Aviva Community Fund to support local community groups
Howard Lake | 25 March 2015 | News
Insurance specialists Aviva have created the Aviva Community Fund, which will offer from £1,000 to £25,000 to local community groups and organisations.
Anyone in the UK can now nominate a local group, club or charity to have the chance to receive funding. There will be 362 recipients.
The entries with the highest number of votes from the public will be selected as finalists to go through to the judging phase. The winners will receive their funding in July 2015.
Four out of five groups not confident they can raise enough this year
Aviva set up the Community Fund following research into small and local organisations. It found that 85% of those surveyed were not confident that they could raise the minimum funding necessary to remain active in the next financial year.
Yet in many cases a comparatively small sum could make a significant difference. Aviva found that the average additional sum required to sustain the day-to-day running of small and local groups for another year is just £3,697. Consequently 47% of those surveyed knew that £1,000 or less would make their group sustainable.
Polling for the research was conducted by Onepoll in February 2015, with 2,000 respondents across the UK.
Expert panel to help improve groups’ fundraising
As part of the initiative Aviva has also set up an expert panel to help local groups improve their fundraising.
It has commissioned writer and director Heidi Greensmith who worked on a BAFTA award-winning documentary, to create a series of short documentary films, made using just a smart phone, to demonstrate how anyone can use everyday technology to tell a story.
Heidi’s films feature beneficiaries of previous community funding from Aviva.
The expert panel also includes ‘mummy blogger’ Alison Perry and Nick Pestell and Maria Purcell of Facebook. Together they have created a free resource offering tips and beginners guides on activities ranging from social media and content creation, through to PR advice on how to get into local news.
Heather Smith, Director of Aviva’s UK direct business commented:
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“Our research shows that many community groups and charities are struggling for funds but a relatively small sum is enough to make a huge difference. We want anyone who is involved with a local group whether as a founder, volunteer or fundraiser, to tell their story and help us make a positive change for their community.”
Entries to the Aviva Community Fund close on 24 April 2015.
Stephen Fry on the Aviva Community Fund
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6p7rQJG29U[/youtube]
How to write the perfect application
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3S_IvcoMaY[/youtube]
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.