Funding news
Care-full Closures Fund
Stewarding Loss have announced a new pilot fund: The Care-full Closures Fund. This fund will deliver ground-breaking support to four organisations to support them to consider and design an organisational closure or merger.
This fund is open to nonprofit organisations of any size who are considering closure and are wanting to explore their options carefully, intentionally and with a design-led approach. This means an organisation in its current form is considering coming to an end, either through merging with another or closing and handing over services.
Four organisations will receive paid for time with experienced consultants, along with up to £4,000 to fund staff time and associated costs.
If you think your organisation would benefit from dedicated support to consider closure, read the full guidance and complete the online form. The closing date for expressions of interest is 14 June 2021 for work to begin in September 2021.
Funding to tackle local housing issues
Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, has announced that applications for its 2021 Community Grants Programme are now open.
After a challenging year for everyone, but especially for those who are most vulnerable in our society, having a place fit to call home is more important than ever before. The programme forms part of Nationwide’s commitment to supporting communities by giving at least one per cent of its pre-tax profits to good causes.
The Community Grants Programme tackles local housing issues by giving charities, community land trusts and housing co-operatives access to grants between £10,000 and £50,000. Applications are open to any organisations that provide solutions to help:
Prevent people from losing their home
Help people into a home
Support people to thrive within the home environment
Nationwide’s Community Boards, made up of community-minded colleagues working at the building society and it’s members, come together to decide which projects should be awarded a grant, and in doing so are supporting their own communities to find solutions to the housing crisis.
There are currently 11 local Community Boards across the UK. Since 2018 Nationwide has funded 350 projects and awarded £14 million in total through the programme and in 2020/21, just under £4 million in grants were awarded to 99 projects. By 2023, £22 million will have been awarded in total.
This year Nationwide is capping the amount of Community Grant applications it will accept, meaning approximately one in four applicants will be successful. If the cap isn’t reached, applications will close at 11pm on Monday 21 June.
For more information about the scheme and to apply, visit: www.nationwidecommunitygrants.co.uk.
