Welcome to Striding Out!

The Big Venture Challenge

Mon, 16 May 2011 10:13:09 +0000

In the UK, there is a gap in seed finance in the social investment market between start-ups and established social ventures. Big Venture Challenge aims to bridge this gap through providing intensive business support, with first-stage funding of £25,000. Award winners will then have access to a further £150,000 of co-investment seed finance, reducing risk in the early stages of growing a social venture and giving ambitious social entrepreneurs the chance to scale up their impact across the country.

Big Venture Challenge is a unique, new competition, run by UnLtd and primarily funded through The Big Lottery Fund, to find 25 people in England with 25 inspirational ideas to change the world. It is open to people aged 16+ in England, who have a viable, scalable and ambitious business model to drive social change in this country. Social entrepreneurs are individuals who use tools and techniques from the world of business to make a positive impact on society – creating ventures that place emphasis on social good as well as financial return.

Funding Central

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Funding Central

Funding Central is a free smart website for charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The site provides access to thousands of funding and finance opportunities, plus a wealth of tools and resources supporting organisations to develop sustainable income strategies appropriate to their needs

Please visit the website: http://www.fundingcentral.org.uk and search now!

Awards For All

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Awards For All

Awards for All is a Lottery grants scheme funding small, local community-based projects in the UK. Each country is running its own programme, so find out how their grant can help your project by clicking on your country.

Please visit the website: http://www.awardsforall.org.uk and apply now!

UnLtd Advantage Investment

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:03:41 +0000

Are you a social entrepreneur looking for investment?

UnLtd Advantage is an intensive investment readiness programme dedicated to scaling up high impact social ventures. We help you to develop a robust growth strategy and build relationships with social investors. UnLtd Advantage is part of UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs.

We encourage applications from social entrepreneurs with established ventures, so if you meet the criteria below, please apply for our support and service:

Are you seeking at least £250,000 (possibly in several stages)?
Is your social enterprise scalable and ambitious to grow?
Is it financially sustainable?
Have you got good management in place?

If you can answer yes to all of the above and would like our support, we would like to hear from you.

Please visit our website: http://unltdadvantage.org.uk/ and apply now!

Future Jobs Fund Liverpool Employment Grant

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:54:06 +0000

Take The Lead - Future Jobs Fund Grant Liverpool

• Are you planning or already running a project that has an environmental, community or cultural impact?

• Can a young person aged 18-24 help you to run your project?

• Could you provide a junior leadership role?

If the answer is YES to these questions and you are based in Liverpool, then we can offer your organisation a grant of £4,550 to cover the wage of a young person working for you over a period of 6 months.

The funding for this opportunity is provided by DWP under the Future Jobs Fund Programme, to help unemployed young people back into work. Striding Out has already helped 300 young people into work. We can also offer the young person a place on our Take the Lead training programme, which is accredited with the Institute of Leadership and Management Level 2 Team Leadership Qualification.

The training programme takes place over a 4 month period during their employment and will cover:

• Team Leadership

• Project Management

• Customer Service Skills

If you are interested in offering a suitable job position then please email, Kim Adams, Project Co-ordinator, to receive an application form: [email protected].

T+44 (0)151 703 6825

http://www.stridingout.co.uk/leadership-and-management/index.php

Download the Take The Lead Liverpool Flyer

Access to Volunteering Fund Pot

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:32:27 +0000

The Access to Volunteering Fund Pilot aims to increase the number of disabled people in volunteer positions by breaking down the barriers they currently face when wanting to volunteer. The pilot scheme, which is funded by the Office for Civil Society, aims to overcome the barriers that prevent disabled people volunteering. A lack of transport, inadequate premises and negative attitudes towards disability are just some of the obstacles being addressed. Awards of up to £5,000 are available in three test regions.

There is now only one remaining deadline for grants: 6^th September 2010.

Who can apply:

The fund is open to public or third sector organisations that work with volunteers. Applying bodies will need to either be registered with the Charity Commission, have a HMRC number, or have a charitable purpose. All organisations must have a strong local presence in either Greater London, the West Midlands or the North West of England.

They are keen to see applications from organisations who do not currently provide support for disabled volunteers.

See the website for more information: http://www.accesstovolunteering.org/

JPGetty Trust Funding

Wed, 19 May 2010 16:48:58 +0000

J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust can award grants towards both revenue and capital costs. However, the trustees will not normally approve grants to cover more than 20% of a charity's entire annual running costs, as we feel it is important for organisations to develop a range of income sources and not become dependent on any single funder.

Main grants can be between £10,000 and £250,000 over a period of 1 to 3 years. Multi-year grants will often be paid as a single instalment. On average it takes us between 3 and 6 months to award a main grant, so please allow plenty of time when making your application.

Small grants of up to £5,000 are also available for smaller charities. Applications are made in exactly the same way as for our main grants programme. However, if you are successful, your grant may be awarded in as little as 2 to 3 months.

Eligibility

At present, our grant making is largely focused on supporting registered charities in England, although applications may sometimes be considered from other parts of the United Kingdom if the project is likely to be of nationwide significance.

Occasionally, we will fund organisations of comparable charitable status, such as Industrial Provident Societies or Community Interest Companies, but only where there is a very strong connection with one or more of our current funding priorities.

Please note that we are unable to fund individuals, or charities based outside the UK.

Areas of Interest

We are currently inviting applications from registered charities in the following areas:

Reducing Reoffending: projects aiming to improve the lot of people in prison and smooth the transition for those leaving prison, maximising their chances of successful resettlement
Improving Prospects: projects providing meaningful occupation for young people aged 14-19 to improve their employability and diminish the risk of social exclusion; work to improve the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers
Repairing Communities: projects led from within the community with the aim of integrating different social and ethnic groups in pursuit of worthwhile goals
Repairing Lives: projects making a lasting impact on the lives of people with substance misuse problems; projects helping people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
Preserving Heritage: conserving or restoring buildings and landscapes which are of national value and accessible to the public; saving from export art and manuscripts of national importance; developing conservation skills, especially among disadvantaged groups
Sustaining the Arts: nurturing and developing artistic endeavour of the highest quality

Please click the relevant headings for further details of the types of work we fund in each category, and also bear in mind that we favour projects with a long-term focus.

We aim to ensure that our grants are made to charities which do not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, religion, race, colour or nationality, and therefore we support organisations with a clear commitment to equal opportunities. However, we recognise that the sensitive nature of some of the work we fund means that appropriate restrictions on staff or participants may sometimes need to be applied.

To gain a clearer idea of the sort of projects we fund, it may also help to look at our latest Annual Report & Accounts.

Click here to apply.

Comic Relief Grants

Wed, 19 May 2010 16:34:13 +0000

Comic Relief are providing grants to fund sports projects as well as other community interest projects:

Area 1. - Sports projects: To increase sport and exercise for people who face social exclusion and isolation; to help people experiencing difficulties in their lives.
Area 2 - Other projects: Projects that increase local services, build skills of local people, increase community cohesion & respond to local economic needs.

Areas Eligible:

Bexley, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Greenwich, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Westminster

Closing dates:

Friday 2nd July 2010

Friday 3rd September 2010

Click here to apply.

Grassroots Grants - Funding for Small Community Groups

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:02:32 +0000

CVA has £422,000 in small grants to distribute from now until 2011 to small voluntary and community organisations in Croydon. CVA is distributing the grants on behalf of the Government’s Office of the Third Sector.

The grants are aimed specifically at small community groups who are active in the community and have an annual income of less than £30,000 (or less than £30,000 p.a. on average over the past three years) .

Grants will be given for projects that meet one or more of the following four broad aims:

Making communities stronger and active;
Bringing people of different backgrounds together;
Strengthening organisational capacity; or
Responding to some unmet local needs.

Grants up to a maximum of £5000 will be awarded.

Click here to download an application form.

Deadline is 1st July 2010.

For more information contact [email protected] or tel. 020 8684 3862

Microsoft Young Entrepreneurs Competition

Fri, 07 May 2010 11:21:04 +0000

Microsoft have launched a new competition which will hand out three £10,000 grants to budding social entrepreneurs.

Microsoft launched its Internet Explorer 8 Life Academy with the aim of helping 18-25 year olds with ideas for socially responsible ventures.

The initiative will be judged in three categories – travel, adventure or environmental projects; online, technology and business ventures; and finally, creative, media and arts-based ideas.

Young people wishing to enter the Life Academy competition need to create a two minute video pitch of their idea and upload it to www.lifeacademy.uk.com by the 27th May.

Three finalists will be picked and win a £10,000 grant each.