Helping community projects to succeed

Got a great idea for a community project, but need a little help to get it off the ground?

The Onward Community Fund aims to support local groups and projects.

Underpinned by our mission ‘To make a positive difference in the communities we serve’ groups can bid for up to £2,500 for their neighbourhood. Examples could include: IT training, youth projects or community events.

Projects should aim to address one or more of the following:

• Theme 1 – Building Stronger Communities
Supporting individuals and neighbourhood community organisations to increase their expertise and develop their interest groups, in order to help the wider community and increase opportunities.

• Theme 2 – Employment and Training
Supporting individuals to access employment, training and enterprise opportunities.

• Theme 3 – Digital Inclusion
Being unable to interact and transact online has a direct and tangible impact on many key areas of everyday life. We will work in partnership in our communities to support customers to maximise their digital inclusion.

• Theme 4 – Building Community Food Resilience
Supporting efforts to address food insecurity within our communities, we will continue to support organisations at the forefront of tackling this current public health emergency.

• Theme 5 – Youth Provision
To ensure that the offer for young people evolves to meet changing needs. This is particularly important given the current economic situation, so we need to encourage collaboration between all providers to get the best for children and young people in terms of access to employment, training, and enterprise opportunities.

• Theme 6 – Mental Wellbeing and Greenspaces
Supporting organisations who are well placed to provided mental health support, recognising the increasing challenges relating to this issue, or develop innovative models of early intervention around access to greenspace and community networks. awarded funding to:

In the last financial year, we awarded £100,141 in funding to 64 local community organisations. Regionally, we awarded:

• 33 Greater Manchester projects totalling £48,509
• 18 Lancashire projects totalling £25,943
• 13 Merseyside projects totalling £25,689

Click here to read about some the great community organisations we have provided support to this year.

Applications must meet the following criteria:

• The project must benefit Onward neighbourhoods – see a list of our neighbourhoods here.
• Organisations must be constituted and have their own bank account

Application process

There is a two stage process starting with an expression of interest form which must be completed online. A member of the Social Investment Team will contact you to discuss your project in more detail and check you eligibility to our fund. If Onward Homes decide to take your application forward, an application form will be emailed to you to complete.

Interested?

Please do get in touch if you are interested in finding out more by completing the expression of interest form below. A member of our Social Investment team will be in touch to discuss options with you further.

Round 1

• Opens 1^st April 2022
• Closes 15^th May 2022

Round 2

• Opens 1^st July 2022
• Closes 15^th August 2022

Round 3

• Opens 1^st October 2022
• Closes 15^th November 2022

Round 4

• Opens 1^st December 2023
• Closes 21^st January 2023

For more information on the Onward Community Fund please email socialinvestment@onward.co.uk.