Arts Council England have a scheme for small capital grants of £100,000 - £500,000 to help arts organisations to be more resilient by having the right buildings and equipment to deliver their work. The Arts Council wants to support organisations to become more sustainable and innovative, including increasing their environmental performance and reducing their carbon emissions. Deadline is 9 March. Click here.
The Grants for War Memorials scheme provides grants for the repair and conservation of free-standing war memorials in England to help organisations and individuals responsible for their upkeep. Click here.
Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust make grants up to £1,000 to charities with an income from £50,000 to £1million. They will fund for projects supporting the elderly, giving priority to projects focussing on:
Greggs Environmental Grants give grants up to £2,000 to improve people's lives by improving the environment. Deadline 3 March. Click here.
Greggs Local Community Projects Fund gives grants up to £2,000 to smaller not-for-profit organisations that improve resilience within communities of interest, such as people who are:
- disabled or suffering chronic illness
- living in poverty
- voluntary carers
- homeless
- isolated older people
- other demonstrable significant need
Deadline 3 March. Click here.
Bedford Borough Council have a number of open tenders:
- Home From Hospital and Reablement – Deadline 20 February – Click here.
- Local Area Coordinators – Deadline 21 February – Click here.
- Early Help Mentoring Scheme – Bedford Borough Council is inviting potential service providers to submit a tender for the provision of a volunteer mentoring scheme to support and complement the Early Help offer by supporting young people to make informed and positive life choices. Deadline 27 February – Click here.
- Early Help Youth Club – BBC is inviting potential service providers to submit bids to provide a universal drop-in youth provision at Kempston Youth Centre, Bedford. The service will operate one evening per week during school term time (Bedford Borough) only. Deadline 27 February – Click here.
- Community Advice Support Services – Deadline 27 February – Click here.
Paul Hamlyn Foundation - Ideas and Pioneers Fund - The Ideas and Pioneers Fund supports people with unusual or radical ideas to improve the life chances and opportunities of people in the UK, with grants of up to £10k and up to £15k in exceptional circumstances. The fund is available to individuals, partnerships or small organisations. They are looking to work with people whose ideas are in the early stages of development and will consider funding work to develop ideas from concept to set-up: this may include problem definition and analysis, scoping, exploratory work, and prototyping. Apply at any time. Click here.
The Lloyds Bank Foundation invests in charities supporting people to break out of disadvantage at critical points in their lives, and promote practical approaches to lasting change. To apply you need to be registered as a Charity or a CIO and have income between £25,000 and £1 million in your previous accounts. There are three programmes:
- ENABLE – (open all year) A grants programme for organisations that have identified clear development needs in areas such as governance, planning, evidencing need monitoring, communications etc. Grants of up to £15k are available for you to develop your organisation;
- INVEST – (open for application 22 May – 16 June) A flexible, long-term core funding programme for organisations delivering clear, targeted outcomes for disadvantaged people. These are larger grants with the potential to fund for up to six years. However, please note competition is extremely tough and it is advisable to speak to a grants manager first;
- ENHANCE – provides an option of tailored in-kind support to strengthen and develop charities. If you are successful in applying for an Enable or Invest grant, we will work with you to identify whether support under the Enhance programme is right for you.
For more detailed criteria click here, or for an informal discussion contact Gary Beharrell - gbeharrell@lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk
OTHER INFORMATION
The Bedfordshire Wellbeing Service offers a range of free and confidential talking therapies and specialist support to help you feel better. For more information on the type of help on offer download the service leaflet here.
Contactless charity boxes are set to be widely introduced after a major trial found members of the public donated three times as much when asked to pay with their card. See a report in the Telegraph. Click here.
The RTP Fellowship Programme is a free leadership development programme for mid-career managers that live/work within a 50-mile radius of Milton Keynes. It brings together young leaders from all walks of life, at no cost to them, and uses a Sustainable Leadership methodology to develop them and charities in and around Milton Keynes. Potential fellows and charities are encouraged to get in touch – click here.
VACANCIES
Services Manager, Sight Concern Bedfordshire (up to 37 hours per week; £29,000 pro-rata), deadline 17 February. Click here.
Visual Impairment Advisor, Sight Concern Bedfordshire (full-time; £18,700), deadline 17 February. Click here.
Carers Cafe & Carers Rest Organiser, Carers in Bedfordshire, (£18,205 FTE starting salary (pro-rata for part-time hours). Deadline 20 February. Click here.
Young Person's Activity Organiser, Carers in Bedfordshire, (£10.03 per hour (includes holiday pay), 15 hours a month – Up to three Saturday afternoons a month, plus preparation time). Deadline 20 February. Click here.