We will be adding information on relevant funding sources to support VCSE organisations facing financial pressures and to help develop new services to respond to the Coronavirus below.
For more details of how we might support you, please visit our capacity building page or contact our Funding and Organisational Development Officer, Alison Ewart, at alison.ewart@kva.org.uk
Upcoming funding deadlines
January 2021
London Community Response Fund Crisis Phase 5 - Opens today (14th January) APPLY ASAP, ALLOCATED ON FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS!
With the capital in another lockdown and our communities facing even more difficult times ahead, London’s funders have once again come together to provide new funding for civil society organisations. The London Community Response is launching two funds today.
Wave five of the London Community Response is mainly focused on renewal, supporting three “missions” for the future beyond COVID-19 –
- Building strong communities
- A new deal for young people
- Ensuring a robust safety net
Crisis Response Programme
Crisis response grants deal with urgent needs of London’s communities through the third lockdown and months ahead. These grants will be for up to £10,000 for up to six months, starting as soon as the grant is awarded.
Deadline: Offficially 21st January 2021, but allocated on first come first served basis!
Also Renewal Grants - see under February deadlines
R B Kingston Winter Covid grants
Voluntary sector grants for families and vulnerable individuals in need:
The council are partnering with the voluntary sector to ensure that any families who need support over the winter months receive it. Voluntary organisations can apply for up to £50,000 (but likely to be below this amount) for grant that supports families (80%) and vulnerable individuals (20%) through:
- voucher programmes, food parcels, winter essential parcels, cash grants (80% of grant),
- warm clothes, boiler repairs, personal hygiene products etc (up to 20% of grant).
There are no funds available for administration of the grant so it is likely to be best suited to those organisations that already have emergency systems in place.
Deadline: now extended until midnight on 17 January 2021.
Please note that funds need to be spent by 31st March 2021 so it's essential to apply and distribute to clients asap.
Further information on the scheme: click on link and scroll down for the application form:
A Word version of the form can be obtained here, or by emailing Kevin.Taylor@kingston.gov.uk
R B KIngston Emergency/Interim support for residents in need
As the voluntary sector grants scheme will not be mobilised until mid January, Achieving for Children has put in place a temporary referral scheme. Referrals will be accepted from organisations who work with vulnerable households including the Kingston Stronger Together Hub and Adult Services. Referrals will not be accepted from residents directly.
The eligibility criteria are set out below and the referral organisation will need to confirm they have checked eligibility prior to completing the referral form. The scheme is particularly intended for households with children but we will also be able to accept referrals for particularly vulnerable young people over the age of 18 living alone as well as other vulnerable adults.
Please see link below for criteria for referrals:
https://www.kingston.gov.uk/covid-19-kingston/coronavirus-winter-support-fund/1
If you are aware of an immediate need please call 020 8547 5000 or submit a support request form via the Kingston Stronger Together Hub.
The Health Foundation: Economies for Healthier Lives
The programme will support three to four partnerships, which are led by a local or regional authority, and can include community organisations, across the UK with funding of £300,000 to £500,000 for up to three years. It aims to create more inclusive economies geared towards reducing inequalities and improving health, supporting local and regional partnerships to implement some of the ideas in their latest report: Using economic development to improve health and reduce health inequalities.
Deadline: midday on 15 January 2021
Government £46m ‘Changing Futures’ Fund
This Fund aims to improve the way that systems and services work to support individuals experiencing multiple disadvantage - including a combination of homelessness, substance misuse, poor mental health, domestic abuse, and contact with the criminal justice system. Grants of up to £15,000 for shortlisted areas initially: then in the range of £1.5m to £4.5 m per area, across the initial two years. The programme will bring together a selection of local areas to improve outcomes for people experiencing multiple disadvantage: using a Partnership approach to develop local delivery models with a new joined up approach between the Central Government, team, local authorities, CCGs and NHS partners, Mental Health trusts, police, probation services, voluntary organisations.
Deadline: EOI deadline is 21st January 2021
Government Local Connections fund to tackle loneliness
Fund to be announced: opens on 5th January 2021. £4m of funding will be available to support community projects that tackle loneliness.
Deadline: 26th January 2021
The Mayor of London has launched a new programme to develop collaborations and/or partnerships led by and for groups who have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19 and the structural drivers of this disproportionate impact.
This includes existing collaborations which mobilised in response to COVID-19 and are looking to grow, and newly formed ones aiming to meet a gap in need.
The programme will offer a capacity building incubator alongside Micro Awards of up to £5,000 and Growth Awards of up to £15,000 for collaborations and/or partnerships of two or more organisations that meet one of the below objectives of the Building Stronger Communities Mission, which are:
- Raising unheard Londoners voices to ensure they can participate more fully in all aspects of community life, lead London’s renewal and bring about change
- Increasing feelings of belonging and/or address social isolation and loneliness
- Increasing access to support, services and mutual aid.
Register here for information session at 1pm on 12th January 2021.
Deadline: 26th January 2021
Make London gives you the opportunity to pitch new ideas - big or small - to fund community-led projects to help your local area recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
This programme delivers on the London Recovery Board’s ‘Building Strong Communities’ and ‘High Streets for All’ mission objectives.
We want to support creative, locally-led proposals which bring people together, improve public spaces and support community hubs and high streets.
Project pitches to be completed by 28 January 2021.
February 2021
Trust for London
Grants are available for work that develops new and imaginative ways of addressing the root causes of London’s poverty and inequality, especially work which has the potential to influence and change policy, practice and public attitudes. Grants are up to £150,000 over three years.
Deadline: 1pm on 2 February 2021
R B Kingston borough-wide Community Grants
Grants available of up to £3,000, per application, are available to fund projects/ activities to benefit communities across the Borough. There is a £20,000 allocation which is available during a fixed period. Please see timetable below:
In light of COVID-19, RBK encourage applications that:
- Respond to the current COVID-19 situation
- Help adapt services and activities to run in a COVID-secure manner
- Prevents issues from emerging or managing identified issues (e.g. preventing isolation, hardship, reducing health inequalities)
Timetable summary:
- Borough Grants open for applications week commencing 11th January 2021
- Notification of the outcome of your application: during the week commencing 22nd March 2021
Please check the website here for updates
Deadline: 8th February 2021
London Community Response Fund Phase 5 - Renewal Grants
Renewal grants for up to £50,000 are available to enable you to support the recovery and renewal of London’s communities over a full year, starting from April 2021. Renewal grants can be for the costs of a specific project, a partnership approach, or for the core costs of running your organisation.
For renewal grants, applications will be open until midday on Monday 15 February 2021 and will be assessed together as quickly as possible after this date.
Deadline: 15th February 2021
Mayor of London Community Led Recovery Grants (Groundwork)
The programme includes two grant streams:
- Community-Led Action Grant: offers grants between £2,000 and £9,000 to initiate social action projects which gather new insights.
- London Community Story Grant: offers grants between £500 and £1,500 to organisations with existing projects which capture Londoner’s experience of COVID-19, supporting them to be presented and shared with a wide audience.
Deadline: 19th February 2021
Rolling funding opportunities
Kingston funders
Love Kingston
Love Kingston is a project of Kingston Voluntary Action. Funding is available to community groups working under the themes of tackling isolation and encouraging integration. Grants are given to charities once a year to coincide with Love Kingston Day on 14 February. Check the Love Kingston website for the next round of available grants.
London funders
City Bridge Trust
The Trust currently awards around £20m per year to charitable causes in London. The majority of these grants are made under the Investing in Londoners scheme, which has a number of programmes.
Trust for London is an independent charitable foundation aiming to tackle poverty and inequality in London. This is achieved by: funding voluntary and charity groups – each year they make grants totalling around £7.5 million, and at any one time, we are supporting up to 400 organisations. Funding is aimed at tackling poverty and inequality under 7 themes: Good Homes and Neighbourhoods; Better Work; Decent Living Standards; Shared Wealth; Pathways to Settlement; Stronger Voices and Connected Communities.
The London Marathon Charitable Trust awards grants for capital projects that inspire and increase the numbers of people regularly taking part in physical activities.
Supports programmes and projects that benefit young people aged 11-25 in London and Essex. Their biggest programme, the Achievement Awards, is a 'peer recognition scheme' operating in grass-roots youth clubs, youth organisations, secondary schools and uniformed organisations. The young award winners choose how best to spend their £250 award money to the benefit of their club or school.
National funders
Heritage Lottery Fund
Phase 1 - applications for grants from £3,000-£10,000 and £10,000-£100,000 will be accepted starting from 25 November 2020. This will provide some much-needed financial assistance, particularly to those heritage sector organisations who have, so far, been unable to access COVID-19 emergency funds. NLHF will be looking for projects with a particular emphasis on creating organisational resilience, boosting the local economy, supporting health and wellbeing and inclusion.
Phase 2 – applications for grants from £100,000-£250,000 and £250,000-£5 million will be accepted starting from 8 February 2021. This will mark a return to NLHF’s core business, but NLHF will not be returning to pre-Covid-19 “business as usual” in its approach.
The Big Lottery Fund (BLF) is responsible for distributing 40 per cent of all funds raised for good causes (about 11 pence of every pound spent on a Lottery ticket) by the National Lottery - around £670 million in 2016. BLF grants range from £300 to more than £500,000 to community and voluntary groups and charities.
Comic Relief is a major charity based in the UK which strives to create a 'just world', free from poverty. Comic Relief allocates funding under four programme areas, investing in children and young people; empowering women and girls; improving health and wellbeing; and building stronger communities.
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation fund the charitable work of organisations that are building an inclusive, creative and sustainable society. The Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-makers in the UK, focusing on the arts, children and young people, the environment and social change.
WHSmith Trust Community Grants Application
The WHSmith Trust is now offering grants of up to £500 to voluntary organisations and schools from the proceeds of the compulsory carrier bag levies across the UK. Grants are awarded every six months to charities, schools and community groups of any size, provided they support the community in the UK. There are two annual application rounds.
Bags of Help is Tesco’s local community grant scheme where the money raised from the 5p bag is used to fund local projects in communities right across the UK. Projects that bring benefit to their community will get the green light – these range from improving community buildings and outdoor spaces, to buying new equipment, training coaches or volunteers and hosting community events.
Each month every Waitrose branch donates £1,000 (£500 in convenience shops) between 3 local good causes that customers choose.
Programmes are designed to support charities that help people experiencing multiple disadvantage to make positive and lasting changes to their lives at critical points.
Invest money from Government and the National Lottery to support arts and culture across England. It offers awards from £1,000 to £100,000 to support a wide variety of arts-related activities, from dance to visual arts, literature to theatre, music to combined arts.
Pro Bono support
Cranfield Trust
The Cranfield Trust is a national charity offering free business skills, advice and guidance to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. Support includes business consultancy, HR support, masterclasses and training.
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