Youth Investment Fund
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Bids have opened to the first phase of additional capital funding for youth facilities pledged by the government in its 2019 election manifesto.
The Youth Investment Fund (YIF) aims to expand and improve local youth clubs and services, in order to drive positive outcomes for young people. BBC Children in Need has been selected to distribute phase one of this funding on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The YIF is different to the programme of the same name run by The National Lottery Community Fund and jointly funded by the DCMS that was launched in 2016.
How much and where?
In phase one, £10m is available for youth provision in what the government is calling “left-behind areas” of England. It will fund small-scale capital projects, including equipment and small redevelopments delivered in the 2021/22 financial year.
Applications must be for a minimum of £5,000 with most grants being no more than £50,000. Applications for larger amounts will be considered if they can be spent by 31 March 2022.
Left behind areas are listed by electoral ward on the fund page on the BBC Children in Need website, with applications limited to those delivering work in, and/or working with children and young people who are from, one of these wards.
What can be applied for?
The fund defines capital as the costs of building improvements, buying equipment (including IT and vehicles) and furnishings.
Due to the short timescales involved, most applications are expected to involve purchasing equipment rather than undertaking major building work. The fund does not cover routine maintenance of assets or like-for-like replacement of existing equipment.
All applications should show how this funding will make a difference to children and young people’s lives.
Examples of equipment that could be funded includes:
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Installation of solar panels, heat pumps (reducing operational costs)
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Equipment to improve health and wellbeing, such as outdoor gym equipment
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IT improvements including websites, portals, platforms and new IT equipment
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Improvements that will allow greater access to service users with disabilities
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Equipment that will expand and enrich youth activities offered by existing providers, e.g. outdoor sports and activities, kitchen equipment, landscaping
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Grants for minor facility improvements to improve safeguarding and security for young people e.g. CCTV installations, improved building security
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Purchase of vehicles or mobile units, which could be used for detached youth work or as mobile youth centres
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Changes to existing spaces, e.g. provision of music rooms, arts & crafts, IT rooms
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Conversions of underused space into youth facilities
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Work on local authority-owned youth centres and youth facilities.
What can’t be applied for?
There is a long list of things the YIF will not fund, including statutory costs or work which statutory bodies have a duty to fund, work delivered outside of left-behind areas of England, retrospective funding, where the grant expenditure is due to start before the grant award date, capital which will benefit an individual or family.
What are the timescales?
The fund does not have a fixed application window and applications will be considered on a rolling basis as they are received.
The fund will close as soon as the funding is allocated, so organisations are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.
All awarded grants must be spent by 31 March 2022, with a report and receipts submitted by 30 April 2022.
How to apply?
All applications must be submitted via the online portal.
Before applying, organisers recommend applicants read the fund guidance. There is also an FAQ document that sets out how left-behind areas were chosen, eligibility and gives advice on the application process. There are also due diligence requirements.
Applicants will be informed of a decision by email around 12 days after submitting an application.
Funding roundup
Children’s charity Lifelites, has received £211,000 raised during the world’s biggest games charity event – Jingle Jam 2021. Thanks to support from Jingle Jam, Lifelites will be able to donate technology to give life-limited and disabled children using children’s hospices across Britain a chance to do things they and their parents never thought possible.
Haggeye, a campaign group for young people in Scotland who are blind or partially sighted, has been awarded a £24,000 grant over three years from The RS Macdonald Charitable Trust to extend their reach. Haggeye, the youth forum of national sight loss charity RNIB Scotland, is open to anyone aged 16 to 27 with a visual impairment.
Grants of between £50,000 and £120,000 are available to organisations such as local councils, NGOs and community groups to purchase refurbished tablets to lend to groups living in temporary accommodation. The £400,000 Tech Lending Community Fund, created by environmental charity Hubbub and Virgin Media O2, aims to establish and support up to five Tech Lending Hubs in locations across the UK and make at least 1,000 devices available.
The Pilgrim Trust has awarded £861,394 to 10 charities in Manchester and Northern Ireland supporting the mental wellbeing of young women. Each of the charities will receive annual funding of up to £30,000 over three years. The £5m Young Women and Mental Health PLUS grant programme aims to improve the mental health of young women (aged 16-25) through increasing their access to high-quality, age- and gender-specific mental health provision.
