Discover Funding Opportunities

Records at Risk Grants

The Records at Risk Grants programme is delivered in collaboration with the British Records Association and the Business Archives Council, to provide support for urgent interventions to save significant physical and digital records facing immediate peril, across the UK. It provides grants of up to £5,000, to protect records of cultural and research value from premature destruction or prolonged neglect. The programme aims to support archival institutions, organizations, and communities in preserving historically significant materials that are at risk of being lost due to damage, deterioration, or lack of proper storage. This funding is specifically designed for urgent interventions where records face immediate danger and require prompt action to ensure their survival for future generations.

Mid Suffolk Town Centre Shopfront Scheme

Mid Suffolk District Council have launched a new grant scheme open to local businesses to apply for grant funding to help improve their existing premises. The scheme focuses on town centre shops or commercial properties within Mid Suffolk, with priorities including making vacant units more attractive to new occupiers, enhancing the aesthetic appeal and key frontages within town centres, encouraging increased footfall, and providing a vibrant and mixed retail offer. The fund supports shop improvements with a focus on high-visibility frontage works, including rebranding shops with new signage, vinyl graphics and signage, canopies, cladding, accessibility improvements, lighting, new windows/doors, shutters, external security, or reinstatement of traditional or historic features that have been lost. Priority areas include Eye, Debenham, Stowupland, Elmswell, Woolpit, Thurston, Needham Market, Great Blakenham, Claydon, and Stowmarket. The maximum grant is £10,000 per property with a 40% match funding requirement that can be decreased in exceptional circumstances. All payments are made at the end of the process; therefore, applicants need to fund the project fully themselves before any reimbursements are made. Funding cannot be used to pay for items purchased prior to the grant being determined.

Rural England Prosperity Fund

The Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) is a capital-only fund offering support to small businesses and community infrastructure projects in rural England. The fund aims to improve productivity and strengthen the rural economy and rural communities. It provides grants of up to £10,000 per application for businesses and organizations within Babergh and Mid Suffolk districts, with exceptional grants of up to £15,000 for projects strongly supporting Net Zero Infrastructure or Farm Diversification priorities. The fund is a top-up to and complementary to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and succeeds EU funding from LEADER and the Growth Programme which were part of the Rural Development Programme for England. The fund operates at a 50% intervention rate, meaning projects must be match-funded at 50% of total project costs. All payments are made as reimbursements at the end of the process, so projects must be fully funded upfront. Priority areas include investment in net zero infrastructure, SME investments and diversification, farm diversification outside of agriculture, and visitor economy business expansion. For 2025/26, Babergh received £186,377 and Mid Suffolk received £246,455 in REPF allocations. All projects must be completed and grants claimed by 1 March 2026. Available funds are now extremely limited and close to fully committed. Potential applicants must first contact the Economic Development team on an invitation-only basis if their project meets the mandatory grant criteria, though funding availability cannot be guaranteed.

Coastal Capacity Building Fund

The Coastal Capacity Building Fund enables communities to take action in Welsh coastal areas to support nature recovery and sustainability. The fund aims to build capacity for community partners, helping them to deliver sustainable action that supports growth and recovery in local marine and coastal areas. It encourages collaboration between stakeholders, such as communities, businesses, local authorities and other public bodies, and builds networks that foster nature recovery and rejuvenation in coastal areas. All projects must meet at least one of the fisheries objectives of the Fisheries Act 2020. Funding is distributed via the Local Nature Partnerships (LNPs) and projects are run in partnership with the local LNP Co-ordinator. The scheme is funded by Welsh Government for 2025-27, building on its investment in local nature recovery through the Local Nature Partnerships.

Connected Communities Fund

The Connected Communities Fund is a partnership between OCVA, Community First Oxfordshire, and Oxfordshire County Council to support The Oxfordshire Way, a countywide vision to help people live well and independently in their communities for as long as possible. It's all about building resilience, reducing isolation, and creating opportunities for people to stay active, connected, and supported close to home. The fund supports regular, ongoing activities that bring people together and create lasting impact, including activities that help people connect and socialise, projects that support mental and physical wellbeing, initiatives that reduce isolation including language, cultural, or caring barriers, and intergenerational or community-wide projects focused on benefits for older people. The fund especially welcomes projects that fill gaps in local support, add to what's already available locally, try something new such as tackling digital exclusion or using local spaces creatively, work with local businesses to create social, environmental, or economic benefits, support unpaid carers, and help build strong, resilient communities that last beyond the life of the grant. Organisations can apply for up to £5,000 to help cover costs of running activities that benefit older adults (50+) and adults (18+) with additional needs, including people living with physical or mental health conditions, neurodivergent adults, those experiencing loneliness or social isolation, people facing language or cultural barriers, and unpaid carers. Projects can focus on community-based socialising, health and wellbeing, arts, culture and creativity, green/environmental and outdoor activities, and learning new skills. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis with no closing date until all funding has been allocated. The fund is currently paused with updates to be announced on their website and social media channels.

Step Change Fund

The Step Change Fund focuses on capacity building and strengthening of Oxfordshire's charitable sector. This fund is for charities with visionary leadership that realise they need to transform the way they are organised in order to create a more solid basis for delivering their core work. The Step Change Fund enables the local charitable sector to be stronger and more sustainable, and therefore better equipped to deal with the hard-hitting social problems faced by Oxfordshire communities. Step Change offers a unique proposition to grant applicants, with the support of a volunteer project manager included with every grant. The project manager, usually someone experienced in business strategy or management, will help you to develop a clear and fully costed plan to realise the step change that you desire. They will work alongside you through the duration of your project to support you in hitting targets and milestones. This fund does not offer core funding simply for the continuance of existing services; grants will be given for projects that can demonstrate realistic plans for increasing reach and impact and for building longer-term resilience for the future. The fund is particularly interested in projects that enable a 'step change' in impact or financial terms, and only funds projects that can demonstrate they bring substantial benefit to the lives of people in Oxfordshire who are facing disadvantage. The Step Change Fund has a three-stage application process, starting with an Eligibility Questionnaire, followed by an Expression of Interest Form, and finally a Detailed Bid Form before any grant is awarded.

The Thomas Farr Charity Grant

The Thomas Farr Charity is a grant-making trust established in 1989 following the sale of the Home Brewery. The charity supports charitable projects and activities in Nottinghamshire, focusing on areas where the Home Brewery had a historical presence. The main areas of giving include education, youth, health, and the elderly. The charity operates as a general charitable trust, allowing the Trustees to apply income for charitable purposes at their absolute discretion. Trustees meet three times each year in March, July, and November to review applications. Grant amounts distributed annually depend on the income generated from the charity's investments. Applications are welcomed from organizations working in community healthcare, health education, lifelong learning projects, community development, personal social services addressing social deprivation, crime prevention schemes, and community social activities promoting engagement for vulnerable people. The charity does not support individuals, large national charities based outside Nottinghamshire, loans or business finance, campaigning or political work, activities that have already taken place, or general mail shot appeals.