Funding from the Comic Relief Community Fund in Wales to support community led organisations.
After the delivery of a successful pilot scheme, Comic Relief has confirmed a new round of funding to fund community led action bringing about positive, lasting social change throughout Wales.
Comic Relief and Third Sector Support Wales (TSSW) partners recognise the great work that community led organisations do across Wales, and want to help organisations to build their own capacity in a sustainable and impactful way.
Small Grants: £1,000 to £10,000
The aim of this fund is to ensure that Comic Relief grassroots funding is reached by the community groups leading change and growth in their locality, enabling them to make positive changes in response to the specific needs of the community.
These Small Grants are administered by BAVO, Interlink RCT and VAMT. The application form, and guidance for small grants (£1,000 to £10,000) can be found here:
All successful applications will demonstrate a contribution to one of Comic Relief’s four Strategic Themes:
Organisations with a socially focussed purpose and an income of less than £250,000 are eligible to apply.
The application window is open from 19 April 2022, closing 23rd August 2022.
The earliest activity can begin is the 22 August 2022 ending no later than 30 August 2023.
Every quarter, we are offering micro-grants of £250 to support volunteer-led organisations to cover the additional costs of opening up community activities. This may include items like PPE and other costs you may incur.
To request funding, please email us while letting us know what you need the money for to grants@interlinkrct.org.uk.
For any further advice and support, please email info@interlinkrct.org.uk or call 01443 846200.
This fund remains open for business. It supports communities in the Upper Rhondda Valleys and Upper Cynon Valley in RCT. At the moment, this fund is active:
See the extent of the Pen-Y-Cymoedd area of benefit.
To discuss ideas, Kate Breeze and Michelle Nobel can be contacted by email via enquiries@penycymoeddcic.cymru or with either of the following mobile numbers:
Mobile: 07458 300 123
Mobile: 07458 300 117
You can also discuss proposals via the Supporting Communities Team:
This organisation is a small family trust which makes grants to charities in the broad areas of education, and social and medical welfare. Learn more on the Newby Trust’s website.
National Lottery Awards For All, and People and Places remain open through the links below. They will prioritise applications that are COVID-19 related. This means they will prioritise applications from:
Get advice if you’re thinking of applying for lottery funding.
See all of the national lottery programmes.
Visit the People and Places: Medium Grants page.
Visit the Community Action for the Environment page.
Nadia is the local representative for The National Lottery.
Email: Nadia.Bogdan@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.
The Ideas and Pioneers Fund supports people with unusual or radical ideas to improve the life chances and opportunities of people in the UK. Read more on the Paul Hamlyn Foundation website.
The WCVA have a streamlined application process for their new Active Inclusion COVID-19 programme. 80% of project costs can be grant funded, but 20% of the costs will need to be found by your organisation. The total costs of a project that could be funded are £25k. Applicants will need to be on the Approved Beneficiary List. For more information visit the WCVA’s page on its Active Inclusion Fund for Covid-19.
Has COVID-19 effected your local sport activity? You can now apply for a grant through Sport Wales’s Be Active Wales Fund to ensure your project survives the pandemic, or to prepare for your activity to restart safely. Visit the Be Active Wales Fund’s website.
The foundation’s Small Grants Scheme is designed to support charities registered and operating in the United Kingdom. It is especially for those working at a grassroots and local community level in places affected by COVID-19, in any field, across a wide range of activities.
Please note they are not able to support individuals. Online applications can be accepted from charities that have an annual turnover of less than £150k per annum. Larger or national charities will normally not be considered under this scheme. Their focus will be to make one-year grants only to:
Visit the Foyle Foundation’s Small Grants Scheme’s webpage.
The organisation is offering breakfast club grants. For more information, visit the Greggs Foundation page.
This fund is open to small and medium sized charities. Information is updated regularly. Visit the Lloyds Bank Recovery page.
This fund has been created to help Welsh charities continue with their operations during the COVID-19 crisis. Funding is for registered charities working in Wales to help with:
Moondance encourages only those who are truly in need to apply. Learn more on Moondance’s website.
Welsh Government and Sport Wales provide funding for community sport in Wales. Learn more on the Sport Wales grants page.
This fund will provide grants of up to £10k for specialist women’s organisations across the UK. The purpose of this first stage response fund is to provide quick and straightforward grants with very basic eligibility criteria. The organisation thinks it’s vitally important that this is an open call for women’s organisations to apply for what they identify as a short-term funding need.
There is no deadline for applications. Applications are considered on a rolling basis.
To apply, please read Rosa’s full guidance document before applying, and have a look through Rosa’s frequently asked questions. Please complete Rosa’s brief online application form outlining how you will use the funding. They’re keen to ensure the application process is as simple as possible, so please contact them at info@rosauk.org if you have any queries about submitting an application.
Tesco will be providing grants of up to £1k to support projects focused on local children and young people. Tesco Community Grants support local good causes that focus on helping children and families. Examples of eligible applications with a focus on supporting children and families could be:
Learn more on the Tesco Community Grants webpage.
For its autumn 2021 funding round, The Fore is offering 6 to 18 month grants of up to £15k. Grants are unrestricted, which has the potential to transform organisations. This could include helping organisations become more sustainable, more efficient, grow significantly, or enabling an organisation to take a major step forward. The Fore Trust see their grants as investments in the organisations they support. Find out more about the Fore Trust and apply.
There is a £100m fund for companies experiencing cash flow problems. Loans of between £5k and £250k are available at favourable interest rates. Visit the Development Bank of Wales’s website.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on towns and cities across the UK. The need to link business support to community need has never been more urgent. To meet this demand the National Business Response Network matches community needs with the right business support. You can be part of this too, helping to save and change lives through #COVID19. Here’s how:
Visit RCTCBC’s website for further information about their business grants.
Welsh Government Economic Resilience Fund
This is tailored to needs of each applicant in terms of amount, term and repayment profile. Visit the WCVA’s page on Social Investment Cymru.
Organisational Growth Grants, £30k to £50k
Administered by WCVA, the aim of the grants for organisational growth is to give organisations the chance to make a strategic impact and to increase resilience. For example they may enable you to:
To apply for an Organisational Growth Grant, you will need to register with WCVA’s Multipurpose Application Portal (MAP). If you have previously registered with MAP, you can log in by entering your username and password on the home screen.
Organisations can register by visiting the website map.wcva.cymru.
If you need help registering on MAP please follow this video.
If you would like to be inspired by activity funded under the pilot scheme of the Organisational Growth Grants you can download a summary of growth fund project achievements here.
Comic Relief’s Strategic Themes
All successful applications will demonstrate a contribution to one of Comic Relief’s four Strategic Themes:
Eligibility
Organisations with a socially focussed purpose and an income of less than £250k are eligible to apply. There is £900k available in total grants.
Timeframe
The application window is open from 19 April 2022, closing 27 June 2022.
The earliest activity can begin is the 22 August 2022 ending no later than 30 August 2023.
The WCVA administers this scheme. It is designed to deliver the Welsh Government’s commitment to identifying opportunities for more people to volunteer, through grants of up to £20k.
This year’s Volunteer Wales grant scheme will focus on 10-month interventions that tackle barriers to volunteering, giving a positive experience for the volunteer and a long-lasting impact on the community. They hope to do this by aligning the funding’s aims with the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015). Learn more on the WCVA’s webpage for the reopening of the grant.
Now open.
There are many open rounds this year. Themes include:
Learn more on the Postcode Community Trust’s webpage.
This fund supports communities in the Upper Rhondda Valleys and Upper Cynon Valley in RCT. At the moment, they are providing:
See the extent of the Pen-Y-Cymoedd area of benefit.
To discuss ideas, Kate Breeze and Michelle Nobel can be contacted by email via enquiries@penycymoeddcic.cymru or with either of the following mobile numbers:
Mobile: 07458 300 123.
Mobile: 07458 300 117.
You can also discuss proposals via the Supporting Communities Team:
Peter Hargreaves and his family set up this grant-making charitable foundation in 2020. Applications are open for organisations seeking funding to support people under 18 through the mediums of sport and education, who are:
Learn more on the Hargreaves Foundation’s website.
The programme provides grants (from £500 to £7k revenue or capital) to community organisations. This is to support projects in Welsh coalfield communities that create jobs, increase skills, improve health and wellbeing, broaden childcare provision or develop community facilities. A Wales Grant Assessment Panel meets quarterly. The first stage in the process is completing the Coalfields Community Grant Programme (Wales) Enquiry Form which you can download when you visit the Coalfields Community Grant website.
This is funding to:
View the Community Foundation in Wales’s webpage for Wales Grants Overview.
This charity provides grants for small and medium sized organisations in the UK to support projects and organisations’ running costs. Apply on Henry Smith’s website.
Read through their ‘Improving Lives Funding Guidelines’ and ‘Strengthening Communities Funding Guidelines’ for more information. You can also telephone 020 7264 4970 and ask to speak to a member of the Grants Team.
The Foundation supports a broad range of charities across the UK that make a positive difference. They fund a wide range of causes and charities and their grants vary according to the size of the charity and the work being undertaken. Visit the Garfield Weston Foundation’s website.
Active Communities is a funding programme for community groups and not-for-profit organisations with an income of less than £350k a year or an average of £350k over two years. Learn more about the People Health Trust on their website.
You can go back to this funder up to four times a year. As long as the current funding with them has been spent, all monitoring paperwork completed and returned, you can apply again. Without match funding, you could apply for up to £8k, or with match funding, the opportunity increases up to £50k. View more about the Welsh Church Act fund on Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council’s website.
This foundation provides single or multiyear grants between £7.5k and £60k for core costs, salaries, running and project costs. The amount requested must not be for more than 50% of the total cost. Learn more on the Trust House Charitable Foundation website.
This is a new fund from the national lottery community fund for Wales. Through supporting great ideas, grants will be made to organisations that support innovative and strategically important project ideas that encourage positive social change in Wales. Applications are sought that meet their revised priorities of:
The fund is ongoing. Learn more on the National Lottery Community Fund’s website.
For details of the Comic Relief Small Grants Scheme, see the ‘funding spotlight area’ at the top of this page.
Our Round 2 Micro Grant scheme is now open. Community groups can now apply for grants up to £500 to fund either revenue costs or small capital equipment to help your group. These grants can be used to fund activities in any of the following criteria:
We can also help new groups with setup costs, so please get in touch! To apply, please send an email to grants@interlinkrct.org.uk, with details of your project and how much you would like to apply for.
A big thanks to Ripple who will provide financial support through the Graig Fatha Wind Farm, the UK’S First Consumer Owned Wind Farm.
Managed and promoted by Community Foundation Wales, this fund is now open for applications. It’s designed for constituted community groups and voluntary organisations supporting people within Trivallis’s communities. To apply, your project must meet at least one of the following fund themes:
There are two types of grants available:
To read more about the fund, book a call with a grants officer, and apply online, please visit the Community Foundation Wales website.
The Blakemore Foundation Fund.
This currently offers four community based grant schemes. Find out more here on the Coalfields Regeneration Scheme’s website.
E: wales@coalfields-regen.org.uk.
T: 01495 367680.
The foundation has information about grants on its grants overview page. Visit the Community Foundation’s Fund for Wales website, or visit the Community Foundation in Wales’s grants overview page.
The Dwr Cymru Community Grant.
The foundation is offering grants of up to £25k to registered charities that make a positive difference in local communities. Learn more about the grants on the Morrisons Foundation’s website.
This fund remains open for business. It supports communities in the Upper Rhondda Valleys and Upper Cynon Valley in RCT. Pen-Y-Cymoedd have two funds:
See the extent of the Pen-Y-Cymoedd area of benefit.
To discuss ideas, Kate Breeze and Michelle Nobel can be contacted by email via enquiries@penycymoeddcic.cymru or with either of the following mobile numbers:
Mobile: 07458 300 123
Mobile: 07458 300 117
You can also discuss proposals via the Supporting Communities Team:
The Postcode Community Trust opens two times a year. Visit the Postcode Community Trust’s website.
The Rotary Club is providing grants of £300. See more information on the Rotary Club’s website.
This body will fully fund projects supporting the education sector up to £15k. First Campus are interested in hearing from organisations wanting to work with the most vulnerable learners, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds in South East Wales. Read more on the First Campus website.
Small grants of up to £2.5k are available to charities with a turnover below £1m specifically to improve their digital presence. The money isn’t for general IT expenditure, but for making a genuine impact through digital projects. Read more about The Fat Beehive fund on Funding Eye.
The foundation and Comic Relief have launched a ‘Tech for Good’ digital development fund called ‘Build’. Money will be available for not-for-profit organisations and partners to define, test and develop user-centred digital solutions that meet a social need linked to Comic Relief’s Social Change Strategy. Grants of up to £70k are available over nine months. Learn more on the Tech for Good news item on the Paul Hamlyn Foundation website.
Comic Relief Organisational Growth Grants
£30k to £50k.
Learn more via:
E: comicreliefgrants@wcva.cymru
W: Comic Relief’s Grants’ page on the WCVA’s website.
T: 0300 111 0124.
This organisation is a not-for-profit micro finance body who provide small business loans at fair rates. They even help out with the form filling. Learn more on the Purple Shoots website.
The government is funding employers to create job placements for 16 to 24 year olds. This allows you to employ bright youngsters who can further your organisation, and who would appreciate some support when beginning their careers in difficult times. See more on the UK government website.
In response to COVID-19, UnLtd have boosted their core awards programme for social entrepreneurs in Wales to ensure that support gets to where it’s most needed. There are awards from £500 to £15k across three separate start-up packages for social entrepreneurs in Wales:
Learn more on UnLtd’s website.
This means items that you can physically touch such as building work, equipment, and doors.
This programme gives grants from £500 to £7k revenue or capital to community organisations to support projects in Welsh coalfield communities that:
Read more on the Coalfields Community Trust’s website.
This programme is a capital grant scheme run by the Welsh Government. Grants are available at two levels:
Grants can be used to improve community facilities which are useful for and well-used by people in the community. The programme is open to community and voluntary sector organisations, including social enterprises. Its focus is on increasing opportunity, creating prosperity for all and developing resilient communities where people are engaged and empowered. All applicants are expected to work with partners which can come from the public, private or the third sectors. View more about the fund on the Community Facilities webpage.
The Welsh Church Act Fund is available to churches, chapels, places of public worship, constituted community groups and charities. They must be operating in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr or Bridgend county boroughs. Organisations must provide activities that have long term direct benefit to residents and communities in these areas and must be open to the general public.
The fund provides support for capital expenditure such as:
Visit RCTBCB’s page for the Welsh Church Act Fund.
These grants may be suitable for paying running costs.
See the ‘Capital’ section for information on the Community Coalfields Grant Programme, which may also be used for revenue.
This fund remains open. It makes unrestricted donations and grants for core costs as well as project costs. It has a simple one-stage application process and while a grant is not guaranteed, they very much like to hear from eligible charities. Visit the Garfield Weston foundation’s website for information on how to apply and what to include in an application.
This charity provides grants for small and medium sized organisations in the UK to support projects and organisations’ running costs.
Apply on Henry Smith’s website.
Read through their ‘Improving Lives Funding Guidelines’ and ‘Strengthening Communities Funding Guidelines’ for more information. You could also telephone 020 7264 4970 and speak to a member of the Grants Team.
A new round of funding is open for the foundation’s new set of impact goals. Their new goals are:
Read about the foundation’s new goals on their website and apply.
This is currently closed, but will reopen in autumn 2021.
Grants up to £5k are available towards specific projects or core activities that support:
Learn more and apply on the Thomas Wall Trust website.
Founded in 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales, In Kind Direct distributes consumer goods, donated by companies to UK charities working in the UK and overseas. They work with not-for-profit organisations and companies to help ensure that everyone has access to life’s essentials and that no usable product goes to waste. Visit In Kind Direct’s webpage.
This organisation believes that no good food should go to waste. This organisation redistributes surplus food to charities that turn it into meals.
This site provides free guides, support, and help for charities. There are thousands of links to free help, resources and toolkits for the charity sector, which includes a funder database. Register on the Charity Excellence website.
This organisation provides free management support for charities. Their programme HRNet provides free HR services to charities and social enterprises, with specific advice as well as a regular briefings on employment issues. To join HRNet, enquire via the Cranfield Trust’s website.
The trust’s ‘On Call’ service gives free telephone support to charities. You can talk to someone in confidence and get help with the immediate challenges you’re facing. To give you peace of mind, their experts and network of business volunteers are on-hand to answer your most pressing questions. The service is available to any charity with a primary purpose of addressing human welfare issues while meeting their eligibility criteria. One of their volunteers will have a one hour conversation with you to address any immediate problems.
For more information, enquire on the Cranfield Trust’s page for On Call, or phone 01794 830338.
Here is a Welsh language page about the Cranfield Trust’s work in Wales.
Grants are available to help small and medium sized BAME groups and their communities build wellbeing, resilience and capacity through various projects. Funding ranges from £500 to £10k. Learn more on the African Health Policy Network website.
Carers Grant
Deadline: noon 30/05/22.
Grants of £5k, £10k or £55k are available to support carers of all ages in the community. Your project aims should include ‘supporting unpaid carers when the person they care for is discharged from hospital’.
Learn more about applying on the ASDA Foundation’s website.
This organisation provide grants, advice and support to enable local food partnerships to:
They are offering a few development grants to places interested in, or already beginning to develop, a food partnership across a local authority area in Wales. For full details on the focus and eligibility criteria for these grants, please download the application form from the Sustainable Food Places website.
This body runs a competition which is open to community-based health and wellbeing charities. It recognises innovation, success and achievements for existing health work. There are multiple prizes of up to £40k, with mentoring available too. Read more on The King’s Fund’s website.
This organisation is currently offering funding for:
All applications will have to show how the funding will make a difference to children and young people’s lives during the pandemic. The priorities are projects tackling abuse, isolation and access to services. Applicants are advised to read the eligibility criteria carefully on the Children in Need’s website, where applications can also be made. The small grants are up to £10k per year for three years, and the main grant is over £10k for three years.
Has COVID-19 effected your local sports activity? You can now apply for a grant through Sport Wales’s ’Be Active Wales Fund‘ in order to ensure your sport offer survives the pandemic, or to help you prepare for your activity to restart safely.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust delivers the Game On Wales programme. Its aim is to get more young people (13 to 19) from Welsh Coalfield communities to play sport. They fund sports kit to a maximum value of £500. Read the Game on Gear Application Form and Guidance Notes.
Schools and Community groups within the UK can apply for grants of between £300 and £1.5k. The money is for getting communities and young people involved in tree and hedge planting and care this winter. The funding is being made available through the Tree Council’s Branching Out Fund. Applications will be considered as they are received and applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application within four weeks.
There is no deadline for applications, but applicants must ensure that they can plan and execute their project, and claim the funding upon completion. Learn more on the Tree Council’s website.
This fund has grants of up to £10k available for projects which are working to create resilient rural communities. Learn more on the Prince’s Countryside Fund’s website.
Visit Dwr Cymru’s website to learn more about their Biodiversity Grant.
Applications are now open for The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Welsh Government’s new grant programmes helping communities to look after the natural world. Read more about the Lottery Heritage Fund on their website.
NRW offer grant funding opportunities for individuals and organisations seeking to run projects that:
NRW offer three types of grant funding:
Visit NRW’s grant funding page for more information.
Read NRW’s bi-annual newsletter which has several funding schemes.
Visit the Arts Council of Wales’s funding page.
Visit the Foyle Foundation’s Small Grants Scheme’s webpage.
Visit Esmee Fairbairn’s website.
Visit Esmee Fairbairn’s webpage for Creative Confident Communities.
Grants of up to £5k are available to registered charities from Help the Homeless. These are for capital projects to assist homeless people to rebuild their lives and return to the community. Applications must relate to projects that assist individuals in their return to the community, rather than simply offering shelter or other sustenance. Click for more information on Help the Homeless’s website.
To have the best chance of securing funding for your projects, contact us for advice. We can provide dedicated support across a host of areas from sustainable funding to good governance.
Interlink RCT
T: 01443 846200.
An archive of our funding, training and governance bulletins