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Main funding index
General and European
Resources
Research
NIACE learning at work day
Learning at Work Day is part of Adult Learners' Week, which
takes place annually in May. NIACE makes five awards of £1,000
each to recognise small and medium-sized businesses which
have formed partnerships, with colleges, schools, the voluntary
sector, broadcasters etc, to provide more learning opportunities
for employees. The awards are sponsored by City and Guilds.
For more information: Contact Mariyam Sidik, campaigns
and promotion team at NIACE, 21 De Montfort Street Leicester
LE1 7GE Tel 0116 204 4200 or visit www.niace.org.uk/alw.
www.theschoolbook.co.uk
This is a fundraising programme that can be combined with
the school curriculum to add educational value to fundraising
activities. The scheme gives to opportunity to create a professional
quality book that can be sold on Amazon to people over the
world. Although primarily aimed at schools, this fundraising
opportunity can be used by many different types of organisations
to raise money. The subject matter of the books can be chosen
by the participating group. Contact martin@theschoolbook.co.uk
or call 01294 700321 to find out more.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust
This Coalfields Regeneration Trust is an independent grant giving
body, formed with the support of Government to promote economic
and social regeneration in the coalfields of England, Scotland
and Wales. For more information: call 0800 064 8560
Paul Hamlyn Foundation Reading and
Libraries Fund
The Reading and Libraries Fund will make grants of up to
£50,000, and consider at least one grant of £100,000,
for projects promoting reading and the use of libraries. The
fund, running from April 2003 to April 2006, has a total of
£2.6 million to allocate.
Funding is available in three areas, two of which could involve
working with schools: Right to Read, for projects aimed at improving
long-term access to books for children in care; Free with Words,
to help young offender institutions and prisons improve access
to books for inmates; and Libraries Connect, for initiatives
to improve library services for communities which are not well
served.
For closing dates and guidance notes contact 020 7227 3500
or email information@phf.org.uk.
The National Reading Campaign was commissioned by the Paul
Hamlyn Foundation to provide an online support network for the
fund.
Edge Employer Awards
The Edge Employer Awards 2006 are run by Edge, a charity that
promotes practical learning experiences. A £300,000 fund has
been set up for organisations that provide practical learning
for 14 to 25-year-olds, including work experience, apprenticeships,
or other opportunities for young people in the community that
allow them to build skills through doing. The annual awards
recognise and reward organisations across England of any size
and from any sector that provide excellent practical learning
for young people. Organisations can win up to £10,000 each
by entering one of three categories: Small organisations,
under 50 employees: £5,000 Medium-to-large organisations,
over 50 employees with a presence in only one area: £10,000
Outstanding Young Practical Learner Award, for an individual
nominated by an employer: £2,000. Entries will be judged on
creating a culture in which learning is valued and can flourish,
achieving results and setting ambitions for the future. The
prize will be in the form of a grant to be invested in training
opportunities for young people. To enter, organisations will
need to demonstrate how they already offer excellent learning-by-doing
opportunities and explain their ambitions for the future.
Call Edge on 0800 980 3343 or visit www.edgeawards.co.uk.
Comic Relief
Comic Relief provides a variety of different funding programmes
targeting specific areas. For example, Supporting Communities
aims to support people from poor and disadvantaged communities
(urban or rural), particularly those that do not have access
to Government regeneration and neighbourhood renewal funds,
to come together to improve local conditions and quality of
life. Examples given include a childcare scheme for lone parents,
a computer group for older people, a community furniture project
and a toy library. Applications may be for up to £10,000
a year for a maximum of two years, to cover running and equipment
costs. Funding is awarded in cycles with closing dates throughout
2001/2002, with equal amounts of money available to each cycle.
For more information including full guidelines and application
form, send a large SAE to UK Grants Team, Comic Relief, 5th
Floor, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP.
Children In Need
Children In Need accepts applications for projects working
with children aged 18 and under in the UK. Applications can
be from self-help groups, voluntary organisations or registered
charities.
Deadlines for applications are generally in March and
November. Visit www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey
European funding is available to support a variety of projects,
contact your local authority to find out about any large or
group bids.
- Applications to the European Social Fund, which
has put lifelong learning high on its agenda, must be made
through Government offices. For more information:
and for details of local government visit www.info4local.gov.uk
- A European vocational training programme Leonardo
da Vinci aims to support member states' policies on
employability, lifelong learning and skills through joint
work with other member countries. For more information:
www.leonardo.org.uk.
- Other programmes to consider include education programmes
such as Socrates and Commenius run by the Central
Bureau for educational visits and exchanges. Socrates
II, launched on 20 March 2000, focuses on lifelong learning
for citizenship and employability. For more information:www.britishcouncil.org/socrates-what-is-socrates.htm
or contact 020 7389 4004.
- Grundtvig promotes the European dimension in adult
education and lifelong learning and targets both the formal
and non-formal sectors of adult education. Funding is available
for a range of activities, for example producing new learning
materials or methods for assessment, small-scale projects
with a strong emphasis on reaching new target audiences,
and involving learners and trainers from different countries
working together on common topics. NIACE provides support
on Grundtvig within the UK. Visit www.niace.org.uk/funds/GRUNDTVIG/Default.htm
- Minerva supports open and distance learning (ODL)
and the use of information and communication technology.
Its main aims are to promote understanding on the role of
ODL and ICT, to ensure the balance between teaching methods
and technological input in the develoment of ICT-based materials
and to open up access to ODL and ICT to learners of all
ages and abilities across Europe.
For more information on Gundtvig or Minerva visit
www.britishcouncil.org/learning.htm
- Culture 2000 is administered by the education
and culture department of the European Commission. Its aim
is to promote cultural diversity by encouraging cooperation
between member states and participating countries, in particular
by supporting artistic creation and preserving the common
cultural heritage. All projects must be multi-national;
single country projects are not considered under Culture
2000. The current call for applications, for projects to
begin in 2003, was made in July 2002 and is prioritising
activity around the performing arts. However, opportunities
are possible in other cultural areas and the call also makes
mention of books, reading and translation work. The 2004
priority theme will be cultural heritage, including libraries,
and will again also include books, reading and translation.
Euclid is the official UK entry point for the Culture 2000
programme. For more information: visit www.euclid.info/
The Arts and Humanities Research Board
provides funding for innovation and enterprise. The award
aims to support research focused on developing significant
breakthroughs in knowledge and understanding, by challenging
or radically extending existing models, perceptions or research
methods. "The innovation awards will play a key role in providing
researchers with the funds and the equipment to enable them
to redefine research agendas and to develop new approaches
to existing research problems where the outcomes may be much
less certain." Professor David Eastwood, chief executive of
the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
The AHRB has not defined innovation; applicants will be
asked to specify and explain how their research may shift
or radically extend existing models. This could be determined
in a variety of ways, from the manner in which research is
undertaken and the types of material investigated, to the
interaction of different disciplines, techniques, or theoretical
models, and the projected research outputs and ways in which
they will be communicated.
The scheme is open to academic staff employed by higher education
institutions throughout the UK and applicants need to be of
post-doctoral standing. Applicants without a PhD must be able
to demonstrate equivalent research experience and/or training.
Awards are available for up to one year and will meet a range
of costs including replacement teaching, the employment of
research staff, and equipment related specifically to the
project. For more information visit www.ahrb.ac.uk
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
The Teaching and Learning Research Programme, commissioned
by the Economic and Social Research Council and launched in
1999, supports research which will lead to improvements in
the achievement of learners of all ages, in all sectors and
contexts of education, training and lifelong learning throughout
the UK. It comprises a number of large-scale research projects
and other related activities designed to achieve that aim.
Funding has come from the Higher Education Funding Council
for England, the Scottish Office, the Welsh Assembly and the
Department for Education and Skills. The programme is managed
by the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. For
more information visit www.tlrp.org
UKLA research grants
The United Kingdom Literacy Association offers research grants
to its members - including practising teachers and academics
- and funds a range of projects. Grants of up to £3,000 are
available to those with an interest in exploring a specific
aspect of literacy through systematic research-based enquiry.
This can be used to pay for materials, travel costs and supply
cover to release teachers. Awards are made on an annual basis
and considered at two points during the year: in early October
and early March. Applications should be submitted before 1
October for projects that start from November onwards, or
1 March for projects that start from April onwards.
UKLA also adminsters the Helen Arnold Teacher-Researcher Grant,
an annual grant to enable a classroom teacher, or group of
teachers working together, to research an aspect of their
teaching of reading. For more www.ukla.org/research/research_grants.php
Vulnerable consumers:
multiple needs and preferences
In 2006, Eaga Partnership Charitable Trust launched a new
grant-making programme on the overlap between fuel poverty
and wider deprivation. This covers research aimed at developing
a better understanding of vulnerable and/or deprived consumers
so support can be better targeted. Among the suggested topics
for research is examining the needs of people who face multiple
barriers in accessing information and services, including
those for whom English is not their first language and those
with low basic skills, as well as people with a physical or
sensory impairment, or with mental health problems.
There is no minimum or maximum grant and each application
is judged on its merits. There is no minimum or maximum length
of grant, although typically projects span between one and
three years.
Deadlines for applications are 19 May 2006 and 1 September
2006.
For further information, visit www.eaga.co.uk/charitable/grants.htm.
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