Coronavirus: weekly funding updates - 15-20 June
As we receive updates from our research team in Liverpool, we'll post weekly updates to coronavirus funding programmes and more to help you (remember - don't forget to share!)
No time to read 50-page government policy documents? Don’t worry – we’ve done it so you don’t have to. Check out our short summary of the UK Government’s Our Plan to Rebuild policy paper on ending the social lockdown – wherein we summarise the key points, outline current timings, and raise issues for charity staff and trustees to consider (which, let’s face it, you won’t get in the gov.uk version). View our summary here.
Friday 19 June
The Morrisons Foundation COVID-19 Homeless Support Fund
In recognition of the fact that the homeless are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because of increased likelihood of underlying health conditions and less access to basic sanitation, the Morrisons Foundation Trustees have pledged £500,000 towards its Homeless Support Fund. Registered charities that serve the homeless through outreach and support; delivery of services in hostels and shelters; and/ or the provision of information and advice can apply for grants to a maximum of £10,000. Applications are being considered on a weekly basis until the £500,000 emergency fund is depleted. After this, homeless charities are still welcome to submit applications for support under the established grant funding process. More details on eligibility and how to apply can be found here.
Thursday 18 June
NatWest Social and Community Capital
NatWest Social and Community Capital are launching a £1m Coronavirus Response Fund on Monday 22 June. Aware that many social enterprises, trading charities and community businesses have suffered a loss of income because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the funders want to help bridge the income gap so that organisations survive the crisis and continue to have a positive impact in their communities. Grants of between £5,000 and £50,000 will be available to organisations across the UK that employ people from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. These grants are unrestricted and can be used for any purpose, including core costs.
Organisations must have an annual turnover between £50,000 and £1 million, must have been generating at least 30% of revenue from trading income before the crisis and must have suffered a loss in trading income due to lockdown restrictions. Applications will open through NatWest’s websites at 9am on Monday 22 June and the fund will stay open for at least one week, possibly longer, dependent on how many applications are received and whether the fund reaches its capacity. Full information on the grants, including the application form and how to apply, will be available on the website from Monday 22 June.
Leeds Philosophical & Literary Society Ltd
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, the Society is offering 20 grants of £500 to artists to create a new piece of media that can be displayed on the Society’s website. The artwork can be an image, sequence or video (with or without sound) that encapsulates the aims of the Society and helps to set it on course for its third century.
Visual and performing artists who are sole traders/freelancers or students over the age of 18 are eligible to apply. The grant can be used to cover the cost of materials, equipment or the cost of the artist’s time.
Applicants should download an application form to apply. The deadline for applications is 6pm on Friday 3 July.
Corra Foundation
The Corra Foundation has announced a community research tender on social action during the coronavirus pandemic. The project forms part of the wider Social Action Inquiry Scotland which aims to understand how social action can realise its potential to being about sustainable change. Social action has been at the heart of society’s response to Coronavirus and this research tender aims to further understanding of that. A total budget of £68,200 is available to deliver this project.
Wednesday 17 June
Barking & Dagenham Giving
Individuals, groups, and organisations with a current connection to Barking and Dagenham are eligible to apply to the Covid-19 Rapid Response Fund from Barking & Dagenham Giving. Grants of between £100 and £5,000 are available for projects that support the community during the Coronavirus crisis. Applications are considered every fortnight by a panel of five people with the fund closing to application at 5pm on 31st July.
Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Community Foundation
Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Community Foundation continues to operate its Coronavirus Emergency Support Fund, which has two strands. The first is for Immediate Emergency Relief, open to constituted charitable or community organisations in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland providing immediate emergency relief to vulnerable groups. Grants come from the National Emergencies Trust money; and some that companies and private donors have also added to the fund, notably SEGRO. These grants come in three tiers, depending on the size of the organisation applying; projects must be delivered and funds spent within three months. Awarding these are the Foundation’s first priority and the team is focused on processing applications as quickly as possible.
The second strand are General Coronavirus Support grants, which come from a smaller part of the fund made up of donations from local companies and donors to meet important but less immediate needs that have arisen due to the lockdown and the coronavirus crisis, for example: helping beneficiaries in different ways; delivering preventative projects or activities to ensure people or communities are less likely to require emergency services or support; or adaptations to services. These applications may take longer to process as emergency support is being prioritised, but grant sizes are between £500 and £5,000. To check eligibility criteria and to apply online, see the relevant page on the Community Foundation’s website here.
Tuesday 16 June
British Consulate-General Jerusalem
The British Consulate in Jerusalem has announced a new Covid-19 funding stream aimed at assisting vulnerable elderly people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This fund is open to NGOs that support elderly people in the OPTs.
Proposals should focus on providing targeted help for the most vulnerable elderly people in Palestinian society. Suggestions for projects include strengthening support systems in elderly care, or psychosocial support for older people who have experienced loss.
Proposals should be for projects that will cost up to 262,000 ILS to implement, and that will be implemented between August 2020 and March 2021. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 8th July 2020 and applications should be sent via email. Proposal and budget forms can be downloaded from the website.
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation
In recognition of the magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis, the Trustees of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation have made additional funding available for their next grants phase, running from May to December 2020. There are new funding opportunities for existing grantees, offering emergency funding; 12 month grant extensions and grant increases for adaptation costs. Find out more here if you are already funded by JRCT. In the summer, the Trust will launch a new COVID-19 Initiatives Fund, which will be open to both grantees and non-grantees. Funding will be available to support new initiatives rooted in the values of equity, rights, peace, climate change and power and accountability that either (a) challenge current responses to and narratives about the crisis or (b) build support for systemic change in a post-COVID society. Keep an eye out on the website and the charity’s Twitter account for the launch of this fund.
Monday 15 June
Department for Communities, Northern Ireland
The Department for Communities has launched a £15.5 million Covid-19 Charities Fund to help charities in Northern Ireland meet unavoidable costs . The fund has opened to applications today, Monday 15th June, for charities who have exhausted all other avenues of support and are at risk of closure. Charities in Northern Ireland apply for grants of up to £75,000, the deadline for applications is Friday 19th July at 4pm.
As the fund is limited, priority will be given to charities who are providing essential services if demand is high. The grants can only be used to cover essential costs until 30th September 2020, costs for new programme activity will not be funded, neither will on-going activity costs that could be suspended.
The fund is administered by the National Lottery and charities should apply to the fund though the Community Fund website.
For previous updates click here
