Eligible organisations delivering critical services, which have experienced an increase in demand and delivery costs due to cost of living challenges, can apply for the funding before October’s deadline.
What is it for?
The fund will offer grants to charitable and community organisations to help with the increased demand for existing critical frontline services or increased delivery costs. Organisations must run existing services that include food and emergency supplies such as food banks, emergency shelter, safe spaces such as domestic abuse services, warmth services, or financial and housing advice. This could be a one-stop-shop model where people can access multiple services, or cover individual services separately.
How much is available?
Organisations can apply for grants between £10,000 and £75,000 through the Cost of Living Fund. Those seeking to apply for less than £10,000 are encouraged to apply for the National Lottery Awards for All Fund instead.
What is covered?
Grants are to cover the costs of an organisation delivering, expanding or adapting their existing critical services from the date they are funded to 31 March next year. Grants may also cover retrospective costs of running existing critical services between 24 July this year and the date they are funded. All successful applicants must spend the funding by 31 March 2024.
Who is eligible?
Applicants must be organisations that already run frontline critical services, and must also be facing increased demand for services and increased delivery costs due to rising living costs.
Small- and medium-sized organisations with an annual turnover of between £10,000 and £1m are more likely to be funded, though larger organisations can apply if they can show they work closely and effectively with local communities and that they fill a gap in essential local services.
Applicants must be a registered charity, a charitable incorporated organisation, a non-profit company limited by a guarantee, a community interest company, a community benefit society or a co-operative society.
Applicants must have at least two board or committee members who are not related to one another.
Who is not eligible?
Applications will not be accepted from individuals, schools, sole traders, unincorporated associations, statutory bodies or organisations that try to make profits and share them privately.
Other requirements?
Organisations that work with children, young people or vulnerable adults must have a policy in place that explains how they will keep them safe. If successful in their application, organisations must comply with the National Lottery Community Fund’s safeguarding policy.
What will be considered?
The fund aims to support a range of critical services that reach as many local communities and groups of people as possible. It will also consider the impact that the increased cost of living has had on the ability of the organisation to deliver its critical services, and on the demand for its services.
How to apply?
Organisations can apply for the fund on the National Lottery Community Fund’s website using an online application portal, and can learn more about the process in the fund’s video summary and webinar.
Applicants must provide details of their project, including the locations it is set to run in, its cost, how much funding they need, and how the increasing cost of living has impacted the demand for their services.
When can I apply?
Applicants must submit their application before midday on 16 October 2023 and should receive a decision within 12 weeks. The fund is aiming to begin funding organisations that month and finish in January next year.
-
More from: www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/community-organisations-cost-of-living-fund
Funding roundup
-
Charities and not-for-profit organisations can apply for grants of up to £750,000 for suicide prevention projects through the Department of Health and Social Care’s £10m Suicide Prevention Fund. Projects supporting children and young people, pregnant women and new mothers, and minority groups will be prioritised for funding as will areas of higher need. The deadline for bids is 11.55pm on 1 October 2023.
-
Peer Power has been awarded £389,793 from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK. Peer Power Youth will use the funding in partnership with Centre for Youth Impact, and other influential youth bodies such as UK Youth to help to build youth voice and influence.
-
Applications are open for Scale Accelerator: Preventing Childhood Sexual Violence, a fully-funded scaling consultancy programme funded through the support of Oak Foundation. The programme offers fully subsidised scaling consultancy support for NGOs working to reduce the number of children across the EU and UK who experience sexual abuse and exploitation. It is open to “mission driven organisations with solutions proven and evaluated as successful”, according to organisers.
-
Engineering firm Adi Group raised £12,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity by organising a charity football tournament. The hospital is a specialist paediatric centre providing advanced treatments, complex surgical procedures and cutting-edge research to 90,000 children and young people from all over the UK every year. The charity helps support children in care and their families.
