The Creative Foundations Fund is an open-access capital fund that supports creative and cultural organisations in England in revitalising, restoring, retrofitting, or renewing cultural assets, including urgent work to address issues which prevent organisations from effectively delivering work for the public. 

Applicants must demonstrate that the investment in buildings and equipment is business-critical to delivering creative or cultural activity, minimising the risk of asset failure and increasing the economic sustainability of the creative and cultural sectors. 

The fund is split into two strands with separate ‘How to apply’ guides:

• How to Apply (Strand 1): for grants of £100,000 up to and including £1 million.

• How to Apply (Strand 2): for grants above £1 million up to and including £10 million.

You can submit one Expression of Interest to either Strand 1 or 2 (not both), except for statutory and other public bodies that run or maintain cultural services, where they are applying for separate projects in different locations. 

Deadline for submitting initial online interest application form is noon Friday 25 July

The GM VCFSE Early Years Network aims to promote, connect and develop the early years family support offer across Greater Manchester and supports the overarching aims:

• Building VCFSE capacity to develop the family and peer support offer aimed at families and young children (0-5) in GM – with a particular focus on addressing inequalities and inequities that impact health, wellbeing and development

• Strengthening collaboration between the VCFSE organisations who support GM children to have the best start in life.

Convening a GM VCFSE Early Years Network will place a focus on the importance of the VCFSE contribution to the first 1001 days, Start Well, Family Hubs, School Readiness, Perinatal and Parent Infant Mental Health agendas. It will also connect and strengthen links with relevant strategic locality boards and wider GM activity e.g. Live Well

Members of the network will work to promote inclusion and tackle inequalities which impact on the development and wellbeing of babies and toddlers. Members will receive a contribution to their organisation in exchange for their time, expertise and contribution. 

The Nurture Microgrant fund aims to promote, connect and develop the early years family support offer across Greater Manchester and supports the overarching aims:

• Supporting VCFSE capacity to develop the family support and peer support offer aimed at families and young children (0-5) in GM – with a particular focus on addressing inequalities and inequities that impact health, wellbeing and development

• Strengthening collaboration between the VCFSE organisations, who support children to start well in GM, and the wider system.

The priority of the Nurture Microgrant fund is to support the wellbeing and development of children from conception 0-5 and / or benefits children 0-5 by supporting their families.

Applications are welcome for projects which provide direct support for families with a focus on one or more of the following:

• Children experiencing adversity

• Communication, speech and language

• Play and development

• Positive Parent Infant relationships

The Safe Start Baby Bank Delivery Grant aims to strengthen the capacity of Baby Banks and increase the sustainability of their delivery to ensure every baby born has their essential needs met and can start life well in GM.  The fund is designed to enable GM Baby Banks to effectively deliver the Moses Basket Bundles to families via a referral process. 

Families caring for disables or seriously ill young adults aged between 18-24, living at home are invited to apply directly.

Families must be on a low income from work, or benefits such as Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit etc and the young adult for who they are applying for needs to have a high level of support needs in three of the following areas, Personal care, supervision and vigilance, access to social activities, education/vocational training/communication, therapy and medical treatment, specialist resources and the physical environment.

Funding is allocated on a first come, first served basis until funding is fully allocated.

A collaboration between Findarace and Run The World, offers quarterly grants of up to £1,000 to UK grassroots projects that promote physical activity, particularly in disadvantaged or underserved communities.

Find out more about the Go Far Fund.

Offers small grants up to £250 and large grants up to £3,000 for UK-based community projects focusing on education, environment, youth, and disabilities.

The next deadlines are 30th June for small grants and 31st July for large grants.

Find out more about Ford Britain Trust.

Grants of between £500 and £2,000 are available for freelance and independent artists across Greater Manchester. The fund is to support a range of projects from musicians who would benefit from a new instrument or a small group who needs funds to replace costumes or a freelance artist who wishes to upskill via a training course. Round 4 is open from 28th March until 28th April. Round 5 opens 29th September until midday Friday 31st October.

Find out more about the fund.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have announced that the Hong Kong BN(O) Welcome Programme has been re-funded for a 5th year. This announcement includes continued funding to the North West RSMP to deliver the North West Welcome Hub as well as continue our work funding vital projects and programmes across the region supporting BN(O) visa holders.

The Government is continuing to fund the following key elements of the Welcome Programme:

• Demand-led funding for local authorities in England to provide English language and destitution support. Funding for English language support will be available for the first three years that a BN(O) is in the UK – this is a change in eligibility for the English language funding and the attached updated guidance has also been produced by Government;

• Funding for the 12 Welcome Hubs across the UK;

• Funding for the Hate Crime Reporting Service for BN(O)s and ESEA communities. There will be a reduction in the operating hours for the service with details to be confirmed; and,

• Funding for the mental health and wellbeing project being delivered by Barnardo’s until September 2025.

Information is also available on the RSMP website or on the Gov.uk BN(O) webpage

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced that people in the UK will benefit from upgraded sports facilities in their local area backed by £100 million of government funding.

The funding is expected to support new and improved pitches, changing rooms, goalposts and floodlights to improve access to sport and physical activity for local communities. The funding will be targeted at deprived areas and support greater access and participation levels among under-represented people including women and girls, ethnic minority groups and disabled players.

Clubs and organisations in the UK are now being urged to come forward and apply for funding. Applications can be made in England via the Football Foundation on an ongoing basis. The first tranche of beneficiaries are expected to be confirmed in summer 2025.

These grants aim to:
– Enable smaller grass-roots groups to develop a delivery record
– Tackle health and wellbeing issues in communities
– Undermine the wider social determinants of health that impact in communities
– Build capacity and resilience across the VCSE sector.

Their grant awards are either:
Micro grants – £50 to £500
Small grants – £500 – £2500

The grants are expected to be delivered within 12 months of the award - it may be a one off event or a project that runs for 1 to 12 months.

Find out more here.

Alongside their national funding round, they are also running two regional rounds in Summer 2025:

• North West funding round (for organisations based in the North West of England, which includes the counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside)

• South West funding round (for organisations based in Cornwall)

Successful applicants will receive:

• An unrestricted grant: Up to £30,000, spread across 1 to 3 years

• Access to skills and networks: Including peer support and pro bono support from experienced professionals

• Access to training: Through our workshops programme and fully funded impact measurement support courses

Who they fund:

• Registered Charities, Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs), Community Interest Companies (CICs) limited by guarantee, and Charitable Community Benefit Societies (CBSs)/Non-Charitable CBSs with an asset lock

• Your annual revenue should be less than £500,000

What they fund: 

They offer unrestricted funding to help your organisation grow, become more sustainable, efficient, or resilient. We are interested in organisational development, and we believe that by asking you and your charity what you need, our grants will create a transformational impact on your organisation. 

You can find examples of what they have previously funded here.

Find out more here.

They are hosting an online Q&A session on Tuesday 18th March, 12pm to 1pm. If you want to hear more from The Fore team about their application process and pose your own questions before you register your interest in applying, you can sign up here. If you can’t make it on the day, please still register if you would like to receive the recording.

Lloyds local collaborations funding programme will open soon for its second round. Through this fund, they will award grants to 15 collaborations across England and Wales looking to influence change around one of three themes:

• accommodation

• social security

• support for refugees and asylum seekers

Collaborations can apply for £100k over 2 years initially and will be able to access development support. Find out what this support looks like. 

When the programme launches you will have the opportunity to join a webinar to find out more and talk to one of our team about your proposal before you apply. 

In the meantime, take a look at what they've already funded through the programme and read the blog from a local charity leading a collaboration.

Grants and technical expertise are available to non-profit organisations, civic entities, academic institutions, and social enterprises from the UK and worldwide to build socially impactful gen AI-powered solutions across Google.org’s three focus areas:

• Knowledge, Skills, and Learning

• Scientific Advancement

• Resilient Communities.

They are offering up to equivalent of USD £500k-2M, and pro bono assistance from Google employees, technical training, and access to Google Cloud credits.

Find out more here.

The programme is open to all schools, registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, with priority given to projects that provide food and support to young people.

Buttle UK provide individually tailored grants of up to £2,400 for children and young people who have experienced a crisis that has recently had a significant and enduring impact on their wellbeing and educational engagement.

They only accept applications from frontline professionals working for a registered charity, housing association or public sector organisation.

There is a list of things they WON’T fund, including where the main reason is disability, ongoing serious illness or the additional needs of a child.

There is no deadline for applications - find out more here.

Grants are available for organisations undertaking charitable projects focusing on literacy teaching for children with learning difficulties, including dyslexia, in the UK.

Applications are always open, for further information on how to obtain this fund, please contact the following: Tel: 020 7410 0330 Email: info@sfct.org.uk

UK Small Grants provides grants of up to £10,000 to help support families, children and young people in the UK with complex disabilities and/or life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.

The Trust seeks to bring about better lives for children and their families through a broad mix of research, advocacy, service delivery and innovation.

The programme is open to applications at any time. They aim to respond to your application with a final decision within eight weeks but this can sometimes take longer.

The Trust makes donations of between £250 – £3,500 in the Greater Manchester area, specifically to benefit smaller charities. They are particularly interested in assisting:

• Organisations for young people e.g. scouts, guides, youth organisations

• Provision for the sick and disabled

• Assistance for groups providing for the elderly and disadvantaged members of society

• Support for educational initiatives by arts organisations particularly for children and young people

• Community associations; and Organisations providing services for people in Greater Manchester.

There is no deadline, however, only one application will be accepted from an organisation within a two year period.

Grants of up to £30k for the prevention or relief of poverty, education, health or the saving of lives, and the arts, culture, heritage, or science.

The secondary charitable purposes of the Trust are citizenship or community development; amateur sport; environmental protection or improvement; and the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship, or other disadvantage.

Applications to the trust are reviewed quarterly. Quarterly cut offs are 30 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December each year.