Interlink provide a range of small grants to support community-led organisations. To find out about our current funding, please email us to lets us know what ideas you have and what you need the money for to grants@interlinkrct.org.uk or call 01443 846200.
This fund supports communities in the Upper Rhondda Valleys and Upper Cynon Valley in RCT. See the extent of the Pen-Y-Cymoedd area of benefit.
Great ideas can sometimes be realised by the injection of relatively small sums of money at the right time – on a one-off basis. The Micro Fund offers one-off grants up to £5,000 to support important aspects of community life and to support enterprise development. This could include, for example: buying small items of equipment; minor capital works; activities, events and projects; business development and start-ups; pilot projects.
Micro Grants can help cover the costs of community events, give the finishing touch to a larger scheme or can be the stimulus to a start-up; they can help publicise a service or support feasibility studies to develop bigger schemes. Grants have an upper limit of £5,000 but we expect many awards to be for smaller sums, and we actively invite those applications.
There are two Micro Grant Fund strands opening in January 2023:
Micro Fund: Community – for voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, community and town councils, and school PTAs.
Micro Fund: Micro Business – for those looking to develop or start up an enterprise.
The Vision Fund is for capital and/or revenue projects valuing over £5k. It remains open and the first step for anyone interested in contacting Interlink or the the Pen-Y-Cymoedd team.
To discuss your ideas, please contact communityadvice@interlinkrct.org.ukor call o1443 846200.
Kate Breeze and Michelle Nobel can also be contacted by email via enquiries@penycymoeddcic.cymru or with either of the following mobile numbers:
Mobile: 07458 300 123
Mobile: 07458 300 117
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.
Groups can apply to us for funding under £10,000, or over £10,000, depending on what they want to do. Email:Nadia.Bogdan@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk.
The Be Active Wales Fund offers grants from £300 to £50,000 based on how funding will make a difference for your club, organisation or people in your community and meet at least one of the following:
• reduce inequality
• create long-term sustainability
• introduce new or different ways of operating
You are eligible if you’re a not-for-profit club or community organisation in Wales with a project that:
• has not yet started
• not only for the benefit of pupils of a school where the project takes place
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 any field, across a wide range of activities. Online applications can be accepted from charities that have an annual turnover of less than £150k per annum.
Our focus will be to make one-year grants only, to cover core costs, projects, essential equipment or building projects. Our priority will be to support local charities still active in their communities which are currently delivering services to the young, vulnerable, elderly, disadvantaged or the general community.
Visit the Foyle Foundation’s Small Grants Scheme’s webpage.
Moondance encourages only those who are truly in need to apply. Learn more on Moondance’s website.
Rosa Small Grants
Voices from the Frontline funds organisations led by, for and with women and girls, supporting campaigning and influencing work that enables women and girls to use their voice to achieve change. GRANT SIZES: £500 – £7,000. READ MORE.
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 Grants are open to charities and community organisations to apply for a grant of up to £1,500. Every three months, three local good causes are selected to be in the blue token customer vote in Tesco stores throughout the UK. Learn more on the Tesco Community Grants webpage.
The Fore offers unrestricted grants of up to £30,000 spread over 1-3 years which have the potential to have a transformational impact on an organisation. Our funding might help your organisation to grow, increase your internal capacity, serve new beneficiary groups, become more sustainable or more efficient – we just want you to be able to be better at what you do. We see our grants as investments in the organisations we support – unlike many funders, we do not fund project based work. We look to make grants that will strengthen organisations for the longer term. The Fore encourages applications from small organisations working with marginalised groups and led by people in the community that may have found it hard to access trust and foundation funding in the past. We want to be different. Our funding process is specifically designed to level the playing field and give no advantage to those with fundraising experience or connections. Find out more about the Fore Trust and apply.
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.
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 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.
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.
Empowering Local Communities Grant is for local groups aimed at supporting a broad range of activities which contribute towards transforming communities and improving lives. Groups supporting refugees arriving to the UK are also welcomed to apply under this grant. The application window is 19th September – 11th November.
U18 Better Starts Grant for local groups aimed at supporting a broad range of activities for children under the age of 18 which contribute towards transforming communities and improving children’s lives. The application window is 19th September – 11th November. Read the guidance and if your group and project meet the criteria, talk to your local Asda Community Champion about applying. Find out more on Asda Foundation Grants
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.
Often have several funding programmes open at any one time. before you apply, it is important that you choose the one which is right for you and your organisation. 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.
Offers grants from £300 to £50,000 based on how funding will make a difference for your club, organisation or people in your community and meet at least one of the following:
• reduce inequality
• create long-term sustainability
• introduce new or different ways of operating
You are eligible if you’re a not-for-profit club or community organisation in Wales with a project that:
• has not yet started
• not only for the benefit of pupils of a school where the project takes place
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.
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.
Programme
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