Comic Relief: Young People and Alcohol

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 will fund services that aim to reduce the levels of young people’s drinking, create greater awareness of the dangers of harmful drinking and provide direct support to young drinkers at the greatest risk – those drinking excessively and dangerously. This could include individual or group work sessions, or both.

Outcomes

The organisations they fund will need to show how their work will help deliver one or more of the following outcomes:

• A reduction in alcohol consumption by young people
• A reduction in harm and increased access to help for young people who have alcohol problems
• Closer working relationships between alcohol and young people's services
• An increase in relevant skills to deliver services targeted at young people who have alcohol problems.

They welcome applications from voluntary and community organisations working with young people with alcohol problems aged between 11 and 25.

They particularly welcome applications from agencies working with those who are vulnerable and at high risk of heavy drinking.

They are also interested in funding services that target particular groups such as those from Black and minority ethnic communities and young women, as these groups find it especially hard to access services.

They also welcome applications for work supporting training that equips staff with specialist skills in working with young people with alcohol problems. They particularly want to encourage joint applications from young people’s agencies and alcohol agencies where expertise can be shared, innovative approaches developed and where the added value of working together can be shown.

They also recognise that some organisations will work with people around a variety of substances. In these circumstances they specifically want to support the alcohol element of the work and our funding is likely to reflect this.

How to Apply

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