Grant Directories

Community Resource (previously Shropshire RCC) is committed to making life better for people and communities facing challenges. Through the Telford and Shropshire Support Fund the foundation aims to support groups to remain active and viable and recognises that organisations may be struggling due to a loss of income, a reduction in statutory and grant funding or unexpected additional costs to maintain operations. Funding is available for Staff or volunteer costs; An organisation that has seen a increase in operating costs e.g insurance  ; Daily operating costs e.g telephones, printers; Accountancy/bookkeeping costs; Staff training costs.

Community Resource (previously known as Shropshire RCC) is committed to making life better for people and communities facing challenges. They help people stay active, keep connected and maintain their health and independence. Through the Shropshire Grassroots Fund the Community Resource provides grants of up to £500 to small grassroots community and voluntary groups in Shropshire which have an annual turnover of less than £50,000 per annum. The Fund prioritises applications for requests which can be demonstrated to have a long term benefit for organisations to help them grow and develop. This can include core costs to help organisations extend their reach to more people, and widen their work.

The Staffordshire Community Foundation exists to benefit disadvantaged communities by making grants to support relevant charitable or voluntary organisations, which make a difference to their local communities. Through the We Love Lichfield Community Grants programme the foundation provides funding to organisations who provide facilities or services for local people.  The aim is to enhance the provision of service, provide new services or to help make organisations more efficient or to improve the scope of their provision.  This might include extending provision to other people.

The Staffordshire Community Foundation exists to benefit disadvantaged communities by making grants to support relevant charitable or voluntary organisations, which make a difference to their local communities. Through the Hilton Fund the foundation provides grants of up to £2,000 to organisations in South Staffordshire with projects that meet one of the following criteria; Increase or enhance local services; Provide local social or leisure activities; Provide a local service that might otherwise be unavailable; Relieve poverty or disadvantage for local people.

The Staffordshire Community Foundation exists to benefit disadvantaged communities by making grants to support relevant charitable or voluntary organisations, which make a difference to their local communities. Through the Stafford Borough Council Small Grants programme the foundation provides grants of up to £1,000 to organisations who provide facilities or services for people in the geographical area covered by Stafford Borough Council. All projects must meet one of the following criteria; Benefit local residents; Bring about a lasting benefit to the organisations members or the wider community; Help to increase the organisations sustainability or reach.

The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by the National Lottery to support local communities. The Awards from the UK Portfolio programme supports UK-wide ideas and projects, with the aim of testing and growing bold ideas that put people in the lead to address long term social issues and to improve the quality of life across the UK and internationally. The UK portfolio supports projects that have a UK-wide significance in terms of interest, impact or influence.

The Baring Foundation is an independent grantmaking trust that distributes grants to UK charities. The Strengthening the Voluntary Sector programme supports the effective use of the law and human rights based approaches by the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom. Funding is available through two pilot funds: Training, education and capacity building – seed funding grants of up to £30,000 over six months to two years that support organisations to understand how their objectives can be achieved through use of the law or human rights based approaches; Applied projects – grants of up to £150,000 over three years to create new capacity for work that addresses specific discrimination or disadvantage and safeguards the freedom of purpose, action and voice of the sector.

The Friends Provident Foundation provides financial support to projects that promote a more resilient, sustainable and fairer economic system. The Foundation works on two levels. Systems change which aims to support work that can help to transform corporate behaviour, and to stimulate change in the current financial system; and Building local economic resilience which aims to test and review local or small-scale initiatives that build economic resilience through diversity, flexibility and building capabilities. Trustees will consider applications for grants, loans, underwriting or other forms of financial support. 

Locality is the national network of ambitious and enterprising community-led organisations, working together to help neighbourhoods thrive. Neighbourhood Planning Technical support aims to help groups with more complex issues develop their neighbourhood plan, those complex issues can include: Neighbourhood Forums; Clusters of Parishes; High Growth areas; Deprived areas; Business led neighbourhood plans; Populations of over 25,000; Groups preparing a neighbourhood development order. Technical support is designed to provide organisations with the information (evidence) and advice (professional judgement) which will help to decide priorities & direction, to draft policy, avoid legal challenges and to engage confidently with stakeholders such as developers, councils, local businesses and residents. Organisations will be allocated a lead supporter who will work with them to deliver the package of technical support through to completion.

UnLtd is the leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in the UK and supports individuals who have their social ventures firmly rooted in delivering positive social change. It operates a unique model by investing directly in individuals and offering a complete package of resources; from awards of funding to ongoing advice, networking and practical support. UnLtd resource community entrepreneurs to start-up; support those with more established social ventures to scale up; and are committed to developing an eco-system of support to make it easier for those who need help to find it. UnLtd offers a number of programmes with varying levels of funding and support. Please refer to the funder's website for details.

Community Foundations support community and voluntary sector activity through grants to local groups and organisations. There are 48 Community Foundations of different sizes within the UK. Although all Community Foundations operate according to common criteria, they vary in terms of size and nature of grants available. Some Community Foundations will fund both organisations and individuals whilst other foundations will only fund organisations. Each community foundation covers a specific geographic area and will not normally be able to support work outside its area.

The Barrow Cadbury Trust is an independent charitable foundation, committed to supporting vulnerable and marginalised people in society. The Trust promotes social justice through grant making, research, influencing public opinion and policy and supporting local communities.  Their work is divided into three programme areas: Criminal Justice - building evidence of effective interventions, primarily for young adults and women, at all stages of the criminal justice process; Migration - promoting an immigration system that is fair to both migrants and established residents; Economic Justice - supporting effective approaches to reducing economic and social injustice and assisting in building resilient communities. There is a particular focus on projects located in Birmingham and the Black Country.