West Lancashire Council for Voluntary Service

Funding available for tourism projects

The Lancashire West Local Action Group (LAG) is delighted to announce that £64,204 of funding is available for tourism projects in the rural areas of Preston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire.

Click here for full details of the available funding.  The types of projects they are looking to fund could include tourism businesses wanting to make improvements to attract cyclists or walkers or perhaps a group of tourism businesses getting together to jointly market their services to visitors.  Eligible organisations can include accommodation providers, attractions and service providers.

If you would like to check whether you are in an eligible area or to discuss your project in more detail please contact the LAG Development Officer, Karen Kerrigan on 01254 300481 / 07875 185532 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Funding available for community rural development projects

The Lancashire West Local Action Group (LAG) has announced that £96,306 of funding is available for community based projects looking to maintain or improve the living conditions and / or basic service provision in their rural area.  Projects must be able to commence before March 2011 and deliver the priorities of the Lancashire West LAG. 

Click here for more information.  If you would like to check whether you are in an eligible area or to discuss your project in more detail please contact the LAG Development Officer, Karen Kerrigan on 01254 300 481 / 07875 185532 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Lancashire Link Grants

Grants are available for not for profit, third sector voluntary, community or faith groups who are able it improve the health and wellbeing of people in Lancashire and in particular those who work with disadvantaged and socially excluded groups.  To be eligible to apply, groups must be constituted and well managed.  Consortium applications are also invited.  Party political groups are not eligible to apply.  Organisations may apply for a one-off grant of up to £2000.  Organisations must clearly show the need for funding and evidence their application with supporting documents and costings/estimates and the grant will be monitored at the end of the project.  If you already deliver against Local Area Agreements, key national indicators or local performance indicator targets, these can be used as part of your monitoring.  Contact Catherine Cosslett at West Lancs CVS on 01695 733737 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for an application form .  Click here for guidelines.

Funding Deadlines

Click here for dates of funding deadlines for July to December 2010

Small Sparks

Small Sparks is a small amount of funding which can be used to kick start, inject life or enhance existing community based services or activity which can show a clear positive difference to adults within their local community. 

It is a local fund offered by Help Direct, funded by Lancashire County Council.  The aim of Small Sparks is to help the citizens of Lancashire to:

• Improve their health and well-being
• Improve their quality of life
• Make a positive contribution to their local community
• Increase choice and control to help meet needs
• Support freedom from discrimination and harassment
• Support economic wellbeing
• Maintain dignity and respect

You can apply for between £50 and £500 for local people and communities.

Please contact the Help Direct providers or Small Sparks administrators for an application form or help or click here for more information.   Telephone Chorley West Lancashire on 01524 387855 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grants Available Through the Big Lottery Fund

Community Wildlife is Big Lottery Fund’s new programme for projects that bring local people together to discover, enjoy and protect the wildlife in their local area.  The programme is now open to a wide range of organisations including voluntary and community organisations, schools, town and parish councils, and statutory health authorities.

Launching on the BBC’s Springwatch show 8 June, BBC two, at 8pm, BIG’s Community Wildlife funding programme will offer grants of between £300 and £10,000 for:

Projects that improve rural or urban environments for people to enjoy, for example by:

• protecting wildlife habitats
• creating a nature trail, woodland walk or wildlife garden
• improving community spaces, such as rivers, ponds and woodlands.

Projects that get people more active and healthier, for example by:

• exploring parks, rivers and the countryside to look for rare or endangered species
• encouraging people to take up gardening or go on nature walks
• providing opportunities for children to learn about nature through play.

The Community Wildlife programme is a small grants programme running in partnership with the BBC.  It complements the BBC’s ‘Go Wild’ campaign and is designed to provide opportunities for people and communities to become involved with, enhance and protect their local wildlife.  The programme has been launched with up to £2 million available across the UK and organisations can submit applications before the three programme deadlines of 21st July, 22nd September and the 24th November 2010.  For further details about the programme and to get an application form please visit our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/communitywildlife, or call the helpline on: 0845 367 0610. For more ideas for projects visit the BBC Wildlife Fund website

Big Lottery Fund - Reaching Communities

Reaching Communities funds projects that help people and communities who are most in need, and can really make a difference.  Projects can be new or existing activities, or be the core work of your organisation.  They have made improvements to the programme.  Click here for more details.

The programme makes grants between £10,000 and £500,000 for up to five years.

Reaching Opportunities have identified the following outcomes that they want the programme to achieve.

• People having better chances in life, with better access to training and development to improve their life skills
• Stronger communities, with more active citizens working together to tackle their problems
• Improved rural and urban environments, which communities are better able to access and enjoy
Healthier and more active people and communities

Awards for All

‘Awards for All’ is a small grants programme, which aims to help voluntary or community organisations, schools, parish or town councils and health bodies to improve local communities and the lives of people most in need.  You can apply for between £300 and £10,000.

There have been some changes over the last few months, for more information see the website. 

Sport England

The Sport England Small Grants Programme has been set up to support local community sport projects which seek to increase participation, sustain participation or develop opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport.  It is open to any bona fide not-for-profit club or association, statutory body or educational establishments and provides small grants for sports ranging from £300 - £10,000 but the total project cost cannot exceed £50,000.

Sportsmatch

Sport England’s Sportsmatch programme makes awards to not-for-profit organisations running projects at a community level which meet one or both of Sport England’s objectives of Grow or Sustain.  This is done through matching eligible sponsorship pound for pound, up to a maximum value of £100,000. 

Arts Council England

Big Lottery Fund have made some improvements to the Grants for the arts application process.  The Arts Council are open again for applications and are encouraging on line applications.

Click the link for details of other Big Lottery small grants Lottery_Funding_small_grants1.pdf (opens a pdf file)

Grants Available Through LCDL (Lancashire Community Development Limited)

LCDL is Lancashire County Council's economic development company, providing all the economic development services of Lancashire County Council 

Lancashire Community Grants

Lancashire Community Grants will support small Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector (VCFS) organisations with a grant of up to £12000 to deliver innovative and engaging projects that address the barriers faced by deprived communities and individuals in gaining access to employment, skills and learning.