NEWS: Groundwork partners with Comic Relief to offer grants of up to £4,000 for grassroots organisations

Groundwork has announced a new partnership with Comic Relief to offer grants of up to £4,000 to support community projects across England.

The Comic Relief Community Fund will invest in grassroots community-led organisations to bring about lasting change and legacy for local people. The Fund has four main objectives and will support innovative projects that will tackle Comic Reliefs’ four core themes:

• Children Survive & Thrive: supporting children under the age of 5 to grow, play and learn in safe environments with people who love and care for them
• Fighting for Gender Justice: projects that champion women and girls, including initiatives that help people affected by domestic violence, abuse or exploitation
• A Safe Place to Be – projects that tackle homelessness and support people who are rebuilding their lives because of homelessness or forced migration
• Global Mental Health Matters: projects that support good mental health in communities and tackle stigma and discrimination

Funding will be available to strengthen local organisations helping them with skills and advice to drive community projects forward, as well as providing the necessary funding and support that groups need to kick-start new initiatives.

Capacity building grants of up to £500 will support organisations to become more robust and better able to deliver projects that have a legacy beyond the funding. Funding will support activities such as developing organisational governance, policies and procedures as well as increasing overall capacity in groups.

Grant funding of up to £4,000 will be available for projects, including purchasing items, materials and equipment to benefit the local community, improvements to a community building, developing an outdoor space or running a community project or activity. Projects can also fund coordinators to manage volunteers, staff to lead activities or training sessions, workshops and community activities.

Groundwork Community Enablers will be on hand to provide one to one support to groups, including advice about applications and tailor-made advice for individual groups on how to make the most out of their funding.

Graham Duxbury, national CEO at Groundwork, said:

This is a great opportunity for grassroots organisations to not only apply for funding for a project idea, but to get advice on how to successfully take projects forward and create projects that have a long-lasting legacy for local people. We encourage groups to apply for funding that will go a long way in helping to shape and support local projects and improve local communities across the UK.

Speaking on behalf of Comic Relief Clare Kiely Senior Investment Partner said:

We are excited to be able to provide this opportunity in partnership with Groundwork and look forward to working together to support more locally rooted organisations providing vital support to people in communities across England.

A national Advisory panel will support the programme and will assist in developing the programme, to target funds in a way that will deliver maximum impact and lasting change.

The programme will be open from Monday 16 September 2019 via an online application process. To register interest, applicants can contact comicrelief@groundwork.org.uk.

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT GROUNDWORK
Groundwork is a charity working locally and nationally to transform lives in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. We’re passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny and no-one is held back by their background or circumstances. We help people gain confidence and skills, get into training and work, protect and improve green spaces, lead more active lives and overcome significant challenges such as poverty, isolation, low skills and poor health.

ABOUT COMIC RELIEF
Comic Relief is a UK charity with a simple purpose – to create a just world, free from poverty. Comic Relief does this by funding and investing in amazing organisations across the UK and around the world to tackle some of the key issues of our time. Since 1985, Comic Relief has raised over £1.3 billion. That money has helped, and is helping, to improve countless lives.
For information about Comic Relief and the work it carries out, please visit: www.comicrelief.com
Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)