Meet the Funders – Leicester City

Application deadline: Ongoing

Awards for All

Social connections and community activities are at the heart of creating healthier, happier lives and a flourishing society. That’s why we support amazing community-led projects. We offer funding from £300 to £20,000. And can support your project for up to two years.
You can apply for funding to deliver a new or existing activity or to support your organisation to change and adapt to new and future challenges.

Find out more here

Reaching Communities England

Offers a larger amount of funding (over £20,001) for projects that last up to five years. We’re looking for projects that work with their community – whether that’s a community living in the same area, or people with similar interests or life experiences.

Find out more here

We fund a broad range of projects that connect people and communities to the UK’s heritage.

From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more – heritage can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations.

Find out more here

The Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation currently works with over 70 individual donors and organisations to support local voluntary and community organisations. The Community Foundation specialises in small, local community grants. Welcoming applications from charities, community interest companies, constituted community groups, co-operatives, mutual aid societies and companies limited by guarantee.

Apply for a Grant – Leicestershire and Rutland Community Foundation

Find out more

The Community Action Programme (CAP) is a joined-up initiative which is aimed at supporting communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It takes on an umbrella approach to help empower local people and smaller organisations to take action and build safer, stronger communities.

There are 4 main workstreams that fall under the umbrella approach of the Community Action Programme. These include:

• Public crime prevention advice which aims to help keep individuals stay safe.
• A crime prevention toolkit – this will be an effective guide with crime prevention advice and initiatives that have been tried and tested, it will explain what is working and what may not be best practice. This is to help empower local groups and parish councils to recognise a problem and find a solution that is appropriate to them.
• Co-produced initiatives such as People Zones and Shush and Shara
• The Community Action Fund (CAF) is a key part of the programme, offering funding and support to help local groups turn their ideas into real, positive change.

The Community Action Fund is designed to provide targeted support to community and constituted groups through a series of themed grant rounds running throughout the year. Each round focuses exclusively on prevention initiatives that address one of our six prevention delivery strategies and will support community-led projects that aim to reduce harm and improve safety. Community groups, charities, voluntary organisations, grassroot organisations, constituted groups, schools and parish councils  can apply for grants up to £10,000 to support their initiatives. Applicants can also apply for more than one grant round.

• Rural Crime
• Business Crime
• Neighbourhood Crime
• Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)

The first three rounds will open on the following dates:

• Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) - 20th April 2026
• Neighbourhood Crime - 28th September 2026
• Business Crime - 8th February 2027

Community Action Fund

Key Fund is a social investor – we offer loans, sometimes with a grant, from £5,000 – £200,000 to charities and social enterprises with clear social impact.
thekeyfund.co.uk 

Active Together are here to make physical activity and sport more accessible and part of our everyday lives.

Active Together are here to make physical activity and sport more accessible and part of our everyday lives. We are the Active Partnership for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, and our focus is to ensure that physical activity resources have a local reach. Active Together are here to help organisations and individuals support more people to be active and move more.

We distribute small funding throughout the year and have recently funded organisations and individuals through our Let’s Get Moving Marketing Grant, Active Mum’s Club & Early Years Grant, and Young People Physical Activity & Sport Hardship Fund.

Our Sector Support team offers free, confidential advice and support on all aspects of setting up and running your organisation.

We provide high quality training to broaden your skills and knowledge you need to manage your charity, social enterprise or community group.

We can help you, with preparing reading and writing funding and tender applications.

Visit us online at:valonline.org.uk/sector-support/

VAL – Volunteering

Volunteers are an integral part of the success of local voluntary and community sector organisations.

If you would like to find out how to involve the volunteers your organisation needs to thrive, our volunteering team is here to support you.

Our volunteering team can: post volunteering opportunities on your behalf so you can find the volunteers you need and help you develop relevant volunteering policies & advise on all aspects of  managing volunteers.

https://volunteer.valonline.org.uk