Small grants
Just need a small amount of money for a community project? Here’s a good place to start looking.
As with any charitable project, it’s worth considering the funders that will fund a wide variety of projects.
This page was updated 07/05/2024. Spotted an error? Please let us know.
Stay Well – Grants of up to £400 are awarded for vulnerable individuals and families living in Cambridgeshire (currently not including Peterborough) facing fuel poverty. Grants are for future heating costs within the home. For those that are homeless, home items that assist with keeping warm (such as sleeping bags or blankets) will be considered. We cannot accept applications for clothing.
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Denbury Fund – The fund offers grants of up to £2,000 for projects that address need in Cambridgeshire.
Projects in East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and South Cambridgeshire, as well as countywide projects benefitting people from these areas, are of particular interest.
The fund will accept applications for both core costs and project costs, with a particular, but not exclusive, interest in addressing homelessness, deprivation and supporting vulnerable people. The fund does not accept applications for building and maintenance costs.
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D&J Lloyd Community First Fund
This fund offers grants of £3,000, on average, to provide support and relief to those in need, to promote the arts, to protect the environment, and to promote education. The D&J Lloyd Community First Fund offer grants to support voluntary and community organisations working in Cambridgeshire to:
Provide support and relief to those that are in need, particularly those suffering financial hardship, illness, social isolation, homelessness or negative effects of old age.
Promote the arts, particularly but not exclusively to help those at a disadvantage to take part in arts activities.
Protect the environment and/or sites and buildings of historic or architectural importance.
Promote learning, skills development and education (excluding areas of statutory responsibility) to those that are marginalised or excluded from society.
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High Sheffifs – This year, The High Sheriff wants to focus on supporting charitable initiatives across the county with a priority to provide better opportunities for young people, helping them to understand and reach their full potential.
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Dementia Carers Fund
Grants of up to £3,000 for projects that support full-time unpaid carers who are caring for a loved one with dementia.
The Dementia Carers Fund offers grants of up to £3,000 to support charitable projects across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough that provide relief, respite and support to full-time unpaid carers.
The key aims of the fund are to:
Give caring support to unpaid carers who need to attend appointments of their own (e.g. haircuts, doctors), and alleviate any worry about leaving their loved one.
Encourage unpaid carers to recharge and to stay healthy themselves, by supporting them to take self-care breaks.
Support volunteer befriender initiatives.
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Marshall Community Fund – This fund offers grants of up to £3,000 to support small, local voluntary and community organisations in Cambridgeshire. We currently have over 70 funds offering grants to Cambridgeshire-based projects that help to improve the quality of life across the county. Our minimum grant size for organisations is £1,500 and our average is £4,500, but each fund specifies its own range of available grant sizes.
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Cambridge Street Aid is an award winning initiative which provides practical help to people who live or have lived on the streets. There are many reasons why people beg on the street – each person has their own story to tell. Many of us instinctively want to give money to someone who we think needs our help. Cambridge Street Aid offers individual grants to help people with a background of living on the city’s streets. The grants provide practical support to help people get off, and stay off, the streets.
We work with local charities who can refer individuals for a grant of up to £250 or £750. Applications can only be made by referring organisations.
Each grant helps somebody find accommodation and move off the streets. It’s a meaningful sum that will make a real difference to their life.
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G’s Community – G’s is committed to being a good neighbour and making a positive contribution within its communities. It recognises its role in supporting them to thrive and it seeks to inspire its communities to engage with and appreciate farming and food. Grants up to £3,000 for projects in East Cambridgeshire and Fenland that develop young people, and/or have a horticultural focus, and/or are in some way related to local food. If funds allow, consideration may be given to projects which preserve the local heritage or protect the local natural environment and wildlife.
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Birketts Endowed Cambridgeshire Fund – The Birketts Endowed Cambridgeshire Fund provides grants for projects supporting mental health, people with disabilities, children and families, and homelessness. This fund has no maximum grant size, with an average grant amount of £1,600.
Each year, the fund makes grants to support small, local non-profit organisations that are undertaking charitable work in Cambridgeshire.
The focus for grant making from the Fund is to support groups working with:
Disability, Mental health, Children and families, Homelessness
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Good Life Fund The Good Life Fund offers grants of up to £1500 to people in our local community to help set up groups that connect people, such as book clubs, craft classes, or activities that encourage people to learn new skills. Small grants can be a catalyst for encouraging people to take the first steps to become engaged in their communities, inspiring them to develop their ideas for groups and activities.
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Family Action’s Welfare Grants programme – aims to help prevent an immediate crisis from spiralling and threatening the stability of families and individuals.
Welfare grants are an integral part of our whole family approach to finding solutions for those who need it the most. Coupled with emotional and practical support, grants help us to create a safety net for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our society. The average grant for essential personal and household needs is likely to be in the region of £200 to a maximum of £300.
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The Happiness Fund – We fund grassroots, neighbourhood-based community projects throughout the UK up to £5000.
The Happiness Fund is available to enable and support projects which improve mental health, wellbeing, inclusion, learning and skills development in local communities. Ultimately it creates happier people and neighbourhoods. To build happy, strong, resilient communities by supporting grassroots, not-for-profit projects that enable sustainable outcomes in:
Mental health Wellbeing & happiness, Inclusion, Learning and skills development.
The fund is intended to help new groups and activities, to be successful. Applicants will need to indicate how the activity/group can become self-sustaining or able to attract funding from other sources in the longer term.
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Cameron Grant Memorial Trust – Cameron Grants are small cash awards from the Cameron Grant Memorial Trust to support innovation in mental health. The Cameron Grant Memorial Trust offers small grants to individuals, charities and not-for-profit organisations wishing to do any of the following: Trial a new service, Create an asset, piece of technology or performance, Fund research or experiment in any way that supports the treatment of mental health. Great emphasis is placed on innovation. This includes using new methods, channels, technology or approaches to create positive change. Such ideas should typically fit into one of the following categories: Destigmatising mental health, Reducing mental health care barriers, Improving mental wellbeing of beneficiaries. Applications for a grant of between £1,000 & £2,500 will be considered.
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King Charles lll Fund – Our grants respond to critical social and environmental issues facing people and the planet both here in the UK as well as internationally. Our small grants programme recognise the valuable contributions of small organisations working directly with the communities, open for non-profit organisations with an income of less than £1m per year to apply for funding during three rounds each financial year. The programme provides awards of up to £5,000 per year for up to three years.
We welcome applications from organisations working across the following themes.
Environment: protecting and promoting the environment through efforts including habitat restoration, species conservation, carbon savings and sequestration and circular economies.
Countryside: investing in the economic and environmental future of the countryside. This includes grants to support sustainable and regenerative agriculture, nature friendly farming practices and a brighter future for those who live and work in rural communities.
Education: supporting education, training and employability opportunities through which young people and adults can fulfil their potential. This includes grants to non-profit organisations working to narrow the attainment gap, support broader education through music, the arts, sports and outdoor pursuits, as well as investing in teachers continuing professional development.
Heritage and conservation: the preservation of historic and culturally important buildings and traditional craftmanship, together with the sustainable regeneration of communities and the built environment across the globe.
Social inclusion: promoting social inclusion for vulnerable and marginalised communities through projects that relieve poverty, loneliness and other social issues.
Health and wellbeing: improving the health and wellbeing of people and communities. Our grants have enabled people with disabilities, those facing life limiting illnesses and people from disadvantaged and marginalised communities to benefit from improved physical and mental health.
