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Community First Programme opens
Woodward Charitable Trust
Cash4Clubs
Social Action Fund opens for applications
People’s Health Trust – Grants programme open
Institute of Fundraising - Help for small charities
BIG Lottery Funding Open Programmes
The Concertina Charitable Trust
Genes for Jeans Day Grant Programme
Tax Effective Giving Website

Church and Community Fund

This fund will launch a new set of funding priorities in mid December 2011. These will replace the current funding guidelines:
The Fund’s new overarching objective is to grow the Church of England and develop its capacity to engage a wider community. The new strategic themes include the following:

Significantly expanding the Church’s engagement with neighbourhood renewal.
Seeing innovative ways of developing established community projects so that they either grow existing, or evolve into, new communities of Christian Faith.
Replicating models of successful community engagement across the wider church.

It aims to develop its capacity to engage with the whole community through supporting innovative use of resources; help transform areas of greatest need and opportunity and; grow spiritually and numerically. Applications under the new priorities will be accepted from 3 January 2012. For more information go to: www.ccfund.org.uk/

StreetSmart

This fund has a focus on homelessness but will fund projects involving substance misuse. Grants £500-£15,000. Annual December deadline applies. Charitable organizations are eligible to apply. For more information go to: www.streetsmart.org.uk
Social Action Fund.

This is a new £20m government funded scheme which aims to inspire organizations to create new social action opportunities; encouraging people to give what they have, be it time, money, assets, knowledge or specific skills.

The fund supports activity in three areas: Social action in the community; social action inspired by the Olympics and Paralympics; Social Action for all ages.

The minimum grant is £100,000 but there is no upper limit. Large ambitious projects of £1m plus are encouraged. Applicants can be civil society organisations (inc. social enterprises); public sector bodies and businesses with a social mission or clear objectives in their corporate social responsibility policy. Bids must be submitted by 2 November 2011.

Email: applications@socialactionfund.org.uk;http;//tinyurl.com/5ufk52q For more information go to: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/our-funds/social-action-fund/

Team London launches micro grants

Grants of up to £1000 are available to projects that address the following Team London objectives:

More Londoners volunteering for initiatives that address London’s needs.
More satisfying volunteering experiences with all volunteering initiatives rated and reviewed positively by volunteers.
More volunteering from sections of the community which to date have not felt able to participate with one quarter of new volunteering to be from first time volunteers.
More volunteering in the areas of highest social need for London with one third of new volunteering to be in areas identified as high social, including environmental, need.

Examples of eligible expenditure may include:

Community events such as local fairs, lunches and street parties.
Small environmental improvement projects such as clearing up green spaces, or decorating community buildings.
Music, sports and arts events, which bring together local communities to celebrate local culture, assets and heritage.
Local fund-raising activities that generate additional income, which will be spent on meeting Team London’s wider objectives.

Expressions of interest must be submitted online by 4 November 2011, with full applications received by 7 November 2011.

For more information or to apply please click here (opens in new window).

New Fund for Innovative Swimming Activities

The Kellogg's Swim Active Programme provides grants to help support not for profit organisations to run swim-based activities and projects.
The objectives of the programme are to:

Enhance the motivation to swim.
Remove the barriers to swimming.
Increase the participation in swimming.

Applicants must be from a bona fide non-profit making organisation, which includes:

Swimming clubs
Schools
Pool operators
Community organisations
Social enterprises

Projects can be revenue based, capital based or a mix of both. The Fund has no minimum or maximum limit, although it is not an unlimited financial resource.
It is preferred if organisations think about whether their application can include an element of partnership funding in cash or in kind. This is not essential, but is seen as a useful indication that others support the idea and are prepared to back it. The closing date for applications is 1 December 2011.
For more information, visit the Swimming.org website (opens new window).

Community First Programme opens

Community First is a £80m government-funded programme that will run for four years, until March 2015. It will help communities come together through new and existing community groups, to identify their strengths and local priorities, plan for their future and become more resilient.

To find out more about Community First, how to get involved and if area(s) that you are active in are eligible for funds, view the Community First webpage here.
Please click here to read the press release about Community First, issued by the Cabinet Office.

Woodward Charitable Trust

The Woodward Charitable Trust awards grants in a number of areas, including activity that benefits children and young people, minority groups, prisoners and ex-offenders, as well as arts outreach work and environmental projects. The majority of grants are for less than £5,000. The next deadline for applications is Wednesday 30 November.

Cash4Clubs

Cash 4 Clubs offers all sports clubs in the UK the chance to win grants ranging from £250 to £1000. It is a simple scheme aimed at giving community clubs a helping hand and provides the opportunity to raise the money they need to invest in their club.

Social Action Fund opens for applications

A new Social Action Fund aims to inspire organisations to create social action opportunities through people giving what they have, whether time, money, knowledge or skills. It is managed by the Social Investment Business on behalf of the Office for Civil Society. Preference will be given to large-scale proposals, usually covering a region, or more. Applications by noon, 2nd November, http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/our-funds/social-action-fund/

People’s Health Trust – Grants programme open

Funded projects can benefit the health and well-being of people in local communities including older people, younger people and those with poor mental health. The programme includes small grants between £5,000 and £10,000. For more information go to their website:
http://www.peopleshealthtrust.org.uk/index.php/apply-for-funding

Institute of Fundraising - Help for small charities

The Institute of Fundraising recently secured funding from the Office for Civil Society to support small charities to fundraise more effectively. The three-year project will support small and localised organisations at grassroots level with an annual income of £1 million or less.

The project will also work with groups supporting marginalised, vulnerable and socially excluded individuals to support them develop their fundraising career. The programme of activity will include face to face training, online learning, mentoring, career coaching, consultancy and a toolkit.

A dedicated website page has been developed and more information will be available on this page from October:- http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/help_for_small_charities

BIG Lottery Funding Open Programmes

Heroes Return funds various activities – travel and accommodation expenses re visits to where they have served, help with expenses if attending a Commemoration Event amongst other things
Reaching Communities designed to help people and communities in need, will give grants between £10,000 and £500,000 with a simple process for grants up to £40,000
Awards for All will give small grants from £300 to £10,000 to improve local communities and the lives of people who live there and you can look at their top tips to help you improve your application
International Communities will fund those who work with local partners overseas giving grants between £50,000 and £500,000.
For details of these go to www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

The Heritage Lottery Fund has several programmes:

Your Heritage – Small Grants Programme £3,000 - £50,000
Heritage Grant – Main Grant Programme £50,000 upwards
Young Roots – Grants for young people age 13-25 yrs £3,000-25,000
Repair Grants £10,000 to (For places of worship) £250,000
Parks for people – funds available for any group who own or manage a public park.

Visit www.hlf.org.uk for details of any of these.

The Concertina Charitable Trust

This trust will fund small charities who work to improve the lives of older people through the use of music or art. You can apply for up to £500 although some larger grants are sometimes awarded. The next deadline is 31st October and to see what has been funded before and to apply go to www.concertinamusic.org.uk/Grants.php

Tax Effective Giving Website

The Institute of Fundraising’s new look tax-effective giving microsite.tax-effective fundraising offers comprehensive information about all forms of tax-effective giving (also known as 'tax-efficient giving'). These resources are aimed at everyone involved in charitable giving: charities, fundraisers and donors alike.
For more information please go to: http://www.tax-effective-giving.org.uk/