4 funding opportunities: for housing, road safety, youth bereavement, & cash access projects
Melanie May | 21 February 2020 | News
Here are four funding opportunities, covering the launch of a housing fund from CAF Venturesome, money for road safety projects from the Road Safety Trust, the launch of the Community Access to Cash Pilots, and funding for youth bereavement projects from Co-op Funeralcare and Co-op Foundation.
CAF Venturesome launches housing fund for community groups
CAF Venturesome is launching a housing fund that aims to empower community groups to plan and build a thousand affordable homes in local communities across the country.
Since 2008, CAF Venturesome, the social investment arm of the Charities Aid Foundation, has provided more than £5m in social investment to build 190 affordable new homes, with 470 in the pipeline through their Community Land Trust Funds. Its new CLF Fund plans to support up to 1,000 more.
CAF Venturesome’s Holly Piper said:
“We launched this new fund in response to the increasing demand from community groups to deliver affordable housing. People want to live in a community where they have easy access to family support, good employment opportunities and where house prices are affordable for locals. Too often, that’s not the case.”
Advertisement
According to CAF Venturesome, research data collected by Homes England shows that more than 16,000 community-led homes are currently in the pipeline with the 2019 Helping Communities Build report identifying one barrier holding back further investment as lack of access to early stage finance for community groups.
The CLH Fund is open for applications for loans, standby facilities and grants (in England only) at every stage of the project. Power to Change, the charitable trust which supports community businesses, has contributed £500,000 to offer cash grants as part of the project.
Supporters of the fund include the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Power to Change, the Tudor Trust, Nationwide Foundation, CAF and several individual philanthropists.
Funding available for road safety projects
The Road Safety Trust has launched its 2020 Grants Programme, and is inviting public and private organisations, charities and other not for profits to apply.
The Road Safety Trust funds research and practical interventions committed to reducing the number of people killed or injured on UK roads. Since it was established in 2014, the Trust has awarded grants worth £2.7m to 35 different projects. Grants are available for up to two or three years depending on the programme, and can range from £10,000 up to £200,000.
Sally Lines, Chief Executive of Road Safety Trust said:
“Developing and emerging technologies have a huge impact on the way that we live. We want to use the 2020 grant scheme to really explore and benefit from the use of technology to improve road safety and in turn help us work towards our vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on UK roads.
“We would like to see a focus on the innovation that is happening throughout the UK and help fund in-vehicle, infrastructure or new technological applications or tools. We want to see funding applications that address a specific road safety problem and explain why it has been identified.”
The Major Grants Programme will be open for applications until 14 May. More information and applications are via the website.
Community Access to Cash Pilots initiative launches
Communities across the UK are encouraged to apply to participate in the new Community Access to Cash Pilots, launched to help test solutions to local access to cash needs, with the goal of developing scalable solutions that can inform national policy.
The independent scheme launched this month to help communities retain free access to cash as the UK shifts to an increasingly cashless society, and is chaired by Natalie Ceeney CBE, author of the 2019 Access to Cash Review.
The Review found that 17% of the UK population rely on cash, with vulnerable communities, including the poor and those in rural areas, at particular risk from reduced access.
Ceeney is asking for communities to volunteer to take part in the Community Access to Cash Pilots. Successful applicants will work alongside the payments and customer experts to develop solutions that will help them to adapt to the changing payments landscape.
Solutions will be developed by and with local communities, to meet local needs. The aim is to create new approaches to current challenges, which include helping local shops to give cashback, supporting groups to become more comfortable making digital payments or developing solutions to help small businesses continue to bank cash.
To join the pilot, communities must complete an application form and submit it by midnight on Friday 1 May 2020. The scheme will then work with the pilot communities over the course of 2020, first to understand local needs and develop possible solutions, and then to implement agreed solutions. While this is an independent initiative, funding will come from the banking and finance industry with the Board deciding which communities to support, and how funding is allocated.
Funding launched to help young people going through bereavement
Co-op Foundation has partnered with Co-op Funeralcare to deliver £50,000 of funding for youth bereavement projects.
Organisations across the UK can now apply for grants of up to £10,000 for projects that help young people support each other during bereavement.
Grants are available through the Co-op Foundation’s #iwill Fund. The Foundation expects to make about five grants in total and organisations have until 12pm (noon) on Friday 3 April to apply at http://bit.ly/iwill-bereavement.
Successful applicants should use funding for social action projects that equip young people with the skills they need to provide peer support. Grants could also help young people to use their experiences as a way to speak up and recommend how local services can help other bereaved young people.
Co-op Funeralcare’s involvement is in direct response to findings from its ‘biggest ever survey’, which surveyed over 30,000 people to understand the nation’s experiences and attitudes towards death, dying and bereavement.
It found that 16 to 29-year-olds are the age group most likely to bottle up grief, with just under a quarter (24%) saying they ‘kept it to themselves’ when suffering a bereavement. Young people were also most likely to be left out of social arrangements because of bereavement.
The Co-op Foundation’s #iwill Fund supports the aims of the #iwill campaign that wants to make social action a part of life for as many 10 to 20-year-olds as possible.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.