Grants are available through this match funding scheme to assist social sector organisations in areas of deprivation in England who are providing services to support people struggling with the rising cost of living.
The Cost of Living Resilience Fund is provided by Access – the Foundation for Social Investment and run by Crowdfunder.
This is a match-funding initiative and thus not a traditional grant scheme (funds awarded are conditional upon applicants first securing crowdfunding via Crowdfunder’s platform).
The fund aims to increase sustainability in social sector organisations by supporting them to deliver projects which build organisational stability and resilience to deliver.
Examples of the kind of project which would be match funded include:
- Refurbishment of premises to better serve the community and increase delivery capacity.
- Development of a new service or product to bring in additional revenue.
- Investment in current activity to allow growth or expansion of services.
The funder will match donations pound for pound up to £150 until 30 September 2024 or when the funds are fully allocated, whichever is soonest.
All pledges made by supporters, up to a maximum £150 pledge, will be matched by the Cost of Living Resilience Fund at a rate of 2:1 or 3:1 match funding depending on IMD. (Full details can be found in the guidelines.)
Only one donation per supporter will be matched.
Applications will be accepted from the following types of organisations:
- Charitable Incorporated Organisation
- Community Benefit Society
- Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee
- Community Interest Company Limited by Shares (need to have an asset lock).
- Community Interest Company
- Co-operative Society.
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Bring in over 33% of its income through trading activities.
- Be based in and support communities in areas of deprivation in England, as measured using the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
- Provide services supporting people with the cost of living.
The types of services being delivered may include (but are not limited to):
- Provision of advice, in particular debt and financial advice.
- Provision of warm spaces over winter, linked to the provision of wider advice & support services.
- Provision of no or low cost food, through food banks or food delivery boxes.
- Support with housing needs whether that be through advice to those made homeless, provision of low/no cost home furnishings or provision of housing itself.
- Access to transport to enable people to access shops or facilities and employment.
The fund will close when all the funding is allocated.
The first step is for applicants to set up a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdfunder. Campaigns typically run for 28 days but take a few weeks to create so groups should allow about six weeks in total.
Before they start crowdfunding, applicants should read the full Terms and Conditions as well as the Eligibility Criteria which can be found on the Crowdfunder website.
