Funding opportunities and developments in March 2026
Howard Lake | 6 March 2026 | News
The latest funding opportunities featured this week include funding for university academics to work with charities in Yorkshire and Humberside on co-designed research, a £12 million grant for the UK’s largest robotic surgery centre, four funding streams for Scotland’s entrepreneurs, and BFI funding to stimulate a wider and healthier ecosystem for the film industry.
York St John’s ISJ Opens £10K Community Research Grant for VCSEs
The Institute for Social Justice (ISJ) at York St John University has launched its 2026-27 Community Research Grant programme, offering up to £10,000 per project.
The funding is not for the VCSE organisations directly, but to pay for University academics to work with partners in Yorkshire and Humberside on co-designed, impactful research.
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The programme seeks proposals from Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise (VCSE) groups looking to generate new knowledge, such as evidence of impact, best-practice reviews, or stakeholder engagement, that directly benefits their core purpose. Projects will run for up to 10 months.
A collaboration with SHARC will also fund two grants specifically focused on wellbeing and health inequalities in the Scarborough and coastal region.
The application process is light-touch, requiring VCSEs to outline the theme or issue they want researched. The deadline for proposals is Friday 27 March 2026 at noon. Briefing events are available in February and March 2026.
£12 million grant from Denise Coats Foundation
Royal Stoke University Hospital is set to become the UK’s largest robotic surgery centre following a £12 million investment from the Denise Coates Foundation, significantly expanding access to advanced robotic surgery across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire.
The major expansion at Royal Stoke, part of University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, will enable a wider range of complex robotic procedures, including emergency and cardiac surgery, benefitting more than 1,000 additional patients each year.
Royal Stoke will also become the first hospital in the UK to introduce the latest da Vinci 5 Surgical Systems for both adult and paediatric patients.
Including this donation of £12 million, the Denise Coates Foundation has now donated £29 million to University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust Charity since 2014, transforming care for thousands of patients.
Commenting on the Foundation’s donation, Denise Coates CBE said: “We are delighted to have supported Royal Stoke University Hospital on its journey to reaching 5,000 robotic surgery patients, and to help enable this next exciting phase of expansion. This investment will allow more patients across the region to benefit from world-leading surgical care closer to home. Supporting projects that make a lasting difference to local communities remains a core focus of the Foundation.”
The Foundation “improves lives and wellbeing through charitable grants and donations, supporting projects that deliver long-term impact across health and wellbeing, education, arts and culture, and community development”.
Four themes for the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund
The Scottish Government has opened applications to its Ecosystem Fund for 2026/27.
The fund is delivered in four categories:
- The Ecosystem Fund “supports organisations delivering high-impact projects that strengthen Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem”. This includes incubators, accelerators, ecosystem builders and established companies seeking to develop infrastructure, connections and resources for entrepreneurs and startups across Scotland.
- The Ecosystem Pathway Fund supports supports Scotland’s under-represented entrepreneurs. “If you are seeking to support entrepreneurs or startups in Scotland, this is your opportunity to secure funding to develop or scale impactful initiatives that reduces barriers to entrepreneurship”.
- The Ecosystem Community Fund supports Scotland’s grassroots entrepreneurs. It provides grants to individuals, organisations and community groups delivering local entrepreneurship support activities in Scotland. This includes, but is not limited to, initiatives such as regular meetups, workshops, skills sessions and local networking events for entrepreneurs and startups.
- The Entrepreneurial Education Fund supports “the growth and development of the Scottish entrepreneurial education ecosystem by funding high-impact projects for young people”. It is designed to create a sustainable, inclusive, and vibrant environment to support entrepreneurial education activity across Scotland.
The Fund is open to proposals from organisations that are headquartered in Scotland, or have significant operations based there. Proposals can be from private, public or third sector organisations seeking to develop or scale up initiatives which meet the objectives of the Fund.
The application deadline is 5pm on 26th March 2026.
BFI National Lottery Creative Challenge opens for applications
The BFI Creative Challenge Fund aims to decentralise project development and stimulate a healthier, wider ecosystem by funding a mosaic of interventions across the UK that touch underserved areas in the screen industry.
You can apply for between £12,000 and £150,000 for one edition (or call) for your programme which should run for a maximum of 12 months.
Round one opens on Monday 12 January 2026 and closes at midday on Monday 16 March 2026. Programme activity must start between 9 July and 31 December 2026.
Round two opens on Monday 13 July 2026 and closes at midday on Wednesday 9 September.
Communities in Glasgow and the Highlands receive over £270k from the Get Active Scotland fund
Community groups and organisations in Glasgow and the Highlands have secured more than £270,000 to boost sport and physical activity opportunities through the Get Active Scotland fund.
Launched in September 2025 with Olympian Megan Keith, Get Active Scotland is a £1.1 million collaboration between the London Marathon Foundation, sportscotland, Glasgow Life and High Life Highland. It is one of the largest funds focused on increasing participation in physical activity in Scotland.
Six months in and the Fund has already reached more than 70 community groups to help children, young people and communities experiencing high levels of deprivation or rural isolation to be more active.
Half of adults living in Scotland’s most deprived areas do not meet the recommended physical activity guidelines, and 32 per cent of all children fall short of the child activity guidelines – rising to 41 per cent when school activity is excluded (Scottish Health Survey 2024). Get Active Scotland aims to address these issues by funding projects that encourage people of all ages and abilities to get active, stay active and thrive.
A wide range of activities have been funded – from basketball to boxing, shinty to surfing – to encourage more people to move in the way that’s right for them. In the Highlands, groups funded include Highland Disability Sport, Highland Bears Basketball, Golspie Youth Action Project and Àban Outdoor – an outdoor education charity using the funding for new activities for its outdoor youth groups.
Get Active Scotland is a two-year funding collaboration. Local clubs and organisations in Glasgow can apply now to the Get Active Glasgow Fund.
High Life Highland’s second round of funding closed in February – successful applicants will be notified soon.
Further funding rounds for the Get Active Highland Fund will open in the next financial year.
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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.