Grants and Community News for 2 September 2022

Independent Age – Cost of Living Grant

The Charity, Independent Age, is providing a total of 25 grants of £40,000 each to charities and community organisations across the UK.

The funding is intended to ‘get more money into the pockets of older people and help ensure they do not have to choose between buying food to eat and heating their homes this winter’.

Applications will be accepted from registered or exempt UK charities, charitable incorporated organisations (CIO) or community interest companies (CIC) with an annual turnover of at least £100,000.

There is particular interest in local community based that are providing advice, practical help and support to older people in their neighbourhoods, where such work can be scaled up appropriately.

The funding is intended for projects such as the following:

  • Advice and information initiatives – such as helplines, drop-in sessions or community outreach work – that provide guidance to establish whether someone is entitled to relevant benefits.
  • Active support programmes that, through guidance to fill in forms and the like, help over 65s to claim benefits they are entitled to claim.
  • Budgeting advice and/or support to access better energy deals.
  • Debt advice, where an organisation is appropriately registered to give this help.
  • Short-term help, such as access to grants to deal with one-off costs, emergencies, or subsidised property maintenance, for older people already struggling financially.

To be eligible, projects must be in addition to or an extension of existing work, take place within the UK and be publicly accessible.

The funding can be used flexibly, for example to cover the costs of an additional role to deliver the work, or to produce resources to help expand the work being done.

Projects should be ready to start from November 2022 and completed by 31 December 2023.

There is a two-stage application process.  Phase 1 applications will be accepted from 1 September 2022 to 16 September 2022.

You can find guidance for this fund and an online application on the Independent Age Charity website.

John Coates Charitable Trust

The John Coates Charitable Trust is a grant-making charitable trust, committed to offering financial assistance to UK-registered charities that work in the following areas:

  • The arts
  • Medicine and healthcare
  • Heritage and the environment
  • Societal and community cohesion

The Trust is unlikely to support applications from/for:

  • Individuals
  • Regional offices of national organisations
  • Projects delivered overseas

Generally, grants are awarded for one year.  They are typically unrestricted and range from £5,000 to £10,000.  Trustees may make larger or smaller grants at their discretion.  Only one grant will be awarded to any organisation within a 12-month period but Trustees may choose to renew their support in subsequent years.  Successful applicants will be asked to submit a post-grant report detailing how the grant has been spent and its impact.

To find out more about the Trust’s funding priorities and a full list of exclusions you can read their application guidelines on the John Coates Charitable Trust website.

The deadline for applications for the Winter 2022 meeting is midnight on 2nd December 2022.

National Allotment Gardens Trust

Grants of between £250 and £2,000 are given for various Allotment and Gardens projects.

The organisation applying must have a committee officially recognised by the landlord of the site, have a written and signed constitution, a bank account with 3 signatories and a forwarding address with named contact.

The Board of Trustees meet 4 times each year and deadlines for applications are on the 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October.  The amount of funding awarded is at the discretion of the Board of Trustees and may not necessarily be the total sum that is applied for.

The National Allotment Gardens Trust’s objective is to advance and improve the Allotments/Gardens movement by Education, Training, Workshops and Support.  Their aim is:

  • To provide training for Allotment Committee Members and for people who wish to become involved in the management of allotments.
  • For committees who wish to take a lease of their site from either Local Authority or Private Landlord.
  • To improve the facilities for those who have need for such facilities by their youth, infirmity or disablements.
  • For the Trust to provide funding and experience in Allotment Gardening.
  • To arrange local training courses.

The application may be downloaded from the National Allotment Gardens Trust website, where you can also find more information on the Trust.

Community News

Active Devon – Live Longer Better Devon – Online Conference

A free online conference has been organised to take place on Wednesday 28th September 2022 from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm.

The Zoom event has been arranged by Active Devon and focusses on the importance of movement for healthy ageing and working together to reduce health and movement inequalities in later life.

The Purpose of the Conference

Devon has a significant population of older people, and it is ageing further. The COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have and still are exacerbating health inequalities and increasing pressure on health and social care systems. 

We know that physical, cognitive and emotional activity can help reduce this problem and increase people’s health span.  

We need to unite and commit to improving systems, prescribing activity and changing our attitudes to ageing.  

This event aims to bring together key partners, stakeholders, audience representatives and high-profile speakers to inspire, inform, explore and discuss opportunities and challenges for supporting Devon’s ageing population to move more. 

This conference may be of particular interest to organisations and individuals working with older populations in Devon and interested in improving outcomes for older people, including but not limited to – Charities, CIC’s and community organisations, Health and Social Care professionals, managers and commissioners, Public Health Leads, physical activity and leisure providers, frailty leads, social prescribers, volunteers, befrienders and ambassadors.

You will need to register your interest to attend and will receive a Zoom link nearer the time of the conference.  You can register to attend via the Active Devon website.

If you wish to discuss the conference with Active Devon please email can@activedevon.org