Grants Awarded
We are proud to fund hundreds of community groups across Surrey every year.
We work in partnership with our donors to fund a range of needs and themes, including mental ill-health, sport, young people, the environment, arts, disadvantaged individuals looking for help into training and employment and much more.
We are incredibly proud to support so many vital groups across Surrey, who work hard to make our community a better place.
Grant awards this FY: £1.9M
We've made adjustments to our process for shortlisting Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to better align with the available funding. This has led to a higher success rate, with an average of 81% of full applications receiving a grant. While this streamlines the process and saves time for both applicants and staff, it doesn't change the fact that available funding still falls short of demand.
Our recent survey highlights the ongoing challenges: 86% of applicants and grant holders are worried about raising funds, with 41% being very concerned. Additionally, nearly half of respondents reported a significant increase in demand for their services.
Winter Poverty Fund
The Surrey Winter Poverty 23/24 programme has awarded 20 grants totalling £120k for projects across the county supporting people facing food poverty, homelessness, and the impact of economic challenges on their health and wellbeing. Our fund-raising campaign is still going as this support is clearly very much needed.
Mental Health Scale-Up Fund
The Mental Health Scale-Up Fund awards five-year grants of up to £250k. In 2023, an award was made to Eikon for a project delivering early intervention support in primary schools to help children 10 years of age and under build resilience and learn strategies to manage key areas and relationships in their lives.
The 2024 round has a focus on perinatal and preschool mental health projects. Two groups have been invited to submit full applications and decisions will be made in April.
Strategic Fund
The Strategic Transformation Programme focuses on supporting local voluntary and community organisations to become more financially resilient. The Programme consists of the Thermotech and Cyrus Funds which have a focus on Waverley and Guildford area, the Fidelity Fund which has a focus on charities supporting young people, and the SCC Strategic Fund which is open to all. This is a rolling programme with no deadlines.
Crisis Fund
The Crisis Fund provides small grants of up to £10,000 to address a cash flow crisis in a significant voluntary group. The applicant must be able to demonstrate that they have a plan to turn around their situation and that the grant can make a material difference. This is a rolling programme with no deadlines.
Area Funds
The number of small grants awarded has grown substantially in the last two years as our family of Area Funds are engaging with local people to award small grants to grassroots groups.
Small grants up to £2,500 can be awarded by the local panels on a rolling basis and a fast turnaround.