Funding available for not-for-profit climate startups – & more opportunities for charities
Melanie May | 23 January 2023 | News
With Subak making funding available for nonprofit climate startups, here’s more detail on that, plus other newly announced opportunities. These include a fund for those fleeing domestic violence, accessible at TSB branches, grants for developing new arts-related training events, conferences and seminars, and additional funding added to Co-op’s Warm Spaces fund.
Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy opens Networks Funding opportunity
Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy is offering grants of up to £2,500 to fundraising groups & networks developing in-person as well as virtual training events, conferences or seminars.
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The aim is to help strengthen arts fundraising skills and build robust partnerships across the sector.
Organisations and groups can apply for support to cover any relevant expenditure for an event or activity to take place between April and September 2023.
Up to a maximum of £2,500 can be applied for, for any single event, or group of events, benefitting a community of people, who are either freelancers or staff from at least five different arts, cultural or heritage organisations. The funding can cover the costs of co-ordination, participants’ travel costs, venue hire, catering and speakers/guests.
Organisations can also apply for up to £1,000 for entirely virtual activity, to cover the cost of software, administration or external training support. For virtual networks, Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy can also provide a facilitator from its network if required, and virtual activity must benefit a minimum of ten people.
The deadline for applications is 28 February.
More funds available through Co-op Warm Spaces
Co-op is increasing the flow of funds to community groups through its £1 million ‘Warm Spaces’ funding boost, to provide further urgent support to local community organisations across the UK, as they help communities navigate rising energy costs during the cold winter months.
All community groups with live fundraising campaigns as part of the fund have as of 19 January been given £500 from Co-op to help them reach their fundraising goal and all new groups who sign up will also receive a £500 payment to kick start fundraising.
Eligible groups who already provide a warm space and want to increase opening times or extend existing services or activities this winter can apply for match funding – up to £5,000 per group is available by applying at coop.uk/warmspaces by 28 February (fundraising to be completed by 31 March).
Since launching the match funding platform with Crowdfunder in December 2022, over £240,000 has been paid out by Co-op to help 300 groups provide warm spaces in communities across the UK.
Projects that can apply might include, a community cafe that needs funding to continue offering their building as a warm space; a local village support group wanting to extend existing activities to support more people in their community; a community fridge, wanting to promote their services more widely to meet increasing need or a youth group whose energy costs have increased.
Applications for Longitude Prize on Dementia close this week
Applications to the Longitude Prize on Dementia remain open until 26 January – this Thursday.
This is a £4+ million challenge prize to incentivise the creation of A.I. and machine-learning based technologies that provide personalised solutions to help people with dementia to live longer, higher quality lives at home – learning from a person’s data about what they do, who they know and what’s most important to them as an individual.
In the summer, once the judging panel has assessed the candidates, 23 teams will be selected to receive £80k Discovery Awards and expert capacity-building support to develop their solutions. Five will receive an additional £300k in 2024 to develop a validated prototype or product with one going on to win the £1 million first prize in 2026.
Challenge Works has recently announced details of the judging panel for the Longitude Prize on Dementia, naming nine judges including representatives from The Alan Turing Institute and University of Cambridge.
More information on the judges and the Longitude Prize on Dementia itself is available here.
Subak offers £130k grant funding to 14 not-for-profit climate startups
Global climate accelerator and regranter Subak is offering £130k of grant funding to 14 not-for-profit climate early-stage startups across UK, Europe, & Asia Pacific.
Subak will support the startups in 2023 through an intensive three-month accelerator. The selected organisations will each receive unrestricted grant funding and will be guided through a bespoke curriculum tailored to their needs across tech, data, impact policy and business fundamentals.
Subak’s London team will support eight startups from the UK and Europe who will each receive £10k in unrestricted grant funding. Subak’s Melbourne team will support a further six startups from Asia Pacific, including AUS$15k of unrestricted grant funding.
The programme is designed to fast-track startups to secure further funding, scale-up their activities and impact, and deliver their climate missions through policy and behaviour change. The programme will be followed by a further six months of community-building, where organisations will receive ongoing support from their mentors and collaborate with other members in Subak’s network.
Co-founded by Baroness Bryony Worthington (lead author of the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act), Subak is a global not-for-profit accelerator and regranter for data-led climate startups. Its model offers a funding route to those not suited to equity funding, empowering climate startups to scale their critical missions without pressure to deliver profit.
Applications for the 2023 cohort are now open here and will close on 17 March. The programme is scheduled to begin on 15 May.
Subak has already guided 15 organisations through the accelerator who have collectively raised £13m+ in follow-on funding and, it says, achieved significant consumer and policy impact.
New million pound fund open to support good causes in Kent
Kent Community Foundation has announced that applications are now open for grants from the new Charles Burnett III Memorial Fund. The Fund, in memory of Charles Burnett a philanthropist who lived near Lymington in Hampshire will support small grassroots charities across Kent and Medway for the next ten years.
The Charles Burnett III Memorial Fund will support small charities and community groups who work with, service personnel welfare, the environment, heritage, education (particularly engineering/technology), or offer support to those with neurodiversity.
Applications are open until 6 February for grants to cover capital, core or service delivery costs and Kent Community Foundation plans to award one grant of up to £25k, three grants up to £15K and five or six smaller grants up to £5K in the first year.
Organisations wishing to apply for the larger grants (over £5K) should contact na*****@ke****.uk in the first instance, as should those with a live annual application wishing to be considered for this Fund. Those seeking up to £5K and without an annual application can apply here.
TSB launches Emergency Flee Fund for customers fleeing domestic abuse
TSB has launched a new fund to support people fleeing domestic abuse. The bank will offer existing customers payments of between £50 and £500 depending on their individual needs, which will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The payments can be used to cover the costs of essentials such as travel, clothing, and toiletries. The funds will be deposited into a safe TSB account that can only be accessed by the individual and do not need to be repaid.
Customers can visit any of TSB’s 220 branches in England, Scotland and Wales to request access.
TSB’s branch colleagues have previously received specialist training to support victims of domestic abuse. In 2021, TSB launched TSB Safe Spaces in association with Hestia Charity, meaning that in every TSB branch, there is someone who will provide a secure and private room and help contacting a loved one or specialist support for anyone suffering from domestic abuse. It will soon be offering Online Safe Spaces with Hestia – a discreet online portal on company websites for people to get advice and helpful contact numbers. It will leave no internet history trace, and provide quick exit options.
£175,000 Purina BetterWithPets prize launches
Purina has opened applications for its BetterwithPets Prize. The new edition of the Prize will identify and support organisations across Europe that harness the power of the pet-human bond, and this year has a new focus on improving the health and wellbeing of individuals and/or society at large.
The winning organisation(s) will win a grant of up to £175,000 over a two-year period. The total prize fund may go to one organisation or be shared between a number of entrants and will provide funding and resources to make a positive impact on the lives of individuals, pets and their communities.
All participants (successful or not) will be invited to collaborate, share best practices, foster initiatives, network, and fundraise in order to build knowledge, scale impact and demonstrate how health and wellbeing can be improved by harnessing the power of the pet-human bond.
The BetterwithPets Prize initiative is part of Purina’s new commitment to help 1 million people in vulnerable situations improve their health and wellbeing through the power of the pet human bond by 2030.
To help raise awareness of the BetterwithPets Prize and encourage organisations to apply, Purina has partnered with Dr Amit Patel, qualified doctor, best-selling author, and disability rights campaigner.
Applications for Purina’s BetterWithPets are open from 23 January to 3 March. Further details on the application process, eligibility criteria, and the terms and conditions, here.
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.