Grants for social enterprises, & more funding news
Melanie May | 1 March 2024 | News
A round up of grants available and made, including support for social enterprises and charities in Scotland, and the opening of applications for the Impetus Connect Fund, which supports organisations helping young people into employment.
Applications for Impetus Connect Fund now open
The Impetus Connect Fund is dedicated specifically to organisations supporting young people from ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds into employment. It is currently working with six organisations and is looking for a further three.
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Successful organisations will receive £100k unrestricted per year for two years, plus capacity building support, access to their pro bono network, and quarterly peer learning forums.
Impetus is looking for organisations that support young people to find work, or develop work-related skills, and primarily work with young people from ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The application deadline is 7 April.
£500 grants available for charities in the North West of England
The Equilibrium community support scheme offers charitable organisations based in the North West of England the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to £500.
Applications are reviewed every six months, with five winners being chosen each time, and the current deadline is this Sunday 3 March.
Any not-for-profit organisation that makes a positive difference to the community is encouraged to apply, although applicants not normally considered include: applications from individuals, projects that promote political activities or involve animals, and commercial enterprises.
The next submission deadline after Sunday’s is 1 September.
The Police Children’s Charity announces new £150 Birthday Grant
The Police Children’s Charity has announced a new grant for 2024 – a £150 Birthday Grant for beneficiaries.
This will be awarded every birthday until the beneficiary reaches 18.
The charity supports police families by helping to ease the financial pressures of bringing up children in the face of life-changing circumstances such as the death of a parent, or where the police officer takes early medical retirement. It provides grants and seasonal gifts to beneficiaries.
Support includes its Weekly Support Allowance, School Leavers Grants and Higher Education Grants, Driving Lesson Grants and more.
Scottish EDGE offers up to £75k for social enterprises
Scottish EDGE is a business funding competition, offering grants and loans from £10,000 to £100,000 to help grow startups, social enterprises or charities.
There are a number of awards, including Social Enterprise EDGE, which has been introduced with Postcode Innovation Trust funding to support social enterprises that enrich communities and make a contribution to society, tackling social and environmental problems in Scotland, nationally or abroad.
Social Enterprise EDGE offers up to £75,000 (70% grant / 30% loan). To be eligible for this category, organisations must be asset-locked social enterprises and charities.
The deadline for this current round is 2pm on 6 March.
ABI Covid Support Fund issues final donation
The Covid-19 Support Fund is donating £652,000 to the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign to support healthcare workers, carers, service personnel and hospitality workers improve their understanding of how to manage their money.
This is the last donation from the Fund, which was established in May 2020 by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to help people hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis. To date it has raised more than £100 million from firms across the insurance and long-term savings sector.
The Fund’s focus is on providing relief to charities that were under unprecedented strain during the pandemic, and its latest donation is part of its longer-term programme of support for people and communities with the greatest need. This has included people with dementia, unpaid carers, people with disabilities, victims of domestic abuse, people struggling with mental health issues, and charities focused on addressing the adult reskilling crisis.
The Fund has supported charities including the National Emergencies Trust, Business in the Community, Age UK, Mind, Action for Children, Women’s Aid, Mencap, and the Shaw Trust.
FLIC will use the donation to transform its ‘Making Your Money Work’ project, which already benefitted from a donation from the Fund in 2021, into a large-scale financial literacy offering to boost the financial resilience of those who may be especially vulnerable as a result of the pandemic and cost of living crisis.
Mears Foundation donates £185k to local communities
The Mears Foundation, the independent, charitable arm of Mears Group, has donated more than £240,000 to projects and initiatives across the UK and Northern Ireland in 2023.
The foundation supported 48 employee-led projects which alleviate fuel poverty, digital poverty, social isolation, and loneliness, as well as environmentally focused initiatives.
In addition, the foundation supported the creation and regeneration of 60 public green spaces in the local communities where Mears Group operates. The spaces were designed to enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of residents, create a space for communities to come together, and promote sustainability.
The Mears Foundation has a national partnership with FareShare, the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity. The Foundation’s support enabled the charity to directly redistribute over 235 tonnes of food, enough for more than 560,000 meals, to communities in need across the UK.
The Foundation only accepts Community Grant applications within the UK that are proposed by a Friend of the Foundation or by an employee of Mears.
Fletchers Foundation celebrates first birthday
The charity was set up to help individuals who have suffered a serious injury, accident or illness but who may be unable to claim for their injuries.
It is celebrating its first year by hosting a party to raise more funds and help more people through its second year.
Fletchers Foundation was set up by Fletchers Group in 2023 to help individuals and their families thrive after a serious injury, accident, or illness. It also works with community groups and charities which support people affected by life-changing injuries.
The financial grants can cover physical and psychological rehabilitation and therapies, aids such as wheelchairs and exercise equipment, costs of activities and breaks, home and vehicle adaptations, and many other things that will make a positive contribution towards helping people to thrive after serious injury.
In its first year, the Foundation has:
- Raised over £50,000 through fundraising to support the work of the Foundation.
- Approved 24 grants for individuals.
- Funded two weekend retreats, bringing together over 200 young and adult amputees and people born limb-different.
- Developed relationships with two specialist rehab centres, covering the North West and South East.
- Worked closely with and provided joint funding with two charities, Frenkel Topping
- Charitable Foundation and Rooprai Spinal Trust.
Turner & Townsend celebrates 10,000 grant milestone through Education Fund
Global professional services company, Turner & Townsend, has now delivered 10,000 grants through its Education Fund in partnership with Action for Children, providing essential school uniform and equipment to children across the UK.
The organisation established the Education Fund when it launched its partnership with the charity in 2015.
The grants from the Education Fund help families purchase essential school items such as uniform, warm coats, shoes, PE equipment and stationery. Each grant has a value of £40, which will increase to £50 per child in April.
Over the past seven years, Turner & Townsend’s commitment has resulted in raising over £830,000, benefitting thousands of children and young people across the UK.
A selection of grants in numbers of items include:
- School coats: 3,310
- School shoes: 5,052
- Uniform: 7,423
- School bags: 1,872
- PE kits: 2,862
- Stationary: 1,163
- Calculators: 499
It aims to raise £1 million and deliver 15,000 grants by 2027.
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.