Funding is always difficult, but the following all offer some potential to support digital inclusion work. This page will be added to as new funding opportunities come to light..
August 23, 2016 : Sally Dyson (from SCVO blog):
Coming soon: Digital Challenge Fund round four
New round of grants for charities working hard to get people online
We’re delighted that round four of the Digital Participation Challenge Fund is nearly ready to launch.
With generous support from the Scottish Government, it’s allowing us to do two things:
1. Invest in fantastic projects across Scotland helping people to get online
2. Helping us to understand what works really well
Here are the key things you need to know:
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Look out for the funding opportunity being live toward the end of September, with a deadline of Thursday 10 November.
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Awards will be made before Christmas 2016.
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We will be making small awards. The majority of these will be over £1,000 and below £10,000. The average award to date has been just over £8,000.
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There will be an online application process for the majority of the awards.
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Final decisions will be made by a team from our Leadership Group.
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A full list of Frequently Asked Questions, based on all our learning, will be available to help guide applicants.
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We expect all successful applicants to be supporting people to gain Basic Digital Skills, and to regulalry assess and report progress.
We’re in the final stages of analysing the 84 projects which have been funded through the first three calls. We will be publishing our findings in the next couple of weeks.
What we’re really going to focus on in Challenge 4 is investing in ‘lessons learned’. What’s currently emerging is:
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One-to-one support is beneficial – this could be peer-to-peer learning or volunteer support.
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Short bursts of frequent learning are more successful than a small number of longer sessions.
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Linking a type of device to a specific activity, and having an individual ‘hook’, is important.
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Where a small group of people is being supported to get online, it’s helpful if that they are all working with the same type of device.
If you are interested in applying for Challenge funding, please keep an eye on our website and Twitter feed for further information.
We will also be announcing developments in our fortnightly e-bulletin.
great funding opportunity for non-profits
update 24 August (from SCVO bulletin)
For charities working with people in disadvantaged communities this RBS sponsored fund offers a great opportunity to develop a project.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Skills and Opportunities Fund is offering grants of up to £35,000 to charities, not-for-profit organisations and state funded schools and colleges, to support projects working with disadvantaged communities focused on one or more of the following themes: employability, education or enterprise.
Here in SCVO’s Digital team we know there are lots of organisations across Scotland working hard to help people gain the digital skills they need to thrive in today’s world. Perhaps you are part of a charity helping disadvantaged young people use technology to support their education? Or maybe you are working with BME communities teaching digital skills aimed at increasing employability?
Whether you are looking to expand an existing project or to get a great idea off the ground then this could be the opportunity to do so. Further information including full eligibility criteria is available here.
If your organisation is looking for funding to support people to get online then keep an eye out for updates on the Digital Participation Challenge Fund round 4, due to be launched at the end of September.
For other funding opportunities available across Scotland check out the Funding Scotland database.
john ellerman foundation
http://ellerman.org.uk/what-we-fund
“for people facing poverty, hardship and other forms of disadvantage. It aims to help them lead fuller, more independent lives. We fund in two areas:
realising individual potential
strengthening personal and social networks
dm thomas foundation
https://dmthomasfoundation.org/what-we-do/grants/dmtf-central-grants/
includes a stream supporting employability and training programmes for young people
morrisons foundation
https://www.morrisonsfoundation.com/grant-funding.html
Funding is for new projects that groups would like to get off the ground but for which they have no funding. The projects should benefit the local community and can cover a wide range of topics including:
- Young people
- Older people
- Health and wellbeing
- Local environment
thompson family charitable trust
information from roy.copus@btinternet.com
grants to registered charities which have included health and social welfare as well as education –
blagrave trust
http://www.blagravetrust.org/applying-for-a-grant/
aimed at projects supporting young people
persimmon homes community champions grants
http://www.persimmonhomes.com/charity
up to £1,000 for community projects (requires match funding)
clore duffield foundation
http://www.cloreduffield.org.uk/Grant_Programmes/Learning_Spaces.htm
support for creating learning spaces
esmee fairburn foundation
http://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/what-we-fund/social-change
funds "work that contributes to a just and inclusive society at every level (individual, community and system). We believe that the best solutions are owned by and built for communities, so we fund them to thrive and deliver long term impact, whether by place or particular theme. We support work that removes barriers preventing marginalised and isolated people from participating and making a valuable contribution to society”
nominet social tech seed fund
http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/how-to-apply/social-tech-seed
“is an open grant-funding programme that offers entrepreneurial organisations early-stage investment to develop innovative projects harnessing the power of the internet and digital technologies to deliver significant social change. The programme supports projects tackling pressing social challenges such as the environment and sustainability, education, employment and healthcare. Social Tech Seed will provide funding and support to help you demonstrate the social, user and financial value of your existing digital prototype.
gordon fraser charitable trust
https://www.gfct.org.uk/
“Recipients must be registered charities but the trustees have complete discretion as to the type of charitable work supported. In recent years there has been some concentration on support for charities working with children or young people and those active in the environment and the arts. There has also been a preference for applications from and for Scotland but not to the exclusion of applications from elsewhere”
mickel fund
http://www.mickelfund.org.uk/Home.aspx
includes housing and homelessness in its priorities and has a preference for Scottish work
james weir foundation
http://jamesweirfoundation.org
– supports projects aimed at education, the elderly, health and disability
garfield weston
http://www.garfieldweston.org/how-to-apply/
“We will consider requests for specific activities or programmes, for Capital projects (i.e. buildings and equipment) and also towards an organisation’s core costs”