Find out information on available Grant Schemes below:

Local Community Foundations – emergency funds and other general grants

Check your local Community Foundation for information about their latest funding pots:

• Foundation Derbyshire
• Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation
• Lincolnshire Community Foundation
• Northamptonshire Community Foundation
• Nottinghamshire Community Foundation

Comic Relief Community Fund

The Comic Relief Community Fund is supporting community-led organisations with an income of less than £250,000 to deliver projects within four strategic themes. It will provide grants of up to £10,000, supporting project delivery and organisational capacity building, helping organisations flourish. The funding is split as follows:

• Up to £1,000 for capacity building
• Up to £9,000 for project delivery

We will fund applications from grassroots, community-led organisations that can demonstrate how people with lived experience of the issues being tackled are involved in the organisation and the project. Applications must sit within one of the four key themes:

• A Safe Place To Be: Supporting people to rebuild their lives because of homelessness or forced migration. We want to support projects that help people to recover from homelessness or those who have been forced from their homes to have access to the help they need to start a new life, free from conflict persecution or trafficking.

• Children Survive & Thrive: Every child has the right to the best start in life. We want to support projects aimed at children up to the age of 11 that break the cycle of inequity and inequality. This includes projects that boost a child’s development, improve access to quality relevant, non-formal education and training, as well as initiatives that protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse and build confidence and belief in their ability to improve their opportunities in life.

• Fighting Gender Justice: Supporting safety and equality for women and girls. We are looking for projects that support people who identify as women and girls to be safe, healthy, educated and independent. This includes initiatives that help women and girls take control over their lives, and reduce gender-based violence while shifting public attitudes and improving understanding of the influence of gender norms on choices and life outcomes.

• Mental Health Matters: Supporting better mental health in your community. We want to support projects that improve and increase access to mental health support, especially for those from marginalised groups. We hope to support alternative, community-based approaches. We welcome projects that contribute to change, help shift attitudes and tackle stigma and discrimination.

The programme is being delivered by Groundwork, and more details can be found at their website https://www.groundwork.org.uk/comic-relief/

Lloyds Bank Foundation – Building a Better Future – New Strategy 2022-26

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales unveiled ‘Building a Better Future’, a five-year strategy prioritising equity, diversity and inclusion, and committing to helping small charities become more resilient, communities to grow stronger, and people to overcome complex issues and barriers so they can transform their lives. In ‘Building a Better Future’, the Foundation acknowledges the barriers people face because of their gender, ethnicity, nationality, and disability, which it says are worsened for people dealing with complex issues that don’t have simple solutions, such as homelessness or domestic abuse

Building on learnings from its Reaching Further strategy, a learning report published on its website, the Foundation’s 2022-26 plan will focus on small, local, and specialist charities with an income of £25,000 – £500,000. It states that because of their size and in-depth understanding of the communities they serve, these charities are best placed to reach, engage, and support people and where the Foundation’s combination of unrestricted funding and capacity-building support will have the greatest impact.

By supporting these charities – which it argues are too often underfunded, under pressure and underrepresented – with flexible, unrestricted grants of £75,000 over three years, Lloyds Bank Foundation will provide charities with greater stability and freedom to use funds as they see best, particularly in the current climate. Over the last two years, Lloyds Bank Foundation has worked to address racial inequity and it builds on this commitment by allocating at least 25 per cent of its core funding to charities led by and for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Another 25 per cent will be committed to charities led by and for D/deaf and disabled people. The Foundation is working closely with charities led by and for these communities on developing these programmes ahead of launching next year.

Recognising the challenges facing small charities, people and communities, the Foundation will also increase its capacity development offer, which helps charities build and strengthen skills and knowledge so they can set and achieve their objectives and secure funding elsewhere. The capacity development program also maximises the Foundation’s partnership with Lloyds Banking Group, which brings together individuals and teams from the Group to offer volunteering opportunities, mentoring and skills sharing with charities the Foundation supports.

The Foundation will continue to work with organisations across civil society to influence policy and practice, focusing on seeking to secure change in three critical issues for people and charities: improving the availability of accommodation, the operation of the welfare system, and the support provided to refugees and asylum seekers.

To create more space and opportunities for charities to work together and with other partners at the local level, the Foundation will also launch a distinct funding and support programme encouraging impactful partnerships to help influence local systems, practices, and policy and improve people’s lives. Details of how to get involved in this work will be announced next year.

The Foundation will continue partnering with six communities across England and Wales to support long-term transformational change.

For more details on this and to read the new strategy head to the Lloyds Bank Foundation website. Our 2022-2026 strategy: Building a Better Future (lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk)