Funding News

First bursaries awarded in Gloucestershire under Phase One of Modernisation Fund Grants Programme

3 VCOs in Gloucestershire have already been awarded a £1000 bursary this week under the Government's Real Help for Communities: Modernisation Fund, which is being delivered by Capacitybuilders and administered locally by GAVCA. The awards aim to help frontline groups increase their impact and become more resilient to the impact of the economic downturn.

Each award buys at least two days of professional advice and support to explore how organisations can build resilience, including through working more closely with others. A second phase of the programme due to launch in the autumn will allow bursary holders to access additional funding of up to £10,000 to take further significant steps towards collaboration or merger .

These awards are the first to be made under Phase One of the Modernisation Fund Grants Programme which runs until the end of July. The funding is part of the Government’s £16.5 million ‘Real Help for Communities’ Modernisation Fund. Early indications show demand from a range of organisations serving those worst hit by the recession, particularly those providing training and employment support, debt, housing and legal advice and those working to alleviate poverty. Organisations can continue to apply for bursaries until 17 July 2009.

If your organisation wants to apply for a bursary, go to www.modernisationfund.org.uk. For more information, contact Sally Pickering at GAVCA on or 01452 332424.

Information on 4,000 grants, contracts and loans through Funding Central

The new online resource, Funding Central, launched on 17 June, offers free access to a huge database of income opportunities, and links to funding support and advice. This will be one of the first websites to include a comprehensive list of government contracts available at the local, regional and national level. The opportunities can be searched according to the needs of your organisation or those you support.

For more information, visit the Funding Central website.

Social enterprise investment fund for health and social care

The Department of Health’s 2008/9 social enterprise investment fund opened for applications on 11 June. Care Services Minister Phil Hope announced a further £70m over three years for start-ups and existing social enterprises who work to improve health and social care.

Full details are available on the DH website.

Learning Revolution Tranformation Fund

The Department for Innovations, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has launched a scheme for organisations to promote informal learning for adults and young people across the country. For more information, download the prospectus from the DIUS website.

The Future Jobs Fund – deadline as soon as possible

Proposals are being developed to access Government’s new Future Jobs Fund; a £1billion attempt to create 150,000 ‘additional’ jobs for beneficiaries aged 18-24. Gloucestershire First is the lead bidder for Gloucestershire. If your organisation works with young people aged 18-24 and is interested in being a sub-contractor in this bid, contact John McLaughlin at Gloucestershire First as soon as possible. Further details are attached

National Offender Management Service funding for employability of offenders and ex-offenders

£4.3 million will be available in the south west for developing the employability of offenders and ex-offenders to help them enter the labour market. Initial contracting is likely to be for 2009-2011. The invitation to tender for this fund should be released any day. Existing providers are likely to bid for this fund and if you are interested in being a sub-contractor, it would be useful to make your organisation known to those providers that are likely to be operating in Gloucestershire.

Please visit the NOMS website at http://www.noms.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/working-with-partners/service-providers/NPN/

Department of Work and Pensions JSA customers 6 months plus

The first stage of the tendering exercise is complete and the second stage, where DWP runs events around the country matching providers with potential sub-contractors is underway. If you are interested in being a sub-contractor, the South West event is Friday 26 June in Taunton.

Follow this link for more information.

Futurebuilders launch third sector "match-making" service

Futurebuilders England has launched a new online match-making service for third sector organisations considering working together though merger, collaboration / forming consortia. Organisations are asked to provide details such as what service delivery area they work in, what region they service, and what sort of partner they are looking for.

For more information, visit the merge-maker website.

Organisations interested in having their details posted should contact Hannah Grant at Futurebuilders on 0207 927 6356 or hannah.grant@futurebuilders-england.org.uk.

Police Property Act Donations Fund 2009

The annual allocations to charitable organisations from the Police Property Act Fund are due to take place in July. Charitable organisations are invited to request a donation from the fund.

Criteria for applications are:

Is it an organisation that supports the local (Gloucestershire) community, rather than regional or national.
Does the organisation function in order to assist local community to improve their quality of life.
Does the organisation relate to voluntary activity that directly helps the police service and victims of crime.

Applications to include the name of the organisation, a brief outline of the work and details of the secretary/ treasurer and the address to which a cheque or BACS payment can be forwarded. Amounts awarded are in the region of £200 - £550.

Applications to be emailed to Ivor Twydell, Assistant Chief Constable Gloucestershire Constabulary Ivor.Twydell@gloucestershire.pnn.police.uk. by 9am on Thursday 25th June 2009.

SOS is an exciting new initiative from the Big Lottery Fund and the BBC

To find out more about this exciting initiative and for application information for villages visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/villagesos.

For application information for Village Champions visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/villagesos. Alternatively please call 0844 88 88 677.

Update from BBC Children in Need

In Children in Need’s first grant round this year, they received 169 requests in the South West worth £10,842,081. 37 grants we awarded ( a total of £1,519,289) on the 1st May. These grants ranged from a one-off grant of £1,741 to £121,060 over 3 years. The full details are on the website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/grants/map.shtml. The next deadlines for applications are 15 July and then 15 October 2009.

New grant programme from BBC Children in Need – deadline 31 July 2009

Fun & Friendship is a new grant programme targeted towards organisations working with disabled young people aged 12 - 18. 12 grants of up to £300,000 will be awarded to groups across the UK. The full guidelines are on the website www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey

Please also visit the Children in Need website for details of vacancies for a Chair and Vice Chair.

Funding involving young people

The second round of the Big Lottery Fund’s myplace programme has opened, with individual grants of between £1m and £5m available. Funding will be delivered to ambitious projects driven by the participation of young people in the one third most deprived areas of England, with cross-sector, local partnerships between public bodies and third and/or private sector organisations preferred.

The deadline is 29th June, more details at: Big Lottery

Funding Family and Young people schemes

Setting the Pace is the MLA's (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) programme for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As part of this programme they are looking to fund Family Storytelling events and Young Cultural Creator schemes across English regions. Between £750 and £1,000 is available for each session, to find out more visit: MLA

Comic Relief funding

Funding under Cycle One of Comic Relief's 2009-2012 Grant Strategy is now available, via the UK Grants scheme. The scheme offers individual grants of £25k - £40k to cover running or capital costs for organisations or projects that work in Mental Health, Domestic and Sexual abuse, Refugee and asylum seeking women, Sport for change, and Young people aged 11-25. The deadline is 24th July, full details at: Comic Relief

Future Jobs Fund (briefing from South West Forum)

Proposals are being developed to access Government’s new Future Jobs Fund; a £1billion attempt to create 150,000 ‘additional’ jobs for beneficiaries aged 18-24. Although any organisation/consortium can bid, SWF understands that local authorities are likely to be the lead bidders, with a strong interest in VCO partnership to work up their proposal. Other large national organisations (e.g. Shaw Trust, Working Links, A4E) may also bid. Each bid must create a minimum of 30 jobs, each lasting a minimum of 6 months, for which Government will contribute up to £6,500 per job – so aligning with other funds is crucial. Implementation will begin from October 2009.

Each job must have a ‘community benefit’, and VCOs will be relied on to help ensure this. 10,000 of those jobs created must also assist the ‘green economy’, and 50,000 are reserved for wards in which the JSA claimant rate is 1.5% above the national rate.

Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis from 30 June onwards; however SWF understands that most local authorities are likely to submit as soon as possible by 30 June. This limits the time available for partnership brokering, so VCOs are encouraged to make speedy contact with the lead local authority individual for their area. Alternatively, VCOs can form a consortium to work up their own proposals to create 30+ jobs. Liaison with Job Centre Plus, Government Office and LSC advisor are encouraged. Further information is available at: www.dwp.gov.uk/futurejobsfund/.

Gloucestershire First is the lead bidder for Gloucestershire contact John McLaughlin for more information john.mclaughlin@gloucestershire.gov.uk. 01242 864 187.

Village SOS is an exciting new initiative from the Big Lottery Fund and the BBC

It is searching for six UK villages with a great business idea and six enterprising individuals to act as Village Champions to help them achieve their ambitions.

Together they will create a brand new venture that will bring new life and energy to the village with funding of between £100,000 and £400,000 from BIG.

The journey of the six successful villages and their Village Champions will be filmed for a major prime time BBC One series in winter 2010.

Village SOS launched at the beginning of June on BBC 1's The One Show.

To find out more about this exciting initiative and for application information for villages visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/villagesos .

For application information for Village Champions visit www.bbc.co.uk/villagesos .

Alternatively please call 0844 88 88 677.

New LSC tender opportunity

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) will be promoting a new round of tendering opportunities in early June 09, for which providers with PQQ status will be able to apply. Of the four tender opportunities, the ‘Apprenticeships’ stream is of particular relevance to the voluntary and community sector: the specification will allow for one prime provider to manage the allocation of apprenticeship support funds, for which individual VCOs will be eligible to apply. Contracting is likely to start in August 09.

The other LSC streams opened for tender include Skills for Life (a re-tendering of a February 09 funding stream), Sustainability and Design and Innovation. The process for applying for funds is described here.

Expressions of interest required from social enterprises – closing date Thursday 18 June (at 12 noon)
The Department of Health is procuring a panel of accredited providers of transformational business support, to support Primary Care Trusts that are developing social enterprises to deliver services. It is expected that organisations and consortia that apply to be on the panel will have significant experience of working with NHS organisations and the third sector, which should include social enterprises.

Interested organisations or consortia that can demonstrate experience in this area must download the Expression of Interest documentation. Please quote reference 52634.

In case of queries, please contact Mark.Thaxter@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Modernisation Fund Grants Programme: Online application now open for £1,000 bursaries – deadline 17 July 2009

From 1 June to 17 July, frontline organisations with an annual turnover of between £150,000 and £750,000 are invited to apply online for a £1,000 bursary from the Government’s Modernisation Fund Grants Programme which is being delivered by Capacitybuilders.

The funding is focused on helping frontline third sector organisations to increase their impact and become more resilient through working more closely with others. It is targeted at third sector organisations engaged in providing services that meet the needs of people and communities affected by the recession.

The £1,000 bursaries available under Phase One of the programme will allow organisations to buy at least two days of advice and support to explore how they can become more resilient and work more closely with others, including through collaboration or merger.

From the Autumn, £10,000 grants will be available to help organisations which have gone through Phase One of the programme and would like to take further significant steps towards collaboration or merger.

To find out more about the programme, apply online for a bursary, and access other resources and support including an online self assessment tool, please visit the Modernisation website.

New Grant Programme from Children in Need

BBC Children in Need has launched a new £3m grant programme, Fun and Friendship, which will focus on disabled young people aged 12-18 years old living in the UK.

To find out more, visit the Children in Need website.

Charitable Foundation

Organisations with an annual income of less than £300,000 may apply for small grants from the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation. Grants are available to charitable and not-for-profit organisations in the UK that address the Foundation's priority areas: Health and Disability; Community Support; and Arts, Education and Heritage.

Further details are available from the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation.

Older People

The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)'s public service innovation lab has launched a Call for Ideas for its new programme targeted at people in their fifties and upwards entitled 'Age Unlimited'. It is seeking to work with organisations with a passion for new ideas to deliver a range of practical demonstration projects that focus on innovative responses to the challenges public services face from an ageing population and have the potential to transform the working lives and livelihoods of older people.

NESTA wishes to work with organisations from a range of sectors and, in particular, organisations that are run by older people for older people, groups representing ethnic minorities and groups representing the interests of other minorities such as disabled people. The deadline for applications is 19 June.

Find out more from the NESTA website.

Social Welfare

The UIA Charitable Foundation provides small grants up to £1,000 for registered charities and small voluntary groups in the UK that work with victims of domestic violence; victims of drug and alcohol addiction; and the rehabilitation of offenders. The deadline for applications is 1st August, with more details available at: UIA

Children and Families

The Alchemy Foundation provides grants, from £20 to £5,000 for registered charities in the United Kingd om delivering social and family welfare projects, and for those suffering the effects of famine. There are no online applications or guidelines, and applicants are encouraged to telephone the Foundation on 01883 730600.

Alcohol Research & Development

The Alcohol Education and Research Council (AERC) supports imaginative research, education and treatment projects that have the potential to increase public understanding of alcohol misuse and to counter excessive drinking among vulnerable groups. A range of grants, large and small, are available by visiting the AERC website.

Managing volunteers

Capacitybuilders is currently working with a range of stakeholders to finalise the details of the new £3 Million fund for Volunteer Managers. The programme will include grant funded local projects to further increase the reach and quality of support for local people managing volunteers, especially through outreach; work to raise the profile of volunteer management at a national level; and bursaries to increase access to training relevant to the management and co-ordination of volunteers. The funding will not be available until next month.

Details of the proposed programme are to be found on the Capacitybuilders website.

National Family Week - deadline 31 July

As part of this week's National Family week, The Big Family Idea Competition has been launched and members of the public and professional bodies are being invited to generate ideas to improve family life in their street, in their town or across the whole country. £150,000 will be provided to help turn the best idea into reality.

The winning proposal might be a product, service, event, campaign or a social idea. It could aim to change government legislation, help disadvantaged families, encourage a healthier family lifestyle or enhance communication between family members. The deadline for receipt of applications is 31 July 2009. Vist the National Family Week website for more information.

Sport England kicks off - 2 innovation funds announced

Fund 1 = the innovation fund, aimed to support ground-breaking projects that will increase sporting opportunities and participation. Around £5m will be available to local sports clubs, community groups, local authorities and social enterprises, which can each bid for up to £500,000. Applications need to be submitted by 10 August 2009.

Fund 2 = the sustainable facilities fund, aimed to back partnership projects that will produce modern, new facilities which generate long-term benefits. Round 1 of 2 this year closes on 30 June 2009. Read more and learn how to apply at Sport England’s website.

Gloucestershire Community Foundation's Grassroots Grants

May 2009: Gloucestershire Community Foundation note that there will be NO Grassroots Panel meeting held in June 2009. All applications received during June for the Grassroots Grants will be put to the JULY Panel meeting, the deadline for which is Wednesday 8 July.

Grant programme for youth action and volunteering in faith-based communities

From late May, Volunteering England will be inviting applications for projects that will build partnerships and demonstrate community building through volunteering. This scheme will focus on themes linked to faith communities, work with young people, and joint initiatives between volunteering infrastructure organisations and faith communities.

The deadline for applications is 19 June 2009, to find out more visit the Volunteering England site.

Clarification: £15m Recession Support for Small Organisations

In edition 168 of the Bulletin, published on the 13 May, we reported on the Office of the Third Sector’s Targeted Support fund. Unfortunately it now seems that organisations in Gloucestershire are not eligible to apply. We apologise for the confusion and any inconvenienced this may have caused.

Find out more about the Targeted Support Fund here.

Capacity Building of One Stop Shop Services

As announced on 3 February 2009, the Ministry of Justice will be investing £15.6m of new money to prevent and reduce offending by women. The funding will invest in the provision of additional services in the community to build capacity of one-stop-shop services at women’s centres and other specialist provision for women in the community.

Read more in the Update Note, available here.

Funding for Informal Learning

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) is inviting bids for informal learning to its £20m fund. The closing dates for the two rounds of bidding are Friday 12 June and Sunday 12 July 2009.

Modernisation Funds

The Government’s Modernisation Fund is offering bursaries of £1,000 and grants of up to £10,000 to improve the resilience of your organisation and help you work with others.

Find out more at the Modernisation Fund website.

Funding for Guidance, Advocacy and Advice

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is making a total of £10.2m available to organisations providing guidance, advocacy and advice services.

More information is available on the EHRC website.

Bursary for Political Conference Attendance

Want to attend a political conference but can’t afford it? Contact the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) about its Party Conference Bursary Scheme.

Find out more on the NCVO website.

Funding for Making Connections

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) is running a scheme to help organisations make contact with others, to learn from their experiences of public service delivery.

Read more about the Only Connect scheme on the NCVO website.

Community and Adult Care Directorate - Capacity Building funding

Applications are now invited from VCS organisations delivering Adult Social Care Services to help improve their effectiveness. There is no maximum or minimum limit however applicants are able to submit applications in the region of £1,500.

The application form can be downloaded from the County Council website and a Word version can be obtained by contacting Brenda Yearwood on 01452 426336 or brenda.yearwood@gloucestershire.gov.uk .

£15m Recession Support for small organisations

The Office of the Third Sector will be launching the £15m Targeted Support fund to small, local third sector service providers who have experienced increased demand as a result of the recession. Services that will be funded will be those that are providing key, recession focussed services under one of the themes of: IAG; Employment; or Health and Wellbeing. Find out more about the Targeted Support Fund here.

Additionally the Government has announced a £20m ‘Hardship Fund’ to provide grant support to front-line third sector organisations adversely affected by the recession. More information can be found by following this link.

Support for rural communities

The Rural Development Programme for England is offering support for communities to provide basic services in rural areas. To learn more about this funding opportunity and find out if you are eligible, follow this link to an article by Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC).

Cotswold District Youth Offer funding

A further £13,500 is now available to projects across the Cotswold district to give children and young people more "things to do and places to go"

The closing date for the applications, which will be assessed by a sub group of the Cotswold Children and Young People's Thematic Partnership and the Cotswold Youth Council, is 29th May 2009 with outcomes known by 16th June 2009.

You can download the following documents (Word format):
Youth Offer letter
Youth Office criteria
Youth Offer application form.

For further information contact Rosemary Lynn 01285 623560

BT Community Connections

On 17th March 2009, BT launched a new version of their grant scheme which is called BT Community Connections. The scheme will run for two rounds over 2009-10 and is specifically targeted at helping small voluntary and community organisations.

BT are willing to provide a free laptop computer, plus 12 months free broadband connection, for community groups who meet their criteria. This is an award scheme and not every applicant is guaranteed to benefit although the impression given is that it will be treated favourably.

National Lottery Awards for All

The National Lottery has re-launched the Awards for All funding scheme, with grants up to £10,000 for projects that involve people in their communities, bringing them together to enjoy a wide range of charitable, community, educational, environmental and health-related activities. Funding can be spent on equipment hire or purchase, feasibility studies for building projects, information technology equipment, and publicity materials. Applications are accepted at any time and will be assessed on a
rolling basis, apply at: Awards for All

Social Welfare

LankellyChase Foundation have published ‘Information for Applicants 2009-2014’, detailing their funding programmes for the next five years, which includes The Arts; Breaking Cycles of Abuse; Custody and Community; Free and Quiet Minds; and Local People Local Places. Please note that LankellyChase will not fund organisations working in London. Download the prospectus at: LankellyChase Foundation

The Freemasons' Grand Charity has a major and minor grants programme for charities that work with Vulnerable People or support Youth Opportunities. Major grants average £25,000 and minor grants are awarded up to £5,000. The deadline for applications is 29th May at: Grand Charity

Financial exclusion, housing and homelessness

The Nationwide Foundation has launched a £3.2m grants programme for charities dealing with financial exclusion, housing issues and homelessness. Victims of domestic abuse and elderly people will be the fund's main beneficiaries.

The investor programme will offer 3-year grants of up to £300,000 to charities with annual incomes of up to £10m. One-off grants of up to £5,000 for charities with incomes below £500,000 will be offered through the small grants programme. No deadline for small grants/31st May 2009 for investor programme. Learn more about the application process at the Nationwide Foundation website

Safer Homes Fund

The Home Office has announced £6 million for the Safer Homes Fund to improve home security for people in groups known to be more vulnerable to burglary. The Fund will provide grants covering 4 main areas: Handy people scheme, Community development / facilitation, Peer to Peer, Community Enterprise. The Home Office will work with the Community Alliance to deliver the scheme.

The Fund, which is available for one year, will allow around 300 grants of between £10,000 and £100,000.

For more information visit http://www.bassac.org.uk/news/2009-04/safer-homes-grants-for-community-organisations and http://www.comm-alliance.org/News

Youth-Led Media Projects

Communication charity the Media Trust has launched a £1.2m fund offering grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 to small charities to run youth-led media projects.

Mini Mediabox is for grassroots and community organisations with a relatively small turnover, designed to enable smaller organisations that help young people to communicate through print, TV, film, radio and online. Full guidelines and application forms are available from the Media Box website

Modernisation funds

The £16.5 million fund is designed to help organisations providing services to those worst hit by the recession. It will provide £1,000 bursaries for initial advice on how organisations can become more resilient and work more closely with others to increase their impact.

Grants up to £10,000 to help pay costs involved in moving towards collaboration or merger and interest-free loans of £30,000-£500,000 for those with existing plans for mergers and collaboration will be available. Find out more about the Modernisation Fund

Sport England’s Funding Schemes

Sport England is launching funding programmes open to a wide range of organisations. These include sports clubs, voluntary or community organisations, local authorities, schools, colleges and universities. Especially relevant to Gloucestershire is Sport England’s first themed funding round which has a focus on Sport and Rural Communities.

The overall aim of this investment programme is to develop projects that encourage people living in rural communities to participate and / or sustain their participation in sport, and help those with talent fulfil their potential..

If any organisation in the county is thinking about submitting a bid to this scheme please contact John Stevens (jstevens@glos.ac.uk) to discuss the potential project and whether Active Gloucestershire can offer any assistance with developing a bid. The full funding programmes from Sport England are:

Small Grants
Sportsmatch
Innovation Fund
Rural Communities (this is the first of Sport England’s new themed funding rounds)
Sustainable Facilities Fund

For further information click here.