Comic Relief: Mental Health

Overview

Comic Relief receive many more applications than they are able to fund and usually only support work which fits our current priorities, so before you apply for funding, please read through all the Essential Information carefully.

Comic Relief accept applications from the voluntary and community sector throughout the UK including: constituted voluntary and community groups, charities, social enterprises, co-operatives, faith organisations, and community interest companies.

Comic Relief make grants in the programme areas outlined. You can make only one application to one programme at a time.

Comic Relief fund work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - and are very keen to make sure that Comic Relief reach all parts of the UK, especially areas which often miss out, such as rural communities. Comic Relief usually make grants for between one and three years.

Comic Relief can give grants for running costs and capital costs. However, they give building costs a very low priority, and only fund these in exceptional circumstances. Comic Relief do not fund capital costs where they are part of a much larger appeal.

They usually make grants to cover project costs, but Comic Relief recognise that you may wish to include a contribution towards your organisational costs so that it reflects the true cost of running your project. This is sometimes known as full cost recovery.

Comic Relief can pay for all or some of your project costs, but they encourage you to get some of your funding from other sources if you can. There is no minimum or maximum grant in most of their programmes, but where there are limits, these are clearly stated in the programme guidelines. Their grants on average vary between £25,000 and £40,000 per year, and rarely exceed this upper limit.

Comic Relief are unlikely to make large grants to very small organisations, and they will not usually fund all the costs of an application made by charities with an annual income over £10 million. These charities will be expected to make a contribution themselves or secure other income towards the costs of the project.

If your work is regional, national or provides a model that could be widely replicated, they may be able to fund at a higher level. Please call Comic Relief to discuss this before you submit an application.

Comic Relief believe that change will be most effective and sustainable if organisations working in this field are led by those with direct experience of mental ill health. They recognise that some groups may not currently be user led, but they will want to see organisations moving towards this over the lifetime of their grant.

Within this user led ethos, they want to support work which helps people get the services they need and their voices heard. This might be through individual or collective advocacy, user groups, peer support or campaigning for example.

They also want to support work which aims to reduce stigma and discrimination.

Outcomes:

• The organisations they fund will need to show how their work will help deliver one or more of the following outcomes:
• Greater involvement of people who have mental health problems in decisions that affect their lives
• A reduction in stigma and discrimination, and a positive change in people’s attitudes towards mental health
• More inclusive and accessible mental health services and organisations, in particular for people from black and minority ethnic communities

This programme has a strong user-led ethos. By this, they mean that projects will need to show how people with direct experience of mental ill health are actively and meaningfully involved in and leading the work. In most cases, they will look for a majority of people with direct experience to make up the trustee board or governing body. Where this is not the case, we will seek a firm commitment to involving users in the running of the project and where appropriate, want to see a move towards becoming a user-led organisation. We encourage applications using a variety of approaches including advocacy, the development of social enterprises, user or peer support groups and campaigning activities – although these are examples only and we will consider any work which meets the aims and outcomes above.

They are especially keen to support work which addresses the needs and rights of people from communities who are often overlooked, such as those from Black and minority ethnic communities or older people. The focus of this programme is to ensure people get access to the services they need, their rights are recognised and their voices heard. It also aims to reduce stigma and discrimination. They will therefore not usually fund core service delivery, such as therapeutic interventions. In addition, they will only fund other types of projects such as employment initiatives if they are run by people with direct experience of mental health problems.

How to Apply

Full guidelines and application forms are available from the Comic Relief website.