Support for community groups helping residents with the cost-of-living
Local community and voluntary groups across the North West are eligible to receive up to £2,500 to support local residents with the cost-of-living through the Onward Community Fund.
Launched in 2017, the £100k Community Fund is ran by Onward and aims to support local groups and projects in their neighbourhoods across Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Groups can bid for up to £2,500 for projects that target one or more of Onward’s social investment themes of work, food, digital and green.
To ensure our customers and communities get vital support this Winter, Onward’s Social Investment Team has changed the bidding criteria so groups must now also address how they will support local residents who are facing increased challenges due to the rising cost of living.
Examples of projects supported so far include Hope Central in Handforth, Cheshire, which has been awarded £2500 to deliver an eight-week life skills course on topics including cooking on a budget and making your money go further. A Community Kitchen in Bolton has also been awarded £2500 towards their food bank which provides winter warmer packs.
Andrew Brown, Director of Housing & Specialist Living for Onward, said:
As the cost-of-living rises, we expect that some of our customers will need extra support over Winter. To help, we have repurposed our Community Fund criteria so the money we award groups can support the issues our customers and communities are facing right now.
We are committed to working with our local partners to provide our customers with practical support and guidance, and we want to help as many local groups and organisations as possible to continue their work.
If your organisation or group is looking to hold a community event, launch a new scheme, reach out to the community or is short of funding to support existing projects that have been impacted due to rising costs please get in touch for more information about our Community Fund.
The last two rounds of this financial year open and close on the following dates:
Round 3
- Opens 1st October 2022
- Closes 15th November 2022
Round 4
- Opens 1st December 2022
- Closes 21st January 2023
To make an application to the Onward Community Fund, please visit: https://www.onward.co.uk/community-fund/