MSE Charity, from Money Saving Expert, has opened its next grant round for VCSE organisations helping people living with long-term challenges.

The funding will go towards activities that help people think about managing their money and support them to be in control of their finances - for example, money management classes or how to avoid getting into debt. You can see previously funded projects here. 

Organisations and individuals can apply to the second round of grant funding from the British Council, Bristol City Council and Bristol Cultural Development Partnership, as part of the Festival of Ideas 2020, to celebrate international partnerships in social innovation. 

The aim of the scheme is to meet social needs and tackle social problems by face-to-face or digital learning, and to use insight from other cities around the world.

New research has shown that Match Trading can increase the income which a social sector or community business earns from trading by 64% over a year.

Match Trading® aims to transform the use of grants so that they can be applied in a way that directly incentivises trading. The aim of this is to produce stronger and more viable organisations, capable of achieving sustained benefits.

Bristol will receive a share of a new £33 million investment programme that is aimed at tackling inequality through boosting the social economy. The money will support charities and social enterprises in the city and help grow the local social economy and tackle local issues.

The Airbus Community Awards will fund a range of local community groups and non-profit organisations, giving them £1,000-7,000 to fund a future project.

The awards, run by Airbus and Bristol Post, recognise 10 local heroes for their community work. Organisations must work towards one of four different causes:

The Aviva Community Fund has been redesigned and is now quarterly, offering community organisations a share of £250,000 every three months. Aviva is looking to support forward-thinking organisations, and Aviva staff will be able to choose the local causes they want to fund, by browsing the unique project page for each organisation. 

Eligible organisations will have a project that fits into either of these two categories:

Applications are open for the next round of funding from the Kelly Family Charitable Trust, which provides grants of £1,000-5,000 (though higher amounts will be considered) to charitable organisations helping families in difficult times. The aim of the funding is to reinforce the family unit. 

Funding can be put towards core costs or projects. 

Examples of charity causes funded:

Funding is available to help organisations run community events and activities for the Good Grief Festival which takes place in May 2020. This is a brand new festival to encourage people to think, talk and learn about grief - a topic that can often feel taboo.

The programme of events already includes talks, exhibitions, workshops and films, but community activities will make up an important part of the festival schedule. 

The government is investing up to £11.8 million in additional funding for breakfast clubs in order to support disadvantaged families.

So far around 1,800 school breakfast clubs have been created or improved by the National School Breakfast Programme.