Angels Den returns with £100k for Bucks charities, plus more funding news
Melanie May | 1 May 2024 | News
Funding available for charities across the UK, from Angels Den for Buckinghamshire charities, to money for projects helping people recycle or reuse old electrical products, to help the transition to greener energy, and events funding from Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy.
Angels Den returns with £100,000 to be donated to Buckinghamshire charities
The first Angels Den took place in 2023: an initiative by The Clare Foundation that saw 10 Buckinghamshire charities awarded a share of £100,000 by UK entrepreneurs through a Dragon’s Den style process.
The Clare Foundation is now inviting charities based in or delivering services in Buckinghamshire, to apply to take part in Angels Den 2024.
Advertisement
This year, two new Angels are joining the panel. Peter Jones of Dragon’s Den fame and Sarah Leslie, founding Director of ndapt Ltd., will join Mike Clare, founder of The Clare Foundation, George Anson and Matt Storey.
Each of the Angels has invested £10,000 of their own money – which has been matched by The Clare Foundation – and they will then have the task of allocating the £100,000 donation to the charities that impress them the most. This allocation will be based on how well the charities demonstrate their innovative ideas, passion, and strategic approach to investing these funds for maximum impact.
Mike Clare, founder of The Clare Foundation said:
‘Our first Angels Den was an overwhelming success with charities receiving between £7.000 and £20,000 each which has helped them to continue to support people in the community.
‘We hope that this year will see even more charities taking part to showcase their work and apply for the opportunity to present their charities to our Angels who are kindly donating their money and valuable time to take part.’
Charities who would like to apply can find out more here. The last date for applications is Tuesday 21 May, and Angels Den 2024 takes place at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham on 11 September.
Material Focus allocates additional £750,000 to the Electricals Recycling Fund
Material Focus has reopened its Electricals Recycling Fund, offering £750,000 of funding to support projects that make it easier for more people to reuse and recycle old and unwanted small household electricals. This follows previous rounds of funding that provided £1.8 million to fund over 40 UK projects making it easier for over 10 million people to repair, donate or recycle unwanted electricals.
The Fund is looking for project proposals that will test creative, practical and scalable new methods for collecting electricals that could deliver significant environmental benefits in the future.
It aims to support two types of projects – those seeking to grow or develop existing household collection services for small electricals, and those seeking to innovate new collection methods. Material Focus are seeking applicants from a range of organisations including; local authorities, waste collection authority areas, waste contractors, reuse organisations, nonprofits, producer compliance schemes, retailers, and startups are all encouraged to apply. Individuals are not eligible for the funding.
There is no deadline with this funding round open on a rolling basis. Applicants can expect to hear within 3 months of applying if they are successful, and are asked to review the Applicants Guide and ensure they meet the criteria and eligibility requirements before filling out the application form.
Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy announces new round of Networks Funding
Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy has announced a new round of Networks Funding for 2024, providing core financial support to fundraising groups or networks across England. Funding can contribute to the development of new training events, conferences, seminars, or meetings, with the aim of strengthening arts fundraising skills and building robust partnerships across the sector.
The deadline to apply is 24 May 2024. It will fund both virtual and in person events, and organisations and groups can apply for support to cover any relevant expenditure for an event or activity to take place between June and October 2024:
- Up to a maximum of £2,500 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.
- Up to a maximum of £1,000 for entirely virtual activity, to cover the cost of software, administration or external training support. Virtual activity must benefit a minimum of ten people.
Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy is looking to support a diverse range of events tackling key issues within the current fundraising environment with a particular interest in exploring:
- Practical support and approaches that respond to the cost of living crisis
- Ways to support the wellbeing and resilience of arts fundraisers
- Place-based fundraising, especially around Arts Council England Priority and Levelling Up for Culture Places
- The effective recruitment and retention of fundraisers and diversifying fundraising teams
- Enhancing knowledge of green fundraising strategies and how cultural fundraising can play a part in supporting the environmental agenda
It also welcomes applications for projects working in other areas where groups are able to demonstrate how the activity will support arts fundraising practice, or where there are other urgent needs for your community and the wider sector.
More information here.
Octopus launches 2024 UK Impact Fund for projects supporting transition to clean energy
The Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) has launched a £50,000 funding programme to support projects that enhance the environment and benefit communities, as part of the ‘Just Transition’ to clean energy.
ORIT invests in the transition to Net Zero, supporting renewable energy assets, and providing grants and volunteering support to projects that alleviate fuel poverty, tackle environmental challenges and promote a ‘Just Transition’.
The ORIT UK Impact fund is now in its fourth year. To date it has awarded grants to projects including Ashden’s City Regions Network, which runs workshops to support councils in developing strategies and policies to accelerate climate action, and a Science Roadshow from Cambridge Hands on Science that takes experiments and volunteers around the UK to show children and young people in areas with low participation in higher education, that they too can study science.
Grant requests can be up to a maximum of £10,000, for projects that start after 2 September 2024. Applicants can view further details and apply to the fund via BizGive, on this link.
NextEnergy Launches UK ESG Solar Impact Fund
NextEnergy UK is supporting communities that host its solar assets, starting with projects in Llanwern, near Newport in Wales and Strensham, near Worcester. It is inviting groups in the region to apply for a grant, by sharing their project ideas. These can be any social or environmental projects that focus on education and skills in the local area.
The aim is to review applications and share feedback on an ongoing, first-come, first-served basis. If funding is needed urgently, this can be highlighted in the application. Applicants can view further details and apply to the fund via BizGive, on this link.
2024 Cinnamon Incubator Competition seeks projects to support
The 2024 Cinnamon Incubator Competition is looking for social action projects or initiatives helping local communities respond to current challenges that it can help grow and replicate through churches.
Social action projects that are already set up and making an impact in one or more locations can apply. This could be a social enterprise, a small charity, a CIC or a group of churches working together.
Projects should be:
- Responding to challenges in their communities
- Supported by a local church or group of churches
- Ambitious to expand across the country
- Taking an innovative approach
Five initiatives will be invited to present their work at the Cinnamon Incubator Final on Wednesday 13 November 2024 in London. They will receive professional coaching and support to develop their pitch.
A £20,000 development grant will be awarded to one winning project, with five places available on the Cinnamon Incubator Programme for the projects that reach the final. Potential funders and philanthropists will also be invited to meet the projects at the final.
More information here.
€35 million PEACEPLUS fund open for applications
The €35 million PEACEPLUS investment Area 1.3 Building Positive Relations is now open for applications. This funding stream invites applications for projects that will promote positive relations characterised by respect, celebrate cultural diversity, and encourage people to live, learn and socialise together.
The aim of the programme is to build and sustain relationships between 116 organisations, engaging 58,000 citizens from all communities, across a wide range of sectors. Projects should have the potential to achieve significant peace and reconciliation across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland.
Supported projects will enable individuals and communities to collaborate across a broad range of areas of mutual interest, such as parenting, arts and culture, sport, education, and social innovation/enterprise.
The Programme places particular emphasis on providing support to those most marginalised within our communities. It aims is to build relationships based on a greater understanding of those from different cultural backgrounds, and to ensure everyone feels part of a wider, more diverse community.
The closing date is 13 June 2024.
More information here.
Funding for communities sharing friendship, food, skills & resources
Eden Project Communities has teamed up with FareShare and City & Guilds to launch a new Sharing Table Award worth £5,000 to celebrate and recognise the importance of communities sharing friendship, food, skills and resources.
They are inviting communities to tell them how the act of sharing supports their community including their plans for sharing food on The Big Lunch weekend on 1-2 June.
They also want to know how they work together as a community to support nature and be planet friendly where they live.
The deadline to apply is 9am on Monday 20 May 2024.
More information here.
Funding boost of $36.5mn to help eliminate trachoma in Africa
$36.5mn in new funding is being provided to help eliminate trachoma from 16 African countries. Twelve of the countries supported through the Accelerate programme, led by Sightsavers, hope to eliminate trachoma by 2027 and three are expected to make significant progress towards this goal in that time.
The additional funds will extend the Accelerate programme, which began in 2018, as part of The Audacious Project, hosted by TED. The new funding is from international donors which include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, The ELMA Foundation and, for Zambia, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust as well as Sightsavers own contribution.
The twelve countries targeted to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem by 2027 are: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Meanwhile Nigeria, Kenya and Mozambique will make significant progress towards elimination. The fund will also contribute support to Ethiopia, which carries world’s highest burden of the disease in the world.
ScottishPower Foundation funding boost sees UK charities share almost £1.2mn
Charitable projects dedicated to supporting vulnerable people, local communities and the environment are in line for a funding boost from the ScottishPower Foundation.
Twenty charities across Scotland, England and Wales have been awarded funding totalling almost £1.2 million for projects committed to tackling current issues, from cost of living support and raising aspirations for the next generation to protecting the environment and celebrating cultural diversity.
A new project from Archaeology Scotland, Energy Through Time, is helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop transferable skills and build their understanding in STEM subjects. Through the project, young people will harness the power of the past by exploring the historic green spaces around Newbattle Abbey College with the task of creating innovative solutions for future energy sustainability, enabling them to become climate ambassadors for the future.
Supported by the ScottishPower Foundation, the first courses of the project will be kicking off as part of Meaningful May, a programme of activity offered to young people who are not sitting exams in school, with the aim of supporting them into a positive destination.
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.