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Funding and useful resources

Newcastle Building Society Community Fund

Do you know a charitable organisation that would benefit from a grant of up to £5,000?

The Newcastle Building Society Community Fund supports charitable organisations in an around places it has branches in Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, County Durham, Teesside, and North Yorkshire.

This round focuses on issues that address one or more of the following themes: Employability, Debt Management, Food Poverty, Homelessness/Housing insecurity, the Environment and Sustainability.

Grant applications are now open and successful applications will be announced late March.

If the above applies to you or a charity you know, please get in touch with the Newcastle Building Society who will guide you through the nomination process.

Funds available to support mental wellbeing through nature based activities 

Health, voluntary and community organisations across North Cumbria are working together to encourage more people to access the outdoors and benefit from the positive effects of the natural world around them.

Money from the North East and North Cumbria ICB has established the Green Social Prescribing Fund, managed by Cumbria Community Foundation. Grants of up to £5,000 are available to charitable organisations in North Cumbria to provide nature-based activities, which have been shown to help people improve their health and wellbeing.

To apply or for more information, click here or call Sarah Thompson, Grants & Programmes Officer on 01900 825760 or email sarah@cumbriafoundation.org

Innovate UK

New year, new funding opportunities from Innovate UK.

Make sure you don’t miss any 2023 grant competitions by subscribing to Innovate UK’s funding round-up – click here to sign up

Royal Academy of Engineering 2023 Awards

Help the Royal Academy of Engineering celebrate the very best in engineering innovation, advancement and engagement. Nominations are open in the below categories with entries closing on 3rd February.

  • Rooke Award

Awarded to an individual or small team based in the UK that has promoted engineering to the wider public

  • Colin Campbell Mitchell Award

A prize of up to £6,000 for an engineer, or small team of engineers, who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of any field of UK Engineering

  • Sir Frank Whittle Medal

Awarded to an engineer whose outstanding and sustained achievements have had a profound impact on their engineering discipline

  • RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year

The Academy makes five awards of £3,000 each year to UK engineers who have demonstrated excellence in the early stage of their career

  • MacRobert Award

The UK’s longest-running and most prestigious national prize for engineering innovation

To find out more click here

Nuclear Fuel Fund

This fund will invest in projects to support development and commercialisation of home-grown nuclear fuel production and advanced fuel technologies.

Click here to read the full press release

Have a great defence idea?

The Defence and Security Accelerator’s Open Call is one of the funding competition mechanisms DASA uses to find proposals that address challenges faced by government stakeholders.

It gives bidders the opportunity to present their ideas to defence and security stakeholders at any time, without waiting for a relevant Themed Competition.

If you want to present something, find out more and submit here

Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF)

With the spend deadline having been extended from 31 March 2025 to 31 March 2027 is now the time to look into this grant funding?

Closing to applications on 17th February  2023, this £70 million grant fund supports feasibility and engineering studies, energy efficiency deployment projects and deep decarbonisation deployment projects.

To find out more click here

Community Climate Grant

The Zero Carbon Cumbria – Community Climate Grants, is a £100,000 funding pot to support local initiatives to raise awareness of climate change and reduce carbon emissions. The funding will contribute to the work of the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership over a five year period. Allerdale Borough Council have contributed an additional £10,000 to this grants pot to benefit more projects in Allerdale.

They are particularly keen to reach out to groups getting set up in areas of the county which haven’t previously taken action to address the climate crisis at a local level, and to offer support to groups working alongside more vulnerable individuals who will be hit hardest by climate change.

The aim of the funding is to get as many people as possible to ‘do their bit’ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Applications close on 31st January 2023. To find out more and apply click here

CE marked construction products

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities have extended the recognition of CE marked construction products in Great Britain for a further two and a half years, until 30th June 2025.

Industry will be able to use either the new UKCA mark or the CE mark during this period, making the transition as easy as possible.

To find out more click here

Platinum Jubilee £3million Fund now launched

Village halls across England can now apply for grants to improve and modernise their facilities, as the Platinum Jubilee Village Hall Fund.

Launched to mark the occasion of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, the fund recognises the important role that village halls play in supporting rural communities.

Village halls are key cornerstones in the fabric of rural life, providing essential services and bringing people together through social and recreational activities.

They are vital resources for those unable to travel great distances and are key drivers of community cohesion which positively contribute to the health and wellbeing of rural communities. But many are in poor repair and in need of modernisation to better serve the communities that they represent.

The fund is managed by the charity Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE). It is anticipated that the fund will support around 125 village halls over a three-year period creating bigger, better and brighter village halls for communities to enjoy.

Applications close on 20th January 2023 – click here to find out more

Procure Partnerships Commences £8bn Contractor Framework Renewal

Procure Partnerships Framework is calling for Contractors to register their interest and help shape the structure of the second iteration of their National Contractor Framework, currently structured across 11 sub regional lots.

Procure Partnerships have successfully been operating and delivering a successful framework across England for the past 5 years supporting with the procurement and delivery of over 600 construction projects within this period.

The current intention is for the new Procure Partnerships (National Contractor) Framework to cover five disciplines, Construction, Infrastructure, Decarbonisation & Retrofit, Site Clearance & Demolition, and Housing. Contactors will be able to select which disciplines in which regions they tender for. The current framework is designed to be flexible and will provide clients with four call off options and eight call off contracts.

Tender documents are scheduled to be released towards the end of March. Contractors can register their initial interest by completing the market engagement questionnaire – Register Here

Help to Grow: Digital scheme to end

The Help to Grow: Digital scheme will close to applications on 2 February 2023. The Government has decided to close the scheme as take-up was lower than expected and the cost to the taxpayer could no longer be justified. However, the Help to Grow: Management scheme will remain in place.

Click here to read more about the schemes

Funding for the creative sector

UK-registered micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the creative sector can apply for funding of between £10,000 and £30,000 for innovation projects to grow their business. The funding is provided by Innovate UK and includes support from Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network.

Click here to read more about the funding

Pilot innovation scheme for new farmers

Defra has launched a pilot innovation scheme to support new entrants into farming. The New Entrant Support Scheme will help people with some farming experience develop their business ideas, foster innovation and promote growth.

Click here to read more about the pilot

Grants for small specialist charities

Small and local charities can apply for grant funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. Specialist charities with an annual income between £25,000 and £500,000 can apply for a three-year, unrestricted grant of up to £75,000.

Read more about the grants by clicking here