The pandemic has been incredibly challenging for many people across the UK including the charity and volunteer sector, as such I am pleased to have been able to help facilitate additional grants and funding for many in this sector.
Many local charities and community groups have come to me and I have worked hard to help them to secure alternative funding streams that perhaps they had not previously considered. Over the last quarter alone my office has managed to secure funding for some local groups from places such as the Postcode Lottery, the National Lottery, Wales & West Utilities, the Moondance Foundation, and the Village Bakery Fund from right here in Wrexham.
Some examples of charities and organisations that have benefitted include:
- Holt Community Gardeners, who received £1000 from Arnold Clark
- Rhosddu Football Club, who received over £2000 from Clubs in Crisis
- Chariotts, who received £3000 from Wales & West Utilities.
As such, my team and I will be regularly updating this page with a select of grant and funding opportunities that might be of use.
Please also get in contact with me on sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk if you would like more information about any of the below, if you have any questions or if you have a specific situation that you think I may be able to assist with.
Funding and grant opportunities:
Innovate UK Launches £25m Loan Fund for Innovative SMEs
- Innovate UK (IUK) is offering loans to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome barriers to their innovations becoming a successful, commercial reality. The aim is to make a considerable economic impact which results in significant, sustainable business growth.
- Loans are for highly innovative late stage research and development (R&D) projects with the best potential for the future. There should be a clear route to commercialisation and economic impact.
- Projects must lead to new products, processes or services that are significantly ahead of others currently available or propose an innovative use of existing products, processes or services. They can also involve a new or innovative business model.
- IUK has allocated up to £25 million to fund projects across four rounds of this competition. Loans of between £100,000 and £2 million are available, based on project proposals and IUK’s judgement of the suitability and affordability of a loan for the business.
- IUK will fund experimental development projects that can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation. Projects must focus on one or more of the following themes.
- Net Zero
- Health and wellbeing
- Next generation digital technologies
- Technology families
- To receive an innovation loan for a new project applicants must be a UK registered SME carrying out a project from or in the UK.
- Funding will be allocated across a series of four competitions. The first competition is now open with a deadline for applications of 13 April 2022 (11:00 BST).
Amazon Launches Accelerator with Funding for Environmentally Focused Start-ups
- The Amazon Launchpad Sustainability Accelerator is a three-month programme designed to support start-ups and entrepreneurs who are in the early stages of building sustainability focused products.
- Participants will be offered a range of support to help navigate the challenges of starting a business within sustainability.
- The following benefits are provided to successful applicants:
- Attendance at a three-month accelerator, including workshops, mentorship and access to Amazon’s network.
- Free office space in the Amazon HQ in Shoreditch, London.
- A £10,000 cash grant.
- USD$25,000 AWS Activate Credits.
- £5,000 Advertising Click Credits.
- Free access to Amazon Launchpad for a year.
- The accelerator will be operated in a hybrid-manner. Start-ups can join online, or in person. This will be subject to applicable COVID-19 restrictions. Every accelerator cohort will comprise 8-12 companies.
- Early-stage start-ups and entrepreneurs may apply. They can be based in the UK, EEA or Switzerland. The programme is best suited to start-ups building physical products that offer improvements in at least one aspect of sustainability and are committed to building and growing their business with environmental impact in mind. It would be best suited to entrepreneurs who have ambitions to use e-commerce to fuel the growth of their product(s).
- The deadline for applications is 25 March 2022 (23:59 GMT).
Theatre503 Invites Submissions for International Playwriting Award
- Theatre503 is service for new writers and is intended to be a launchpad for artists who bring their words to life. The Theatre503 International Playwriting Award is search for the best new plays and most talented new playwrights in the world.
- The award is for debut and emerging writers of all ages who have not yet had a full-length professional production.
- Winners will receive £3,000 in prize money and £3,000 as an advance against 8% of the gross box office, to grant Theatre503 the exclusive license to produce the play for up to 18 months after the announcement of the award.
- Debut and emerging playwrights from across the world may apply.
- The application deadline is 21 March 2022 (12:00 GMT).
Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs Relaunched for 2022
- Sponsored by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and administered by Leonard Cheshire Disability, the Stelios Awards for Disabled Entrepreneurs identify and celebrate business ability by recognising exceptional disabled entrepreneurs.
- The competition is open to disabled entrepreneurs on the management team, and with ownership, of any for-profit business in the UK. The applicant company must have filed accounts with UK Companies House showing a turnover (Revenues) in one year of at least £5,000.
- Awards are open to all forms of entrepreneurship (including pre-revenue start-ups). Applicants can be:
- Businesses operated by and/or for the benefit of disabled people.
- Employers who workforce is made up of significant numbers of disabled people.
- Prize money totalling £60,000 will be available in 2022. There are three prizes: £30,000; £20,000; and £10,000. The money is to be reinvested in the winners’ businesses. Winners can spend this money however they choose.
- The 2022 Awards are now open to applications and the overall winner will receive their grand prize at an online Awards Ceremony via Zoom on Monday 13 June 2022.
- The deadline for entries is Wednesday 20 April 2022 (17:00 GMT
Industrial Energy Transformation Fund Phase 2: Spring 2022 Window Now Open
- Businesses operating in some of the most polluting and energy-intensive industries can now bid for a share of government investment to help cut their carbon emissions and the costs of their energy bills.
- Grants are available to support green projects that help businesses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland clean up their industrial processes, improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions – benefiting industries including pharmaceuticals, steel, paper, and food and drink.
- Phase 2 (spring 2022) is now open to applications with a total budget of £60 million, offering grant funding for the following project types:
- Studies - feasibility and engineering studies to enable companies to investigate identified energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects prior to making an investment decision.
- Energy efficiency - deployment of technologies to reduce industrial energy consumption.
- Deep decarbonisation - deployment of technologies to achieve industrial emissions savings.
- Grant thresholds for project types are as follows:
- Energy efficiency deployment – projects can receive between £100,000 and £14 million in grant funding.
- Deep decarbonisation deployment – projects can receive between £100,000 and £30 million in grant funding.
- Studies: Feasibility – projects can receive between £30,000 and £7 million in grant funding. Engineering – projects can receive between £50,000 and £14 million in grant funding.
- Eligible companies may invest in a range of actions including installing more efficient boilers, electric motors and heat pumps to replace their natural gas-fired boilers and steam turbines, as well as developing technologies for industrial carbon capture, fuel switching and recycling waste heat into renewable electricity.
- Businesses with high energy use, such as energy intensive industries, will qualify for support. To lead an application, the organisation must be a registered company in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
- The Phase 2 Spring 2022 competition window is now open. The deadline for applications is Friday 29 April 2022 (15:00 GMT).
SHAKE Climate Change Programme for Food and Agri Firms
- The SHAKE Climate Change programme is designed to attract entrepreneurs or start-ups that have developed early stage science or tech-based ideas that can have a significant impact on climate change. The programme will also form the basis of a sustainable and socially responsible business within the agri-food (farming and food) sector.
- The aim is to make agriculture part of the climate solution, not just a problem. Ideas can relate to any point in the food production chain, which contributes more than a quarter of global climate change emissions.
- The programme has a total financial budget of £3.5 million. Over its lifespan, 15 successful ventures will each receive up to a total of £140,000, provided as a convertible interest-free loan. They will also receive two years’ high-quality training and mentoring from leading experts in business and science, to help further develop their ventures.
- The programme is open to applications from UK companies and start-ups with ideas and products targeted at the agricultural and food production sectors which will have a positive impact on mitigating climate change.
- The deadline to apply is Friday 13 May 2022 (12:00 GMT).
Launch of the 2022 Ashden Awards for Climate Innovations
- The Ashden Awards promote exceptional climate solutions and the environmental, social and economic benefits they can provide. For more than 20 years these awards have backed ideas delivering lower emissions, with grants and development support on offer to winners and finalists.
- The initiative and its related activities aim to persuade policymakers, funders and the wider public to recognise renewable energy as a tool for addressing the urgent global issues of climate change, pollution and energy supply, as well as the social and economic needs of local communities.
- The 2022 Awards aim to boost climate innovators transforming the world of work – those delivering roles and skills for the UK’s low-carbon transition and the spread of clean energy around the world, or making every job a green job.
- This year’s award categories include energy innovation, skills in low carbon sectors, greening work, energising agriculture and more. Some categories focus on the UK, and others cover work in low- and middle-income countries.
- Winners will receive a prize of up to £25,000 and a package of supplementary support.
- Businesses, NGOs, government organisations, social enterprises and community groups are all eligible. Work must be currently available to clients, customers or beneficiaries.
- The deadline for applications is 15 March 2022 (23:59 GMT).
Help to Grow: Digital Scheme to Boost the Growth of Tech SMEs
- The Government’s Help to Grow: Digital scheme has been launched to support smaller businesses in adopting digital technologies so they can grow.
- Through the scheme, eligible firms will receive discounts of up to £5,000 off the retail price of approved Digital Accounting and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software from leading technology suppliers. This software will help them effectively manage their finances and build customer relationships, enabling them to scale up their operations.
- The initiative complements the Help to Grow: Management scheme, which was launched in 2021 as part of wider government efforts to back businesses and boost the UK economy. Help to Grow: Management offers business leaders management and leadership training. Designed to be manageable alongside full-time work, businesses receive 50 hours of training across 12 weeks.
- To qualify for the financial discount through Help to Grow: Digital, businesses can be from any business sector. They must have between 5 and 249 employees and be purchasing the software for the first time.
- Applications can be made at any time: find out more here.
2022 Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs
- The Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Enterprise (DBACE) help young, creative entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality. Aspiring individuals who want to go into business in the creative industries and require practical and financial support are being targeted. Applicants will be able to explore, develop and establish their creative ideas into sustainable ventures – through business planning training, mentoring and capital funding for starting-up.
- The programme aims to find the best young talent with the ability to drive positive social impact through their creative enterprise. The programme aims to enable and celebrate creative entrepreneurship for social good, led by 18-30-year olds in the UK today.
- Entrants will have the chance to win funding for their creative enterprise and a year of business support. The prize package is designed to give applicants everything they need to accelerate their idea or existing business, so that they can take it to the next level.
- There is a cash prize fund of £60,000, to be shared amongst five winners. How much awarded per winner is not fixed but assessed on a case-by-case basis. Applicants who proceed to the second stage of the competition will be asked for the amount of prize monies they would like to apply for from three incremental categories of £2,000-£5,000; £5,000-£10,000; and £10,000-£20,000.
- To apply, applicants must be 18-30 years old and have a strong idea or an existing business in the creative industries. They must have a desire to create positive social impact through their enterprise. Applicants do not have an established business. They just need to be ready to grow with their idea. The eventual business can be not-for-profit or a commercial idea/enterprise.
- The deadline for applications to be received is 31 March 2022 (23:59 BST).
Innovate UK Opens New Round of Smart Grants
- The Smart Grants programme is an Innovate UK (IUK) 'open grant funding' initiative. Through the programme, IUK is investing in commercially viable, business-focused, innovative or disruptive ideas that have potential to boost the UK’s economy.
- IUK will fund innovative research and development (R&D) projects across a variety of technologies, markets and research categories, including feasibility projects, industrial research projects, and experimental development projects.
- The current round of the competition will be the last in its regular format. Future rounds will be more focused on supporting proposals from UK-based innovative businesses that are destined for early, successful commercialisation, growth and exports.
- This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations. To lead a project, the applicant must be a UK-based business of any size or a research and technology organisation (RTO). If collaborating with others, the application must include an SME. To work alone, the applicant must be an SME. Collaborators can be UK based businesses, academic organisations, charities, public sector organisations or RTOs.
- IUK has allocated up to £25 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. Projects of 6 to 18 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000 and can be single or collaborative. Projects of 19 to 36 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £2 million and must be collaborative.
- Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy, such as, but not exclusively, net zero; health and wellbeing; technologies; the arts, design and media.
- The deadline for applications to be submitted is 13 April 2022 (11:00 GMT).
Geovation Accelerator for Tech Innovators
- The Geovation Hub is London's digital district data lab, supporting creative professionals who wish to experiment with location information and technology.
- The aim of the Geovation Accelerator Programme is to help UK-based start-up entrepreneurs develop and launch innovative new prototype ideas that relate to location information or technology.
- There are two strands:
- The PropTech Programme supports innovative technology businesses to revolutionise the property industry using property and geospatial data.
- The GeoTech Programme is an open call for any tech company creating location-based products and services.
- A grant of up to £20,000 over 12 months is available, alongside workshops and mentoring, marketing and PR.
Fund Launched to Help UK SMEs Exhibit at Overseas Tradeshows
- The UK Tradeshow Programme (UKTP) is an enhanced tradeshow support service which aims to educate UK-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about the benefits of exhibiting at overseas tradeshows.
- The Government intends to provide support to between 2,000 and 3,000 businesses per year, to be approved under the scheme from December 2021 to March 2023, within the budget of £7.9 million. All successful applicants will receive training on successfully exhibiting at tradeshows in general, and the specific approved event(s) that they have applied for. Some businesses may also receive a grant of either £2,000 or £4,000 up to 40% of costs, as financial support to cover:
- Exhibition space costs.
- Stand costs (including design, construction and stand dressing).
- Conference fees, costs of preparing conference promotional material (where appropriate).
- The scheme is open to UK-based SMEs with fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover of £250,000 to £5 million. Businesses should be capable of exporting for the first time or wish to venture into new markets. In their applications, businesses must be able to demonstrate that they have the capabilities to export and have a strategy to do so.
- Eligible businesses must sell products or services which substantially originate from the UK, or add significant value to a product or service of non-UK origin.
- Applications are now invited from businesses wishing to exhibit at overseas tradeshows. Applications must be made at least six weeks before the start of the event.
Flexible Skills Programme for Wales' Tourism and Hospitality Sector
- Through the Flexible Skills Programme, the Welsh Government is awarding funding to support employees of Wales-based tourism and hospitality businesses. The money will enable staff to attend training courses that are relevant to their sector. This can include face-to-face, or online training.
- The training areas that can be supported under this programme include:
- COVID-19 related activities, including health and safety training.
- Specialist training, eg professional cookery, food and beverage, housekeeping, outdoor instructor/high ropes.
- Leadership and management.
- Customer service.
- ICT and digital skills.
- Sustainable tourism.
- All approved training courses will attract a 50% contribution from the Welsh Government, capped at £25,000, towards the total eligible costs.
- Businesses must be based in Wales, solvent and must commit to release staff to undertake the requested training by the end of March 2022.
- There is no set deadline to apply.
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