As we enter a new phase of the pandemic, charity leaders and trustees are having to adapt their organisations, and quickly. Our most recent (and upcoming) webinars are packed with expert advice to help you make the right decisions under pressure.
A quick reminder that the government’s emergency covid-19 support grants are available to apply for.
And #SmallCharityWeek starts on Monday. Here’s what we’re doing and some resources
The Christmas Challenge is the largest online match funding campaign, raising over £15m for nearly 600 charities in December 2019. Each year we have millions of pounds of match funding from our Champions on offer to charities, enabling them to double donations to campaigns they support on the Big Give platform. The Christmas Challenge each year opens on #GivingTuesday, which in 2020 will be 1st December and runs for 7 days. Applications are now open for charities who wish to participate.
We are hosting a webinar on the Christmas Challenge and how it can help your charity – this will include a short presentation by us, followed by a Q&A session – on Friday 19th June at 11am. If you want to find out more about the Christmas Challenge or ask us a question, please visit the Eventbrite page to sign up to attend. (Please note: there are only spaces for 100 attendees, so please sign up as soon as possible if you are interested – if you are unable to attend, we will be recording the webinar and putting it up on our YouTube channel)
See what charities who took part in the 2019 Christmas Challenge have to say about their experience of the campaign and we have also written a guest blog for #GivingTuesday on what makes a successful campaign.
To apply for Christmas Challenge 2020:
1. Log in or sign up for Big Give account
2. Click on Big Give Campaigns
3. Click on Apply now for Christmas Challenge 2020
Deadline for the stage 1 application is 5pm Friday 3rd July. The deadline to collect the pledges is 5pm Friday 28th August. Remember you can start collecting your pledges as soon as you have submitted your stage 1 application, so the sooner that is submitted, the more time you have to collect the pledges.
In response to the Coronavirus, the Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust have reviewed their grant criteria to enable them to spread their funds as widely as possible to help those with greatest need. The Trust awards grants to UK registered charities or organisations that are exempt from registration with projects that address specific categories set out by the Trust each year. The next round of funding will be aimed at supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable people aged 60 and over affected by the crisis. UK registered charities with an income and expenditure of £1,000,000 and over will be able to apply for grants of £1,000 to continue their much-needed support. The next round of funding will be open for applications from the 1st of July 2020 through to the 31st July 2020. Click here
The Foyle Foundation has re-opened its Small Grants Scheme to support smaller, grass-roots and local charities across the UK during the Covid-19 crisis. Organisations which are currently delivering services to the young, vulnerable, elderly, disadvantaged or the general community either directly or through online support can apply for grants of between £1,000 and £10,000. Funding can be used to cover core costs or essential equipment, to enable ongoing service provision, homeworking, or delivery of online digital services for charities with a turnover of less than £150,000 per annum that can show financial stability and a clear need for their services. Competition for funding is expected to be strong. Applications can be submitted at any time. Click here
Charities, social enterprises and community interest companies have until the 31st July 2020 to apply to the Woodward Charitable Trust to have their project considered at the next Trustees meeting. Grants from £100 upwards are awarded for projects covering the Arts; Community and Social Welfare; Disability and Health; Education and Summer Schemes. Preference is given to small to medium-sized charities where small grants can have more impact. Priority is given to projects that make good use of volunteers, encourage past and current users to participate and ensure that funds awarded are being well used. Click here
The long-awaited Coronavirus Community Support Fund, made up of £200m of the £750m promised by government 6 weeks ago, has finally launched. You can read DSC’s response to the launch and how to apply here, but get your skates on, applications need to be in as soon as possible! Find out more.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Comic Relief have announced a new digital funding strand to their joint Tech for Good programme. The aim is to help charities and not-for-profit organisations deliver better services for their communities through technology. The £230,000 Explore programme will provide grant funding of £5,000 for individual organisations or £7,500 for collaborative projects. A 12-week support programme will also be provided to explore how digital technology could transform the ways they work. Support will include access to an online curriculum, one-to-one support calls, and virtual community meet-ups. Applications should address one of Comic Relief’s core themes: Children Survive & Thrive; Fighting for Gender Justice; A Safe Place to Be; Global Mental Health Matters. The deadline for applications is 12pm on the 22nd June 2020. Click here
The UK Government has announced £150 million of funding is to be made available from dormant bank and building society accounts to help charities, social enterprises and vulnerable individuals impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The release of £71 million from the government’s dormant assets scheme will be accelerated alongside £79 million already recouped that will be made available to help charities’ coronavirus response and recovery. The funding will support urgent work to tackle youth unemployment, expand access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and help improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances. The Government is also looking into expanding the dormant assets scheme to include a range of financial assets from the insurance and pensions, investment and wealth management, and securities sectors. Click here
The UK Government has introduced £600 million of funding to tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes. The Infection Control Fund will be allocated to local authorities to ensure that care homes can continue to take the necessary measures to prevent and stop the spread of the virus within their sites by restricting permanent and agency staff to working in only one care home wherever possible. Funding will be used to help providers pay for additional staff and/or maintain the normal wages of staff on reduced hours or those self-isolating. Other measures could include recruitment, putting staff up in hotels if they opt to isolate from their own households, and paying for taxis to avoid staff having to use public transport. Click here
Independent Age provides advice and support for older age people. In recognition of the fact that our older generation will be one of the groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the trustees have released £2 million of funds to help smaller organisations across the UK working with older people hardest hit by the virus. Independent Age will run four rounds of funding, in each of which £500,000 will be made available for grants of up to £15,000 per application. Applications for the first round of funding opened yesterday, 18 May, with a closing date of 9am, 4 June, with two key priorities:
Decisions on applications will be made by 19 June. Dates for the three subsequent rounds can be found here; and further information on eligibility and how to apply are here.
sobus
20 Dawes Road, London, SW6 7EN
Telephone 020 7952 1230
Email info@sobus.org.uk
Registered Charity No.1071089
and Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No.03471416
Sobus is a new Community Development Agency for Hammersmith & Fulham. It has been created through the merger of the Community and Voluntary Sector Association Hammersmith & Fulham (CaVSA) and the Fulham Community Partnership Trust (FCPT). Building on the strengths of both organisations, sobus aims to provide a wider range of support services for local charities, community groups, social enterprises and start up businesses.
