Herefordshire Funding Opportunities Update July 2016 Useful Contacts

Amount available: Last year grant awards varied from £500 to £20,000, but tend to be around £3000.

Deadline: Not specified.

Grants to support the development of Neighbourhood Plans

Purpose: There are two types of grant available:

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  All groups writing a neighbourhood plan or neighbourhood development order will be eligible to apply for up to £9,000 in grant.
  
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  Groups facing more complex issues can apply for specific packages of technical support where needed, and may also be eligible for further £6,000 in grant.
  

Some ideas of what you might apply to use a grant for include:

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  Developing a website
  
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  Training sessions for members of the steering group
  
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  Help with putting together a project plan
  
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  Undertaking a household survey
  
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  Help with developing the evidence base
  
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  Engaging a planning expert
  
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  Venue hire, publicity materials, printing and other costs associated with consultation.
  

Amount available: See above.

Further information: Herefordshire Council Neighbourhood Planning Team have prepared a range of helpful guidance sheets on a wide range of neighbourhood planning topics: https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/neighbourhood-planning/neighbourhood-development-plan-guidance

Small Charities Fundraising Training Programme - Foundation of Social Improvement

Purpose: The programme, worth over £100,000, will provide expert training to small charities from February to June 2016. It will help charities with an annual income of up to £1 million to generate more income to support their vital work.

Following a competitive tender process, we have selected the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI), in partnership with the Small Charities Coalition, and GlobalGiving UK to run the programme.

They will provide training opportunities for small charities, from face-to-face training, to intensive one-to-one advice sessions, skilled volunteering matches and webinars. These will cover topics including:

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  developing a fundraising strategy
  
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  fundraising from trusts and foundations
  
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  developing corporate relationships
  
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  crowdfunding
  

You can sign up for the various opportunities through the different provider websites.

Skills & Opportunities Funding from Natwest

Purpose: Our focus for this funding is to support organisations that help people in disadvantaged communities develop, create or access the skills and opportunities they need to help themselves; skills that will enable them to get into work or start a business, now or in the future. We believe that helping people gain such skills and access opportunities to learn can help turn their lives around and build better communities for everyone; when we build stronger communities, we all grow.

Who can apply: Charities, social enterprises, community groups, state-funded schools and colleges.

Amount available: Grants up to a maximum of £35,000 can be applied for.

Deadline: Second round opens in August 2016.

Community Support grants from the Masonic Charitable Foundation

Purpose: The Masonic charitable Foundation offer two levels of grant:

Large Grant Over £5,000 can be awarded to charities for a specific purpose only. Reasons to apply for a Large Grant can include funding salary costs, specific project costs and refurbishment costs. New build or large scale capital development projects cannot be considered. Funding may be granted for up to three years, where there is evidence of an on-going need for funding.

Small Grant Between £500 – £5,000 can be awarded to smaller charities with an annual income that does not exceed approximately £500,000. Small Grants can be used for core expenditure such as general running or overhead costs of the charity.

Who can apply: The grants listed below are only available to charities that are registered with the Charity Commission.

Amount available: Charities which deliver community support or research can apply for either a Large Grant (over £5,000) or a Small Grant (under £5,000).

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  We encourage charities that have an annual income under £500,000 to apply for a Small Grant of £5,000 or less. We will, however, consider requests for grants of over £5,000 if the charity can demonstrate it will be used for an innovative project or service.
  
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  Charities with an income of over £500,000 can apply for a Large Grant or Small Grant.
  

You can apply for a Small Grant by completing our Small Grant Application Form

Deadline: Large and Small Community Support Grant applications are considered at meetings held in January, April, July and October. The next deadline for applications is 29 July 2016. Large grants require a Large Grant Enquiry Form to be completed in advance of this deadline and the last date for submission is 15 July 2016. Applications are currently being accepted for consideration at the meeting to be held in October 2016.

Funding to Build Resilient Economies - Friends Provident Foundation:

Purpose: The Friends Provident Foundation provides financial support to projects that promote a more resilient, sustainable and fairer economic system. There are two outcomes that flow from the overall aim: ‘systems change’ and ‘local economic resilience’. They ask applicants to decide which one they wish to contribute to.
Systems change:
This part of the programme involves a radical assessment of how ‘disruptive innovation’ might change the financial system – exploring and informing changes to the regulatory, policy or other systemic level that would develop financial system innovations with the potential to deliver our aim. Projects in this category will require strong analysis of the issues and possible solutions.
Local economic resilience:
The aim of this part of the programme will be to support the development of local economic resilience. Projects should build on the technologies and approaches that currently assist localities to create economic growth and retain its value. This could be work relating to community assets, sweat equity schemes and other local resources. We expect projects in this category to build partnerships with other funders doing similar work at the local level, to learn from and share learning between local initiatives.
They want to know how projects will go about addressing their chosen outcome. To this end, we would ask all applicants to indicate which one of the following approaches they intend to take:
• Innovation: Development work to propose new solutions.

• Intelligence: Research that will gather evidence to support and inform practice.

• Institutions: The creation or maintenance of key organisations/functions that are important for building economic resilience.

• Influencing: Exploring or piloting ways of influencing corporate, regulatory or policy players, economic resilience through diversity, flexibility and building capabilities.

Amount available: Trustees will consider applications for grants, loans, underwriting or other forms of financial support.

Deadlines: The closing dates for 2016 as are follows:

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  Monday, 1st February
  
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  Tuesday, 3rd May
  
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  Friday, 1st July
  
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  Monday, 7th November