Deadline: 08-Nov-2024
The Comic Relief Community Fund offers grants of up to £5,000 for grassroots, community-led organisations in England to help support the delivery of services and activity that benefit local communities.
Focus Areas
- Grants are available to support organisations that deliver against one of the following areas:
- Tackling the immediate impacts of poverty and hardship: Funding organisations that directly address the more immediate/urgent impacts of being in poverty, including providing essential resources like food, shelter and healthcare such as foodbanks, homeless shelters, welfare advice agencies.
- Building resilience to poverty and hardship: delivering initiatives that empower communities to take positive steps to lift themselves out of poverty in the longer term. Examples include job training and capacity-building programmes including volunteering, mental resilience and financial confidence skills.
- Working to support Equity and Inclusion: promoting social justice, diversity and inclusion. This could involve addressing racial, gender or economic disparities which can lead to poverty and exclusion e.g. via awareness training, volunteer recruitment, strategy development and implementation, and marketing events.
- Working to support Climate Justice: supporting the improvement of energy efficiency, environmental education and resilience-building within communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as coastal/flat lying communities, and those more vulnerable to extreme weather events e.g. older people. Projects might include e.g. energy efficiency awareness sessions, carbon literacy training and practical measures.
Funding Information
- Grants of up to £5,000 are available for grassroots, community-led organisations with an income of less than £250,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Comic Relief Community Fund (England) is to support grassroots, community led, local organisations in England. They will only fund not for profit organisations with an annual income level of £250,000 or below. The applicant organisation must have its own constitution and own accounts.
- They accept applications from the voluntary and community sector including:
- Constituted voluntary and community groups
- Charities
- Social Enterprises
- Community Interest Companies limited by guarantee (Please note CIC’s must have been running for a minimum of two years and they cannot consider CICs limited by shares)
- Not for profit companies limited by guarantee
What can you apply for?
- You may apply for a range of different costs; whether you need help with staff wages, rent, office energy bills or training – this fund is flexible to meet your needs.
- You may require funding for hiring venues to run activities, paying co-ordinators to manage volunteer-led services, paying staff to lead activities or training sessions, employing outreach support workers, improving indoor and outdoor facilities to reach new groups.
- The types of projects they can fund could be directly addressing the immediate impacts of poverty, including providing food, warmth, shelter and financial advice such as foodbanks, community hubs, homeless shelters, and welfare advice agencies.
- Funding can also support organisations that deliver activities to empower people to take positive steps out of poverty in the longer term. Examples include skills training, job search, volunteering, mental resilience and financial confidence skills.
- Projects that champion social justice, diversity and inclusion, tackling inequalities which can lead to poverty and exclusion including gender, sexuality, age, race, language, ability, etc.
Ineligibility Criteria
- Applications are not eligible from:
- Individuals
- Community Interest Companies limited by shares
- Community Interest Companies limited by guarantee that are less than two years old
- Profit making organisations
- Statutory organisations including schools, universities and hospitals
- Organisations with an income of more than £250,000
- Organisations not based in and delivering in England
- Organisations not based in the region where the project will be delivered
For more information, visit Comic Relief.