£250 million to help communities buy local assets

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced £250m to help communities buy local assets such as pubs, shops, community centres, sports facilities and affordable housing. Mr Cameron said Big Society Capital (BSC) and the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) were making a long - term commitment to provide a quarter of a billion pounds over the rest of this decade to help communities withambitions to own local assets like pubs, shops, community centres and affordable housing.”

Read more on Action for Market Towns website

NOW OPEN: Community Education Fund

West Berkshire Council is pleased to invite bids for Round 25 of the Community Education Fund for projects to be delivered between 1st August 2013 and 31st July 2014.

The Fund will support education providers, voluntary organisations, charities and community groups to develop adult and family learning across West Berkshire.

A range of projects will be considered covering two distinct areas:
 

• Community Learning which aims to maximise access to learning for adults and families bringing new opportunities, improving lives and communities whatever people’s circumstances

• Adult Skills – short unit/award based qualifications which address local needs aimed at adults without Level 2 qualifications or those who are unemployed and on active benefits

Deadline for bids is 5pm on Tuesday, 9th July 2013.

For more information about the Community Education Fund go to www.westberks.gov.uk/cef25  or contact the Community Learning Team on 01635 519060 or email aclteam@westberks.gov.uk

Grant Opportunities

The Screwfix Foundation  
Grants to maintain and repair buildings and facilities
The Screwfix Foundation invites applications from any charity that is registered in the UK and has a project that involves fixing, maintaining or repairing properties and community facilities specifically for those in need. Grants are determined on a case by case basis, and funding is at the discretion of the Trustees. The grants can be used for a range of projects such as repairing a run-down building. Applications are accepted at any time.
http://www.screwfix.com/jsp/landing.jsp?id=ScrewfixFoundation

Tesco Charity Trust – Community Awards Scheme
The Tesco Charity Trust Community Awards Scheme provides one-off donations of between £500 and £4,000 to registered charities and not for profit organisations, who are working on local projects that support children and their education and welfare, and children with disabilities. There are two rounds of funding each year - one available now, with applications being accepted up to 30 June.
http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=121
 
Foyle Foundation - Small Grants Scheme
The Small Grants Scheme is designed to support smaller charities in the UK with an annual turnover of less than £100,000 per annum, especially those working at grass roots and local community level, in any field, across a wide range of activities. Grants of between £1,000 - £10,000 are available.
http://www.foylefoundation.org.uk/small-grants-scheme/

Active Communities

People’s Health Trust is an independent charity which funds local groups with great ideas in order to create fairer places to grow, live, work and age.

They  just opened Active Communities, a funding programme which may be of interest to groups and charities in Berkshire. They are offering grants of between £5,000-£50,000. The programme closes for applications on Monday 15 July 2013 at 12pm.


Applying couldn’t be easier – the form is online (and available in other formats) and there is detailed guidance to support applicants through each step. For further details please click here: http://www.peopleshealthtrust.org.uk/

Adult Community Learning in Reading

Reading Borough Council receives a grant from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to provide community learning and is sub-contracting a portion to voluntary and community organisations to reach deprived communities within Reading. This funding is under the SFA programmes Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities and Personal Community Development Learning.

Amount available: Total amount available is £27,800 to be divided into contracts between £2,000 and £13,000.

Who can apply: Not-for profit organisations delivering learning opportunities to Reading residents aged 19+

Deadline: 12 noon Monday 24 June 2013

To find out more please email childrenscommissioning@reading.gov.uk or call 0118 937 2471

Grants available for young peoples activities in the school holidays

A new scheme has gone live on Find Me a Grant (www.findmeagrant.org) which offers grant money for young people's activites from a pot called the Turnaround Families Programme.

Deadline for applying is by 28th May 2013  and the main funding priorities are as follows

1. Activities for children and young people run in areas with high unemployment and high child poverty levels (above 15%) and/or rural isolation, including Calcot, Thatcham, Clay Hill, Greenham and Lambourn.

2. Activities which young people attend via a selection process and aimed at children and young people who present with one or more of the following life challenges:
• have found themselves in difficulty and are struggling with a positive approach to life and good mental health
• are experiencing a turbulent personal relationship or family situation
• are finding it difficult to stay in school or learning or who are getting into trouble at school and/or with the Police
• come from a household where there is at least one adult who is out of work

3. Whole family activities aimed at building family relationships and strengthening ties to people or place communities and in which are targeted at families managing one or more of the following issues: • unemployment • mental or physical ill health • domestic abuse • bereavement, separation or loss • isolation due to example cultural, language and/or religious needs • rural isolation

Funding News

The Plunkett Foundation

The Plunkett Foundation helps rural communities through community-ownership to take control of the issues affecting them. Their work is focused on Community-owned village shops, Rural Social and Community Enterprises and Community Food enterprises. For further information please visit: http://www.plunkett.co.uk

Path for Communities

The Paths for Communities scheme has been established to develop and enhance the network of Public Rights of Way (PROW) in England in order to deliver benefits to rural areas.
The aim of the scheme is to:
•          encourage and enable local communities to work with land owners to develop and enhance local public paths in ways that deliver wider benefit; and
•          offer a network with more appeal to visitors and tourists, contributing to the rural economy through better support for local services such as shops, pubs, hotels, bed and breakfasts, equestrian and cycle businesses.
For further information please click here: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/access/rightsofway/p4c.aspx

Biffa Award Small Grants Scheme

Small grants available to make a difference to a local facility, such as a community building, nature reserve, cultural facility or outdoor space. You can apply for between £250 and £10,000. For further details please click here: http://www.biffa-award.org/small-grants-scheme

Right to Bid

Pre-Feasibility Grant: Are available from Social Investment Business up to £10,000 and are for organizations to build their internal capacity to prepare to take receipt of an asset transfer or, else, a bid to buy land and buildings of community value.
Feasibility Grants: Feasibility grants will be made available to organisations that demonstrate they have the potential to meet local needs through the acquisition and management of land and buildings. These grants are mixed capital and revenue for amounts of up to £100,000.
Information on both of these grants is available here: http://mycommunityrights.org.uk/community-right-to-bid/grants/