Well-Being Small Grants Scheme Ellesmere Port & Neston

From EPNAVCO’s Funding OfficerJuly/Aug 2008/1

For further information please contact

Well-Being Small Grants Scheme – Ellesmere Port & Neston

The Well-Being Small Grants Scheme offers grants of up to £500.00 to small voluntary, community & faith sector groups in Ellesmere Port & Neston and aims to fund projects that

Contribute towards the health & well-being of participants
Help to tackle levels of disadvantage in the locality
Respond to local needs & priorities
Help people to improve the local community or community of interest
Tackle barriers to social inclusion

There will be two funding rounds for this grant, the next deadline is 29th August 2008.

For more information contact Gemma @ EPNAVCO on 0151 348 8502 or

The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund (UK and Republic of Ireland)

The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund is a registered charity which was established primarily to aid the research into learning disability and to aid the care and relief of those affected by learning disability by making grants to voluntary organisations (including schools and Parent Teacher Associations) within the UK and the Republic of Ireland working in this field. The Trust consider under learning disability the conditions generally referred to as severe learning difficulties, together with autism. In this area, they consider projects concerning children or adults. Learning disability, thus defined, is a priority for funding. They will not offer grants for research into or care of those with mental illness or dyslexia. They offer grants from £250. The next deadline for applications is 1 October 2008.

Healthy Heart Grants (UK)

Community groups, voluntary organisations and researchers involved in preventing heart disease can apply for ‘Healthy Heart’ grants of up to £10,000 through Heart Research UK. Over the last 40 years, Heart Research UK has funded many of the ground breaking medical breakthroughs, including the first ever successful UK heart transplants and the development of heart valves. The type of projects funded through this scheme have included:

The Foresight Project in Grimsby which encourages visually impaired people to take regular exercise using tandem bicycles, a project in Bradford to encourage local residents to participate in fun physical activities such as belly dancing, line dancing and exercise classes;
The Ross-shire Bravehearts project in Inverness educates adults with learning difficulties about heart health so they can take part in physical activities.

Applications will be accepted from the 1st July until the 31st August for the November round of funding.

Opportunities for Volunteering Scheme

The Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) scheme aims to enable local voluntary sector health andsocial care organisations in England to involve volunteers in their work.

Approximately £6.7 million per year is available through OFV, and this is distributed via 16 national charities, referred to as 'national agents'. Volunteering England is one such agent, and aims to fund projects that involve volunteers in the following types of health and social care activities:

Health promotion.
Health advocacy.
Supported volunteering.
Support for people with specific health conditions (not covered by other national agents).
Befriending and support for people with specific health and social care needs.
Projects that demonstrate a link between volunteering in health and social care activities and employment.

Grants of £10,000 to £40,000 per year are available for a three-year period. Voluntary sector organisations (including self-help groups, community and not-for-profit groups and registered charities) are eligible to apply.

The deadline for the receipt of preliminary applications is 5pm 29 August 2008.

Visit for details on how to apply and other national agents

Future Builders England – Tender Fund

Futurebuilders England has launched a new interest-free loan fund for third sector organisations in England struggling to meet the cost of tendering for public sector contracts.

The £1 million Tender Fund is intended to help third sector providers win contracts where prohibitive tendering costs would otherwise make it difficult to bid. Interest-free three-year loans of between £3,000 and £50,000 are available.

The loan can be used to meet costs that are identified as an important part of putting together a good tender. The following are examples of eligible costs:

Legal costs.
Advice and procurement specialists.
Financial expertise.
Bidding staff costs or backfill.

Applications can be made at any time. The Fund is available on a first come, first served basis until the £1 million has been allocated.

There is no application form for this fund. If you want to enquire about a Tender Fund investment you can call the enquiry line on 0191 261 5200, send an email .

Red Nose Day Programme 2005 – 2008 (UK)

Comic Relief, has announced that its main grants programme is now open for applications. The main grants programme provides grants of over £5,000 to community and voluntary groups for projects relating to:

Older people;
Young people;
Mental health;
Refugees and asylum seekers;
Domestic violence;
Disadvantaged communities.

Funding is available for between one and three years and the level of grant support is likely to be between £15,000 and £40,000 per year for projects at local level; and higher for projects at regional and national level or for projects that can be replicated. The application deadline for the main grants programme is the 15th August 2008. In addition, the programme also makes grants of less than £5,000 for projects relating to older people; mental health; and disadvantaged communities through its small grants programme. The small grants programme is only open to organisations with a yearly turnover of less than £150,000 per year. Applications to the small grants programme can be made at any time.

For further information or an application pack contact: Comic Relief UK, 5th Floor, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7820 5555 Fax: 020 7820 5500 Minicom: 020 720 5579 Email

BIG - Family Learning

This is a programme that helps parents to understand more about how their children learn and encourages adults and children to learn as a family.

By “family” they mean at least one parent or adult carer and at least one child under the age of 16. They will only fund projects that involve adults and children learning together and deliver all three of the following changes: family members participate in and enjoy educational activity more family members have more skills and knowledge (these may include confidence and effective communication); parents and carers are better able to interact positively with their children and support them in learning.

They want to support families who face barriers to learning or who are not confident helping their children to learn. They are particularly interested in hearing from projects where learning is not based on getting a qualification and those that will help families who have not been involved in learning together before. They are looking for imaginative projects that meet local needs and remove the practical barriers to learning, for example, by providing travel costs, additional support for disabled participants, or childcare.

You can apply for grants of over £10,000 and up to £500,000, though they would expect the average grant to be between £100,000 - £150,000. They will fund projects for up to five years. You can apply on a local or national basis.

You can apply to Family Learning if you are: a registered charity; a voluntary or community group; a statutory body, including schools and children’s centres; a charitable or not-for-profit company; a social enterprise; a private sector organisation.

Statutory bodies and private sector organisations applying must involve a voluntary or community sector partner in planning and running the project.

If you have any questions about this programme, or you want an application pack and guidance notes, please call the Big Lottery Fund Advice Line Tel: 0845 4 10 20 30.

You can also download the pack and guidance notes from website below.

Closes for applications 29 August 2008.

BIG - Reaching Communities - England

Communities are at the heart of Reaching Communities. They want to fund projects that respond to needs identified by communities, and actively involve them. They want to fund projects that help those most in need including those people or groups who are hard to reach. They will give support to those projects they think best meet their communities’ needs.

The three-year programme, launched on 7 December 2005, will have made up to £100 million available in 2007-08. Currently there is no closing date announced but it is due to close late this year and will run until all available funds have been allocated.

Reaching Communities will give grants of more than £10,000 and up to £500,000, including a maximum of £50,000 for capital grants. They have set a maximum overall project size of £750,000 and £200,000 for the total capital element within a project. They will fund projects for up to five years.

They want to bring about the following changes as a result of their funding through this programme: people having better chances in life, including being able to get better access to training and development to improve their life skills; strong communities, with more active citizens, working together to tackle their problems; improved rural and urban environments, which communities are better able to access and enjoy; healthier and more active people and communities.

You can apply to Reaching Communities if you are: a registered charity; a voluntary or community group; a statutory body, (including schools); a charitable or not-for-profit company; a social enterprise – a business that is chiefly run for social objectives, whose profits are reinvested in the business rather than going to shareholders and owners.

If you have any queries about this programme, please contact the BIG Advice Line Tel: 0845 4 10 20 30 where you can also obtain an application pack and guidance notes.

The BIG Advice Line will be able to answer any questions you want to ask prior to submitting an Outline Proposal form. Please note that the OPF team will only be able to help you once you have submitted an Outline Proposal form.

Alternatively you can download the pack and guidance notes from Website:

Funding for Individual and Small Groups to Improve their Local Communities (UK)

Groups of individuals as well as small community and voluntary groups within the UK that want to improve their communities can apply for funding through the Wakeham Trust. The Trust are particularly interested in supporting neighbourhood projects, community arts projects, projects involving community service by young people, or projects set up by those who are socially excluded. The Trust also support innovative projects to promote excellence in teaching (at any level, from primary schools to universities), though we never support individuals. The Trust normally give grants to projects where an initial £75 to £750 can make a real difference to getting the project up and running. To be eligible, applicants need to be registered charities or have access to a registered charity that will be willing to accept funds on their behalf. The type of activities supported in the past include; a grant of £250 to three young people in Leamington Spa who were trying to set up a youth club. The Trust gave them £250 to help set up the club in an old Scout hut; and a grant of £50 to an unemployed ex-professional footballer in Yorkshire to buy footballs and equipment for a group of 100 or so tough kids to play football. Applications can be made at any time.

Win a Barclays Premier League Player (England)

This autumn every Barclays Premier League football club will shine a spotlight on the valuable work undertaken by community groups, charities and schools by donating a player to their local community. Between September and November 2008, 20 community groups will win a Premier League Player to help raise awareness of their cause and a £4,000 donation. In addition the Premier League will also award individual £4,000 donations to a further 100 community projects, charities or schools. Launched last season, Places for Players returns once again as part of Creating Chances, the Premier League’s flagship good causes programme. As part of the application process, organisations are asked to think how they could best use a Barclays Premiership player to raise awareness of the good work that the organisation is doing in the community and also how they could use the £4,000 donation. To be eligible, organisations should be within 90 minutes travelling distance of a Premier League Club. The closing date for entries is the 1st August 2008.

Sport Relief 2006-2008

Half of the money raised from Sport Relief 2006 will be spent on projects in the UK. In the UK, Sport Relief aims to support projects that use sport and exercise to strengthen communities and provide opportunities for people who are excluded or disadvantaged.

The UnLtd Sport Relief Awards programme

These grants will support young people aged between 11 and 21 to set up projects that use sport and recreational activities to tackle conflict in their local area and improve community relations. These grants are available up to £5,000 and are being distributed by UnLtd on their behalf.

Please be aware that the UnLtd Sport Relief Awards will be closing to all applications on the 1st October 2008.

For more information and to apply for a grant, contact UnLtd on 0845 850 1122

Websites:

Match Funding Scheme for Volunteering (England)
v, the national charity that inspires volunteering amongst young people has announced that it has re-open its match funding programme. Through this programme v provides grants to charities that match up to 100% of any new private sector investment for youth volunteering projects in England. The aim of the fund is to inspire greater levels of investment in youth volunteering from private companies, charitable trusts and foundations and individuals. Following consultation with young people, v has developed a set of core themes for the Match Fund. v has a total grant amount of up to £15m available to match against up to £15m of private sector funding which equates to an investment of £30m in the voluntary sector for youth volunteering. The programme themes are; health and well being; the environment ; supporting children and young people; community cohesion; poverty; and human rights. In addition to its current match fund programme, v intends to maximise the impact of our corporate sector partnerships through the development of a flagship investment programme. This programme will involve directly commissioning third sector organisations to deliver highly innovative volunteering opportunities, which reflect young people's cares, passions and interests. Selection of third sector organisations will be informed by a panel of experts, young people and corporate sector investors.

There are two application deadlines. The 29th August 2008 for projects starting in January 2009; and the 31st October 2008

For details on how to apply contact v 5th Floor, Dean Bradley House, 52 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AF Tel: 020 7960 7000 or

Groundwork - Groundwork Programmes

Groundwork's New Horizons programme, backed by £300,000 of funding from 'v', the youth volunteering charity, aims to provide ex-offenders aged between 16 and 25 years with voluntary work experience. Opportunities range from improving the local environment to constructing environmentally-friendly social housing. Through the programme, the young people gain the experience and skills to help them enter future employment and substantially reduce the risk of re-offending.

In addition, the programme is providing accredited training to ensure these new skills are recognised by other employers. Participants will also benefit from mentoring support and work towards personal development plans aimed at building their confidence and raising their aspirations.

For further information contact Daisy Powell on 0121 236 8565

Youth Music – programmes

There are three open programmes, which have been designed to help deliver on the priority areas for the period 2005-2010.

Grants for between £5,000 and £30,000 are available to non-profit making organisations to work with children and young people, up to the age of 18, over a period of 6 to 24 months.

First Steps - They have created the First Steps programme to encourage and support regular creative music-making activities for children between 0 and 5 years, especially those who would otherwise lack the chance to take part.

Proposals must:

Include creative music activities incorporating simple instruments, voice and movement.

Include structured music activities that are planned to develop children’s skills and lead to a smooth transition to primary school.

Include sharing music-making with parents and carers. First Steps aims to influence parents and carers to show that music-making is a fun learning tool and a natural part of growing. This does not necessarily mean that they have to be present at each workshop.

Involve a skilled early years music specialist who is prepared to work with trainees (staff or parents) to hand on skills with the aim of ensuring that those staff and parents build confidence in music-making and can lead if and when the specialist’s involvement comes to an end.

Include weekly, progressive group music-making and music of more than one culture.

Be for between £5,000 and £15,000 for a period of no less than 6 months and no more than 12 months.

Make It Sound - Make It Sound focuses on music-making for 5-18 year olds who otherwise lack the chance to take part. It is one of Youth Music's three Open programmes.

They have created Make It Sound to encourage music-making in the lives of children and young people aged 5-18, especially those who would otherwise lack the chance to take part.

They want to support proposals that include music-making activities for children and young people who find it hard to access opportunities that may help them to develop and progress.