Funding Opportunities in March

Screwfix Foundation

We are passionate about making a difference to those in need. We are a grant-making charity with a clear charitable purpose to support projects that improve, fix and repair buildings, homes and facilities specifically used by PEOPLE IN NEED throughout the UK. We donate grants in the region of £5,000 to charities and not for profit organisations. Prioritising those that will create a longer-term difference and where our donation will make an impact and fund the total cost (or the majority) of a project. The Screwfix Foundation is governed by the Board of Trustees and managed by The Screwfix Foundation Manager.

To be considered for a grant, your organisation AND project must meet the criteria noted below: Organisation criteria Project eligibility Your organisation must be a charity or not for profit company based in the UK and:

• Registered as a charity in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland; or • Registered as a Not for Profit company at Companies House or the registered on the FCA mutuals register. We fund projects which improve a physical building (or land attached to it) that is used by people in need. The types of projects we fund are: • Improved energy efficient lighting & heating • Installation of new kitchen, bathroom etc. • Installation of a sensory room • General painting & decorating • Improving safety and security of a building We are unable to donate products or vouchers from Screwfix and unable to fund: • Items that are easily removable from a property such as soft furnishings, curtains, tables, chairs etc. • White goods or electronic items • Grants for research • Purchase of vehicles • Purchase of garden machinery or removeable furniture such as lawnmowers, chairs or plants. • Repayment of loans • Annual Rent or service charges • Sponsorships • Salaries We do not support projects which will used by general members of the public i.e., sports clubs and associations, uniformed groups such as scout and girl guide groups or organisations that support wildlife or animals as their main beneficiary

Deadline: Rolling

Bracknell Forest: Dementia Friendly Homes

Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
Bracknell Forest Council has grants available, up to £2,000, for people with dementia to help make their homes more dementia friendly. Works could include changing lights to improve brightness and visibility, redecorating walls to make rooms feel calmer, replacing floor coverings that cause confusion or safety issues, ensuring safe access to the property, and/or provision of a safe space. This list is not exhaustive and each case will be considered with help and advice from our occupational therapy service.

Heathrow Community Trust – Environment and Sustainability

About Us: Are you working to reduce energy consumption, tackle climate change, boost recycling or create a nature reserve? Do you have ideas to make your community more sustainable? Are you encouraging wildlife back into your neighbourhood? If so, you could qualify for a grant from our Environment and Sustainability Grants programme.
Criteria: Available for groups including charities, voluntary groups, schools, colleges, local authorities and Community Interest Companies working in Ealing, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Slough, Spelthorne, Richmond, Runnymede, South Bucks, or Windsor & Maidenhead.
Grant Size: up to £15,000 per year for up to two years
Deadline for applications: 3rd April 2025

Asda Foundation Young Futures Fund

About Us: Supporting grassroots groups to improve mental health and wellbeing for teens and young people (13-21 years) to help build better futures.
Criteria: Not-for-profit groups and organisations with an income of less than £250,000 and who already have an existing service for young people within the 13-21 age group can apply.
Applicants need to meet at least one of the following objectives:

Provide services that support, educate and empower.
Connect young people to their peers.
Support rehabilitation and recovery and provide shelter.
Deliver activities / programmes that improve physical health and wellbeing.
The funding can be used for a number of different things. Examples of the kinds of items and services that could be funded include, but are not limited to:

Intervention and prevention programmes to address social issues.
Essential items for crisis support, such as clothes, food and hygiene items for a homeless shelter focusing on young people.
Delivery of specialist support or services or speakers.
Group drop-in and talking sessions.
Workshops to upskill and deliver life skills (cooking, finance, employment, CV writing).
Resources for recreational activities, eg, craft materials, board games
Sports kit and/or equipment (cap £500).
Volunteering costs (cap £100 per person).
Peer support events, and activities that bring people together.
The grant must be used and projects completed by September 2025.

Grant Size: up to £1,000
Deadline for applications: The application window opens on 27th February 2025 (noon) and closes on 13th March 2025 (noon)

The Arts Society

About Us: We believe in Arts for All and will use our grants to make a positive contribution to people’s lives through the arts. Never has there been a greater need to support our local arts organisations and museums and continue the vital contribution of skills development in the arts and heritage sector.
Criteria: Available for UK-registered charities with an annual turnover of less than £3 million to deliver projects across all aspects of the arts, crafts, and heritage and support local and regional art museums and organisations.
Funding is available for projects such as:

Projects that support a wide range of activities to introduce people of all ages and backgrounds to artistic experiences and practice, such as the development and training of skills in the arts, crafts, and heritage through bursaries, sponsorships, and crafts apprenticeships.
Support for regional museums, galleries, and arts organisations, such as:
Special projects.
Displays.
Internships and part-time posts.
Training.
Conservation activities.
Regional and local theatres and performing arts spaces and groups.

Grant Size: up to £2,000
Deadline for applications: 31st March 2025

Small Charity Week match funding campaign

About Us: Seven-day online campaign, running between 23rd-30th June 2025. Donations made during the campaign will be doubled through Big Give’s match funding model, thanks to the generosity of Champion funders, including the players of People’s Postcode Lottery. This means each pound donated goes twice as far in empowering small charities in their mission.
Criteria: Charities with an annual income between £5,000 and £1 million are eligible to apply for match funding, helping them to raise vital funds and maximise their impact.
Grant Size: Charities seeking to raise either £500, £1,000, £2500, £5,000, or £10,000 in public donations (to be doubled by the match funds).
Deadline for applications: 2nd April 2025

Turners Court Youth Trust

Applications are considered from registered charities and small community groups whose work is based around the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire region and is focused on the needs of vulnerable and disaffected children and young people up to the age of 23.

It should be noted that the Trust can only make grants available for projects or groups that exist for charitable purposes.

  • Projects will be assessed as to the positive difference they will make to children and young people with regard to one or more of the following:
  • Early life experiences, particularly for those whose personal circumstances are challenging and difficult.
  • Emotional, social and physical safety and/or well-being.
  • Personal safety and protection from harm and neglect.
  • Involvement in activities that help them overcome barriers to education and employment and to achieve their full potential in life.
  • Development of independent life and work skills.
  • Prevention from entering the judicial system.

Ordinarily one-off grants of between £250 and £5,000 are awarded for appropriate projects which can demonstrate that they will make a difference to children and young people. However, depending on the circumstances and subject to approval of Trustees larger grants may be considered.

Your application will be considered by the Trustees, and you will be contacted soon after their decision, which is final.

Please then send your application to Turners Court Youth Trust either by: Email to grants@turnerscourt.org.uk Or post to the registered address: 30 High Street, Wendover, Buckinghamshire HP22 6EA and mark the envelope ‘TCYT Grant Application’. Your application will be considered by the Trustees, and you will be contacted soon after their decision, which is final.

Hall and Woodhouse Community Chest

Applications are welcome from any voluntary or community organisation that is based, or works in, our trading area across the south of England, from Devon to Sussex and in the north from Bristol to Twickenham. NB: Awards will only be considered for organisations with a total income of more than £200,000 in very special circumstances.

Grants or funds raised could be used to support the following:

Youth work and activities
Sports and social clubs
Elderly and people with disabilities
Health and social care
Local arts and culture
Conservation and the environment
Please note: Applications will not be considered from national organisations or those that are profit making or political.

Groups can apply for grants or fundraising support ranging from £300 and £3,000 to help achieve their aims. These grants or fundraising commitments could be used towards things such as equipment and furniture, training, transport, professional assistance, specific project resources or operational costs that will help your cause.

The Four Barrows Foundation

We give grants to Primary Schools and Charities who provide opportunities for pre-school and primary age children. We believe these organisations are most likely to understand the areas, children and groups who are likely to benefit from extra support. We are not able to support any other organisation.

We support organisations in specific areas – because they are local to our trustees: Lothian and Fife Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey.

We aim to provide annual grants between £1,000 and £3,000. We understand these efforts often require a long-term commitment, so funding may be provided for more than one year.

Newly Opened: Warburtons Community Grants

Warburtons Community Grants provides small grants up to £400 to support charitable organisations towards broader activities which improve Health, Place or Skills for families in their community.

Based on our localism approach, our community investment funds are allocated to our local bakeries and depots. This helps our Community Champions to make the best decisions for our local communities. We will use your postcode to understand which of our sites is closest to you and they will then receive the application and make a decision.

Deadline: 5th May 2025

Project Groundwater Innovation Fund

Grants are available for charities, small-to-medium enterprises, voluntary and community groups, and other organisations across the Berkshire Downs (Lambourn Valley) to deliver projects that address groundwater flooding while benefitting local communities.

Application deadline: 17th March 2025 (9am)

Grow Wild Youth Grants

Grants are available for young individuals (aged 16 to 25 years) in the UK to deliver a creative project that celebrates why UK native plants and/or fungi are so special. Young people must have a supporting organisation to help them deliver the project. An webinar giving information about the scheme will be held on 26 February 2025 (12:00 to 12:45pm) – you can register via the link below.

Application deadline: 19th March 2025 (3pm)

Peter Harrison Foundation

Active Lives Funding:
The Trustees have decided to focus our limited resources by prioritising applications which meet all of the following criteria:

work with people living with disabilities in the top 10% of areas of deprivation (Indices of Multiple Deprivation decile 1) AND
from organisations with a track record of working with this population AND
have a robust plan for wider impact of the project through dissemination, training etc


To avoid wasting your time, please ensure you meet our revised eligibility and funding criteria before starting an application.

Type of funding: We will consider applications for capital, project or core funding.

Location of project: Anywhere in the United Kingdom. Grant amount: We accept applications for £5,001 – £30,000. Grant period: You can apply for a grant spread over 1, 2 or 3 years

Positive Futures Projects:

The Trustees have decided to focus our limited resources by prioritising applications which meet all of the following criteria:

work with children and young people living in the top 10% of areas of deprivation (Indices of Multiple Deprivation decile 1) AND
from organisations with a track record of working with this population AND
have a robust plan for wider impact of the project through dissemination, training etc
To avoid wasting your time, please ensure you meet our revised eligibility and funding criteria before starting an application.

Type of funding: We will consider applications for capital, project or core funding.

Location of project: South East of England (Berkshire; Buckinghamshire; Hampshire; Isle of Wight; Kent; Oxfordshire; Surrey; East Sussex; and West Sussex only).

Grant amount: We accept applications for £5,001 – £30,000. Grant period: You can apply for a grant spread over 1, 2 or 3 years

The Alpkit Foundation

About Us: It makes small awards that support grass roots, direct action projects where a positive difference can be made to remove the barriers in getting outdoors and experience the benefits of time spent outdoors.
Criteria: Community groups, schools and organisations based and working within the UK can apply for grants to support:
Diversity and inclusion projects that engage individual and groups from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Environmental projects that seek to support, conserve, or generate understanding of our environment and wild places.
Health projects enabling people to gain physical and mental wellbeing from the Great Outdoors.
Education projects such as First Aid, D of E, Forest Schools and Mountain Leader.
Participation projects that get more people experiencing the Great Outdoors.
Grant Size: Between £50 and £500
Deadline for applications: Applications can be submitted at any time and will be considered every two months.

Grants For Good

Applications close on Saturday 15th March.
These grants are designed to direct funding only to small and growing local charities, voluntary groups or social enterprises that are making a big impact on communities, people or the environment. To be eligible, applicants must be a local community group, charity, voluntary group or social enterprise that has a positive impact on communities, people or the environment, must have an average income of less than £50,000 in the last 12 months, and must have a bank account in the organisation’s name.
The top five shortlisted projects will receive between £2,000 and £5,000. Find out more.

Community Impact Fund

Applications close on Thurs 20th March.
Small grants of up to £1,000 are available for charities, CIOs, and CICs across the UK to deliver projects and activities that benefit local communities across the themes of environment, sustainability, creativity, and local issues.
By fostering innovation and collaboration, we aim to enhance the well-being of our community and promote sustainable development.
We invite community groups and charitable organisations to apply for funding to bring their impactful projects to life.

The Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust

The objectives of the Trust are:

  • to promote horticulture;
  • to promote the conservation of the physical and natural environment by promoting biological diversity through the application of horticultural techniques
  • to promote the creation, development, preservation and maintenance of gardens (preference will normally, but not exclusively, be given to gardens accessible to the public); and
  • the advancement of horticultural education.

The Trust achieves its objectives by making grants to individuals, organisations and institutions carrying out projects of significance to:

  • horticulture;
  • gardening; or
  • botany with a strong horticultural element.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of typical projects.

  • restoring gardens of historic interest;
  • developing new gardens, or new garden areas within existing gardens, for public access and enjoyment;
  • exhibitions, book publications, research and educational programmes relating to horticulture;
  • expeditions and travel to study, collect and protect plants of scientific and horticultural value;
  • study-visits by horticulturists or botanists with strong horticultural links, and
  • gardeners’ training schemes run by appropriate organisations (but not to individuals, see Training and Traineeships).

The maximum grant is £5,000 but some organisations only require modest sums and applicants are welcome to apply for grants of less than £500. Typical grants are usually in the range of £3,500- £5,000.

Only one grant is usually made for each project but it is possible for subsequent grants to be made to the same individual or organisation for a new project or an additional component of the original project over two or three years. 

Deadline: Grants are normally awarded twice a year, in April and September (following application deadlines of 15 February and 15 August).

Rural Funding Digest March 2025

Thank you to Slough CVS, West Berkshire Volunteer Centre and Bracknell & Wokingham InVOLve.


New Year Funding Opportunities

BHF’s Community Defibrillator Funding Programme

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has recently reopened their Community Defibrillator Funding Programme.

This scheme allows local community groups to apply and potentially receive a free defibrillator and cabinet which must then be made accessible for use within the local community.

In areas where health inequalities exist, survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest are reduced, so this scheme may be of significant assistance to these areas. Follow the link below to see if your group is eligible.

BHF expect to close applications by 5pm on Friday 28th February 2025. They may close applications earlier depending on the volume received, so groups are advised to apply early.

Royal Countryside Fund

About Us: The UK-wide Supporting Rural Communities grant programme launches on Friday 10th January 2025. This funding will support transformative, community-led initiatives, unlocking the huge potential for positive change in rural communities. Their aim is to support innovative solutions that will “power up, not prop up” communities, inspiring change and encouraging economic vibrancy.
Criteria: Not for Profit organisations (excluding Town and Parish Councils) can apply for grants to deliver activities along the themes of:
* Keeping young people in the countryside
* Powering up rural communities
* Increasing environmental sustainability
* Building emergency resilience in rural areas.
Grant Size: of up to £25,000 over a period of 24 months.
Deadline for applications: Deadline for expressions of interest is 21st February 2025

Berkshire Community Foundation Vital for Berkshire Fund

About Us: The fund aims to support charities, community groups and projects that work to tackle the most salient and pressing issues within Berkshire’s communities at any given time.
Criteria: We invite applications for grants from charities, community groups and projects that support vital needs in Berkshire, such as (but not limited to):

  • physical and mental health
  • supporting young and vulnerable people or groups
  • combating isolation, tackling poverty and disadvantage
  • offering equal opportunities for all
    Grant Size: up to £5,000
    Deadline for applications: 10am on 16th January 2025

Greenham Trust – Peter Baker Grants

Grants are distributed in line with the original intentions of Peter Baker; for charitable purposes within a 20-mile radius of Market Place, Newbury, Berkshire.

Application deadline: 13th January 2025

Leeds Building Society Charitable Foundation

Grants are available for UK registered charities undertaking projects to support those in need of a safe and secure home.

Application deadline: 10th February 2025

Imperial Polythene Community Impact Fund

About Us: Imperial Polythene is proud to announce the launch of the Imperial Community Impact Fund; a new initiative designed to support local community groups and charities committed to making a positive difference.
Criteria: To encourage and empower local organisations working in the fields of environment, sustainability, creativity, and addressing local problems.
Grant Size: Up to £1,000 per project
Deadline for applications: Thursday 20 March 2025

Youth Music Trailblazer Fund

About Us: Youth Music’s Trailblazer Fund aims to support young people who want to change their lives through music but cannot because of who they are, where they are from or what they are going through.
Criteria: Funding is available for projects for children and young people (aged 25 or under) to make music activity more inclusive and foster learning, creation and employment opportunities.The fund provides grants for organisations that want to trial work or test a new way of working, sustain a grassroots programme or disrupt the status quo (or all three). Priority is given to small organisations with limited resources, those supporting children and young people facing barriers, and established groups seeking to innovate.
Grant Size: Two levels of grants are available:
• Grants of £2,000 to £15,000 are available to organisations of less than one year old.
• Grants of £2,000 to £30,000 are available to organisations of more than one year old.
Deadline for applications: 5pm on 11th April 2025

National Archives Engagement Grants

About Us: The Engagement Grants Programme offers grants for organisations to conduct outreach and engagement projects that will connect archives with their communities in places across England and Wales.
Criteria: Public sector bodies, not-for-profit organisations including registered charities and business archives can apply for grants. This year’s theme is ‘Community’. Projects can either reach out to new audiences or connect with old audiences in new ways.
Grant Size: up to £3,000
Deadline for applications: 5pm on 17th January 2025

Idlewild Trust

About Us: We support learning programmes that provide opportunities for professional musicians, dancers, actors, writers, artists and those involved creatively in the arts at an early stage in their career. We also support the conservation of nationally/internationally important works of art and historic objects.
Criteria: The Trust offers grants to registered charities working in the following two areas:
• Arts Grants: Nurturing Early-Stage Professionals – grants support training opportunities for emerging professionals, working creatively and backstage, within the performing and visual arts, post-training, and at an early stage in their career.
• Conservation Grants: Objects and Works of Art – grants support the conservation of cultural heritage of recognised national and international importance in museums, libraries, galleries, historic buildings, or landscapes accessible to the public (also available to museums that are exempt charities).
Grant Size: up to £7,000
Deadline for applications: noon on 14th February 2025

The Kelly Family Charitable Trust

The Kelly Family Charitable Trust is a grant-giving body founded in 2004 by members of the Kelly family.

We’re interested in funding charities whose activities involve all or most family members, where possible, in initiatives that seek to tackle problems facing one or more of its members. We’ve funded charities working in fields including early intervention, mediation, prison services and services for families affected by sexual abuse, physical abuse and domestic violence, among others.

We generally offer grants worth up to £5,000 – though trustees will consider requests for higher amounts. We’re happy to fund charities’ core costs and we encourage applications from relatively new charities to help them become established.

The trustees take a close interest in the progress of the charities they support, and projects shortlisted for grants will be contacted by the trust’s grants administrator Stuart Armstrong, or a trustee. The Trust only make grants to organisations whose activities take place within the UK.

Deadline: Grants are awarded twice a year. Applications must be submitted by 1st March and 1st September. The trustees will ask for more details from those charities that pass the initial screening and may visit them.

Barchester’s Charitable Trust

Barchester’s Charitable Foundation is a registered charity that helps older people and adults with a disability across England, Scotland, Wales and Jersey. Our focus is about connecting or re-connecting people with others in their local community, and we support applications that combat loneliness and enable people to be active and engaged.

Our aim is to enrich lives and encourage an active lifestyle through arts, music, sports and culture for older people or adults living with a disability or mental health problems.

We are particularly keen to provide grants that enable groups and individuals to mix and join in social activities and reduce their danger of isolation and loneliness.

We help small community groups and local charities with activities, outings, equipment and materials for members/service users. Our grants range from £100 up to £2,500. Before starting the application, make sure to have a cost breakdown/budget and your latest annual accounts ready to upload.

Deadline: Rolling

Arnold Clark Community Fund: Cost of Living

What is the Cost-of-Living Support?
With the rising cost of living, more people than ever before are facing severe challenges and financial hardship. Our Cost-of-Living Support fund is available to organisations whose work directly supports those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis, such as foodbanks, accommodation or poverty relief, and any other organisation which falls into our eligibility criteria.

Applications for the Arnold Clark Community Fund Cost-of-Living Support are only eligible if the organisation falls in one of the following categories: foodbank, accommodation, poverty relief and where people/communities in the UK are the primary and immediate focus of investment. Applications are also only eligible if they’re made by an organisation that are based/operates solely in the UK and are located within 50 miles of an Arnold Clark branch.

Most organisations are eligible to apply, and we particularly welcome applications from smaller voluntary and community organisations who are working with those most affected and vulnerable to the increased cost of living. Please ensure you read and understand the below eligibility criteria before submitting an application.

We welcome applications from:

UK-registered charities
Local community groups
Social enterprises
Community interest companies
Groups of organisations that are community or voluntary-led.
Charitable incorporated organisations
Cost of Living Support | Arnold Clark Community Fund

Deadline: Rolling

The Wolfson Foundation

We have a wide range of funding programmes and activities. Our fundamental aim is to improve the civic health of society, mainly through education and research. More specifically, we support excellence in the fields of education, science & medicine, health & disability, and heritage, humanities & the arts.

Grants of between £15,000 and £150,000 are available to UK performing arts organisations for new build projects, refurbishment and major and specialist equipment to improve performance and training facilities.

Who Can Apply:

Charities working with disability * Charities working in mental health
Charities working with older people * Historic buildings & landscapes
Hospices & palliative care organisations * Places of worship
Libraries & archives * Museums & galleries
Performing arts organisations * Public engagement with science organisations funding
Secondary schools & sixth form colleges * Special needs schools & colleges
Universities & research institutions

Funding for places
About 85% of our funding is for capital infrastructure – buildings (new build or refurbishments) and equipment. These awards support excellence across education, science & medicine, heritage, humanities & the arts and health & disability.

Funding for people
A smaller proportion of our funding (about 15%) is for people, through scholarships or fellowships. We do not accept unsolicited applications under these programmes. We generally work with partner organisations who identify individuals for support.
Deadline: Rolling

Warburtons Families Matter Community Grants Programme

Small grants are available for local projects, activities and organisations that have charitable aims and that will be of real direct benefit to families.

Application deadline: 3rd February 2024

The Moto Foundation

Grants are available for community organisations and schools operating within a 15-mile radius of a Moto site for projects and activities that deliver benefits to local communities.

Application deadline: N/A

With thanks to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Wokingham & Bracknell InVOLve and Slough CVS for the information contained within this article.


Funding Opportunities in December

SNG Thriving Communities Fund

Deadline 20 December 2024

SNG (Sovereign Network Group) is a leading housing association, committed to improving customers’ wellbeing and developing thriving and resilient communities. Their Thriving Communities fund is aimed at supporting not-for-profit groups and organisations to deliver cohesive, sustainable, and resilient communities which people are proud to be a part of.

Grants will be awarded for initiatives and projects that actively support affiliated communities.

Who is eligible to apply?
To apply for this fund, applicants must be a local not-for-profit group, community organisation, or a registered charity who will be able to demonstrate how they will engage with and benefit SNG customers.

The fund will be split into six distinct regions across the South of England (Reading being covered in one of the six regions) and will be limited to one project per organisation. Eligibility criteria is listed in the guidance notes (below).

What are the funder priorities?
Funding will prioritise groups whose work will directly benefit the funder’s customers.

Priority will be given to applications that clearly demonstrate their objectives, the outcomes that their project will achieve and the difference that will be made by their project as a whole. Applications will also be assessed on how they aim to engage with, and benefit SNG customers and communities within the designated areas.

How much can organizations apply for?
Grants from £1,000 up to £5,000 are available.

Peter Harrison Foundation

We have two grant programmes that are open to applications:
• Active Lives
• Positive Futures
For each programme there are two levels of funding available
• Small grants: up to £5,000
• Major grants: £5,001 – £30,000
Types of funding: We accept applications for capital, project or core costs
Levels of funding: There are 2 levels of grants – Small grants: up to £5,000 – Major grants: £5,001 – £30,000
Location:

  • Active Lives funds work all over the UK.
  • Positive Futures only funds work in the South East of England

The next application deadline is 1st January 2025

Community Radio Fund

About Us: The Community Radio Fund is allocated by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and managed by Ofcom.
Criteria: Grants for Ofcom-licensed community radio stations broadcasting on AM, FM, or by a Community Digital Sound Programme (C-DSP) license on a digital radio multiplex, to help with the essential core work involved in running a radio station. Applicant stations must be on the air as of the date of their application for their application to be considered. Payment can only be made to stations that have launched.
Grant Size: The total amount available in the 2024-25 financial year is £400,000 across two funding rounds. There is no set level of funding. However, in the previous funding round, grants ranged from around £4,000 to £33,000.
Deadline for applications: 8th December 2024

Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts Fund

About Us: We want to support organisations who are working at the intersection of art and social change.
Criteria: For not-for-profit organisations who work at the intersection of art and social change. The Fund supports organisations to do the following:
• Build capacity and resources for culture within historically underfunded communities
• Explore the role that artists can play in addressing issues of social justice
• Create the infrastructure for a more equitable cultural sector.
Not-for-profit cultural organisations with a turnover of at least £60,000 per year can apply. The grants can cover up to 50% of an organisation’s annual turnover over three years, based on their last audited accounts. Priority will be given to applications which are actively anti-racist and intersectional in their approach.
Grant Size: The Foundation provides grants of between £90,000 and £300,000 for activity lasting up to three years.
Deadline for applications: 31st January 2025

Ulverscroft Foundation

Applications close on Sunday 15th December.
We support projects that help visually impaired people. Applications for funding can be considered from any non-profit source, a charity, CIC or social group, from the UK or overseas. Applications for academic and clinical research, or from public libraries run by local authorities, will also be considered. We can support, for example, transport for reading groups, reminiscence projects, the acquisition of specialist equipment, etc. Applications can be made by downloading, completing and posting or emailing us an application form. Please note that within any group there may be an element of visual impairment, but grants can only be considered if the visual impairment element is significant. Find out more information.

Bentley Motors

Applications close on Friday 20th December.
Bentley Motors, community investment and corporate citizenship are key elements of our sustainability approach. Grants are available to support small, local charitable organisations working with vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented communities in locations within a 20-mile radius of the specified UK Bentley.
The programme’s areas of focus are improving accessibility, empowering confidence, increasing quality of life, and/or creating better futures. Applicants’ organisations must have an income under £ 1 million per year. More info.

Crowthorne Community Grants

Applications close on Friday 13th December.
Each year Crowthorne Parish Council considers requests for grants to assist organisations involved in delivering valued services to the Crowthorne community. Application are only considered if they are accompanied by a copy of your latest set of annual accounts showing the organisation’s income, expenditure, level of balances and reserves policy. If the organisation does not prepare annual accounts, copies of the bank statements covering the previous six months must be attached. Organisations which are successful be presented with their cheques at the Annual Parish Meeting held in March and April 2025.

Turners Court Youth Trust

Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
Grants are available for registered charities and small community groups whose work is focused on the needs of vulnerable and disaffected children and young people up to the age of 23 years in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Projects will be assessed as to the positive difference they will make in regards to difficult early life experiences, safety & wellbeing, protection from harm & neglect, overcoming education & employment barriers, developing independent life & work skills, and/or crime prevention.

Cumber Family Charitable Trust

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
One-off grants are available for projects in developing countries, UK national needs and projects local to Berkshire and Oxfordshire with a preference for those with active involvement in agriculture or rural development, or working in the areas of welfare, education, medicine, disadvantaged children, agriculture and/or conservation.

Woodward Charitable Trust

Applications close on Friday 13th December.
We only makes grants for core costs rather than specific projects as we recognise that smaller charities can find these funds harder to access. We hope that this will have a more direct impact on the organisations that we choose to fund.
We also only fund organisations which support children / young people up to 25 years of age, disadvantaged families, and/or prisoners /
ex-offenders. Typically grants are below £1,000, but sometimes fund up to £3,000. 

Benefact Group: Movement for Good

We’re giving away £120,000 in December – 12 Days of Giving is our festive final phase of Movement for Good 2024. In December, we’ll be giving 120 charities £1,000 each over 12 days.

The first draw takes place on December 5th and the last on December 20th with 10 charities drawn every week day. It only takes 30 seconds to nominate your charity.

Movement for Good – Nominate a charity for an award.
Deadline: Nominations are open until 23:59 on December 19th 2024.

Moto Foundation

The Moto Foundation makes a positive difference to the communities around our network of Motorway Service Areas – one of the ways we do this is through community grants.

Any application that is submitted must have the endorsement of a Moto colleague; that is someone directly employed by Moto Hospitality Ltd. The online form will prompt you to add the name and contact details of the Moto colleague endorsing your application, so please have these to hand.

Please take some time to read through the following criteria before completing the application process. Following the completion of your application you will receive an email from the Moto Foundation office to acknowledge your application and advise you whether your application will be progressed through to the approval process.

Please be advised that the application to approval process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. In order to assist as many organisations as possible the average grant given through the funding process is £1,000. Depending on the strength of an application and demonstration of commitment by both the Moto site and Partner, larger grants may be agreed.

Tesco Stronger Starts

The scheme is open to all schools, registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, with priority given to projects that provide food and support to young people. Examples of eligible applications with a focus on food security, children and young people could be:

A school providing pupils with food for breakfast clubs or snacks throughout the day.
A school wanting to buy equipment for outdoor or indoor activities.
A school wanting to develop a food growing area.
A school supporting an after school club.
A voluntary organisation working with families to run a food bank.
An organisation addressing holiday hunger.
A healthy eating project that supports families to cook healthy meals on a budget.
A Brownie or Scout group needing funding for new play equipment or activities.
If you are a Tesco colleague or customer, you can also nominate a cause that you’d like to see supported. Tesco colleagues in each store will help select those needing a little help in your local area and when our customers are given a blue token, in any of our Tesco stores at the checkout, they can vote for their favourite charity to receive a grant. Community charity Groundwork manages this website and administers the funding across the UK. Groundwork is working with Greenspace Scotland to support successful projects in Scotland.

Energy Resilience Fund – Loan/Grant Scheme

About Us: Charities and social enterprises that are looking to install energy-saving measures or generation technology to buildings/land (including new builds), and/or to purchase energy efficient or environmentally friendly vehicles or equipment can apply now for a blended funding package of loan and grant to improve their energy resilience.
Criteria: Eligible organisations must:
Be an incorporated voluntary, community or social enterprise organisation.
Be based in England and serving communities primarily within England.
Be constituted for social benefit and improving people’s lives or the environments they live in.
Have a minimum of two years’ operating activity.
Have a minimum turnover of £100,000 in their last set of end of year accounts.
Have fewer than 250 employees and either an annual turnover not exceeding £40 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding £35 million.
Be unable to access mainstream bank lending for this purpose.
Have freehold ownership or a suitable written lease agreement with a minimum of 12 years remaining on it if they are applying to install energy saving/generating measures to buildings/land.
Have the support of their senior decision makers for taking on loan finance.
Grant Size: Funding of £25,000 to £250,000 is available via a blend of grants (40%) and loans (60%). The loan repayment term is one to ten years.
Deadline for applications: Rolling programme

Berkshire Community Foundation – Vital for Berkshire

Our Vital for Berkshire fund is open for applications.
The fund aims to support charities, community groups and projects that work to tackle the most salient and pressing issues within Berkshire’s communities at any given time.
We invite applications for grants of up to £5,000 from charities, community groups and projects that support vital needs in Berkshire, such as (but not limited to):
⭐physical and mental health
⭐supporting young and vulnerable people or groups
⭐combating isolation, tackling poverty and disadvantage
⭐offering equal opportunities for all
and more.
Apply for Vital for Berkshire by visiting https://bit.ly/vitalforberkshirefund
Funds close at 10am on Thursday 16th January 2025.

Thank you to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Wokingham & Brackell InVOLve and Slough CVS for the information contained in this article.


Funding Opportunities in November

Neighbourhood Watch Community Grants Fund

About Us: Our focus is to help you kickstart, improve or expand your community work. The Trustees of Neighbourhood Watch Network set aside funds for this scheme.
Criteria: grants are only for registered Neighbourhood Watch members who are representatives of a registered and recognised Neighbourhood Watch scheme, group, Area or Association in England and Wales.
Funding priorities
• Tackling Antisocial Behaviour – Improving the community environment
• Increasing membership of local watches
• Addressing crime through Community Cohesion
• Tackling loneliness in our Neighbourhood Watch communities
Grant Size: Between £100 – £300. Groups can only hold one grant at a time and only hold one grant in each financial year.
Deadline for applications: 14th January 2025

Cash4Clubs Sports Funding

Applications close on Tues 12th November.
Grants of £2,000 are available for community and voluntary sport groups across the UK and Ireland, who are delivering activities for a social purpose to under-represented communities. This programme is exclusively focused on supporting adult clubs as we want to offer funding to groups that deliver activities to over 18s only, with an emphasis on 18–25 year olds. Learn more.

Bracknell Forest Household Support Fund

Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
The council will be using funding to support low income households with the rising cost of living, including energy, food and essential bills. The scheme will be enhanced to enable Bracknell Forest residents in financial hardship who would not otherwise automatically qualify for support to apply. If households are eligible, they can apply based on an existing assessment criteria which will include a financial assessment of income and assets, or cost-of-living vouchers for low-income families not eligible for school distributed vouchers.

West Berkshire Council Household Support Fund

The Household Support Fund is there to help people struggling to meet essential housing costs including energy and water bills, food, and wider essentials. There is £695,000 available which includes funding for individuals and families, as well as money set aside to provide free school meals and help for pensioners and young people leaving care.

Winter Wishes Fund

Applications close on Weds 13th November.
This fund is for grants of between £300 – £1,000 for organisations running projects that provide vital support to those most vulnerable in our communities, helping to navigate this time of year. Funding can be used in a variety of ways, from providing the local community with a warm nourishing meal, gifting toys and hampers to families in need and providing shelter to people without a safe place to call home at Christmas.

Improving Homes & Community Spaces

Applications close on Friday 15th November.
One-off grants are available to UK registered charities for projects that improve homes and communities spaces for those who are experiencing homelessness, in financial hardship, impacted by health, disability or other disadvantage or distress. We generally support with funding of up to £10K for building or indoor projects, and up to £5K for garden projects.

Nature Hubs Funding

Applications close on Fri 29th November.
Grants are available for registered organisations across to deliver projects and activities that create or enhance green spaces within 5 kilometres of a Starbucks store. Groups can apply for grants up to £6,000 to set up or enhance community-led green spaces.

Petplan Charitable Trust

Applications close on Mon 9th December.
Grants are available to support animal welfare charities and institutions to promote the health and welfare of animals across the UK. Animal assisted therapy charities will be considered, however there is a requirement to detail the current and long term welfare needs of the
animals.

The Adamson Trust

Applications close on Tues 31st December.
Grants are available for non-profit organisations and charities to help with the cost of holidays or respite breaks for disabled children, aged 3 to 17 years, with physical, mental, or emotional impairments.

Turners Court Youth Trust

Applications accepted on a rolling basis.
Grants are available for registered charities and small community groups whose work is focused on the needs of vulnerable and disaffected children and young people up to the age of 23 years in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Projects will be assessed as to the positive difference they will make in the areas of early life experiences, safety, wellbeing, overcoming barrier, work skills, independence and/or crime prevention.

Just Transition Fund

A total of £5 million is available in grants to charities and community energy groups across England, Scotland and Wales to develop renewable energy projects that benefit those most in need. The fund, piloted under the scheme’s Carbon Emissions Reductions priority, aims to build the capacity of the community energy sector and deliver impactful renewable energy projects. It seeks to demonstrate how a just transition to net zero can benefit everyone.
Criteria: Registered organisations, in England, Scotland and Wales, can apply for grant funding to deliver energy related projects that meet the scheme priorities.
Grant Size: The Just Transition Fund will award grants between £20,000 and £250,000 to individual projects.
Deadline for applications: 5pm, 19 November 2024

Material Focus

The Electricals Recycling Fund aims to grow existing methods or test new creative and practical ones for recycling small household electricals.
Criteria:
They fund two types of projects – those seeking to grow or develop existing household collection services for small household electricals, and those seeking to innovate new collection methods. Applications from registered organisations only – such as local authorities, waste collection authority areas, contractors, non-profits, community sector organisations, producer compliance schemes, and retailers – not individuals.
Grant Size:
Growing existing services – grants of up to £100,000 for projects that grow existing collection methods for small electricals.
Innovating new methods – grants of up to £50,000 to come up with new approaches to repair, reuse and/or recycle electricals.
Deadline for applications: Rolling basis

The Alec Dickson Trust

The Trust supports volunteering or community service projects organised and run by young people aged 30 and younger.
Criteria: For individuals or small groups of young people to help them put their ideas into action and run projects that benefit the lives of others.
The funding is for projects that:
• Support and encourage youth volunteering, particularly those that involve lots of volunteers, and encourage young people to stay engaged as volunteers in the long term.
• Have a positive impact on disadvantaged communities and individuals. Projects should identify a specific need and how to address this need. There is particular interest in projects that will have a deep and meaningful effect on those it reaches, as well as projects that are as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.
• Are innovative and try to do things differently. This could be addressing a real need for the community or doing something that has not been done before.
Grant Size: Up to £500
Deadline for applications: 13 November 2024

B&Q Foundation

About Us: The B&Q Foundation Grants programme is managed by Neighbourly, a platform used by local Good Causes across the UK and Ireland. Groups will need to create a profile on the Neighbourly platform as part of the B&Q Foundation application process.
Criteria: Grants to registered charities to provide, maintain, repair or improve housing or community space. The projects should benefit people most in need because of homelessness, financial hardship, sickness, disability or other disadvantage.
Grant Size: Up to £5,000 is available for garden projects and up to £10,000 for building or indoor projects.
Deadline for applications: 6pm on 15 November

Music 4 All

Music for All’s next funding round of 2024 is NOW OPEN to applicants!
See their website for full details on our upcoming community funding opportunities.
Please read the eligibility criteria and instructions carefully before applying.
Funding round 4 will close on the 13th of January.

Comic Relief Community Fund

Grants of up to £5,000 are available and offered on a flexible basis, depending on need.

Funding can be used on core organisation costs, direct project related costs or a combination of both that support your organisation to deliver against any of the four areas.

An example of core funding could be a contribution to organisation’s annual budget to continue its good work, funding to expand the work, or to add something new that amplifies results. It could also be allocated for expenses that are harder to fund, such as salaries of senior management or administration, or ongoing costs that are not covered by other grants.

Thank you to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Wokingham & Bracknell InVOLve and Slough CVS for the information contained in this article.


Funding Opportunities in September

Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust

Applications close on Mon 30th September.
We are committed to awarding grants to those most in need. For this round of funding, we are focusing on projects which provide food education and/or cooking skills. The maximum amount available is £5,000. To be eligible to apply you must be a registered charity with an income and expenditure which meets our requirements and your project must not be on the list of what we don’t fund. Only one application form per charity will be considered.

Christmas Connections Funding

Applications close on Friday 11th October.
Grants of up to £750 are available for small charities and community groups bringing together people over 65 at Christmas. These grants are for organisations connecting older people between 9th December until 2nd January. Priority will be given to organisations working in deprived areas and where activities are taking place over the Christmas holiday period. Please review the grant guidance before applying. Examples of activities funded include the provision of a meal on Christmas Day, group social events, and/or support for day centres providing services over the festive period, etc.

Local Nature Grants

Applications close on Tues 24th October.
This scheme is designed to provide young people with an opportunity to take the lead on projects that involve their local nature and natural spaces, to aid young people in realising their influence to affect positive change, to have their voices heard, and see their ideas come to life. We therefore fund innovative projects that are designed and led by young people in the UK. Adult applicants should develop their proposal alongside young people and the projects should seek to empower local young people to enact changes they want to see, such as increasing access to natural spaces and improving understanding of their local biodiversity. This grant is purposefully broad and welcomes novel ideas, with a maximum award of £1,000 per proposal.

The Naturesave Trust

Applications close Thurs 31st October.
Our funding focuses on small environmental projects for charities, social enterprises and grassroots community groups whose activities are based within the UK. The theme of this funding window is energy efficiency. We are looking for grant applications up to £5,000 from organisations who are working to promote a more sustainable approach to energy efficiency through insulation, solar panels, lighting initiatives, cooking solutions, new equipment, energy audits, heating projects, workshops, etc.

Barchesters Charitable Foundation

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Our funding focus is on connecting or re-connecting people with others in their local community. We support applications that combat loneliness and enable people to be active and engaged. We help small community groups and local charities with activity projects, equipment/materials for use by members, member transport, and/or day trips, outings, activities/group holidays in the UK. Our grants for groups range from £100 up to £2,000.

The Earley Charity – Capital Projects Programme

30 September 2024. The Earley Charity’s Capital Projects Programme has reopened for a second round of funding. By Capital we mean bricks and mortar such as new builds, extensions and large-scale refurbishments. The programme has a budget of £105,000 and is open to local organisations that work in or predominately serve the Earley Charity’s area of benefit. The Trustees intend to support several projects through the programme and are happy to accept bids for either full or part funding. They are particularly interested to hear from organisations that have not received funding from the Earley Charity before.

Eligibility criteria: In the first instance Trustees are seeking Expressions of Interest from local organisations that have well-developed plans for a distinctive capital project which may be supported through this programme.

To be eligible you must be able to demonstrate the following:

  • your organisation works in or predominantly serves the Earley Charity’s area of benefit*;
  • you have confirmed planning permissions in place;
  • your project is due to start and/or complete between now and the end of 2025.

Area of Benefit: In practice, this means all of Earley (Lower Earley and “old Earley”), the northern part of Shinfield, Winnersh, south Reading (including Whitley), east Reading (including Newtown), central Reading (as far west as the Reading West railway line), Sonning and lower Caversham. Please see our website for a detailed map http://www.earleycharity.org.uk/Map.aspx

The Wakeham Trust

We usually make VERY SMALL grants to VERY SMALL projects. We don’t have formal grant criteria, but we are normally looking for leverage (in the sense that we make small contributions to projects nobody else will touch, in the hope that they can sometimes turn into something big).

So about 50 years ago we started backing pregnancy advisory services, women’s shelters and rape crisis centres, because they were new and unpopular with other funders (indeed, we had a run-in with the Charity Commission at that stage, which did not like pregnancy advisory services); now, we seldom back them, because they have become mainstream. If things are new in a particular area then they can still meet our criteria – a lot of community action is intensely local, and the fact that something has been done elsewhere does not mean it is well-established in the places that apply to us.


Some projects that were mainstream back then have become unpopular with big funders right now – often because they can’t tick the right number of boxes (in terms of criteria like diversity and or impact statements). These criteria can make sense when evaluating big organisations, but they can be impossible for small ones to meet. So we also try to fill that gap.
Our original objective when the Trust was set ups to help projects that encourage Community Service by young people to their own neighbourhoods (along the lines pioneered by Dr Alec Dickson, who founded Community Service Volunteers).

In 2023 we are still supporting many of the same sorts of micro-scale community projects, though we have added education (in its broadest sense) to our list of priorities. Our core goal is to help small groups of people who are getting together to make a difference for others. We don’t support self-help groups, however useful they are to their members.
Where we do make quite large grants, mostly in the field of education, we usually seek to get match-funding from other organisations, so that our grants can release much bigger funding streams than we could provide by ourselves. Our goal when we support education projects is to support excellence in teaching – at all levels, from universities to primary schools. We focus on things that can give students a broader experience – getting away from the examination treadmill.

We normally give grants to projects where an initial £125 to £2,500 can make a real difference. In general, we look at what it is costing per-head to reach the people the project is helping.

W.G. Edwards Charitable Foundation

Registered charities, from large institutions to small community-run organisations, providing care for older people (65+ years) in the UK. Capital projects, refurbishment and for equipment, in addition to innovative schemes for ongoing care and projects, such as IT for the elderly, fitness classes, lunch clubs, gardening projects, etc. Grants £1000 to £3000. Deadlines 10 Mar, 10 Jun, 10 Sep and 10 Dec. Spend in year ending Apr 23 was £130k.

Awards for All

About Us: The National Lottery Awards for All England programme supports amazing community-led projects.
Criteria: They can fund projects that’ll do at least one of these things:
• bring people together to build strong relationships in and across communities
• improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
• help more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage
• support people, communities and organisations facing more demands and challenges because of the cost-of-living crisis.
Grant Size: £300 to £20,000, for up to two years
Deadline for applications: Ongoing. Apply at least 16 weeks before you want to start the activities or spend any of the money.

Thank you to Volunteer Centre West Berkshire, Wokingham & Bracknell InVOLve, Slough CVS & Reading Voluntary Action for the information contained in this article.