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The Road Safety Trust awards £2.4mn in latest grant round, plus more funding news

Melanie May | 18 November 2024 | News

A pile of £1 and £2 coins. From Pixabay.

Funding news and opportunities, including The Road Safety Trust’s announcement of £2.4mn in grants awarded, and grants of up to £25,000 available through Let Teachers SHINE 2025.

The Road Safety Trust announces £2.4 million in grants to transform UK road safety

The Road Safety Trust has announced £2.4 million in grant funding for 11 projects, which, from trauma research, to testing the effectiveness of child cycle helmets, have the potential to reduce collisions, improve post-crash treatment and care and save lives in communities across the country.

Among the projects to receive funding is ‘IMPACT’, led by the Devon Air Ambulance Trust. This research programme will focus on the crucial role of bystanders in post-collision trauma care, and builds on the findings of the ‘Extrication in Trauma (EXIT)’ study, also funded by the Road Safety Trust in 2017.

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Other projects receiving grant funding cover a wide range of road safety topics. They include:

The Road Safety Trust’s grants rounds are now closed for this year, and will reopen in 2025.

More information here.


Morrisons Foundation celebrates retailer’s 125th anniversary with donations to charities UK-wide

The Morrisons Foundation has celebrated the retailer’s 125th anniversary by donating to charities across England, Scotland and Wales to help them continue to deliver the important work in local communities that serves those in need.

125 charities have received grants of up to £8,000 in support of their essential work, with donations helping with plans such as developing community spaces, enhancing local facilities and providing support for those that are vulnerable or disabled.

All charities receiving support were nominated by Community Champions at Morrisons stores nationwide.

David Scott, Morrisons Foundation Chair of Trustees, said: 

“Morrisons has been a great neighbour to the local community for 125 years, and our Community Spaces Fund continues that heritage. The donations will allow charities from all over England, Scotland and Wales to carry out necessary works and development that will provide better services to more people that need it, and we are proud to play our part in helping to make that happen.”


The Morrisons Foundation was set up by Morrisons supermarket in 2015 and awards grants for charity projects which help improve people’s lives.  Since launching, over £44 million has been donated to hundreds of charities across England, Scotland and Wales.

More information here


Applications open for Let Teachers SHINE 2025

The annual programme from education charity SHINE awards grants of up to £25,000, along with dedicated support, to help teachers across England develop projects that enhance educational outcomes, especially for children and young people from low-income backgrounds in northern England.

Over the past decade, Let Teachers SHINE has awarded more than £4 million in grants to teachers, supporting projects including Bruno Reddy’s Times Tables Rock Stars and Colin Hegarty’s Hegarty Maths, as well as smaller projects impacting students’ outcomes. 2024’s winning ideas included a reading fluency project for primary pupils, a student feedback website, an app for tracking student progress in science and online video resources for maths teachers.

The latest round of the competition is open to practising teachers across England, including those in early years settings, schools, and colleges.

Judges are seeking fresh ideas with the potential to boost attainment, particularly in core subjects like English, maths, and science. They are particularly interested in projects that use creative approaches to engage students and ignite their passion for learning, and initiatives that specifically benefit children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Applications are open until Wednesday, 15 January. Winners will be announced in the spring of next year.

More information here.


Renewable firm donates record sum to local project

The £290,000 grant from OnPath Energy was awarded by South Lanarkshire Council’s Renewable Energy Fund (REF) and will support Leadhills Golf Club in its plan to rebuild a new, energy-efficient clubhouse and storage unit, alongside implementing green energy solutions. The sum equates to 60% of the £440,357 required to cover the total cost of the project.

A community asset for over 85 years, the golf club has recently received planning permission for the new clubhouse and is now preparing to move to the next stage of tendering for the project. The grant, from OnPath Energy (formerly Banks Renewables), will ensure that the redevelopment is built to the highest environmental standards, aligning with sustainability practices.

OnPath Energy’s community funds are administered through local partnership schemes to ensure that the money is used for projects tailored to local issues, identified by local people. £1.1mn a year is currently set aside for community benefit and last year community funding from its projects was awarded to more than 100 community groups and environmental projects in Northern England and Scotland.

More information here.


SASC’s SASH II fund awards investment to Scottish housing association for first time

Blue Triangle, a social care provider and Registered Social Landlord (RSL) has received a £4.925mn loan from Social and Sustainable Capital’s (SASC) Social and Sustainable Housing Fund II (SASH II) to invest in new properties.

Blue Triangle is the first housing association in Scotland to receive investment from the SASH II fund. Founded in 1975, Blue Triangle currently runs 26 services across 10 local authorities. With this funding, the organisation intends to invest in new properties across Scotland, increasing the capacity of stretched resources against the backdrop of a housing crisis. Blue Triangle aims to rebuild confidence for the people they support, helping them to reintegrate into their communities.

The SASH II fund aims to improve the lives of vulnerable individuals by increasing their access to safe, stable and appropriate housing, and to make charitable organisations financially stronger by helping them to buy housing in a low-risk way.

As such, it provides flexible secured loans of between £2 million and £10 million to social sector organisations with experience of providing both housing and a high degree of support to disadvantaged clients. It has supported 20 organisations to date, and invested £64.5mn.

Organisations can apply online and SASC will respond within a fortnight.

More information here.


Google.org commits £445,000 to local London charities

Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has committed an additional £445,000 in funding to support local initiatives addressing the cost-of-living crisis and food poverty in Camden and Islington.

Announced by Camden Giving and Islington Giving, this brings Google.org’s total support to more than £1 million in the past three years, funding community projects in, and around, the area of its London head-offices through the organisations. The funding will be used to strengthen grassroots organisations and community groups in both boroughs as they address the ongoing effects of the cost-of-living crisis.

Zoe Stern, Head of Community Affairs at Google said:

“Camden Giving and Islington Giving have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by our local communities. They enable grassroots partners to address significant issues of deprivation and food insecurity. We have seen firsthand the positive impact that this collaborative approach has on our neighbourhood, and this grant will build on our long-standing partnership by connecting even more local residents to crisis support, employability and skills programmes.”

Camden Giving will allocate most of its portion of the funds through its We Make Camden Kit, which includes sub-grants for local initiatives specifically within Camden. This approach ensures that support reaches those most affected, providing critical assistance where it is needed most. Over the last three years, this support has enabled Camden Giving to assist 7,101 people in the borough.

Islington Giving will use this funding to support local groups in Islington to tackle the rise in demand for food services and projects. Through Google UK’s support to date, Islington Giving has been able to fund over 30 local organisations that support over 4,000 people every week.


LFC Foundation launches partnership with Saints Community Development Foundation

LFC Foundation has announced a new strategic partnership with Saints Community Development Foundation (SCDF).

As part of the new partnership, the LFC Foundation have launched their latest Community Hub based at St Helens Stadium, which will be led by the SCDF team, and will help provide more opportunities for people of all ages in St Helens.

The LFC Foundation’s Hubs programme, which is funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation, provides safe spaces for people to come together and improve the general health and wellbeing of the local community. The Hub in St Helens is one of eight that the LFC Foundation work in partnership with across the Liverpool City Region and surrounding areas.

By combining the resources and expertise of both Foundations, the partnership aims to work collaboratively in an area of high need and enhance each other’s work in the community for greater impact.


Moorfields Eye Charity receives major gift of £1 million gift for new eye health centre

The Schroder Foundation and Family have donated £1 million to Moorfields Eye Charity towards the new centre for advancing eye health. The building is under construction and set to open in 2027.

Oriel is a joint initiative between Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Charity that will move services from City Road, Islington to a new, integrated centre in St Pancras, Camden.

Education spaces within the new eye health centre are aligned with Moorfields’ and UCL’s vision to lead globally in teaching on eye health. The flexible spaces are designed for both face-to-face and online learning, and for multiple uses and event sizes. They are equipped with high-spec audio-visual technology and allow for immersive learning experiences, integrating education, clinical practice and technology to create a learning environment for the eye health experts of the future.

The gift from The Schroder Foundation and Family is in memory of the late Bruno Schroder (1933 – 2019) and reflects their interests in and support of education, collaboration and eye health.

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