Targeted emergency grants are available to assist charitable organisations delivering services to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in England who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding body: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Maximum value: £ 100,000
Application deadline: 10/11/2020
Background
The funding for the CAF Resilience Fund has been provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), as part of its Community Match Challenge funding scheme, and matched by the Covid-19 Support Fund, created by the insurance and long-term savings industry.
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) is managing the funding.
Objectives of Fund
Emergency funding to enable charitable organisations (both registered and unregistered small and mid-sized charitable organisations) in England to continue their charitable activities in whatever way is needed.
Value Notes
The fund will initially award £20 million in grants.
Grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 are available.
The grant can be no more than 20% of the applicant’s previous year reported annual income and must be between £10,000 and £100,000.
The grant can support costs between 1 October 2020 and 31 March 2021.
Who Can Apply
Applications will be accepted from the following organisations:
- Organisations registered with the Charity Commission, or organisations registered with HMRC as an exempt charity (eg CASC).
- All other non-regulated organisations: Community Benefit Society, Community Interest Company, Co-operative Society, Credit Union, Social Enterprise, Company Limited by Guarantee, Company Limited by Shares, Unincorporated Association, and other organisations carrying out a charitable purpose
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Deliver their services in England.
- Demonstrate last reported income between £50,000 and £10 million.
- Be established on or before 31 August 2019.
- Be focused on the interests and needs of at least one of the designated groups and causes.
- Be able to supply details of a valid UK bank account.
- Be able to spend all the grant funding before 31 March 2021, and supply documentary evidence to demonstrate this expenditure relating to the period 1 October 2020 to 30 March 2021.
Priority will be given to:
- Charities and other organisations whose established charitable activities have been severely reduced or are at risk of being severely reduced to the detriment of vulnerable or disadvantaged groups.
- Organisations that are having to deliver core services in fundamentally different or unusual ways in order to respond to the crisis and still reach their beneficiaries within vulnerable or disadvantaged groups.
- Organisations that are deeply embedded with communities and have established networks to deliver their charitable activities.
Location
England
Restrictions
The following are not eligible for funding:
- Organisations that do not meet the eligibility criteria.
- Individuals, or groups of individuals who have come together recently to provide informal support services to their communities.
- Organisations applying more than once. Only one application can be submitted per organisation.
- Organisations that use the funds to make grants or financial donations to other organisations or to individuals.
- Organisations that discriminate on the basis of age, race, colour, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability or other unlawful basis.
- Religious charities whose activities only promote the furtherance of their religion or only benefit their own religious members.
- Political parties or campaigns.
- Activities that make profits for private gain.
- Campaigning activities (this fund is to support the delivery of direct services for vulnerable people).
- Religious activities (religious organisations will be considered if their project benefits the wider community and does not include religious content).
- Political or lobbying activities.
- Loan repayments.
- Debt repayments to HMRC or other crown debts.
- Goods or services that organisations have a statutory duty to provide.
- Liabilities incurred before 1 October 2020 unless agreed in advance in writing by CAF.
- This list is not exhaustive and the full restrictions can be found in the Terms and Conditions on CAF’s website.
Eligible Expenditure
The grants are flexible and can be used to support the following activities where they are essential for delivering relevant services:
- Staff salaries.
- Project running costs.
- Running costs/overheads.
- Goods and equipment which would not be capitalised (eg, to develop enhanced physical environment and continue to deliver services)
- Organisational development
The fund aims to help the following causes and communities:
- People living in poverty
- Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities
- Children and young people
- People with physical or learning disabilities
- People experiencing mental health conditions
- Older people
- Communities facing health inequalities
- Patient groups with unmet health needs (physical or mental)
- People facing domestic or other abuse
- Unemployed people
- Homeless people
- People experiencing loneliness and isolation
- People pushed into crisis because of Covid-19
- Refugees and migrants
- Other vulnerable people or communities.
How To Apply
Applications will be accepted from 20 October to 10 November 2020 (12 noon).
Guidelines, terms and conditions, and the online application form are available from CAF’s website.
Useful Links
CAF Resilience Fund