National Lottery Community Fund - Living Places and Spaces

Grants are available to voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland for small-scale projects to create more sustainable and resilient outdoor spaces.

Fund Information

Funding body: National Lottery Community Fund - Northern Ireland

Maximum value: £ 10,000

Application deadline: 06/01/2023

Background

The Living Places and Spaces programme is administered by the National Lottery Community Fund on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive's Department for Infrastructure.

Objectives of Fund

The funding is intended to support environmental improvement works in local communities through projects in the following areas:

• Greening - planting more trees and plants in an area.

• Rewilding - allowing nature to take over an area.

• Water management - slowing rainwater before it gets to the drainage systems.

Value Notes

The fund has a total value of £750,000.

Grants of £1,000 to £10,000 are available.

Projects may start from April 2023 onwards, and grants must be spent within one year of award.

Who Can Apply

Applications will be accepted from the following organisation types:

• Voluntary or community organisation.

• Registered charity.

• Constituted group or club.

• Not-for-profit company or community interest company

• School.

Organisations must have at least two people on their board or committee who are not related.

For land or building projects, the applicant must either:

• Own the land or building.

• Have a lease that cannot be ended for five years.

• Have a letter from the owner saying the land or building will be leased to the applicant for at least five years.

• Have a letter from the owner or landlord that says the applicant is allowed to do work on the building.

Applicants must also consider whether they require planning permission for the work.

Location

Northern Ireland

Restrictions

The following are not eligible for funding:

• Individuals.

• Sole traders.

• Organisations that are aimed at generating profits primarily for private distribution.

• Organisations based outside the UK.

• One individual or organisation applying on behalf of another.

• People under the age of 18.

• Revenue costs (including salaries).

• Projects delivered outside of Northern Ireland.

• Items which will only benefit an individual or family, rather than the wider community.

• Contingency costs, loans, endowments or interest.

• Feed-in tariff payments.

• VAT that can be reclaimed.

• Activities that generate profits for private gain.

• Costs that have already been incurred.

• Work on land or buildings where the applicant does not meet requirements around land ownership and permissions.

Eligible Expenditure

Grants may be used to support the following types of projects and activities:

• Community gardens (a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people).

• Pocket parks and forests (small urban or rural forests).

• Allotments (an area of land used for growing fruit and vegetables).

• Rain gardens (an area which is planted so that rainwater from roofs, driveways, etc runs into it and soaks into the ground, and therefore does not cause flooding or other problems).

• Green roofs (a roof that is partially or completely covered with vegetation).

• Ponds and living walls or vertical gardens (vertical structures that have living plants or other greenery attached to them).

• Installation of outdoor furniture or features to encourage usage.

• Measures to encourage walking, wheeling and cycling.

Eligible costs include:

• Land and building costs (ie the costs of creating pathways, installation of vertical garden structures, developing a green roof etc).

• Equipment and materials (ie trees, plants, seeds, pots, tools, furniture etc).

All applicants should consider the environmental impact of their project and try to reuse, reduce and recycle where possible.

How To Apply

The programme will open for applications on 9 November 2022 and close to applications on 6 January 2023 (6pm).

Guidance notes and the online application form can be found on the National Lottery Community Fund website.

Contact National Lottery Community Fund for further information.

Useful links

National Lottery Community Fund - Living Places and Spaces
Living Places and Spaces | The National Lottery Community Fund (tnlcommunityfund.org.uk)

Fermanagh Trust Grants

Fermanagh Trust currently have a number of funding oppurtunities available to organisations located within the following Wind Farm areas:

• Callagheen Community Wind Farm Fund

  Is your community project located within 7 km of Callagheen Wind Farm (between Belleek and Garrison in Co. Fermanagh)? If Yes your group may be eligible to apply for a Callagheen Community Wind Farm Fund Grant for further information see GUIDELINES and APPLICATION FORM

  Closing date is 12 noon Tuesday 1st November 2022

• Slieve Rushen Wind Farm Fund

  Is your community project located within 12 km of Slieve Rushen Wind Farm in South West Fermanagh? If Yes your group may be eligible to apply for a Slieve Rushen Wind Farm Fund Grant.

  For further information see GUIDELINES and APPLICATION FORM

• Teiges Mountain Wind Farm Fund

  Is your community project located within 5km of Teiges Mountain Wind Farm? If yes your group may be eligible to apply for a grant from the Teiges Mountain Wind Farm Fund.

  For further information CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES (please read the guidelines carefully prior to preparing and submitting an application)

  1.  REVENUE SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME application form - offering grants up to £2000 towards: community activities, venue improvements / minor capital works, recurring costs for a programme.

  2.  STRATEGIC PROJECTS REVENUE GRANTS application form - (up to a maximum of £5000 pa over 1-3 year period) working with a range of organisations across the Area of Benefit, which will make a significant contribution to community life. We would particularly welcome strategic applications which will make a significant contribution to these themes; - reduction in crime / anti-social behaviour, community first aid, defibrillator initiative, hosting of cross-community events, improve access to services via a community volunteer driver scheme, environmental improvements, increasing access to the natural environment, renewable energy, improving mental health.

  Nb - an organisation can only hold one grant award from the Fund at any one time. Partnership applications which include an organisation in receipt of another grant at the time will be considered. The Fermanagh Trust will not discuss, or fund applications submitted by professional fundraising consultants on behalf of local groups. We are committed to building the capacity of grass roots organisation's and are here to help voluntary committee members directly.

  Closing date for applications is 12 noon Friday 4th November 2022

• Cornavarrow and Slieveglass Wind Farm Fund

  Is your community organisation / project located within 5km of either the Cornvarrow or Slieveglass Wind Farm? If yes your group may be eligible to apply for a grant from the Cornavarrow and Slieveglass Wind Farm Community Benefit Funds.

  For further information CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES (please read the guidelines carefully prior to preparing and submitting an application)

  Application Forms:

  1.  REVENUE SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME application form - offering grants up to a maximum of £4000. It is envisaged the majority of grants will normally be awarded up to £2000, towards: community activities, venue improvements / minor capital works, recurring costs for a programme.

  2.  STRATEGIC PROJECTS REVENUE GRANTS application form - (up to a maximum of £5000 pa over 1-3 year period) working with a range of organisations across the Area of Benefit, which will make a significant contribution to community life. We would particularly welcome strategic applications which will make a significant contribution to these themes; - Community Education Classes; Community First Aid / Defibrillator Initiative – aimed at improving access and support; Organising / Hosting Cross-Community Events; Improve access to services, via a Community Volunteer Driver Scheme; Environmental improvements; Renewable Energy; Improving Mental Health.

  For the Cornavarrow Wind Farm only

  3.  STRATEGIC CAPITAL LEGACY PROJECTS application form - providing grant aid up to £25,000 per annum, over a five year period or equivalent amount over a longer period, which will make a significant contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of the local community. An initial outline application requesting support towards a strategic capital project will be considered. If successful in passing this first stage of the application process – the project promoter will then be invited to go to the second stage of the process. To be considered for this funding, on submission of the Full application the project promoter must have the necessary statutory permissions in place.

  Nb - an organisation can only hold one grant award from the Fund at any one time. Partnership applications which include an organisation in receipt of another grant at the time will be considered. The Fermanagh Trust will not discuss, or fund applications submitted by professional fundraising consultants on behalf of local groups. We are committed to building the capacity of grass roots organisation's and are here to help voluntary committee members directly.

  Closing date for applications is 12 noon Friday 11th November 2022.

For more information please visit Fermanagh Trust Grants

Marine Litter Capital Grants

The Marine Litter Capital Grants will support organisations and groups to purchase items to:

• Prevent litter and plastic pollution from entering the marine environment

• Enhance the environmental management of a local area to reduce marine litter

• Improve the health and wellbeing of communities and marine biodiversity recovery by helping to improve and/or maintain the quality of public open spaces

• Improve the quality of their local environment by changing behaviour through creative concepts to reduce the incidence of littering.

Guidance and support

Please read the guidance notes before you complete your application.

Recipients of Marine Litter grants in Round 1 of funding in 2022 are not eligible to apply to Round 2.

To be eligible:

• Your organisation is likely to be responsible for managing and/or owning free to access public open space, or if not, will have a clearly defined role in managing the local environmental quality of such space and this will be formally agreed with the land owners

• Your project must be located on free to access public open space or, for creative concept ideas, must show how it is applicable to free to access public open space

• You must clearly demonstrate how the project will decrease the amount of litter and plastic entering the marine environment

• You must clearly demonstrate commitment and the ability to provide for the ongoing management of any physical assets (eg regular and timely emptying of bins) purchased as part of the project

• Funding must only be used for the purchase and installation of eligible capital items

• Schools must demonstrate how they will use any assets purchased in an educational context.

Grants are available across the whole of Northern Ireland and are not restricted to coastal areas. However, the funding is specifically targeted at preventing marine litter. Therefore, applications must be able to demonstrate clearly how a project will contribute to reducing litter and plastics entering our seas. In this way, projects will help ensure good environmental status of our coastal and marine environments in relation to litter. Ultimately, this will ensure that the properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment.

Need inspiration or help to complete your application? Book a 121 Q&A session to speak with a member of the team to discuss your project. Book here Marine Litter Q&A session

For more information please visit Marine Litter Capital Grants delivered by Live Here Love Here

Main themed grants

The main aim of the Small Grants Programme is to improve road safety at a local level.

The programme has been designed after reviewing our first four years of funding and listening to the views of stakeholders. This told us that there was a need for funding for smaller, local projects with a practical focus.

We are looking for measurable interventions that link to local priorities and show a proposed link to reducing casualties either directly or through clear interim measures.

We expect the projects funded by The Road Safety Trust to focus on engineering, infrastructure and technological measures, while recognising the contribution of education and enforcement to these measures.

The main objective of any project should always be to help protect vulnerable road users. Funding is available for a maximum of three years.

Eligible projects might include evidence reviews, trials, roll-outs, evaluations and support for the profession through guidance or other resources.

It is essential to download the ‘Fitness to Drive’ Grant Guidance in order to apply for our Main Theme Grant round open until 19 October 2022.

Organisations, public and professional associations, registered charities and university departments in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland may apply for grants.

We offer funding towards projects that meet our grant criteria. Grants are available for up to two or three years depending on the programme, and these can range from £10,000 up to £300,000.

For more information and to apply, please visit Our Grant Themes — Road Safety Trust

Building the Community-Pharmacy Partnership Programme

The Building the Community-Pharmacy Partnership (BCPP) Programme is led by CDHN and funded by the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB), with strategic direction provided by a multi-agency Steering Group. BCPP supports communities and community pharmacists to work in partnership to address locally defined needs so that people make connections, listen to and understand each other better and work together to address the social determinants of health and health inequalities.

We recognise that health is impacted by much more than the everyday lifestyle decisions that we make, important as they are. Research shows that social isolation can be as damaging for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. With this in mind, our projects aim to address these wider issues and tackle the root causes of poor health. These vary greatly for different groups of people and may include mental health issues, housing issues, low educational attainment, poverty or debt. Group work and relationship building is at the core of all our projects. By sharing our assets, our lived experiences and supporting each other we can achieve great things.

For information on the Programme or for some support with your application, please contact a member of the BCPP team on 028 3026 4606 or visit Building the Community-Pharmacy Partnership Programme | Community Development and Health Network (cdhn.org)

Closing dates - Level 2 - 17/11/22

The People’s Projects is back!

The National Lottery Community Fund, ITV, UTV and the Sunday Mail are today launching The People’s Projects – a National Lottery funding programme that not only delivers vital funding support to the heart of UK communities, but also raises awareness of the incredible work of community groups across the land.

The popular funding programme returns after a 3-year break and is making a share of over £4 million of National Lottery funding available with applications accepted from today. Groups and projects can apply for grants of up to £70,000 to help their communities and make a real difference to people’s lives.

The People’s Projects also offers an exciting opportunity for the general public to have a say in how National Lottery funding should be put to good use in their local area.

In May 2023, 95 shortlisted groups will take part in a national campaign, with the winners being decided by public vote. Shortlisted groups will be featured on regional TV news in their area (ITV or UTV) or in the Sunday Mail (in Scotland) where they will be able to tell the wider public about their great work and appeal for their vote.

Since it started in 2005, The People’s Projects has awarded around £45 million to over 1,000 good causes.

For more information and to apply visit www.thepeoplesprojects.org.uk. Deadline for applications is 12 noon on Friday 7th October 2022, although interested groups are urged to apply early as the programme may close sooner depending on the volume of applications.

The Cancer Charities’ Support Fund

The Cancer Support Funding award will enable charities to provide a wide range of support services for cancer patients throughout NI, and will cover key areas in the cancer pathway; from pre-diagnosis, through to palliative and end of life care. These services are key support mechanisms towards the implementation of the Cancer Recovery Plan and the Cancer Strategy, and important in working towards the Department’s aim of building cancer service capacity in communities.

The Cancer Charities’ Support Fund will provide support of between £5,000 and £1 million for cancer charities.

The three categories of grant values are:

• £5,000 to £30,000 – Small Grant

• £30,000 to £500,000 – Medium Grant

• £500,000 to £1million – Large Grant

In exceptional circumstances higher awards to charities working together to deliver a proposal, may be considered.

Applications are welcome for projects that must have all the funds spent by March 2024. You can, however, apply for projects over 12 months or up to March 2024.

You should clearly outline in your application the duration of the project and costs associated for each year you are applying for.  This will be used for reporting purposes and you should therefore be as accurate as possible when outlining your application costs.

Fund outcomes:

Specific outcomes that the Fund should deliver are:

• Prevention such as awareness raising sessions and campaigns

• Psychological support/counselling

• Palliative care

• Improved access to information and support services including financial/welfare/ benefits advice, and support available through new technologies

• Enhanced provision of, and access to, practical support for people with cancer

• Services to support physical and mental health and wellbeing

• Specific research into the experience of patients with cancer

• Provision of screening services, and

• Delivery of cancer rehabilitation programmes.

For an application to be successful, it must contribute to at least one of the above outcomes, depending on the level of funding applied for.

Who can apply:

• The charity must be providing or funding services in Northern Ireland. These services should be focused predominantly on people living with cancer, or their support structure

• Charities must be registered or awaiting registration with the Charity Commission

What can be supported:

• Projects which support delivery of at least one of the outcomes above

• Costs associated with project delivery only

• Proposals will be particularly welcome which focus on supporting those living in rural communities, and from the lesser heard/excluded or marginalised communities

• Delivery of Departmental objectives as outlined in strategic frameworks

• Funding for research linked to cancer patient experience will also be eligible, and

• Consideration of other sources of funding may be applied, for example: if the applicant is applying and/or in receipt of funding from any other DoH fund, or support from a Trust, the Foundation may prioritise funding for other applicants who have not accessed other such sources of funding

• Costs associated with IT equipment, providing it will support service delivery and enhance a particular service

• Volunteer expenses, including training

Closing date for applications is 7th October 2022. For more information and to apply, please visit The‌ ‌Cancer‌ ‌Charities’‌ ‌Support‌ Fund‌ ‌ - Community Foundation Northern Ireland (communityfoundationni.org)

Assets Recovery Community Scheme 2022-23-24

Community groups across Northern Ireland are being invited to apply for funding which comes from assets seized from criminals.

The ARCS programme budget for this Scheme is estimated to be in the region of £900k – approximately £300k in 2022/23 and approximately £600k in 2023/24. The maximum total funding available is £10k (in 2022/23) and £25k (in 2023/24) per application. Please be aware that it is unlikely that all applications will be successful. Applicants should not, therefore, make any commitment, financial or other, until the decision of the ARCS funding panel is determined and notified to applicants.

The funding is available for projects running between October 2022 and March 2024 or periods in between.

Who can apply for funding?

• Community and Voluntary Groups and Organisations with a Management Board or appropriate governance structure

• Registered Charities

• Statutory organisations seeking to deliver projects in community settings

The essential criteria for ARCS funding is: “to prevent crime, reduce the fear of crime”

ARCS funding should also benefit victims, or communities or the environment or any combination of these three priority categories.

Applications must be submitted by 5pm on Thursday 1st September 2022.

For more information please visit https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/publications/assets-recovery-community-scheme-guidance-notes-and-application-form-2022-23-24

Power NI's Brighter Community funding

The Brighter Communities programme energises innovative and emerging community groups, teams and projects with £1000 of funding awarded each month. Since 2018 we have contributing over £40,000 to our communities and we are still going!

Applications for the month are now open, and we welcome all communities to apply. Successful communities will receive £1000 of funding to help make their community shine a little brighter. All applications must comply with the Brighter Communities terms & conditions.

Please visit Brighter Communities | Community Funding | Power NI

Marine Litter Capital Grants

Live Here Love Here are delighted to announce the launch of the second year of the highly successful Marine Litter Grants. The Live Here Love Here Marine Litter Capital Grants are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs through the Live Here Love Here collaborative partnership, involving DAERA, ten Local Councils, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.

The Marine Litter Capital Grants will support organisations and groups to purchase items to:

• Prevent litter and plastic pollution from entering the marine environment

• Enhance the environmental management of a local area to reduce marine litter

• Improve the health and wellbeing of communities and marine biodiversity recovery by helping to improve and/or maintain the quality of public open spaces

• Improve the quality of their local environment by changing behaviour through creative concepts to reduce the incidence of littering

Financial support of between £500 and £40,000 will be available to constituted groups, businesses and statutory bodies meeting the eligibility criteria. 

Financial support of between £500 and £5,000 will be available to non-constituted groups. 

For more information and to apply, please visit Marine Litter Capital Grants delivered by Live Here Love Here

Funding in Northern Ireland

The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest community funder in the UK. Each year we distribute millions of pounds of funding raised by National Lottery players to community groups and charitable projects across Northern Ireland.

Our priority is to keep money flowing to support communities across Northern Ireland.

We are here to help and want to talk to you about your ideas to support local communities. We have a range of open funding programmes and are happy to chat to you about these.

Contact us if you have an idea on 028 9055 1455 or at enquiries.ni@tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

National Lottery Awards for All Northern Ireland

£300–£10,000

• Projects bringing local people together to make positive changes in their community.

• No deadline, so groups can apply any time.

• Applying is quick and simple.

• Applications welcome from constituted voluntary or community organisations, schools, and statutory bodies.

• If we funded you within the last two years, we may have to give priority to other groups that have not recently been funded through this programme.

• This funding is for projects that will run for 12 months or less

People and Communities

£10,000–£500,000

• Project ideas should come from the community. Talk to the people you want to help and get them involved in shaping and planning the project.

• Your project should make good use of the skills, knowledge, resources and energy of people within your community; making it stronger and ready for the future.

• Understand the need for your project and how it fits with the work of other organisations. Build relationships and work together on shared goals.

• Applications welcome from constituted voluntary or community organisations, and social enterprises.

• This funding is for projects that will run for between 1 and 5 years.

Empowering Young People

£10,000–£500,000

• This funding is for projects that work with young people (8 – 25 years old), and which will run for between 1 and 5 years.

• Projects will help young people to: have the skills they need for the future; have better relationships with their support networks and communities; and/or have improved health and wellbeing.

• Young people must be involved in the planning and delivery of the project. They must be able to develop the skills to help themselves, and their support networks and communities need to be involved too.

• Applications welcome from constituted voluntary or community organisations, and social enterprises.

Dormant Accounts Fund

• The fund opened for applications on Tuesday, 12 January 2021.

• This fund will support the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector to be more resilient and prepared for the future by funding activity that increases capacity and sustainability.

• Dormant accounts are UK bank and building society accounts that have been untouched for 15 or more years, and where banks and building societies are unable to trace the customer who owns the account. They are not derived from National Lottery activity.

• Under Section 22 of the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008, we distribute money under direction from the Department of Finance.

• To make sure this funding has maximum impact in communities, we held a consultation in late 2019. You can read what we heard.

• In the first phase, we have developed a flexible and responsive grant programme that will support organisations to be able to adapt to future challenges and be more financially resilient.

• We'll also support larger investments that will enable collaboration and develop new and creative approaches to sustainability. These Northern Ireland-wide or sector-specific proposals could focus on specific themes such as volunteering, digital capacity or diversity and inclusion. If you have any questions, contact us.

Apply here - Funding in Northern Ireland | The National Lottery Community Fund (tnlcommunityfund.org.uk)