Welcome to March!
Last month, lots of you seemed interested in the wider links I shared, and last night I listened to the Feel Better Live More podcast by Dr Rangan Chatterjee, the most recent episode 7 Early Signs of Burnout and 10 Simple & Practical Tools To Help – which seemed quite apt for our field of work at the moment!!
One of the tools he mentioned was simply to ‘do something you enjoy’, purely for yourself a least once every day. Something just for you – not at the request of an employer, a partner, or a child – something that personally brings you joy – that you choose to do.
So I’ve decided to keep this section in for a while, with the hope you may discover something that you too enjoy!
I’m reading: Local by Alastair Humphries – still not finished it – still determined to do so.
I’m watching: Environmentalist and TV personality Chris Packham has narrated an adorable story about a little hedgehog finding its way home. (4 minutes 22 seconds) The littlest Hoglet
I’m listening: Feel Better Live More by Dr Rangan Chattergee
I’m doing: The mountain bike is back out. I climbed a very steep muddy hill up to ‘Castle Hill’ last week, a well known local landmark near the town I live.
I’m learning: How to collage a few minutes each day helps the joints in my hands keep moving.
Here’s this month’s funding news.
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#Funding News
The Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme (Energy Redress Scheme) opens its eleventh funding round for applications today, 27 February 2025.
A total of £40 million in grants is available to charities and community energy groups across England, Scotland and Wales that support households most at risk from cold homes and high energy bills. Projects which focus on contributing to a just transition to net zero and mitigating the climate change impacts of energy consumption will also be considered.
ASDA Foundation Young Futures Fund is a new funding opportunity, with grants ranging from £500 to £1,000, to be used to specifically support young people aged from 13-21. Application Deadline 3/03/2025 – The application window may close early if the total budget is reached.
Grants ranging from £500 to £1,000.
Whether you’re hosting a safe space for young people to be together or delivering workshops to educate 13-21 year olds on important topics such as knife crime, the Young Futures Fund can be used to deliver projects near you.
This grant is for groups which meet at least one of the following objectives:
- Provide services that support, educate and empower.
- Connect young people to their peers.
- Support rehabilitation and recovery and provide shelter.
- Deliver activities / programmes that improve physical health and wellbeing.
Lloyds Bank Foundation Local collaborations programme will support collaborations led by small charities seeking to influence and achieve local or regional change around improving the social security system, improving access to suitable accommodation, and support for asylum seekers and refugees. Collaborations can apply for grants of £100,000 over two years.
They would expect your influencing work to align with at least one of these themes:
- making the social security system work better for those facing the greatest challenges;
- making sure people facing complex issues have access to suitable accommodation;
- improving support and services for asylum seekers and refugees.
This funding cannot be used to fund direct delivery of services and is exclusively to support partnerships to influence locally and regionally.
Public Engagement Spark Awards 2025 Apply for funding to engage the public with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supported science, people, technology or facilities.
You must work for an organisation that:
- is based in the UK
- produces annual accounts certified by an accountant
They are looking to support projects that do one or more of the following:
- deliver high-quality public engagement activities in the areas supported by us
- introduce STFC science and technology to new audiences
- highlight the achievements of STFC science and technology
- demonstrate the value to the UK of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
- work with our public engagement and communication teams
- help to deliver the aims of the STFC public engagement strategy
Spark awards encourage ‘novel approaches’ to engagement and audience. However, applications that use established engagement methods are welcomed.
Projects are expected to be between 12 and 36 months in duration.
Sea-Changers Coastal Fountain Fund 2025 is now open for applications and will remain open to funding requests until the closing date 25th April 2025.. The fund, which began in 2020 has re-opened to applicants who want to install a water bottle refill station in a busy or environmentally important coastal location. Each applicant can bid for up to £2,500 to fund the purchase of one fountain.
The Peter Harrison Foundation will close to new funding applications until further notice from Wednesday, 2 April 2025. This decision follows an unprecedented surge in demand for funding, resulting in less than 5% of grant applications being successful.
Applications received by the end of the day on Tuesday, 1 April 2025 will still be considered. To help manage the significant rise in applications they are prioritising applicants whose work most closely aligns to their mission. Unless you meet the criteria below you are unlikely to be successful:
For Active Lives they will prioritise the applications that meet ALL of the following criteria:
- work with people living with disabilities in the top 10% of areas of deprivation (Indices of Multiple Deprivation decile 1) AND
- are from organisations with a track record of working with this population AND
- have a robust plan for wider impact of the project through dissemination, training etc
The Leslie Sell Charitable Trust makes small grants to Scouting and Guiding Groups to help with the cost of making repairs, purchasing sundry items of equipment, or trips in the UK or overseas.
The Trust also provide The Peter Sell Award with the aim to widen engagement in the Scout and Guide movements. The Trustees invite applications which seek to do the following:
- Widen engagement and involvement in Scouting and Guiding – in particular, the Trustees welcome applications that will encourage people to engage with scouting or guiding who have not previously done so.
- That will have a legacy beyond the initial expenditure of the grant – e.g. through a focus and engagement in environmental projects or by encouraging engagement of people in such projects, some of whom may then remain involved in the long term.
The Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust donates money, to nationally registered charities who work in the areas of medical research, sport and education, conservation and heritage, culture and veterans’ support and commemoration.
The Trust doesn’t have a website but accepts applications via email. Full details on their Charities Commission site.
#Just for Schools
SHINE is an education charity that works with teachers, schools, and other organisations, helping disadvantaged children in the North of England to fulfil their true potential. They fund dozens of educational projects around the North West, North East, and Yorkshire & Humber, all aimed at improving outcomes for the most disadvantaged and levelling the playing field for all children.
#Useful Stuff
The We Are Undefeatable app gives you free tailored exercise programmes that can be
completed anywhere, anytime, and are suitable for a range of health conditions, no matter where you are in your journey.
NCVO has shared their Inclusive Language and Communications Guide a practical tool to support inclusive and accessible communication.
Sport England have published a local breakdown of the annual social value of sport and physical activity, presenting the figures by region, active partnership and local authority.
The figures can also be viewed by individual local authority area, again organised by the nine regions in England – East, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Organisations can use this data, along with research published in October, to better understand the impact that being active can have on the lives of individuals and communities, the delivery of public services and our economy.
Sunday 9 March 2025 is the Day of Reflection across the UK for the COVID-19 pandemic. 2025 marks five years since the pandemic began and we continue to honour and remember those affected.
People and communities are invited to come together on the COVID-19 Day of Reflection, to mark the day in ways that feel meaningful to them.
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