Comic Relief is making funds available through its new interim Older People’s programme “Managing Money Better”. Through the programme grants of more than £10,000 are available for projects that help older people cope with the challenges of this particularly harsh financial climate and the resultant exclusion and hardship it is causing.

There is a two stage application process and the deadline for stage 1 applications is the 13th February 2012.

Visit the Comic Relief site for details

Pudsey has his purse open.

BBC Children in Need provides grants for up to three years to properly constituted not for profit organisations working with disadvantaged young people aged 18 or under.

Organisations can apply for Small Grants of £10,000 or less per year for up to three years and for Main Grants of over £10,000 per year for up to three years.

Funding is available to organisations (including schools) that work with young people who are suffering from:

• Illness
• Distress
• Abuse or neglect
• Are disabled
• Have behavioural or psychological difficulties
• Are living in poverty or situations of deprivation.

The next closing date is the 15th April 2012.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/grants/general_grants.shtml

The SITA Trust can provide grants of up to £10,000 for volunteering projects owned by 14-25 year olds.

To be eligible applicants must be able to demonstrate that young people will be fully involved in the design and development of the project and projects must be compliant with the rules of the Landfill Communities Fund.

The next closing date for applications is 10am on the 13th February 2012.

http://www.sitatrust.org.uk/volunteering

The Church of England’s Church and Community Fund is now accepting applications for projects that:

• Significantly expand the Church’s engagement with neighbourhood renewal
• Seek innovative ways of developing established community projects so that they either  grow existing or evolve into new communities of Christian Faith
• Replicate models of successful community engagement across the wider church.

The level of grants available range from £10,000 to £20,000; except for the theme relating to the replication of projects where grants are in excess of £20,000.

The first closing date for applications is the 13th March 2012.

http://www.ccfund.org.uk/engage/what-s-new/post/16-funding-themes-open-for-applications/

Up to £1 million is available for projects that:

• Help people to learn about their own and other people’s heritage
• Conserve the UK’s diverse heritage
• Help more people to take an active part in and make decisions about heritage.

Priority is given to not-for-profit organisations, and partnerships led by not-for-profit organisations.

The next closing date for applications is the 15th February 2012

http://www.hlf.org.uk/howtoapply/programmes/pages/heritagegrants.aspx

BBC Children in Need have announced the launch of their Emergency Essentials Programme.

The Emergency Essentials Programme provides struggling families with items that meet children’s most basic needs such as a bed to sleep in or a cooker to give them a hot meal.

For further information on the programme and how to apply please click on the link below.

http://www.buttleuk.org/pages/grant-programmes-small-grants-programme-42.html

Under the Sita Trust’s Enhancing Communities Programme Core Fund, grants of up to £60,000 are available to not for profit organisations, community groups, parish councils, local authorities and charities for projects that make physical improvements to community facilities and historic buildings / structures.

The next closing date for applications is 10am on the 20th February  2012 for the Fast Track Fund (formerly Small Grants Scheme) scheme and 10 am on the 19th March 2012 for the Core Fund (formerly Large Grant Scheme).

http://www.sitatrust.org.uk/community-funding

A Sensory Success Story

When Sue Ingram’s severely disabled son Jamie attended an adult respite home for the first time, Sue was astonished at the lack of space available.  There was nowhere for Jamie to just relax, to just be a 16 year old boy and enjoy time with friends or enjoy the outside world. The garden at the back of the home was, in Sue’s words “ a concrete jungle”. With mould plastic chairs and overgrown grass, it was not exactly the exciting, attractive space Jamie and the home needed.

After hearing how Solihull Hospital had been successful in their bid for lottery funding Sue decided to apply to the Awards for All programme through her community organisation Club 22. Club 22 is a group of parents with teenagers and adults of similar disabilities who share experiences and seek money and support to provide the facilities so desperately needed. Sue applied to the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme and was overjoyed when she found out Club 22’s application for a sensory garden was successful.

With £10,000 of funding “our own special garden was now a reality” says Sue.

The garden was designed by a specialist landscape architect and has improved the existing environment substantially, turning it into a safe and more stimulating space for beneficiaries to relax in. Organisers say visitors can enjoy observing the moving stars and reflections, watching the fibre optic colour changes, feeling the many textures and playing with the wooden dashboard style controls. Special features include sensory plants and a water feature. “The garden has been a fantastic success which is now used by people outside of the home who also have special needs. It really is a place of our own” says Sue.

To find out more about the Awards for All programme and how you can apply, please visit the Awards for All website

The Football Foundation has announced that it is accepting applications for funding through its “Grow the Game” programme.

Through the programme, funding of up to £5,000 is available for projects that increase participation by both players and volunteers within the game from organisations that are ‘not for profit’ and planning to set up two new football teams over the next two years.

The closing date for applications is the 6th March 2012.

Visit Football Foundations website for details

The European Commission has launched a new call for proposals under the Daphne III Programme 2007 – 13.

The overall aim of Daphne III is to contribute to the protection of children, young people and women against all forms of violence including sexual exploitation and trafficking in human beings.

Projects require a minimum partnership of 2 organisations from 2 different EU Member States and cannot have an initial duration exceeding 24 months.

The closing date for applications is the 23rd March 2012.

Visit the EU website section for details