Grants totalling £9m from the first round of the Social Action Fund have been awarded to 16 bidders, it was announced today.
The fund, run by the Social Investment Business on behalf of the Cabinet Office, will make awards of between £200,000 and £2m to a range of projects across the UK.
The Social Action Fund, which opened in October, offers grants of £100,000 or more to not-for-profit organisations, public sector bodies and businesses to run projects in England that encourage volunteering and charitable giving.
Successful bidders include the Challenge Network, the Sandwell Council of Voluntary Organisations, and the youth charity Catch 22.
The Office for Civil Society last week announced the charity Beatbullying would receive £1.3m from the Social Action Fund to set up We’re Altogether Better, a new umbrella group that will include Beatbullying and the charity’s existing schemes.
A second tranche of the funding, worth up to £11m, opened for applications earlier in January and closes at noon on 3 February.
It is open to any organisation with an annual turnover of at least £100,000 and the minimum grant organisations can apply for is £100,000. It will support programmes that encourage people to volunteer in their communities, particularly schoolchildren, university graduates, professionals on the point of retirement, and people who have done the National Citizen Service.
Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society, said: "The Social Action Fund exists to scale up projects that have proven their ability to inspire people and get them involved. These matched investments will create opportunities for many more people to make a difference to the things they care about."
The successful applicants to the first round of the fund are:
The Cathedral Archer Project Limited
Primetimers
Sandwell Council of Voluntary Organisations
Citizenship Foundation (Go-Givers)
Citizenship Foundation (G-Nation)
Teach First
Anne Frank Trust UK
Hastings Trust
Catch 22 Charity Limited
Spice Innovations
StreetGames
Environmental Vision
The Challenge Network
Community Foundation Network
National Children's Bureau
Beatbullying
