WCVA Launches New Sustainability Fund (Wales)

The Welsh Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) has announced the launch of a new fund to help community groups achieve sustainability. Managed and administered by WCVA and funded by the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) in Wales, the Sustainable Funding Cymru (SFC) initiative will give groups financial support to visit another organisation to learn about their first hand experiences and the key issues to consider when attempting to achieve financial sustainability. As well as contributing a maximum of £200 towards organisations' out of pocket expenses such as time and travel, the initiative will also pay the host organisation a consultancy fee of up to £200 for the time spent with its visitors. Applications must be submitted before 5 pm on Monday the 30th June 2008....
http://www.sustainablefundingcymru.org.uk/


Opportunities for Volunteering 2009- 2010 (England)

Volunteering England has announced that it will shortly be advertising its Opportunities for Volunteering grant scheme shortly. Opportunities for Volunteering (OFV) is a Department of Health initiative which provides grants to local health and social care organisations in England. OFV grants aim to enable organisations to involve volunteers in the delivery of their services. Approximately £6.7 million is distributed every year to over 300 local projects. Volunteering England is one of 16 national charities that distribute OFV grants on behalf of the Department of Health. These organisations are known as national agents. If you wish to apply for an OFV grant you must apply to the most appropriate national agent. Applying to the wrong agent could affect your chances of securing funding. A list of National Agents can be downloaded at http://www.volunteering.org.uk/WhatWeDo/Funding/ofvfunding/nationalagents.htm ....
http://www.volunteering.org.uk/WhatWeDo/Funding/ofvfunding/index.htm


Andy Ludlow Homelessness Awards 2008 (London)

London Councils has announced that the Andy Ludlow Homelessness Awards will open for applications on the 1st May 2008. A total of £26,000 will be available for groups tackling homelessness in London. The Andy Ludlow Awards recognise projects that improve services to homeless people, prevent homelessness, or tackle disadvantage caused by homelessness. The awards are open to housing and social service departments, registered social landlords, NHS trusts, and voluntary organisations. Last year, the winner received an award of £10,000 and three runners-up an award of £5,000. The closing date for applications is the 10th June 2008....
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/cat.asp?cat=2424


Irish Youth Foundation (UK)

Organisations in the UK that work to improve the lives of Irish children and young people are able to apply for funding of between £500 and £25,000 (£5,000 in Northern Ireland). The Foundation supports a wide range of activities including help for the homeless; employment and training schemes; combating domestic violence and discrimination; help for young offenders; and educational, cultural and social activities, etc. Projects funded in the past include promoting Gaelic Games to socially deprived young people in the West Midlands; promoting play and youth provision for young Irish travellers and supporting Irish Arts & Education programmes, etc. The Foundation provides funding for a wide range of projects including; training/Counselling; drug rehabilitation; advice/advocacy; youth work; family support; homelessness; educational, cultural & social activities; cross-community initiatives; travellers; and disability. Grant Application forms for funding in 2009 will be available for downloading from Monday 6 October 2008. The deadline for submissions will be Friday 5 December 2008....
http://www.iyf.org.uk/grants.html


Hilton in The Community Foundation (UK)

Organisations that work with young people have the opportunity to apply for grants of up to £50,000 per year through the Hilton Foundation. During 2006, the Foundation made grants totalling over £1.3m to numerous organisations including registered charities and schools for activities and projects that meet one of the Foundation's three chosen areas of focus; Young People - Education; Young People - Health; and Disaster Relief and International Fund. Previously supported projects by the Foundation have included the Palmer Junior School, which received a grant of £2,740 to help send 11 young people on a school field trip, who could otherwise not afford it and Express Link-Up, which received a grant of £10,000 for the provision of 25 laptops and IT equipment to encourage continued education for long-term sick children in hospitals. . The next closing date for applications is the 6th May 2008 followed by the 4th August 2008....
http://www.hilton-foundation.org.uk/home.htm


Housing Boost for Key Workers (England)

A major package of new measures to support key workers such as nurses and teachers and other first time buyers into affordable homeownership, has been announced by the Government. New cash grants of £1,500 will be offered to key workers who take up a shared equity loan under the Government's Open Market Homebuy scheme (OMHB). To help increase long term housing supply, the Government is also confirming the locations of surplus public sector land sites that will provide 30,000 new homes, many of which will be affordable. The new grants will help key workers taking up OMHB with the costs associated with setting up a new home such as solicitor's charges, fees, and furniture. More than £3 million has initially been earmarked for the first wave of grants. Under OMHB, key workers can boost their purchasing power by up to 50 per cent following the launch of two new shared equity mortgage products announced in the budget. This means a household with an income of £32,000 could afford a house of £200,000, paying £760 each month - as opposed to £1,350 without the scheme....
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/741228


£18 million Funding Boost for the Film Industry in the Regions (England)

The UK Film Council has announced that it will be investing a total of £18 million over the next two years in the English regions to help them boost their local film industries and open up access for the public to our screen heritage. This support will come from two pots of funding. £15.4 million will be allocated to the regional screen agencies over the next two years (£7.7 million per year to the nine Regional Screen Agencies) through the Regional Investment Fund for England (RIFE). In addition, £2.7 million Digital Archive Fund from Lottery cash to help unlock the nation's rich screen heritage. Each region will receive £300,000 through this fund over the next two years. The nine Regional Screen Agencies have responsibility for creating clear film strategies for their specific regions and provide funding for production, screen commissions, cinema exhibition, training, archives and education....
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/13745


Government Confirms Funding for New Deal for Communities in 2008-09 (England)

The Government has announced that deprived communities across the country will receive over two hundred million pounds of New Deal for Communities funding in 2008-09. This money will be paid through established neighbourhood partnerships to help boost job opportunities, raise educational achievements and reduce levels of crime. New Deal for Communities is a key programme in the Government's strategy to tackle multiple deprivation in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. Its aim is to bridge the gap between these neighbourhoods and the rest of England. The Government announced that the total sum of £230m had been allocated among the existing 39 New Deal for Communities Partnerships for spending in 2008-09. This would take the NDC programme into the final years of the Government approved 10 year delivery plans....
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/743404