Voluntary Sector Support

The following links give information on the available grants from Milton Keynes Council

• The Neighbourhood Initiative Fund
  
  
• Wider Use - Funding for users of Milton Keynes Council premises
  
  
• Community Grants

No further application forms for 10/11

The following links are websites of other external organisations giving grants to Youth and Community Projects

• Abbey Charitable Trust is committed to supporting local communities and disadvantaged people, particularly in areas where Abbey has a significant presence. There is no application form to complete a letter will need to be submitted. Guidance available on website
  
  
• The Architectural Heritage Fund (UK) makes funding available to organisations with charitable status and building preservation trusts (BPTs) to regenerate historic buildings to create community and education facilities, workspace and homes.
  
  
• Allan Lane Foundation Grants Programme (UK)
  Grants of between £500 and £15,000 are available from the Foundation, to small voluntary not-for-profit organisations, where the work benefits groups of people who face hostility in UK society today.
  
  
• Arts Gateway MK (formerly The Milton Keynes Arts Association) has a long-established record for support and funding for artists in the MK area. Arts Gateway MK gives grants three times a year – 1 February, 1 May and 1 October.
  
  
• Arts Council for England's Grants
  
  
• Awards for All Awards for All is a Lottery grants scheme funding small, local community-based projects in the UK.
  Each country is running its own programme, so find out how our grant can help your project by clicking on your country. It is an easy to access fund with grants between £300 and £30,000
  
  
  
• Big Lottery Fund
  
  
• The Britannia Building Society Foundation (UK) Grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 are available to registered charities working within education and schools specifically for numeracy and/or - financial literacy projects.
  
  
• CAF Grantmaking Programme
  
  
• Cash 4 Clubs (UK)
  Grants from £250 to £1,000 are available for Sports clubs that are registered with their sport’s National Governing Body or local authority. Clubs can apply for grants to improve facilities, purchase new equipment, gain coaching qualifications, and generally invest in the sustainability of their club.
  
  
• Charitybank Reveals Record Loans to Social Enterprises
  Charity Bank has unveiled record loan growth to support charities and social enterprises.
  
  
• Church and Community Fund (England) Grants of up to £15,000 are available to community projects run by parish churches, deaneries, dioceses and other bodies connected to or working in partnership with the Church of England. Projects supported must promote, aid and further the work of the Church of England.
  
  
• Comic Relief Grants range from a few thousand pounds to over a million pounds, but each one goes through a rigorous assessment process to ensure that the money the public donates is put to the best possible use.
  
  
• Communitybuilders is a £70 million fund that offers loans, grants and business support to inclusive, multi-purpose, community-led organisations.
  
  
  
• The Community Development Foundation The Community Development Foundation is administering a new grants scheme for local communities, on behalf of the Home Office. The grants scheme, welcomes applications from small, locally run and managed voluntary and community organisations, who want to improve opportunities for people of different ethnic and/or faith backgrounds.
  
  
• Community Energy Programme
  
  
• Community Spaces
  Community Spaces is a majority capital-funding programme for community groups making physical and lasting improvements to people’s neighbourhoods.
  
  
• Compact Funding and Procurement Code This new code provides a framework for better funding relationships between government and the voluntary sector.
  
  
• Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Dividend Scheme are giving grants to organisations between £100 and £5000 to include environmental groups, young peoples groups, play groups, community groups, elderly people, credit unions and education projects any non profit making group may apply.")
  
  
• Defra Grants has announced details of a new allocation of £4 million to enable the voluntary and community sector to continue its work in reusing, recycling and composting waste. The money is to help organisations in England develop partnerships with local authorities and share their expertise.
  
  
• Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
  
  
• The Elizabeth Finn Trust gives financial help to individuals whose careers have been interrupted or ended through illness, accident, or family breakdown, or pensioners who are struggling with an inadequate income.
  
  
• Esmee Fairbairn Foundation: New Funding Priorities Social Change: Enterprise and Independence
  
  
• European Youth Foundation
  The European Youth Foundation (EYF), established in 1972 by the Council of Europe to provide financial support for European youth activities.
  
  
• Football Foundation gives large and small grants for Football Clubs.
  
  
• Future Builders Fund
  
  
• Government Funding Official Government website includes grants from the Home Office, Department of Education and Skills, etc.
  
  
• GrantScape is a locally-based environmental grant-making charity. Its aim is to improve the life of communities and the environment by channelling charitable funding towards deserving, good quality projects.
  
  Grants awarded will be for amounts between £5,000 and £15,000.
  
  
• Grassroots Grants are for small local Community Groups in Milton Keynes looking for funding for new or existing activities.
  
  Groups can apply for a Grassroots Grant of between £250-£5,000
  
  
• The Henry Smith Charity Fund
  
  
• Herritage Lottery Fund
  
  
• Hilton in The Community Foundation (UK) Grants are available through the Hilton Foundation to groups that work with children and young people.
  
  
• Housing Associations' Charitable Trust (Hact). is a catalyst for change, developing solutions to issues concerning groups on the margins of mainstream housing provision. Current programmes include the older people's programme, the supported living programme and the refugee housing integration programmme.
  
  
• Iceniwaters Grant Scheme
  The Mineral Water company has launched a new grant scheme for up to £500 that encourages people to get active. This could be anything from renovating the décor of the local cricket pavilion, organising a family fun run or developing land into a new cycle track to get people on their bike. Organisations eligible to apply include schools and colleges, youth clubs, community groups, parish councils and local sports clubs.
  
  
• The Joanies Trust (UK) Registered charities working with young people aged 11 to 25 years are eligible to apply for grants for projects that offer intensive support to young people.
  
  
• Lankelly Chase Foundation – Summer Playschemes
  Each year the Trustees of the LankellyChase Foundation set aside funds for summer playschemes for children between the ages of 5 - 13 years. Preference is given to small local playschemes (costing under £12,000) lasting 2 - 6 weeks, and groups planning special activities for youngsters who are disadvantaged.
  
  
• Lloyds TSB Foundation Grants are given to grassroots charities that help disadvantaged and disabled people to play a fuller role in the community.
  
  
• The Lord’s Taverners provides organisations with equipment, such as wheelchairs, pool hoists, multi-sensory equipment etc, to encourage youngsters with special needs to participate in sporting and recreational activities. It is believed that this will help build their self-confidence, social skills and general fitness.
  
  
• Mediabox is a new fund that offers disadvantaged 13 to 19 year olds the opportunity to develop and produce creative media projects, using film, television, print, radio or online platforms.
  
  
• Milton Keynes Community Foundation - A local independent grant-making charity.
  
  
• Nationwide Foundation - Programme Changes (UK) The Nationwide Foundation is changing its’ grant programmes. As of April 2009, the Foundation has 2 new focuses: which work to tackle financial exclusion affecting disadvantaged groups, and to address housing issues and homelessness among vulnerable groups.
  
  
• Norman Hawes Memorial Trust. Grants are made annually to enable students from Schools and Colleges in Milton Keynes and the North Buckinghamshire area to travel abroad. The purpose of the Trust is to assist young people between 15 and 18 at the time of the travel and in full time education. The grant can be for an individual or a group.
  
  For more information contact: Sue Bruce on 01908 253614
  
  
• O2 It's your Community Turning derelict ground into a playground. Planting trees where none grew before. Creating a wildlife pond where there was once a puddle. Turning an abandoned building into an arts centre for young people….. It’s your Community is a new awards programme to help people come together to make a real difference to the communities in which we live. There are projects happening up and down the country every week, thanks to our community awards, starting from £100 and up to £1000.
  
  
  
• Paul Hamlyn Small Grants and Right to Read Grants As an independent grant making body, fund organisations whose charitable activities help people to realise their potential and have a better quality of life.
  
  
• Princes Trust Community Cash Awards The Awards, worth £250 to £5,000, are available to disadvantaged 14 to 25-year-olds who want to transform their area and learn practical skills.
  
  
• Rosa - The Fund for Women and Girls (UK) Rosa, the first UK-wide fund for projects working with women and girls, will be launching further calls for proposals in Summer 2009, now that it has just closed its’ Body Image grants round.
  
  
• The Rugby Football Foundation gives large and small grants for Rugby Clubs.
  
  
• SMALLFRI
  Profunding has introduced SMALLFRI, an email bulletin giving news on grants and lottery funding for small, new, single issue organisations with a turnover of £50,000 or less, annual subscription
  
  
• Sport England The Sport England Small Grants Programme has been set up to support local community sports projects which seek to increase participation, sustain participation or develop opportunities to excel at their chosen sport.
  
  
• Sportsmatch can match £ for £ commercial business sponsorship for sports groups.
  
  
• The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) The trust is offering grants funded by the Big Lottery Fund of up to £1000 to groups of young people who submit creative and innovative ideas for Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) for their peers. Projects can cover a variety of topics including; contraception, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), safer sex and risk taking, your rights in a relationship, HIV infection, the media influence on sex and relationships and managing emotional relationships.
  
  
• Tesco Charity Trust Community Award Scheme provides one-off donations of between £500 and £4,000. The funding given goes towards providing practical benefits, such as equipment and resources for projects that directly benefit children, the elderly and adults and children with disabilities, living in the local communities around our stores in the UK.
  
  
• Trusthouse Charitable Foundation (UK) The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation has announced that funding is available to local and national charities or not-for-profit organisations based in the UK.
  
  
• The Tudor Trust Fund
  
  
• UnLtd Sport Relief Awards, is aimed at helping young people bring communities together to tackle the increasingly urgent issues of youth violence, gang culture and racism, through sport.
  
  
• vinspired vcashpoint Launches New Funding Round (England) v, the independent charity set up to encourage young people to volunteer, has launched the next application round of the vcashpoint scheme.
  
  
• Wakenham Trust - Funding to Improve Local Communities. Groups of individuals as well as small community and voluntary groups within the UK that want to improve their communities can apply for funding. Grants are usually for around £75 to £750 to projects where this amount can make a real difference to getting things up and running.
  
  
• Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
  
  
• Young Roots Providing grants of between £3,000 and £25,000, the Young Roots Programme aims to involve 13-25 year-olds in finding out about their heritage, developing skills, building confidence and promoting community involvement. Young Roots projects stem directly from young peoples' interests and ideas, harnessing their creativity and energy and helping them work with others in their local community.
  
  
• YouthBank YouthBank is a grant-making initiative run by young people for young people, the local YouthBank provides small grants to fund young people's good ideas to benefit their community. The scheme is unique in that young people themselves make the decisions about who receives the money.
  
  
• Young Foundation – Youth of Today Leadership Fund The Youth of Today Leadership Fund helps third sector organisations scale up innovative youth leadership projects, and reach out across communities. Small community and voluntary organisations that work with young people (13 to 19 yrs) and want to scale up and expand their activities can apply for grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 through the Fund. This is the last round of this fund.
  
  
• Youth Music Youth Music is the UK's largest children's music charity. Through its "Open Programme", grants of between £5,000 and £30,000 are available to support projects that provide music-making activities for children and young people

Points to remember when applying for grants

Make sure that your application matches the criteria

Research and demonstrate that there is a demand for your project. Ideally state how many people will benefit, in what way and and by how much.

Demonstrate how you will measure outcomes of your project.

Complete the whole application form and supply all the information requested.

Put in place a strong management team for the project.

Give clear evidence of financial management of the project.

Show how your project will be sustainable.

Ring for advice from the grant providers if you are not sure about your application.

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