting on a local event or workshop;
  • Staff costs to enable the employment of individuals;
  • Contribution to rent, related to service delivery;
  • Costs of attending a conference or event;
  • Training for volunteers;
  • Additional activities to expand an existing funded project;
  • Activities that support community activity;
  • Activities that meet an identified need in the county;
  • Funding to support an organisation to achieve a quality or other standard relevant to your activities.

These are only examples of what you can apply for. 

Please visit www.suffolkfoundation.org.uk for more Grassroots funding information, the application form and guidelines.

If you wish to discuss your idea you can telephone Sue Wright on 01473 734123 from Tuesday 19th August onwards, when the fund will be fully operational.

If you would like a paper copy of the application form and guidelines then please telephone the above number and you will receive a copy either by email if you wish or in the post. The application process is designed to be simple and straightforward. For applications that are submitted which are complete you can expect a decision within two weeks.

Please share this information with other community groups you feel may benefit.

ACRE Launches £500,000 Grant Fund for Communities Affected by Quarrying

National rural community development charity Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), and members of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN) have announced the launch of this year’s COMMA fund to support projects in communities affected by quarrying.

Suffolk communities can apply through Suffolk ACRE for grants of between £3,000 and £20,000 to support community projects and amenities. ACRE and RCAN are delivering the grants on behalf of DEFRA, funded by the aggregates levy on quarries.

The fund is open to parish councils, registered charities and community organisations with a formal constitution. Almost any community activity can be supported. The following five conditions apply for a project to be eligible:


  • The community where the project is based is/has been affected by aggregates extraction or transportation of aggregates;
  • The proposed project is within 10 kilometres of an aggregates extraction site, either current or disused;
  • The proposed project must benefit the whole community or a section of the community, not an individual;
  • The applicant must be a community organisation, a charity or a parish council;
  • All project works funded by COMMA grants this year must be capable of completion by the end of June 2009.

Applications must be made via Suffolk ACRE – contact Barry Henson or Elizabeth Storer on 01473 242500 for further details.

Completed applications must be received on or before 7 November 2008.

Groundwork's Community Spaces: Launch of Large & Flagship Grant Schemes

Groundwork's Community Spaces programme has now launched its large and flagship grant schemes.

Grants of between £50,000 and £450,000 are available to community groups wanting to improve green and open spaces in their neighbourhoods. Possible large or flagship projects may include:

  • canal side improvements;
  • cycle path routes;
  • nature reserves;
  • woodlands; or
  • city farms.

This list is not exhaustive and groups with innovative, practical and sustainable ideas that will benefit areas in need of physical improvement are encouraged to apply.

The large and flagship grants will be distributed on a competitive basis, with only four large (£50,000 to £100,000) and one flagship (£100,001 to £450,000) grant allocated in each region of England.

There will only be one round of bidding, and applicants will be given up to six months to build up their stage 1 applications. Applicants successful at stage 1 will be allocated a facilitator to support the development of their project.

The deadline for large grant applications (£50,000 to £100,000) is 9 January 2009.

The deadline for flagship applications (£100,001 to £450,000) is 30 January 2009.

The Community Spaces programme is funded with £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme, and has been open for small and medium applications since March 2008. So far, over 200 applications have been received.

Heritage Lottery Fund - update

Heritage Lottery Fund introduced new (and online) application material(s) on 7 April 2008.

Grants start at £3,000 for local people and future generations to take part in, learn and enjoy their heritage. We have spent more than £250 million across the East of England helping groups of all sizes - voluntary groups, Local Authorities, community organisations etc. - to celebrate what 'heritage' means to them. From museums, parks and historic places, to the natural environment and local cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage.

We are keen to hear from groups which are considering applying to Heritage Lottery Fund for the first time. We also welcome applications for projects which encourage young people to explore and engage with heritage.

Recent awards
Sawston Cinema Archive Project, Cambridge; - £24,900 - this project will enable young people to trace the history of cinema in Sawston. The young people will be working with Sawston Village History Society to make a film, recording older people's memories of the original cinema. Information collected and recorded will be put on a dedicated website.

Sudbury Common Lands, Suffolk, £47,000; - this grant will help the Sudbury Common Lands Charity to purchase 12 acres of riverside land and secure it's future as a county wildlife site. The scheme will also interpret this historic natural heritage and train volunteers to act as rangers.

Restoration of Tring Market Office, Hertfordshire; £245,000; - funding will support the restoration of this historic building, providing a new use for it displaying artefacts from the Tring & District Local History Society, explaining the heritage of the area to local people, visitors and volunteers.

Our grant programmes
Below is a very brief overview of our main grant programmes.

Young Roots - £3,000 to £25,000 to help young people aged 13 to 25 get involved with their heritage. Applications take 10 weeks to assess.

Your Heritage - £3,000 to £50,000 for community-focused heritage projects. Applications take 10 weeks to assess.

The new application material for both Your Heritage and Young Roots is currently only available online and we can accept applications now however we won't start assessing online applications until September 2008. We can still accept applications on the older (hard copy only) versions of the Young Roots and Your Heritage forms until the end of June 2008.

Heritage Grants - for heritage projects of £50,000 and upwards. Grants of up to £1million are decided upon by our Regional Committee. Grants of more than £1million are decided upon by our national Board of Trustees. There is mandatory two-round assessment process for this grant; each round takes three months to assess; there is also a development phase in-between each round.

For more information about these grants, including match-funding requirements and further guidance on completing the forms (including the old forms), interested organisations should contact the Development Team at the East of England office.

Further detail can also be found on our website, www.hlf.org.uk.

Pre-application
Our pre-application form is available online - the form is simple and straightforward and gives potential applicants the opportunity to tell us more about their project idea before they start work on the application form itself. We respond to pre-application enquiries within 10 working days with advice and guidance that may help to develop an application to us.

We are also happy to receive pre-application forms sent to us through the post!

We also hold regular surgery days in our Cambridge office for those groups who have completed a pre-application and are now working on an application; groups can book some one-to-one time with a member of the development team to discuss their project idea in more depth.

Email bulletin
We intend to start a producing an email bulletin keeping partners (such as yourselves) and potential applicants up-to-date with Heritage Lottery Fund developments. This will most likely begin coming out over the summer and would initially be emailed out on a quarterly basis. We're assuming you would all be happy to receive such an email update; if you do not wish to receive it, let us know.

Further info
If you would like to know anything more specific then please contact one of the team (contacts below); we are happy to provide content for your newsletters, bulletins etc. - if you would like one of the Heritage Lottery Fund development staff to attend and/or speak at a funding event, let us know.

Contacts
Stuart Hobley
Development Manager
Heritage Lottery Fund, East of England
t 01223 224881

Naomi Webb
Development Officer
t 01223 224880

Jonathan Latchford
Development Officer
t 01223 224883

HLF website - East of England  

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Launches Three New Funding Strands Worth £19 Million

The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation has announced three new funding strands, based on food, voluntary sector work in Northern Ireland and finance, worth up to £19 million. This funding is in addition to the strands announced in January 2008: Biodiversity, Museum and Heritage Collections and New Approaches to Learning.

The Food strand has a budget of £3 million over three years and will fund work promoting the importance of balanced diets and helping all UK citizens have access to, and the ability to prepare, nutritious food. The Foundation is interested in work that influences policy and practice across a range of food-related areas and expects to support a mix of practical projects that have wide significance, and some research and policy based work. This strand is currently open to applications. Applicants successful at the first stage will be invited to submit second-stage applications, with final decisions about second stage applications being made in July and November 2008.

The Northern Ireland strand will invest £1 million on a 12-month pilot programme to create a stronger voluntary sector in Northern Ireland. The project is a partnership with UK relief organisation The Henry Smith Charity. The pilot will focus on the programme’s design with approximately five organisations selected from an invited field. If successful, a longer programme will be launched.

The Finance Fund will offer loans, guarantees and equity or quasi-equity finance to projects or organisations that can demonstrate the need for investment. Up to £15 million will be available for this strand. At this stage, the programme will not be open to unsolicited applications.
  
Click here for links to the relevant website/scheme guidelines and GRANTfinder report

Sport England Re-launches the Sportsmatch Scheme

Sport England has announced that Sportsmatch has been re-launched with updated criteria and a new online application facility.

Sportsmatch has been designed to improve the quality and quantity of the sponsorship which grassroots sport receives in England. Through the scheme, Sportsmatch can match eligible commercial business sponsorship, or funding from trusts/private donors (up to a maximum of three), for a sporting project that aims to increase participation and/or improve performance at grassroots level. Projects may be a revenue scheme or, in limited cases, a capital project. Sponsorship may be in cash or in-kind.

The minimum award available is £1,000 (£500 for schools) and the maximum is £50,000. The minimum partnership funding of £1,000 (or £500) must come from one eligible source - a number of businesses/trusts/individuals cannot club together to make up the minimum sponsorship.

An organisation seeking sponsorship should be a properly constituted organising body involved in sport. This includes governing bodies, sports clubs, charities, local authorities, schools/colleges and voluntary youth organisations.

Applications can now be made on the Sportsmatch website with help available over a dedicated telephone line. There are no closing dates but all supported projects must be completed by 31 March 2009.
  
Click here for links to the relevant website/scheme guidelines and GRANTfinder report 


Big Lottery Fund: myplace Programme Launched

The Big Lottery Fund’s myplace programme officially opened to applications today. Funding will be delivered to ambitious projects driven by the participation of young people in England, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas.

The programme contributes to the Government’s pledge of providing exciting, safe places, where young people can engage in a wide range of activities such as sport, dance and music. It will also enable them to access appropriate advice and support services.

Individual grants of between £1 million and £5 million will be awarded to cross-sector, local partnerships between public bodies and third and/or private sector organisations to undertake new projects.

Two application processes can be taken up: Fast Track and Standard. 

The deadline for receipt of Fast Track applications is 29 July 2008.

The deadline for receipt of Standard applications is 30 September 2008.
  
Click here for links to the relevant website/scheme guidelines and GRANTfinder report


Access to Nature: Now Open to Applications

Access to Nature is a new £25 million grant scheme which aims to encourage more people to enjoy the outdoors, particularly those who face social exclusion or those that currently have little or no contact with the natural environment. It is now open to applications.

Funding will focus on three main themes:

  • Community awareness and active participation.
  • Education, learning and volunteering.
  • Welcoming, well-managed and wildlife-rich places.

The scheme is open to a wide range of applicants, including community groups, charities and trusts, schools, colleges, local authorities, town and parish councils, health organisations, social enterprises, mutual societies and faith groups.

There are three levels of grant available, as follows:

Regional projects
Grants of between £50,000 and £500,000 for projects which aim to deliver benefits at a local, regional or multi-regional level. Projects may focus on a few local sites and communities within a region, or could involve an awareness-raising campaign covering a number of communities over many regions.

Applications can be made at any time from April 2008 to June 2010.

National projects
Grants of less than £500,000 for projects which aim to address national-scale issues. These projects must:

  • cover the whole of England in a thematic sense ie propose solutions to national scale issues; and/or
  • cover the whole of England geographically; and must
  • demonstrate greater added value than a scaled-up regional or multi-regional project.

Applications can be made at any time from April 2008 to June 2010.

Flagship projects
Within Access to Nature there is potential for organisations to apply for grant awards of over £500,000. A maximum of five Flagship awards will be made. These projects must have a national impact and significance.

Flagship awards will support projects that have an England-wide focus and make a significant and lasting impact on community awareness and participation. These larger awards aim to enhance the capacity of the voluntary sector so that it is in a stronger position to meet the needs of communities and to encourage more active involvement in the natural environment.

For grant applications seeking a Flagship award, the project must fulfil the following criteria:

  • cover the whole of England in a thematic sense ie provide solutions to national scale issues, and/or cover the whole of England geographically;
  • be able to demonstrate greater added value than a regional or multi-regional project; and
  • enhance the capacity of the voluntary sector.

The main decision-making meeting for Flagship projects will be the Independent Grants Panel meeting to be held on 25-26 February 2009; however, there is the opportunity for the 15-16 October 2008 meeting of the Independent Grants Panel to make awards. 

The final deadlines for Flagship applications are as follows:

Stage 1 applications for the October 2008 Panel Meeting: 11 July 2008.
Stage 1 applications for the February 2009 Panel Meeting: 17 October 2008.
 
Click here for links to the relevant website/scheme guidelines and GRANTfinder report
 

£200m EU pot for joint working with continental partners

EU LogoSuffolk will shortly be able to access two new maritime cross border funding programmes, worth £100m each, to support a range of quality of life, environmental and economic activities. For further information about the programmes, please visit the Maritime Cross Border web page.

 

The following link is for medium or long term programmes:

Medium/Long term news