Comic Relief: Local Communities Small Grants
Overview
The programme aims to empower local people, enabling them to create lasting change in their communities. Projects should be run by people directly affected by the issues they are dealing with and priority will be given to small, locally based groups or organisations in areas of disadvantage that have a clear understanding of the needs of their community.
The scheme is open to:
- Community Groups
- Resident Associations
- Community Centres
- Social Enterprises/Community Interest Companies
- Credit Unions
Under the programme, organisations can apply for funding to:
- Improve people's life skills, education, employability and enterprise
- Maximise people's ability to strengthen community cohesion and build social capacity
- Provide people with opportunities to access local services, achieve greater social justice and to reduce inequality, exclusion and disadvantage
- Advance people's physical and mental health, wellbeing and safety
Examples of the type of activities they will fund:
- Community sport activities
- Furniture Projects
- Projects providing access to benefits advice
- Projects combating fuel poverty
- Community consultation exercises
- Community employment projects
- Food Co-ops
- Running costs; including salaries, core costs and project costs
- Committee and volunteer/staff training
NB A Local Communities grant must be at least 30% of the total cost of the project.
Comic Relief is proud to have become a founding member of the Living Wage Friendly Funders scheme (please click here for more information). This means they are supporting paying The Living Wage to charitable workers through their UK grantmaking. As part of this they would like to encourage applicants to the Local Communities programme to budget any staff costs at The Living Wage (£7.85 per hour outside London and £9.15 in London).